‘I Used Arthur Frommer’s ‘Europe on 5 Dollars a Day’’
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 05.04.07 | 3:05 PM ET
We recently noted the 50th anniversary of the classic travel guide, Arthur Frommer’s “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day.” USA Today’s Kitty Bean Yancey pays tribute today by taking a trip to Paris in search of answers to the questions, “[D]o his budget staples survive? And can a euro-trashed tourist find satisfaction there today?” Yancey also turns back the clock, sharing a terrific journal entry—and a great photo of her hitchhiking—she wrote in 1971 while traveling in Paris with the guidance of “5 Dollars.”
Finally, I tell her in French we read about her in Frommer and can only afford the rates therein quoted. She pauses, then adds a franc to his price, making it 15 francs—about $3. In desperation, I take it. She tells us we can have breakfast in our room.
“No extra charge?” I ask. She nods. Things look good. We even have a balcony. Karen thinks the bidet is a toilet and uses it. Funny!
Three bucks for a room in Paris? Nice, oui?
With the passing of time and the awful exchange rate for the euro and British pound, a few dollars doesn’t go quite so far these days. In London, for instance, $5 will get you a small umbrella from a street vendor who’s having a sale, or any number of things you may not want unless you’re hungry or in need of a bootleg T-shirt.
Related on World Hum:
* Arthur Frommer: ‘I Hated the Jingoism’
* Arthur Frommer Makes the Case Against the Cuba Travel Ban
* MTV, Like, Enters the Travel Guidebook Biz
* Lonely Planet at 30
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
