Travel More 4 Less

10/17/2026

What is your ideal Paris lodging?

I am a complete sucker for a view, and I freaking the Eiffel Tower. I don't understand the hold it has over me, but I love it.

So imagine my delight with this room. I was able to book it using my annual free night certificate from IHG. I believe they upgraded us to a nicer room with a couch and a balcony.

The hotel was conveniently located next to a metro station and in a neighborhood with restaurants and a beautiful pair of decorative fountains as a centerpiece.

The room/hotel itself was cute with a lot of midcentury appointments.

The shampoo and conditioner was so good that I hunted down the products and will be gifting myself a set as Christmas present (shipping cost from Australia is no joke).

So, everything was going swimingly. And then I saw the peekaboo view of the Eiffel Tower! From the balcony and also from the couch. Over the moon!

I made a point of being back in our room in the evening so that we got to see the light show. It was really fun.

I love a good view. How about you? What is your favorite hotel room view?

10/15/2026

I was going to write a post gushing about free walking tours.

I was going to..but every time I think about my experience with free walking tours, I feel conflicted.

When I think about booking one, I am excited and scroll through a site with the different options.

Then I think about the suggested tip of between 10 and 20 dollars per person, and try to weigh the walking tour against going to a museum or a club with a $15 cover or something like that wonder if it is really the best use of my limited funds and limited time on a trip.

Then, if I decide to go-I book it and get excited again. Because meeting people! And learning!

Then I go to The Square (because the meeting place is so often The Square) and start to feel awkward. Will we find our group? Will we find the right group? Will there be a group? I feel shy and then finally make the approach and then suffer through the small talk.

And then the tour starts, and I am over the moon! Honestly, few things make me happier than being on a tour. Learning local context. Getting the silly jokes. Hearing personal stories. Sharing with other tour goers. I always end up asking the most questions and soaking up so much info.

I am always so happy that I went on the tour.

And then we go to a new city and the process starts again!

So my advice? Push through any weirdness you might have. Go on the tour.

You will probably have fun. And if you aren’t having fun, it is perfectly okay to bow out. Just let the guide know if you can, because they try to keep track of everyone in their group.

A good tour can be a highlight of a trip, even if you are incredibly shy and awkward!

10/14/2026

"I can never stay mad at Paris."

We had a rough morning on the last day of our trip. Lots of stupid commuting as we tried to visit a nearby town and could not get the buses and trains to work in our favor.

I suggested we give up and spend our last day in Paris (heartbreak I know!)

And just to show us that we were on the right track, we step out of the Metro station and are confronted by the gorgeous Saint Eustache.

Our rule in Europe: if we see a church and it is open, we go in.

We entered the church and almost immediately a woman picked up a microphone, apologized for the interruption but announced there would be a free English speaking tour in 5 minutes!

We were the only two (plus one of her colleagues who is working on her English so that she may also give tours soon), so we basically got a private 40-minute tour of this beautiful church, learning all about the architecture and history of the church and surrounding community.

That is the sort of serendipity that makes it impossible for me to stay made at Paris.

10/12/2026

Flight diversions and delays are happening quite often these days. Here is how we handled a rough start to a trip that included being dropped in a brand new city, in a foreign country-after midnight.

Have you ever had your flight diverted? My flight was diverted to a city I had never heard of, in a foreign country. At midnight. Here's what I did next.