Layout:
Home > We're Back from our Holiday - Frugal and Not-Frugal Things

We're Back from our Holiday - Frugal and Not-Frugal Things

August 14th, 2014 at 02:10 am

We just got back from 2+ weeks in England and France (no, not Paris! More on that later!). Here are some of the frugal and not-frugal things we did on our holiday...

Frugal
- got a ride to/from the airport and left our cars at home (no parking fees)
- had someone stay in the house with our pets (no boarding fees) - we did buy him a small gift and gave him a gift certificate for Amazon (way lower than what we would have paid for pet boarding)
- stayed with family in England (and they fed us so well!)
- brought a packed lunch to the Arsenal Football Club stadium tour
- F has a "Junior Gunners membership" so her tour was free
- D contacted them ahead of time to say we were coming all the way from New Mexico and that F is a huge fan and Junior Gunner, and they arranged for the mascot - Gunnersaurus - to surprise her! Wow! And he gave her a goodybag of stuff including a watch and cuddly toy Gunnersaurus for free!
- stayed in a weekly rental in France so we cooked most of our own meals (and it's fun shopping in supermarkets in other countries)
- our stay in France was in a little town near the Spanish border - much less expensive than Paris!
- most of our days in France were spent at the beach (free); activities included walking along the cliffs to another beach about an hour away - the walk itself was awesome!
- Used public transportation in our last two days (when we didn't have a rental car) and to get to the Stadium
- Rental cars were diesel - we filled up very little
- Didn't buy souvenirs (except F got this very cool little whirlygig which we played with on the beach every evening - 2 euro - it goes up in the air with a slingshot and then spins when it comes down)

Not Frugal
- bought lunch in the airport rather than pack it (I ended up with work to do at the last minute and decided our holiday would start in the airport - but it wasn't even a good meal, so I wish I'd packed the lunch!)
- some meals out - but well worth it! - in France
- one terrible meal out in England - we took my father-in-law to his favorite pub which is just awful, but we see him so rarely and it's his favorite.
- Arsenal Football Club stadium tour wasn't cheap, but worth it
- paid for admission to some tourist sites (Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain; turtle sanctuary; a castle; and a fortress outside of Perpignan)
- Paid for the French rental apartment to be cleaned at the end rather than clean it ourselves; we could've cleaned it ourselves, but really wanted not to wreck our last day there.

I'm sure there are more... but that's all I can think of right now.



6 Responses to “We're Back from our Holiday - Frugal and Not-Frugal Things”

  1. My English Castle Says:
    1407982512

    Sounds like lots of fun--even though you know I support the Spurs!

  2. Buendia Says:
    1407983341

    Oh no, Tottenham Hotspurs! Just kidding - I actually don't care at all... but F and D are huge Arsenal supporters.

    The trip made me want to move back, if only to be closer to the rest of Europe; it's so easy to get to other places there. Where we live it takes hours to get anywhere, and even then it's probably somewhere that is just like here. Oh - and I think that F would like to move there just to get to see a few premier league matches. And the candy - I'm a little bit addicted to mint Aero bars.

  3. Looking Forward Says:
    1407988618

    Wow! Awesome sounding trip. What wonderful family time. Smile Thanks for sharing your pics.
    Where is the bottom one from?

  4. Buendia Says:
    1408020250

    That's the town we stayed in - it's called Collioure. Very picturesque, three beaches, lots of ice cream shops. Mostly French people on holiday. It's our third time there, we love it so much!

  5. CB in the City Says:
    1408023483

    Looks and sounds lovely!

  6. PNW Mom Says:
    1408024158

    Welcome back! Smile

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]