Cheap is the new Black

How to form a lasting bond between and American and a European

2008-08-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

I've only lived on two continents (Australia and North America), unfortunately. But over that time, my circle of friends has expanded to include at least one person in every country (okay so maybe I don't know anyone from Iraq or Afghanistan but I do have friends from Moldova, Iran, and Tonga). I think people outside of Europe are easier to befriend than Europeans, maybe because they don't think they're better, smarter, richer and less obese than you. Fortunately, my European friends have grown to learn the opposite about me. I'm not obese which I'm sure they were aware of seeing that I'm 110 lbs and 5'8 and I have my masters degree. So I've proved two stereotypes wrong...or so I thought. It doesn't matter how book smart you are to Europeans, if you say one dumb thing once...Like the time I said that America was the only reason the whole world isn't speaking German (okay so my dad's a little patriotic about WWII), you're dumb forever.

Fortunately, I had great friends who tell it like it is. As an American, I was told I brag too much, I'm arrogant and I think I'm better than othe rpeople. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are taught to think that by stating their accomplishments, other people will look at you and think it's great. Not the case in Europe. My best friend/significant other in Australia was Swedish and he taught me all about modesty and individuality. He taught me about how to maintain your individuality without bragging about accomplishments and being modest about your experiences. It was a totally new thing to me. I also learned from my BFF who is a Brit that girls don't always have to be catty and insane to each other. She was the nicest, most supportive friend I've ever had who thanked me for how much I taught her during our friendship and would always compliment me.

The best part about both of these friendships, and the others I'v ehad with Europeans, is that their humour is totally dry and sarcastic. YOu have no idea if they're insulting you or if that was just a joke. Most of the time it's a joke but it can be really difficult sometimes to tell the difference.

So if you want to be friends with a European you have to realise the friendship will not be artificial, you will have to learn to figure out the difference between a joke and an insult, and you should never take for granted their friendship because it can be one of the most real relationships you will ever experience during your lifetime.

Communal showers...way too socialist, even for Europe

2008-08-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

So I booked my stay in Stockholm as I said in a previous post. As I was showing how beautiful and ikea-esque it was to my mother, I realised that I had missed something in the amenities section of the webpage: COMMUNAL SHOWERS. I looked through every review wondering why every American and Australian had said this was such a great place if I had to shower in a circle with random german backpackers (don't mind me...all travellers have a fear of german backpackers). I immediately thought that there is no way I am showeirng in front of other people at the age of 24. It's okay in high school when at least you know most of hte people, but with randoms? Not a chance in hell.
About an hour later, I found it to be a pretty hysterical situation because only I would book a hostel with communal showers. I asked my ex boyfriend, who is Swedish, about the popularity and abundance of this abnormality in his home country and he alerted me to the fact that their version of communal showers is not my version (ie a prison shower). Apparently the girls and the boys are separated and there are shower curtains to close you in...or so he says. He also then suggested it might be a fun way to get me to "open up more," which I knew was an attack on my lack of sexual experience with WOMEN. Not funny at all. So hopefully when I arrive in Stockholm in October, I won't be too surprised to find that I need to wear a bathing suit to take a shower.

One of the best tourism commercials ever....

2008-08-12T09:32:00.001-07:00

Melbourne is one of my favourite cities and I was just reminded of this great advertisement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENsTGWzC3g

One of the best tourism commercials ever....

2008-08-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

Getting around Europe...the hard way

2008-08-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

Going to three countries in 15 days? Not a problem. Leaving out of four different stations/airports to get out of London? INSANE.

So my travel plan is to head from London Heathrow to Manchester, UK to visit my best friend. Only I've discovered that the cheapest (maybe not the most time efficient way) of getting there is to go on megabus.* It's 5 pounds one way which is roughly ten dollars,but with the pound falling steadily it could be closer to 9$ at this point. The downside is I have to take the tube from Heathrow to Victoria Coach Station which means I have to hop on the Picadilly line, switch at Acton Town or South Kensington and get onto the District or Circle Line to get off at Victoria. While this migh tseem like way out of the way of convenience, its way better than paying 40 quid aka 80 USD to take a OW train to Manchester. So once I hop on the bus, I have 4-5 hours on the bus to Manchester.

After spending about a week in Manchester, I'll be heading back to London on megabus again for about 5 quid. Getting dropped off at Victoria Station again, I then have to find the Eurostar rail station so that I can catch the chunnel train to Paris. No idea how to do this yet. Hopefully the tube will take me there.

After getting to Paris, I'll take the subway to Montmarte, where I'll be staying for 3 days. I chose a hostel that was within atleast 5 minutes walking distance of a subway so that I'm not too inconvenienced to get around the city. Montmarte is about a 15 minute subway ride into the city center where all the tourist crap is.

Heading back to London on the Chunnel, I then have to get to London Stansted airport in two hours. Easybus tickets take you from Victoria Coach Station as well so I'll be heading back that way. It's about 4 quid each way (approx 8 dollars). From London Stansted, it's a 2 1/2 hour flight to stockholm with my BFF. Unfortunately, it was cheaper to fly Ryanair to an airport in the Middle of Nowhere, Sweden. The total RT cost of a flight to Stockholm was (drum roll please) 55 bucks. Not too bad considering on SAS it was 200$. So once we land in Stockholm at noon, we catch the flygbussarna from VST airport which costs about 30$ RT and which drops us off...somewhere?? I'm not really sure where the drop off point is yet. But I'm guessing it's in the city of Stockholm which is on a different ISLAND from where we are staying in Sodermalm. We, I mean I, chose to stay in Sodermalm because it is full of hipster-esque kids my age (mid-20's) with lots of cool bars, shops and fun things to do. It's likened to the BK (brooklyn) of Stockholm...

Our hostel is insanely awesome. Looks like a mini ikea with brand new swedish tempur pedic mattresses. In fact, the entir ehostel is new. I'm very excited to not be sleeping in a so-so bed while travelling for once.

* I just took the megabus last weekend from philadelphia to new york for 20.50$ roundtrip which beats amtrak's gazillion dollar train tickets and the insane/smelly chinatown bus that costs $30 RT. (my trip to nyc would have been cheaper had i planned farther ahead). but ohwell, still cheaper.

Flight prices going up?

2008-07-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

So I've been shopping for flights to Europe since I'm going there in October for two weeks to see my BFF from Sydney. A few weeks ago I found a flight on British Airways for $600-something, two weeks later it's almost 900$. I can believe this rise over the course of a few months, but over the course of two weeks? What will the price be for an economy seat on this flight when October the 3rd rolls around? $2000? Is flying from Philadelphia to London really that expensive? Someone is totally gouging us. Two years ago, whenI made my first trip to Europe, I bought my tickets for $666 the day before I left on Virgin Atlantic. I cant imagine what the price of a ticket to europe would cost if you bought it the day before the flight. It's outrageous. Luckily, the Europeans are better at offering cheaper products (H&M, Ikea, RyanAir). I found a roundtrip flight from London-Stockholm for free (with only the taxes to pay-roughly 20 $USD each way). So in total the flight costs 40 $USD. So Awesome.

But now I'm back to researching the fare fluctuations for international flights. Unfortunately, farecast.com doenst offer predictions for international flights. Do people even fly domestically? (maybe just not myself--I have the travel bug). I found a flight on AirINdia from JFK-Heathrow for 604$ and then its only another 4$ on a MEGABUS (megabus.com) from London-Manchester, where my best friend, Jemmima, lives. So there are ways to save, unfortunately it doesn't look like they're making it easier for Americans to get to Europe.

A trip to Buffalo Exchange

2008-07-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

So today I went to Buffalo Exchange to see what leftovers from my parents garage sale I could sell to them. I sold three of my grandmother's size 8 J. Crew pants and one Banana Republic blue cardigan sweater set. To them, it was worth 129$ so I had the option of getting 68$ in store credit or 38.85$ cash. I spent about 15 minutes browing the racks and only found one item to try on: a canary yellow Nannete Lepore dress they were selling for 38$. Unfortunately, it was a bit big in the back so I decided against it. I opted for the 38$ in cash.

Buffalo Exchange is a great place to make money if you keep your clothes in good condition and have a relatively fashionable sense of style. Plus, the people that work there are really nice and fun to talk to.

Travelling in the Fall

2008-07-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

I should probably mention how I'm affording this trip on a budget. I've been living o/s in Australia for over a year and got a large sum of money from my tax returns because i'm not an Australian resident ($1000). I'm also receiving 800$ in supperannuation money back from Australia (supperannuation is almost the same as a pension. your employer puts a certain percentage of your paycheck from their own pocket into a fund to be used when you retire or when you leave if you're not Australian). I'm also getting a $600 tax refund from the US. So overall I think I atleast have my travel expenses covered. I'll just need to save up money in a EuroTrip Fund that I've started in my ING Direct account.

So far, after one month of saving, this is what my ING account looks like:
Emergency Fund: 300.57
Computer Fund: 299.22
Ipod Fund: 10.04
EuroTrip:20.00

My EF was higher until I read an article about snowballing debt vs building up your emergency fund. I decided to withdraw 300$ to get my CC debt down to $430. I might end up doing that again just so the CC debt is completely wiped out (I'm not sure though). I'm also going to stop putting money into my EF Fund once my CC is paid off and put all my extra cash into the EuroTrip account. I hope to have $1500 by the time I leave!

Looking for cheap travel for the fall

2008-07-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

So I'm planning a trip to Europe in October for two weeks (Oct 6-20). I plan to leave on a Monday and return on a Monday. After researching fares and advice, many people advise to go on Tuesdays, Wed, and Saturdays. I've been messing around with my travel dates and I've found that it really doesnt matter what day you leave really, but it does matter what week you leave. Leaving a week earlier in September would up the price by 100$. I've used a lot of different cheap travel websites to look for tickets and the one that has given me the cheapest price by far has been tripadvisor.com. I found a roundtrip ticket from Philadelphia to London Heathrow on October 6 for 634$ compared to the 700$ + tickets i was finding on kayak.com, sidestep.com, expedia.com,cheaptickets.com. Plus it's on British Airways which I've heard some good things about (but never flown on) so hopefully it'll be a good flight.

Sidenote: I'm also a subscriber to Virgin Atlantic which has had some awesome deals in the past to London ( I went last minute to London roundtrip for 666$ about tow years ago and purchased the ticket the day before). Plus Virgin Atlantic is by far the best airline I have ever been on and I've been on A LOT (i.e. Qantas, American Airlines, American Eagle, United Airways, US Airways, JetBlue, VirginBlue, Jetstar, Airtran, Continental, and probably some others that I can't think of).

Making some extra cash #1: Selling/exchanging your clothes

2008-06-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

Has anyone heard of Buffalo Exchange? It's a great clothing store that functions like a consignment shop, allowing you to trade in your clothes (that are of good quality) for money or new clothes. I've done this quite a few times and this is how it works:
You take in clothing that is currently in style and currently in season.
The counter person looks over your items and tells you whether or not it will sell at the store and how much it is worth to them.
AFter tallying up the amount at the register, you can either get 50% of the amount that your clothes are worth in store credit or 30% in cash. Quite a few times I've looked around the store to see if I've found anything worth buying and if not, I'll just take the cash. Although a week ago, I got a pair of Michael Kors jeans and 30$ in cash back after I traded in a few vintage handbags my mom had bought me at Goodwill. I plan on going back this week and will recount my experience in the blog.