Hey everyone,
Before I start this post I would like to say I hope that all fathers out there are having a wonderful fathers day whether or not they are with their kids, mine is not. Happy Father's Day from your children dad, we love you and wouldn't be where we are today with the life experience we have acquired without all the support from you and mom! I dedicate this post to you and so you better read it! :)
And now back to my post.
This picture actually has nothing to do with what I am about to talk about but it caught my attention Friday night so I thought I'd post it. I will post pictures with captions from my walking around the Champs-Elysees yesterday.
So this post I am just going to go over
some ways to make your experience abroad cheaper. Some of these have to do
specifically with France and others are just more general ways. Some of these
may also apply to people traveling as to people with further plans on traveling
and less to people staying a specific period of time.
(Toyota - One of the new models)
Tip 1: Free calling and texting – Talkatone & Test+
Nowadays many people are relying on
smartphones like Andriods and iPhones. These give you nearly all the
capabilities of a computer except have a smaller screen and longer battery life
if you know how to utilize them properly. Many people, for making calls and
video calls, use Skype, which is also available for smartphones. This is an
international app though. The only thing is that this requires that the other
person also have the app. This also means that you need a smartphone and/or
computer. Talkatone is free android and iPhone app that assigns you an AMERICAN
phone number where people can call you and from where you can make calls to
other AMERICAN numbers. You can call landlines, cellphones, toll free numbers,
etc. I think it’s nice because only one of the people actually needs to have it. Many apps these day
require both people to have the same app since you normally will be
communicating via created accounts over a wifi connection. This is nice since
you can call your sick grandmother or cousins who may not use a computer/smartphone
very frequently or if you can call your family if you are a foreigner to the US
and have family in the US. Text+ works in the same way where you get an
assigned number and you can receive and send text messages. A drawback is that
you will have two new numbers to remember.
(Renault)
Tip 2: 5€ meal deals
Now I love eating fancy as much as the next
person but through my experience, you can never go wrong with meal that has
that natural “homely” taste. This obviously depends on what country you are in
and how they prepare their food.
For example, in Ecuador, there are certain
foods you may want to avoid if you are visiting for a short period of time and
not long enough for your body to become accustomed to the different food styles
and the different bacteria in the food. It sounds gross being said that way but
bacteria are natural in our bodies and foods and help in digestive processes.
Your body can get temporarily sick just like going cold turkey from coffee or
something else affects the body.
The meals and foods I am talking about are
in no way fancy but where they lack in pizzazz they make up for in taste and
quantity. I think of these as the street foods, which can range from picking up
a shish kebab on the corner of la Prensa y Zamora to downing an overloaded gyro
and a bucketful of fries at a small family owned Sandwhicherie down Rue de
Vaugirard.
Several things I would like
to express about these places:
(1) The different preparation styles can affect
the body.
(2) The menu options can be limited.
(3) I haven’t seen it here yet
but it places like Ecuador some will serve meals with maybe 2 options for each
plate (2 soup options, 2 meat options for main plate, 1 desert option).
(4) If
you have some time and are very hungry, I recommend sitting down because you
will get served more food this way.
(5) Don’t hesitate to talk to these people
as there are typically very friendly and you never know what stories and/or
advice they may give you. I have done this on many occasions with the people
who are providing me some type of job/service and it hasn’t yet come back in
any negative form. (5) Since these places serve a limited variety of food, the
density of people at any given time is usually less than say that of a
restaurant that specializes in all type of Italian food and so the seating areas
are also usually smaller.
(6) I consider these places to be a type of fast food
since you can eat quickly, have the option to take out, and have combo options.
There are actually cheaper than the better-known dominating food enterprises
like McDonalds.
(7) While you can usually expect the food to be unique, the
money that you are saving is money that would have gone towards higher-end
washrooms, capability to pay by credit card or traveler’s checks, space, and
sometimes even silverware. Then again, I think to appreciate a culture you have
to visit it AND live it to actually be able to understand it.
(Toyota)
Tip 3: Wi-fi access
Many of us like to be able to depend on
getting wifi access wherever we for because in this époque, it is very
convenient and efficient to have the power to adjust your plans for unexpected
things like getting lost, places closing, roads closed, etc. Some places here
in France that usually offer or sometimes offer “free” wifi access are bars,
MacDo, Laundromats, and Starbucks. You can plan out the rest of your day while
having a beer, eating some friends, while you take your morning coffee, or
while you do your weekend laundry. I say free because in some cases you are
required to buy something or else you won’t get the code because it could be on
your receipt. Other places may not require any purchase or only give you wifi
for 30-60min. This is more than enough time to look up how to get to the next
museum or train/bus stop.
Tip 4: Know your directions!!!
This may sound silly but if you are only
equipped with a local phone, have no way of connecting to the internet, and
have no map, knowing your directions can be very useful. Some very popular apps
use directions like “Head west 1.5k on Amazonas” and instead of guessing
wouldn’t you like to know the direction. This is also a very useful way of
giving directions especially when you are not familiar with the road names
people are telling you and you only know your current location. This is how I
have given directions on several occasions and is useful for people who have
troubles with maps. It essential to know since these are basic elements of the
world we live in but are slowly forgetting since all our technology does our
thinking for us. The general rule of thumb is that the East and sets in the
West which means if the sun is to your left and it is before noon you are
facing South and if it after 12pm you are facing North. It is vice versa if the
sun is to your right.
(L'arc de Triomph; I didn't know you had to pay to get in, 6.5€ I think for students)
Tip 5: Student discounts
There are many options in Europe, and
France in general, for student discounts. A lot of these can apply to touristic
event like visiting the Musée d’Orsay, L’arc de Triomph, etc. Others include
movies and other social events. Sometimes the people working aren’t too worried
about checking very deeply into the validity of your student ID. Another
discount that is given is if you are currently living in the area. You may also
need this status to sign up into certain clubs or the like. People in our group
have gotten notes from their host parents along with a copy of the parent’s ID
as proof.
(Musée des Plans-Reliefs, Musée de l'Armée, Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine)
Tip 6: More food?
Yes, this is another tip about food. This
is actually more about a specific place; Tribal Café located at 3, cour des
Petites-Ecuries, 10th district. Metro stop is Château d’Eau and the
bar opens in the afternoon. I recommend this place personally. The area may be
a little sketchy but if you keep your eyes peeled and guard up you should be
fine. The place is located in an open alley with many other eateries with a
nice local atmospheric feeling. If you are interested in getting a little meal
of couscous, meat, and veggies along with a pint of beer for 3.5€ in a casual
environment among friends, this is a place you should stop by if you go to
Paris. There’s no happy hour because of the cheapness of the beer and the beer
is all you actually pay for. This is a Friday and Saturday special that is good
the entire night.
(Petit Palais)
Tip 7: Free language lessons
This is for people living abroad. I am not
a frequent user of craigslist but was recently looking online for cheap French
lessons after my friend told me about a church that gives lessons for 20€ the
year. He hasn’t yet sent me the information or I would be mentioning that also
but I was looking online for the church, which I have not yet found, and came
across craigslist’s ads and offers for language teaching. I guess not everyone
puts a monetary value of different types of knowledge. I made contact with
someone who instead of asking for money asks help with Spanish and English. I
could see this becoming a new type of market to extend the possibilities of
learning to those who can’t or don’t want to spend lots of money. I know I
would offer any of my knowledge that someone valued for his/her knowledge that
I value.
(1 of 4 weddings I saw just in this area yesterday)
Tip 8: Free temporary room and board
This one is for traveling junkies who won’t
be staying in a place for longer than a couple nights. There are several
traveling sites where networks of people around the world offer there place or
a couch to sleep on for a couple nights and will give you tours or other
experiences of their own personal lives. One that a friend told me about is
call www.couchsurfing.org. They
provide such information as comments from previous travelers, references, quick
info (level of education, occupation, gender, age), biography, interests, what
the person will provide, etc. Not everyone will provide a place to stay but the
people who sign up are usually interested in meeting new people and creating a
memorable experience so you will get to see the big touristy places while also
experiencing the hole-in-the-wall places to which locals are more accustomed.
So I feel this is also great for people who are traveling alone and would like to
make some friends and close connections in other countries since some people
are also interested in extending their friend network.
Hope you enjoyed reading and until next
post!
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