Like us, many of our readers are American. And regardless of nationality, probably all of our readers are aware of the unfortunate exchange rate currently greeting US travelers abroad. Today, for instance, the euro costs US $1.58. Yet we’re still traveling to Europe.

Newspapers and magazines have been abuzz lately with articles about stretching the dollar abroad. Some of our favorites include The Seattle Times, Budget Travel Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News, and the Austin American-Statesman. As pro-cheapo travelers, we’re happy to see so much interest in budget travel, although saddened to think that many potential travelers might feel discouraged and choose not to travel to Europe at all.

“Maybe next year I’ll get to Spain,” one of my friends told me last week. “I can’t afford it now.” Alas!

Pete, Meredith and I just returned from two weeks in Europe, traveling from Berlin to Brussels, and then Bruges. Yes, I was quickly struck by the inflated prices of small, everyday items. But I was also amazed that we pulled off the trip so affordably. It’s as if we had been preconditioned to expect the absolute worst. When we returned and tallied up all of our costs, it wasn’t so bad, after all. Ironically, we overspent on the little stuff and kept our spending down on the big, obvious expenditures, like hotels and meals.

Looking over our costs, post-trip, I have some basic advice to those planning their trips to Europe. Please excuse anything that seems obvious—if it helps one traveler save, it’s worth repeating!

1) Watch out for the small stuff!

Those little, incidental purchases got us, biting away at our budgets. Why? Because we spent without thinking. Cups of coffee, bottles of water, chocolate bars, little snacks, the newspaper… each only cost two or three euros, but they added up very quickly. I felt like I was leaking euro coins everywhere I went.

These are “invisible costs,” because you don’t remember spending the money and you don’t have anything to show for the purchases afterward. Some of these things, like water, you need. But you need to be smart about where to buy it. After draining my pockets of a week’s worth of euros, I got smart in Bruges and started buying water and snacks at a grocery store near my hotel. Who knew that Evian could be purchased for less than a euro per bottle? (Above, I’m doing a week’s worth of laundry in Brussels for about €5.)

2) Hunt for your meal

Each night, the three of us roamed the city, taking in the sights and sounds, but also looking for dining deals. In the end, because we were “on alert,” our dinners were surprisingly affordable. We converted menu prices into dollar amounts (not simply imagining a dollar sign in place of the euro!) and steered clear of the pricier eateries.

In Berlin, meal prices are fortunately already low, so this wasn’t a problem. In pricey Brussels, however, we checked out plenty of charming restaurants—most of them quite crowded—and hit the road as soon as we saw a bloated menu. €18 starter plates? That’s $27… I don’t think so! We took time every night to find affordable set-price menus, and usually found something for less than €15, which at about $22, was in our budget. Of course, you have to be careful to avoid tourist traps (like the rue du Bouchers in Brussels, pictured above), which lure you in with low set-price menus, serve mediocre food, and charge you like mad for every incidental item. It’s best to ask the locals. 

3) Lighten up at lunch

This won’t be for everyone, but we chose to make only dinner a sit-down affair. In years past, when hotel hunting I would often treat myself to a nice relaxed lunch, sometimes accompanied with a little red wine. It was so euro. This year, I slimmed down, stopping for a quick sandwich or salad and a bottle of water. It was cheaper, faster, and dare I say, better for my afternoon hotel visits!

Pete and Mere did the same in Brussels. Pete lunched several days in a row at “Mer du Nord,” an outdoor oyster and fish soup joint on Place St. Catherine, where a bowl of soupe du poisson could be had for €3.50. (See photo.)

4) Take advantage of breakfast… or not!

Breakfast is another time to save cash. In all four of our hotels, in Brussels and Bruges, a buffet breakfast was included in the price of the room. Thus, we could fill up at breakfast, making the light lunch more bearable.

This is different in every city. In Paris, for instance, breakfast is rarely included and, when offered, is usually quite expensive for what you get. Rather than fork over the cash for a dismal hotel breakfast, head to a cafe or, better yet, to the grocery store or outdoor market.

5) Sleep cheap!

This seems rather obvious, as this is EuroCheapo, but come on, Cheapos, watch that hotel bill! When searching for your hotel, if you’re American, choose to see hotel rates in US dollars. (On CheapoSearch, prices show in dollars by default.) This will prevent you from momentarily pretending that the euro and dollars are “roughly the same.”

When choosing a hotel, consider a 1 or 2-star hotel over the pricier 3-star option. Fewer stars doesn’t mean the hotel isn’t good and clean. It could simply mean that it doesn’t have an elevator, ground-floor reception, or certain amenities (like hairdryers, TV, telephone, etc.).

In Brussels, we stayed at The Moon Hotel, a perfectly fine 2-star sleeper two blocks from the Grand Place. Our rooms weren’t fancy (they were, in fact, kind of “dormy”), but we slept peacefully knowing that we were paying a fraction of the rate that travelers across the square in the 3 and 4-star hotels were paying. In Bruges, the lady running ‘T Keizershof, a small 1-star hotel I visited put it to me best when she explained, “When you’re sleeping, we look just like one of those big fancy hotels.”

Serious Cheapos should also consider a room or a bed in a hostel, which can cost much, much less than a hotel. Travelers visiting a city for an extending period should look into apartment rentals, and adventure travelers might also consider couch-surfing for free.

6) Do free stuff!

We always recommend that travelers head straight for the visitors information center when they arrive into town. Conveniently, many of these are located very near the main train stations or main squares. There, you can pick up a list of free or cheap activities happening in town during your stay. In both Brussels and Bruges, I walked out of the visitor centers with stacks of information, maps, and walking tours.

In Brussels, I bought a guide to the city’s comic-book themed self-guided walking tour for €3, and spent the afternoon learning about the city for next to nothing. In Bruges, the woman working at the tourist office wrote down a list of free concerts happening that week that she thought I might find interesting. All of that information was free, and most of the activities were free, as well.

7) Budget flights and rail deals

Before you book that rental car or buy that Eurail pass, consider flying between European cities on Europe’s budget airlines. Using the newly launched CheapoSearch Flights, our guide to European budget airlines, you can find some seriously low prices. Not to be outdone, the national rail companies are starting to fight back, lowering their prices for train trips booked in advance through their websites.

Check out: TGV (French) rail website, Die Bahn (German) rail website, Trenitalia (Italy) rail website, British Rail website, Renfe (Spanish) rail, SNCB (Belgian) rail

Your tips

These are just a few of the tips we’d like to share following our recent trip. What advice do you have? Please add your tips, ideas, and suggestions below! 

We’ve all been there—the nightmare seat on the plane. The airline staff knows the seat is terrible when they check you in, but they still assign it to you with a straight face. It’s a seat that nobody in their right mind would trade you for. That seat that will have to be endured. But how?

Earlier this week when Pete and Mere (pictured above) were flying from Paris to New York, they landed a couple of doozies. Their seats, ominously located in aisle 13, were situated up against the bathroom wall, preventing them from reclining. Rather comically, the row was windowless, offering a view of a beige wall for eight hours. Across the aisle, a fellow traveler became intoxicated and fell asleep, drooling on his chest, and upon the large Casio keyboard he brought along.

These Cheapos experienced a flash of panic as they contemplated how to deal with this unpleasant intercontinental scenario. Their solution: distraction. They whipped out one laptop and started going through the photos they had downloaded from the trip. When the battery died, they brought out their other laptop and did the same thing. This distraction, a reminder of the more pleasant aspects of travel, satisfied several hours and the rest of the time was easily filled with eating, drinking, trying to nap, and making trips to the bathroom.

The Contest: Your nightmare seats and solutions

Have you ever had a bad seat? A reeaaally bad seat? Tell us about it below. But also tell us about how you overcame the seat and made it through the trip. Did you do some airplane yoga? Get a few drinks? Make a new friend? Lock yourself in the bathroom?

Share your story and your advice. We’ll reward the best advice for overcoming a bad seat with a copy of the newly published “Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget,” out this month. The 1,280 page book is a budget traveler’s Bible, offering euro-saving advice for 34 countries in Europe, including top sights, cheap eats, and nightlife.

The contest deadline is Wednesday, April 2, 2008. (U.S. mailing addresses only and void where prohibited. We will be in contact with the winner by email to ask for their mailing address.)

Go ahead and post your story below!

As previously mentioned, Pete, Mere, and I returned from Europe on Monday afternoon. After attending the ITB travel conference in Berlin, we drove to Brussels (ha! more about that later) and started the “hotel hunt” part of the trip. Pete and Meredith took on Brussels and I took the train to Bruges, where I spent five days checking out the hotel scene.

First impressions of Bruges

As I had never been to Bruges, my expectations were limited. I anticipated a picturesque, small town, heavily touristed, high hotel prices, and hotel owners who might not have time for me. (In some cities, after all, hotel proprietors give you the impression that they have better things to do than, say, show you all of their rooms.) I was only partially correct.

Bruges is a gorgeous place, crisscrossed by canals, paved with cobblestones, and architecturally “preserved” to 16th-Century storybook perfection. It’s hard not to take photos — but also hard to figure out what to take photos of, as it’s all just so darn pretty. Stone bridge over canal. Pretty ivy-covered houses along canal. Antique market along canal. Fish market. Main market. Canal. Bell tower. As I was also in charge of taking photos for EuroCheapo, I gravitated toward taking pictures of tourists: reading their guidebooks in the market square, lining up for French fries, posing in front of the canal…

The tourist scene 

There were flocks of tourists, but not as many as I had feared. (”Feared” from a hotel inspection perspective. After all, it’s much more difficult to inspect hotels when all of their rooms are occupied.) Bruges, it turns out, is a place to go during the week. Tourists hit the city over the weekends—including throngs from neighboring Holland and France. During the week, however, there are fewer tourists, especially during the low season (autumn through Easter). Also, so many people visit Bruges as a day trip that the city seems to clear out at night, which is both refreshing and kind of spooky. However, during the high season, especially in the summer months, the city is packed and most of the hotels fill up.

Hotel and meal prices

I was surprised to find so many affordable hotels in the city center. Many hotels that I visited were in the €55-85 price range, making Bruges among the more affordable cities for lodging on the site. (As opposed to, say, Rome or Venice, with their €125 “cheapies”!) Best of all, most of the hotels were small, family-run affairs, most with fewer than 20 rooms.

Meal prices, however, were not so welcoming. I spent about an hour each night strolling the streets in search of a restaurant value. Of course, the main market square is lined with touristy restaurants offering semi-cheap set-price menus (some under €20). However, many of these serve sub-par food and charge you like mad for all incidentals (€8 water, €35 wine, etc.).

A welcoming city 

Finally, the hotel owners turned out to be an especially friendly lot. Being a small town, most of them know each other (or are related to each other). Bruges has over 125 family-run bed and breakfasts, most of which rent out just two or three rooms in their homes. I spent many pleasant hours in these, chatting with the owners, looking at their art collections, their unusual doll installations (you’ll be reading about that later!), and getting a better feeling for the city.

On Sunday afternoon, the proprietor of the hotel I was staying in sent me off for my last meal in town. “You haven’t yet had Belgian ‘pannenkoek‘? You need to try Rosemary’s pancakes before you leave!” She sent me to Cafe La Plaza, just north of the market. There, in a stylish Belgian restaurant (turn-tapas-bar at night), Rosemary, a friendly grandmother (and the mother-in-law of the hotel proprietor) cooks up a storm of local dishes.

It was probably one of my favorite meals of the year: Waterzooi, a chicken stew, served over puff pastry with mashed potatoes (think “Chicken a la King”’s Belgian cousin), two Jupiler beers, and Rosemary’s pancakes for dessert. Indeed, the pancakes were amazing, fluffy, buttery, folded, and stacked atop each other. I inhaled it all.

I told the waitress that I had been sent from the hotel to sample Rosemary’s wares. This was relayed to the pancake chef, who emerged from the kitchen, arms open, and embraced me. She then poured us both glasses of champagne.

It was probably the most memorable city exit I’ve ever made. Thank you, Bruges. And thank you, Rosemary!

Alas, after two weeks of traveling to Berlin, Brussels, and Bruges, these three Cheapos at Work had to fly home on Monday. Pete and Mere flew from Paris, and I returned from Brussels. 

Before I get into my “you won’t believe what Continental served us for breakfast” stomach-turner, I must apologize for not blogging during my six day hotel hunt in Bruges. The only excuse I can muster is that I was simply too tired to write. I hadn’t anticipated that Bruges would be so charming, friendly, and full of great hotels.

But more about Bruges tomorrow. I’m still fired up about my breakfast…

I returned to Brussels on Sunday night and woke up at 5:20 AM for my 8:20 Continental direct flight to New York. I was at the airport at 6:15, shuffled through check in, security, and along an extremely long terminal.

Leaving so early in the morning is kind of strange. It’s too early to get breakfast at the hotel, so you have to grab a bite at the airport. I managed to eat a quick croissant and coffee before boarding at 7:25, but I was ready for a proper breakfast.

We took off at 8:20. Soon after, Continental gave us honey-roasted peanuts and a drink. I should have already suspected something.

And then, at about 9:00 AM, they rolled down the aisle asking the unthinkable.

“Chicken or beef?” “Chicken or beef?” “I’ve got chicken and mashed potatoes or beef noodle.”

I was shocked, but not too shocked to note the reactions about me.

Many, after overcoming their initial confusion, simply resigned themselves to one of the meats and took their trays. One couple in front of me decided, in tandem, that they simply objected to the offer and didn’t want anything to do with the food or the server. The stewardess didn’t care.

“OK, don’t eat it. But this is an eight-hour flight. You’re going to be hungry.” She grimaced, and then rolled on.

When she came to me, I decided to dig a little for the real story.

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to be annoying,” I said, already accomplishing the task. “But why are you serving chicken and beef at 9 AM?”

She was cool. “Because it’s an eight hour flight.”

“Right. But why not serve it later, like at lunch time? Why not serve breakfast now?”

“What? We’re going to serve cereal and milk?” she laughed. “Do you want chicken or beef?”

I felt challenged. “No, but you could serve a muffin and a yogurt.”

“Look,” she said, obviously fed up. “Most people here ate breakfast at home before they left for the airport. Do you want chicken or beef?”

I was losing. “Well some people here slept in a hotel and had to be at the airport at 6 AM!”

She looked at me and shook her head. I somehow felt shame.

“Chicken.”

She rolled on and I uncovered my breakfast: One defeated chicken breast, limp atop mashed potatoes, mini carrots and green beans. All of it covered in gravy. The entree was accompanied by a lettuce salad, ranch dressing, a vacuum-packed dinner roll, and a brownie.

“Beer and wine is available for purchase for €4 or US $5. Please have correct change.”

Next time, I think I’ll fly a European carrier. You know, one that serves breakfast.

Greetings from Berlin, which today (Thursday) has begun rather overcast and moody (see above — the view from my kitchen window in Prenzlauer Berg, overlooking Mauerpark). Yesterday, as I touched down in Tegel at 8:10 AM, I found the city blanketed in snow, a not-too-frequent occurrence this year.

I also found myself arriving on the first day of a transit strike. Trams, buses, and the U-Bahn shut-down yesterday, leaving passengers with only the above-ground S-Bahn for mass transportation. The strike continues today. My taxi driver whisked through the snow and along the back streets in Prenzlauer Berg, avoiding the congested highway.

Yesterday, in that “first day, no sleep” delirium that blesses you on your first day in Europe, Pete, Meredith and I had the good fortune to meet up with Hilary from Less Than a Shoestring, that great daily blog about serious budget (or “no budget”) travels. She’s based in Berlin and really knows how to see the town on, well, nothing!

We S-Bahned it to Unter den Linden, gawked at the Brandenburg Gate (see above, Mere smiling at the gate–after the snow had melted), and headed for the Reichstag, the seat of the German Parliament. The domed building, a must-visit for any traveler to Berlin, was still open at 6:30 PM when we arrived, and incredibly, had no line to speak of. (Also, as Hilary pointed out, the building has no admission charge to speak of, which makes it a “Cheapo Must.”) Within minutes we were climbing upward through the dome, looking out onto the twinkling capital city.

Euro-shock side note: On my Continental flight from Newark, the price for a small bottle of wine (or any other alcoholic beverage), is now “$5 or €3″! I hope that this special “Continental” exchange rate is not a reliable forecast of things to come!

Later today: A report from ITB, Berlin’s international travel expo. (Note, it, too is easily reachable by S-Bahn!)

At long last, Tom, Pete, and Mere are heading off to Berlin today to attend the ITB conference through Saturday. It should be quite an event, throwing together national and city tourist boards, travel writers, travel agencies, and other industry types for three hectic days.

The organizers of the event sent off a press release on Monday screaming that the event has sold out. We’ll see what the Berlin Messe looks like when it’s packed to its brutalist walls!

And then, as Pete noted on Friday, we’ll head to Brussels to see what the city looks like from a budget traveler’s perspective. As Pete and Meredith tackle the hotel scene there, I’ll head off to Bruges for the week to see what budget hotel options exist in that medieval playground.

Along the way, we’ll be blogging. We’ll cover the travel conference, the hotel hunt, and the state of bargain travel in Belgium. With the US dollar slipping daily against the euro (today it’s at $1.52), this will be a timely test to see how far we can stretch our euros. And I imagine that the three of us will get a bit competitive about who can stretch their budget the farthest… while still traveling with a bit of style, naturally.

During the next two weeks, we invite you to join us on the trip. And please send us your thoughts along the way about ways to save or things to do. We’ll be looking for your help!

Coming tomorrow: Hallo, Berlin!

Dear readers, we’re packing our bags for Belgium, where we’ll be adding two new cities to the site! And we’re asking you for your advice!

First, we’ll visit Brussels, the bulls-eye of the European Union. Known for its bankers, beer, and chocolate, Brussels is also known for rather expensive lodging, presenting us with both a challenge and an opportunity.

Next we’ll head to the picturesque village of Bruges, always popular with tourists–and full of charming hotels. (Bruges has also been in lights recently with the debut of In Bruges, a film starring Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell. It’s even playing in the theater downstairs from our office. We smell popcorn!)

Now, we’re asking you for your tips! Have you been to Brussels? Bursting with something to say about Bruges?

We’re compiling our list of independently-run hotels, bed and breakfasts, guesthouses, and pensions to review for both cities. In addition, we’d love to hear your budget restaurant recommendations, Belgian know-how, and anything else you’re eager to share with us.

Send us a note or write a comment below. And thanks—your recommendations help build a better EuroCheapo.

(Editor’s Note: While we always shy away from self-promoting posts on the blog, please indulge us for a moment…)

We recently updated our EuroCheapo page on Facebook and we think it’s pretty Cheapo-rific.

On our Facebook page you’ll find photo albums including “Cheapos At Work”, “CheapoPets We’ve Met Along the Way” (hint: We’ve got sheep! Lots of ‘em!), and the occassional shot of our reviewers lost in the streets. You can also view videos submitted by fellow Cheapos and write all over our wall (we encourage it!). Best of all, you’ll be joining a growing family of Cheapos!

We’re just getting started on our page, and we’ve got contests and more in store.  Have a look, browse the photos, and become a fan of EuroCheapo!

You’ve found a great budget hotel in Paris and you’ve searched around on CheapoSearch for the best rates from different booking agencies for your dates.

And then it hits you: How can there be different rates for the same dates in the same hotel? And why are these small hotels offering booking with online agencies, anyhow?

A little back story

Ten years ago, most small, independent and family-run hotels in Europe weren’t on the radar for most first-time tourists to a city. They were simply too small to work with travel agencies or weren’t fortunate enough to be selected by the handful of travel guidebooks that recommended hotels for the first-time “independent traveler.”

During the past decade, these same hotels developed their own websites, presenting photos, room descriptions, and prices. Most built in some sort of booking form, as well. When we would visit them to inspect for EuroCheapo, many hotel owners and managers would explain that they didn’t need to work with online agencies, as they had their own websites.

Eventually, however, this wasn’t enough to really compete effectively for tourists. After all, tourists were flocking to online reservation websites, where they could compare hundreds of hotel rates in one city without having to go from one hotel’s website to another and check dates and rates.

And so, most of these small hotels realized that it made sense to offer booking with at least one online booking agency, like Venere.com or Booking.com (both of whom we work with in our “CheapoSearch” hotel search engine). When they did, the hotel found greater exposure (and more reservations) than they could have found on their own.

Once they offered booking with one of these agencies, they often were quick to realize that they could get additional exposure by offering reservations on another, and another, and another.

The booking scene today

The result is that today, many smaller hotels offer online booking with multiple booking agencies. To further complicate the issue, most of the agencies charge the hotel a different commission for their reservation services, often causing the hotel’s final rates to fluctuate from one agency to the next.

Travelers notice this when they comparison shop — and see a room at the Hotel Paris for €95 a night with one agency and €90 with another.

Ironically, booking the room over the telephone sometimes results in a higher price. After all, on a search results page online, hotels have to compete with each other for your attention. Over the phone, there isn’t the same competition at play. In other cases, the receptionist will offer a cheaper room than you could find online (often just the online price minus the agency’s commission).

What about the big American agencies? 

Why don’t these same small hotels appear on the big American search engines, like Hotels.com, Expedia, and Travelocity? They’re simply too small. A fifteen-room two-star hotel in the Latin Quarter (Oh, how we love thee!) is often too small and too inexpensive to capture the attention of the big booking agencies, who prefer to “move” a massive number of rooms at chain hotels (often in less-than-ideal neighborhoods) or smaller four-star hotels (with higher profit margins).

For this reason, EuroCheapo works only with online booking agencies that offer extensive listings of 1, 2, and 3-star independent hotels.  

Have a question about budget travel or planning your trip on the Web? Email us.

A note from Tom Meyers, Editor of EuroCheapo:

Thanks so much to Alex for the great job he did throughout 2007 on the EuroCheapo blog. From finding cool correspondents Europe-wide to editing over a dozen posts a day (not to mention introducing the office to the peppy melodies of Flemish singing sensation K3), Alex has been splendid.

The EuroCheapo blog will continue, although we will miss a certain tone (and expertise) that is all ART. Happily, we look forward to Cheapo collaborations with Alex in the upcoming months. In the meantime, Alex, best of luck, many thanks, and happy (budget-savvy) travels!