A gorgeous terminal in Madrid’s airport. Photo by lowfatbrains.

One of the things we look forward to each January is making our annual New Year’s resolutions. Call us crazy, but for whatever reason, the process of manic reinvention and self renewal just gets us excited.

And while we have a number of the ol’ standbys on our list (did somebody say “less caffeine, more jogging, and only red wine instead of Weihenstephans?”), we’ve also put together some travel resolutions. Drum roll, please:

Ten resolutions for budget-friendly traveling in 2009

1. I resolve to travel more.

2. I resolve to understand my bank’s ATM and credit card fees before I go. And while I’m at it, I might even call my bank ahead of time to let them know it’s me who’s traveling, rather than my stolen identity.

3. I resolve to purchase my intra-European flights on low-cost carriers as early as possible to get wild and crazy deals.

4. I resolve to stop obsessing over the daily fluctuations of exchange rates.

5 a. I resolve to understand how much I’ll get charged before using my Blackberry abroad.

5 b. I resolve to just leave my Blackberry off while I travel.

6. I resolve to rely on my memory as much as my camera.

7. I resolve to break out of my own travel mode and welcome new destinations. (Extra credit points go to fellow Cheapo-in-Chief Tom Meyers, who blasts off for St. Petersberg, Russia, in 2 weeks…)

8. I resolve to be better about frequent flyer points and awards programs, regardless if I plan to travel a long or short distance.

9. I resolve to never take a taxi to or from an airport, no matter how tired I feel.

10. I resolve to always be in the process of planning my next trip, even if it means just reading up on the destination or looking at photos.

What are your New Year’s travel resolutions? Please add them in the comment field below!

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Now that the presents are unwrapped and most of the eggnog is gone, we’ve been spending quite a bit of time reading (and chuckling) through our many blog posts from 2008.

And what a year it has been, Cheapos! We’ve published over 300 blog posts since January, upon which you’ve provided nearly 400 comments, all of which has helped make our blog (hopefully) a useful and friendly budget travel resource for Cheapos worldwide.

But we can’t officially say goodbye to 2008 without doing an obligatory end of year wrap up of a few of our favorite posts. So join us as we tap into our inner Ryan Seacrest and present to you some of our “2008 Blog Greatest Hits!”

1. Most Popular Post:
Perhaps we shouldn’t be hugely surprised, but our most popular post in 2008 was “Top tips for a budget-friendly European vacation.” Written back in early spring, the tips are still just as relevant today - have a look.

2. Most Commented Post:
We always enjoy reading comments from our readers, but the post that generated the greatest amount of chatter was “Where to watch U.S. election results in Europe,” which had 38 comments. When we first wrote the post we included venues at 6 different cities, but with all the comments and feedback we received from you it expanded to recommendations in 17 cities across Europe (and a few outside Europe, too.)

3. Most Frequently Commenting Cheapos:
Two Cheapos, in particular, consistently submitted helpful tips and feedback to our blog posts this year and deserve special mention. They are “poetloverrebelspy” from the Less Than A Shoestring budget travel blog, and Marilyn Terrell from the National Geographic “Intelligent Travel” blog. Thanks to both of you for all of your comments in 2008 and please keep them coming in ‘09!

4. Most Constructive Budget Travel Debate Within Blog Comments:
Just the word “Ryanair” elicits all sorts of emotions within budget travelers everywhere. However, we particularly enjoyed seeing the helpful banter back and forth among several Cheapos in the comments section of our post “NYC to London for $13? Ryanair prepares for U.S. takeoff.” Any post that produces side wagers within our comments gets our vote!

5. Best Travel Photo Caption Contest:
We were delighted to read through the various entries to our “Barcelona Dog” caption contest this past May. Some of which, admittedly, even we didn’t entirely understand…

6. Best use of subtle Photoshopping within blog photos:
Our office was in full-blown wacky Halloween mode this past October 31st, which culminated with our “EuroCheapo’s Spookiest Hotel Ghost Photos” post. Ok, spoiler alert: we used a little bit of Photoshop wizardry to enhance a couple of the photos, but have a look and see if you can tell which ones.

And lastly, we’d like to say a very special thank you to Darren over at the Travel Rants blog in the UK, who hosted a consumer blog award contest that resulted in EuroCheapo being named “Best Corporate Blog.” We appreciated even being included within Darren’s nominations and we look forward to even more blogging, helpful reader comments, and Photoshop creativity that’s to come in 2009!

Happy (almost) New Year, Cheapos!

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We’re heading out of the office for a few days, Cheapos, to visit family and friends back in Ohio, Atlanta and North Carolina. We’ll be back on the blog in a few days and, in the meantime, we wish our fellow Cheapos across the globe a very happy and safe holiday season!

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Photo of Cafe In de Waag by Peterhoneyman

Editor’s Note: Pete and Meredith just spent a long weekend in Amsterdam. This is a post from their recent journey.

A little bit of history

In 1488, St. Anthony’s Port - today a weigh house that stands in the center of Nieuwmarkt Square in Amsterdam - opened its doors and became one of the Dutch capital’s original city gates. Later, the building was reconstructed to function as a guild house for surgeons and doctors studying medicine and conducting experiments.

An elaborate octagonal ceiling loomed over the resident medical ampitheater where Amsterdam’s finest practioners could dissect and then study the corpses of recently executed criminals. The general public was welcomed into the demonstrations, and they became as popular as a trip to the movies might be for us today.

Making history

In 1632, Rembrandt painted “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” in the guild house ampitheater. Today, you can visit this historic stomping ground simply by stopping into the Cafe In de Waag, a restaurant and bar now housed inside the original weigh station, in the center of Amsterdam’s Nieuwmarkt Square.

Today’s special

While dinner is a tad expensive here, a Cheapo can purchase a Heineken for €2.50 or a soda for €2.20.  The evening that we visited ‘In de Waag,’ we opted for nightcaps (two glasses of wine set us back €8). Since the wait staff wasn’t busy with a crazy dinner rush, we were able to linger long over our drinks and ask lots of questions about Rembrandt’s heyday, and how the building fit in to it all.

While we couldn’t exactly peek into the original room where Rembrandt painted the masterpiece, we felt close enough to the real deal. Considering that the Rijksmuseum’s admission price is €10 per person, we felt like it was all a pretty good deal and a great Cheapo night out!

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Earlier in the week, several of the Cheapos in our office (i.e., my wife Meredith and me) were in Amsterdam for a short holiday visit.  Having recently picked up a new digital camera for the first time in 5 years - hello recession discounts! - we snapped an absurd volume of photos, and include a few of the greatest hits below. 

Happy Friday, Cheapos!

Touring the canals throughout Amsterdam’s Old Center

The weekend scene at Dam Square

Our friends at Amsterdam’s Artis Zoo

Seeking The Dutch “Dukes of Hazzard”

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Today we’re beginning a new series of interviews called “4 Cheapo Questions For”. We’ll be talking travel with notable travel writers, bloggers, and other travel industry personalities. The format is nice and simple: 4 questions, 1 photo, and maybe - just maybe - a bonus question if we’re feeling snappy.

First up to bat is Sean O’Neill, a Cheapo favorite and the blog editor at BudgetTravel.com.

1. Can you please tell our fellow Cheapos a little about yourself and the Budget Travel blog, “This Just In?”

I’m on staff at BudgetTravel.com, the website of Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine. Since April 2007, one of my duties has been to keep our blog, This Just In, lively, topical, and reader-focused. We work out of Times Square in New York City. I’m flattered to be asked to participate in this Q&A with the supersmart Cheapos.

2. What’s the best budget travel advice you’ve ever received?

Ask a local! My mother taught me that. In fact, when I was visiting my mother last weekend, she once again demonstrated the value of following this advice.

Here’s what happened: We went from her home in suburban New Jersey to downtown Philadelphia to catch a play. Afterward, we wanted to grab a bite to eat. I had done my research on neighborhood restaurants, but she dismissed all of the recommendations from newspapers and guidebooks.

My mother then marched right into a grocery store that was on the same block as the theater, walked up to a woman standing in a check-out line, and asked for a tip for a great local seafood restaurant. The woman immediately suggested Seafood Unlimited, and another stranger standing in line behind her chimed in with her own views. Gratefully, we went straight to Seafood Unlimited, and we were ultimately glad we did. It was a terrific restaurant because of its broad menu of seafood, attentive wait staff, and affordable prices.

So my advice to you is: Listen to my mother! Locals know where the best stuff is. If you ask a local for a recommendation, he or she will naturally tend to point you to the best part of their community. It’ll be a point of pride!

Obviously, I’m not specifically suggesting that you seek out grocery stores for travel tips. That’s a somewhat extreme example of the principle in practice. Feel free instead to stop a local on the street corner or to tap the shoulder of a fellow patron at a coffee shop. But the principle of asking a local — and not an official paid employee of a hotel or a visitor’s bureau — is a tactic that anybody will find rewarding.

To be sure, even I — as a full-time travel editor — was intimidated to follow my mother into a grocery store and start asking random strangers for travel tips. It’s easy for us feel shy when we’re in an unfamiliar setting. No one wants to risk being rejected. (My mother is charming and harmless-looking, which are two advantages that not all of the rest of us share.) Yet, having said all that, I still encourage you to take the risk and ask a local for help. You won’t regret it.

3. What is the best European winter destination for budget travelers and why?

Pardon me if the following response comes off as obnoxious but I’d say that Cuba is the best European winter destination. (Editor’s reaction: Oh no he didn’t!) 

Now, obviously, Cuba is no where near Europe. But it’s where European vacationers have been flocking in droves as a warm weather destination. Go to a beach bar in Havana and almost everyone there will be from Europe, with a few Canadians tossed in for good measure. Walk through a train station in Paris or Amsterdam or Rome and you’re bound to see a travel poster advertising the wonders of Cuba. And the global recession hasn’t slowed things down. USA Today reports that hotel reservations in Cuba in December have remained at record levels.

The good news for Americans is that it appears that the Obama administration may loosen up the restrictions for American citizens on travel to Cuba. It appears that within the next year or so, American budget-conscious travelers will be able to go for educational trips as part of tour groups, according to the L.A. Times.

The even better news is that a well-respected poll of the Cuban American community by Florida International University has found, for the first time, that a majority of that community supports a lifting of travel restrictions. In other words, it seems likely that Cuba may soon be within reach for Cheapos. And that’s where you’ll find many interesting Europeans in the winter.

4. When and where is your next trip, and how are you doing it on the cheap?

Thailand. I plan to economize by booking all the travel myself, opting for cheaper public ground transportation whenever possible, and skipping the expensive Westernized resorts in favor of locally owned properties.

* Bonus round! Other than Budget Travel magazine, what do you read on the road?

I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer to that. When I’m on the road, I try to be focused on where I’m at rather than stay connected to the U.S. through the media.

One exception: While in Europe, I’ll sometimes pick up the local travel publications on the newsstands for quick reads. The average European travels so much more than the typical American does, which means that European travel publications are forced to be more sophisticated than U.S. travel publications to satisfy the demands of their readers. (Compare the British edition of Conde Nast Traveller [with two L’s] to the American edition [with one L] and you’ll see what I mean — as but one example.]

Thanks so much, Sean, and best of luck to you and the rest of the staff at BudgetTravel.com!

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The scene between gates E and F at Schiphol. (Photo by Grumbler)

Editor’s Note: Pete and Meredith just spent a long weekend in Amsterdam. This is the first of several posts from their recent journey.

Homeward bound

You know the scene, Cheapos. It was a bleary day in Amsterdam and we were a bit veklempt about bidding farewell to all the old school bicycles, chocolate with our morning coffee, and gorgeous canal views, but alas…it was time to return to New York.

A heavy fog loomed over the city causing airport delays. We were in a fog of our own, after multiple nights out on the town, days spent roaming the streets, and a less-than-friendly sleeping arrangement due to a hotel room that was directly under a construction site (but more on that later!).

Happy trails

So we were overjoyed to end up in the middle of gates E and F in the international departures terminal at Schiphol Airport where we could take our good ol’ time browsing the drawings and paintings of Dutch masters like van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Peter Paul Rubens.

Earlier, we had read and even blogged about the free art on display. We were also pretty well aware of the lay-out and comforts that Amsterdam’s well-known airport offers its drifters.

Private collection

We had the gallery to ourselves and spent about 30-minutes combing the exposition, feeling particularly smitten by the watercolors. All in all, a terrific idea. Free art while you wait to take-off. When we finally settled into our seats on a KLM Royal Dutch flight we felt properly cultured, and even watched half of Wall-e in Dutch. (Did somebody say roboten?)

Need to know…

The exhibit, comprised of about a dozen works of art, is sponsored by the Rijksmuseum and ING and focuses mainly on what the Dutch tend to refer to as their “Golden Age” of art, i.e. stuff produced during most of the 17th-century. Visit Schiphol’s Rijksmuseum site for opening and closing times, directions to the terminal, and more.

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Moscow from a hotel room. Photo by sevenbrane.

Here’s the deal: I’m in the midst of planning a late January journey to Russia. It’s completely exciting and different and will take EuroCheapo into new (and frozen) territory. However, I’ve hit a minor accommodation stumbling block and could use a little help from you.

I’ll be in St. Petersburg for eight days–exploring the city, camping out at the Hermitage, and visiting some hotels for the site. I’ve got the lodging covered in St. Petersburg.

Moscow hotel quandary

However, from St. Petersburg I’ll be heading down to Moscow for three days. This requires two nights in a hotel. As you may know, Moscow hotel prices are quite steep.

Here’s what I’ve found so far:

* Hostels are available with bunks for $30 a night.
Problem: I don’t want to stay in a hostel. (And I really shouldn’t, considering I’ll have a computer, cameras, and such. And I haven’t found any hostels with private rooms.)

* B&Bs run about $135-200 a night.
Potential problem: Will I be able to find it? Will I feel completely safe staying in a B&B in Moscow? Most of the B&Bs I’ve found don’t have any guidebook or user reviews. Yikes.

* Hotels start at about $200 and shoot up to over $500 a night!
The cheaper hotels tend to be Soviet-era concrete structures (which have their own special charm), located at some distance to the city center. Recognizable chain hotels start at about (gulp) $300 a night and quickly become much more expensive.

So what’s a Cheapo to do in Moscow? Where does an independent traveler stay?

I’m realizing that this isn’t like planning a trip to Europe. Aside from the slightly spooky formalities (hello mandatory tourist visa!), it’s also quite a bit harder to find helpful advice online.

I’m obviously a proponent of independently-run small hotels, and thus this dilemma doubly concerns me. Perhaps Moscow demands a different approach. I’m wondering if I might want to splurge on a three or four-star hotel in Moscow. Or would it be cheaper to book a hotel through a travel agency in the States?  Join a tour package (double-yikes!)?

Tell me: Have you been to Moscow? Where did you stay? Do you have any advice? Thanks!

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The National Theater in London. Photo by Sizemore.

We were thrilled to read that the National Theater will again be hosting its extensive Travelex £10 ticket season in early 2009.

London’s theater scene is among the most celebrated in the world. Ticket prices, happily, are already more reasonable than their counterparts in New York, and half-priced same-day tickets from the TKTS booth at Leicester Square make them even more affordable. The National’s festival is a great addition to the city’s affordable theater offerings.

Cheapo productions at the National

Held annually since 2002, the National’s £10 ticket season runs from February to May. This year, theater buffs can enjoy productions like the brand new England People Very Nice; other productions include Death and the King’s Horseman, Burnt by the Sun, Dido, Queen of Carthage, Time and the Conways, and Berlin.

Buy tickets online

All productions are held in the Olivier Theatre. Although tickets can be purchase online, they can only be sent to UK post addresses and must be ordered at least a week before the show. You can also pick up your tickets at the box office.

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Christmas market at Maria Theresien Platz by 12 degrees C

Ah, Vienna - the city fills us with music. We can’t help it, but it also makes us think of The Sound of Music, even though that musical took place in another Christmas “markt” town, Salzburg. It also makes us think of the fancy Hapsburg family and some of the brightest Christmas lights in Europe.

On Wednesday we put together a photo montage of some of our favorite things about Salzburg’s Christmas markets, so today we offer “some more of our favorite things” about Vienna’s Christmas markets.

(Cue: music!)

Brown paper packages (and puppets and ornaments) tied up with string…

Photo courtesy of tttaaaooo

**Tip: Be sure to pick up a Mozart-themed tree ornament, of which there are many.

Cream colored (Ok, so he’s brown.) ponies and crisp apple streudels…

Photo of the Christmas mini-horse by PaulaFunnell

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes…(but we’ll settle for boys in parkas)-

Ice skating at Town Hall; photo by Premshree Pillai

Snowflakes (stenciled into fancy decorations) that stay on my nose and eyelashes…

Photo of holiday lamps courtesy of Edi Weissmann

Silver white winters that melt into spring…

Photo by mosint

Ooooh.

Photo of Vienna’s Townhall by ahisgett

 Ahhh.

Photo taken in front of Schonbrunn Palace, by tomanthony

Fancy!

These are some more of our favorite things!

(Repeat all verses.)

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