Part 2 of Money-saving tips for traveling in Europe

Just back from nearly a month in Europe. 🇫🇷🇪🇸🇨🇭

Traveling? Amazing. Jet lag and overspending? Not so much. 🤡

We knew we were alarmingly over budget 🧮🚨💸, but those museums, tours, and amazing meals? Non-negotiable. Life-enriching experiences are always worth it.

Now we’re home, facing the terrifying overspent number 🙈 and brainstorming ways to recover (anyone need a kidney?). 🫠

Could we have traveled smarter? Probably. But hey, learning is part of the adventure. And if our lessons help you avoid the pain, it wasn’t all in vain! 🥺

Here’s to more magic and fewer budget regrets on your travels. 🫰🦄

In this letter 💌, we’ll share another 3 money saving tips for traveling in Spain 🇪🇸 & France 🇫🇷

1. When all else fails, go for audio-guide 🎧
2. Skip the booking platform 🤫
3. Time ⏰ and energy ⚡️ are more valuable than money

1. When all else fails**, go for audio-guide 🎧**

Tourism feels way crazier post-COVID. 🙉

Everywhere needs tickets, and they sell out before you even finalize your plans.

Last-minute guided tours? Forget it. 😭

And once we know the standard prices, third-party guided tours are hard to swallow. 💸 Some even feel like glorified audio guides, 😅 so sometimes you’re better off just using the audio guide.

If the place you want to visit is sold out of self-guided tours and you don’t want to cough up the cash for a third-party one, just go with the audio guide. 👂🎧

Most places in France and Spain have awesome options now. 🤩💫

Like at the Louvre, the audio guide is on a Nintendo 3DS! Tyler was over the moon 🌝—his soft spot for the 3DS comes from it reigniting his love for retro games. He had the best time exploring art masterpieces with his favorite gadget. 😻

Also at Hôtel de la Marine, the audio guide had this cool spatial sound that made the whole experience quite immersive. Super cool! 😎

2. Skip the booking platform 🤫

This tip isn’t just for Europe—it works anywhere, especially for long stays.

Instead of booking directly through platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, or Booking.com, try Googling the name of the listing. You might be able to find the owner's contact info and reach out directly to ask for a discount.

Many owners are open to negotiating since it saves them from paying platform fees and dealing with the platform’s restrictions. (As hosts, we often feel a lack of protection and empathy from platform companies 😢, so it usually doesn’t take much to convince us to book directly.)

Just be sure to protect yourself: ☔️

• Use secure payment methods
• Have a written agreement in place. If the host requests a deposit, ask them to confirm it via email or chat for added assurance.
• Another idea is to ask the owner if they’d be open to offering a 50-70% discount on the platform while you pay the rest in cash. This way, both parties are partially covered by the platform, adding a layer of security for everyone.

It’s a clever way to save money and make sure everyone wins! 💕🤝

3. Time ⏰ and energy ⚡️ are more valuable than money

Even though we’re alarmingly in the red on our budget, 😭🚨 we didn’t hesitate to pay for an Uber when heading to train stations or Airbnbs with all our luggage.

It saved us the stress of scrambling to make it on time and gave us extra energy to explore later. Sometimes, convenience is worth every penny. 🙏

Paris is the ultimate hub for fine arts, packed with iconic masterpieces.

But with all the tourists, it gets crowded fast, and tickets sell out quickly—so make sure to plan ahead.

We grabbed the Paris Museum Pass to cover most of the spots we wanted to visit. Highly recommend it! 😉

Also check out

• Tasting our way through Spain 🤤
• Our Spain highlights 🇪🇸
• Financial Freedom on the Go: Travel tips to keep your budget in check & Our favorite budget tools for traveling 🥰

Hope it's helpful for your journey to Freedom 🙏

Love you to freedom and back, 🫰

Angie & Tyler

Things We are Loving Right Now ❤️‍🔥

🧳 Travel

• ⌚️ Travel the world without losing track of time: Sure, smartphones have world time, but nothing beats the instant convenience of a watch.

  For Tyler, it's essential when juggling Airbnb check-ins and outs across time zones.

  This one is cheap, durable, water-resistant, and even has a cool graphic of the continents showing the current time zone. Practical and stylish!

• 👕 Merino Wool T-shirts:

  What takes up the most space in your luggage? Clothes, hands down.

  The hack? Quick-drying fabrics.

  Merino wool is the queen 👸 of quick-drying fabrics: odor-resistant, heat-regulating, and great for cooler weather. For the tropics, we go even lighter. Hand wash them at night, and they’ll be dry by morning.

  Trust us, having 2 shirts instead of 5+ makes a huge difference when you’re constantly on the move. ✨ Pack two and you’re set for months—once you go light, you never go back.