Mistakes in travel from being too cheap

We haven't done this, because I figured it out pretty quickly when we started traveling to Europe, but it's worth the money to stay in central locations with great public transportation.

I agree with Kaeleku on the bathroom issue. We have stayed in a number of hostels. They have private rooms, but the bath is shared. This seems a very small issue to us. We do not spend our time in Europe in the bathroom (except at the start of the trip :-< ). We enjoy spending less on the stay, and use the money for the important things - coffee, wine, and beer.

Read another post which reminded me of another "too cheap" choice.

We arrived in Zagreb on a late train. The train was especially late, due to a track issue. It was about 9:00 on a Saturday night. My wife said "Let's walk to the hotel". Silly me - I agreed. It took 1.5 hours to get there. By the time we had gotten into the room, and situated ourselves, it was 11 PM. Even in a large city on Saturday night, there were no restaurants still serving at that time. We did have wine and dessert, but not a dinner. We didn't get lost, but felt somewhat lost because the house numbering in Zagreb is not always clear or obvious. In addition, the tram ran directly in front of the hotel, and for 4 Kuna (about .50 USD) we could have gone from the train station to the hotel in about 5 minutes.

Moral: Take transportation from the train/bus when entering the city.

On past trips I have booked a few rooms in cities by doing express deals on Priceline. It has saved us a lot of money, and for the most part worked out well, but in 2014 our room in London was pretty bad. I paid right around 100 usd / night which isn't bad for London, but the room couldn't have been much more than 200 sq. It was two twin beds with about a foot between them and about 18" at the end of the beds! Room was basically in the attic up 4 winding flights of stairs. The neighborhood wasn't great either. It was on Argyle street a few blocks from Kings Cross. It was doable and not terrible, but I've come to realize that how you feel about your hotel / b & b room has an impact on how you feel about your visit over all. I've decided it's really worth it to make sure you know what you are getting for your money. Next year we're staying at the Premier Inn St. Pancras. I think it will be a big step up:)

We booked the very early flight from Barcelona to Granada because it was cheaper. The airport bus wasn't running and we had to take a taxi. That cut into the savings on the early flight!

On my first trip to Portugal several decades ago, I walked to my hotel from the train station. At that time I was pretty good about sending postcards back home to my parents. (Pre email, so they otherwise had no idea where I was.) On the way to the hotel I noticed at least one place with postcards priced at 5 escudos, but I didn't want to do anything before I checked in at my hotel.

A half hour or so later I'm back out on the street, sightseeing. Time to buy the postcards. But now I'm only seeing 6-escudo postcards. I wandered around quite a bit, looking for those 5-escudo postcards before it finally dawned on me that the 1-escudo difference amounted to less than 2 US cents per postcard.

But for sheer stupid pigheadedness, nothing is as bad as being cold over an extended period during my first (summer-long) trip to Europe and not even considering buying a sweater.

My take is a bit different, but here goes...

If in Italy, and you insist on only eating a hotel breakfast, a snack at lunch, and very little in the evening or just your AirBnB kitchen...you have missed Italy.

If you plan a trip that gives you only one night in a location (maybe a night here or there is OK) then you are missing something.

If you fail to research, or educate yourself on the sights you want to see, just show up then decide not to pay for a guide (which is OK if you did your research), then you are missing something.

Yes, night trains are rarely worth the pain, ferries vs flying? if over four hours rarely make sense, same with trains.

Spring for a luggage locker or Left Luggage whenever the opportunity comes up.

If public transport or walking makes little sense/time consuming, or just is difficult...spring for a cab.

There have been times I regretted being too cheap on part of a trip. Taking a night train was certainly not the cause for regret, let alone a mistake.

I have no problems taking night trains , be they 8 hrs or 12 hours, such as Munich to Berlin, when the direct connection existed, now it's Munich to Hannover Hbf, still not bad, since it arrives before 0700, or Wien to Hamburg. Every trip since 2009 has had at least one night train scheduled, the more recent trips always two night trains. The EN night trains cover many routes Saving money is a small part of the reason.

The key question is why was I cheap, ie, how stupid of me. That is the main issue which is sometimes the reason for regret, such as not staying at better place, or not changing the hostel room, not taking a particular day train route but opting for another one, etc.

In Melbourne, Australia I booked a bed in a hostel during the summer because their website said the hostel had air conditioning. Turned out that really meant "we have 1 window a/c unit that we keep running in the common area lounge". Mistake was not confirming the hostel actually had a/c units in the sleeping areas. And there was no fan, the 1 window in the room would only open about 3 inches and I was sleeping on the top bunk and since heat rises, it was absolutely miserable up there.

Domestically, we once decided to book a beach house with my friend and her husband. When we had narrowed down the final choices to 2 homes in our price range (1 beachfront with no a/c and the other 2 blocks away from the beach with a/c), my friend's husband complained bitterly the house with the air conditioning (which I wanted to book) cost $300 more for the week, wouldn't have a view of the ocean and he'd have to walk further with his beach chair instead of just walking right out the front door. He insisted the un-air conditioned house would stay cool because of the ocean breezes and he continued to complain about coming up with half of that $300, so we let him have the final say and booked the cheaper beach house.

Naturally, the week we chose turned out to be the hottest week ever in over 25 years. There was absolutely no breeze coming off the ocean - the breeze was coming from land and it was scorching hot. The house had hardly any fans. We were feeling like we were even sweating taking a cold shower. My significant other, who has never been a big fan of the beach anyways, spends no time at the beach because it's simply too hot. He escapes to shopping malls, movie theaters and takes to standing directly in front of the ice cream cases at the grocery store holding the door open to keep himself cool before he has to go back and suffer in the beach house. After 3 nights he can't take it anymore and goes home but I insist on toughing it out for the rest of the week rather than take the loss. The temperatures finally broke on the last day.

My friend divorced her husband 2 years later. Needless to say, I wasn't sorry to see him go and neither was my friend who insists on a/c wherever she goes now because of that week.

I wish I was giving prizes, because Ciedleh's story about the hot beach house deserves something. Such a vivid description, too. I felt like I was there. I also enjoyed Jill's small room in London; we too stayed in a very small room at one point many years ago.

The last time I booked a room with a shared bath to save $$ was about 20 years ago. When I woke up and needed it early in the morning, I mean really really needed it, it was in use. I won't go into details but I did have to come up with an emergency alternative to the toilet. Never again. On my recent trip to France I did book one room in a b&b that had it's own dedicated bathroom directly across the hall from the room, which I thought would be ok. By this time in my life I have some issues with having to get up, sometimes more than once, during the middle of the night. I discovered that flushing the toilet in the middle of the night woke up the entire building - how embarrassing. I will never again book a room without ensuite bathroom, no matter how much more it costs.

Geez, Nancy. Well, I will tell you another story about this trip. Very embarrasing. We have been on a low-carb diet, but in France, the only people on low-carb diets are in the graveyards. While the bread goes in with such pleasure has to go somewhere. For the first 6 days, I had issues. Sometimes the issues got very difficult. On the next trip, I will prep by going off the low-carb diet 1 week before the trip. Changing your diet during a trip can be somewhat difficult. I will not say how difficult, but it was difficult. You can be very embarrassing about how difficult.

We took the "sleeper" train from Frankfurt to Denmark to get married in 2003. No sleep at all and we arrived exhausted. It isn't the train we would have picked, but it came with the wedding package that we had bought. (paperwork, hotel, train)

In Edinburgh, there were lots of tours to choose from and because we had heard so much about those free Sandemann tours, we went on one. This turned out to be the biggest waste of time on our short, 3 day visit. Horrible tour, but you still feel guilty not tipping anything cause you know the guide has to pay the owner for each person that starts the tour. So many people had left the tour by the end, the guide was probably in debt. Next time, will go for one of the excellent literary tours and pay up front.

My vacation time is valuable to me and so is my sense of comfort, and I've done well so far catering to both:

I will pay more for a flight that's on an airlines I like, that departs when I like and arrives when I like, with only 1 connection at most; i.e. if I could save $500 but had a 10 hr layover and arrived at 2 am I wouldn't go for it.

I don't need the most expensive hotel in town, but I won't stay at a flop house, either. Upper mid-range works for me and I haven't chosen poorly yet. I will never, ever stay anywhere without an en suite bathroom or a/c. As Jill mentions above, where and how I stay can have a big impact on how I feel about my trip, especially as I'm alone.

Even if the approximate time traveling was the same, I'd rather fly between cities even if that's $200 vs a $50 train ticket.

I love using public transportation but I also know when it makes more sense for whatever reason to take a taxi.

As a solo traveler the one place I save a bit of money is on food--if not the hotel breakfast then coffee and pastry to get me started, and at least one meal a day will be in a nice sit-down restaurant, a snack could be anything from a sausage stand, ice cream or a Subway sandwich. I never miss a chance to have pastries.

Twice I had saved on short-haul flights and ended up having transportation issues that negated the savings at time of booking: in one case, too tight of a schedule so that a small delay on luggage retrieval meant a taxi ride (and a very expensive one) instead of just taking a cheap regional train that served the airport and the place I'd be staying. In another occasion, I booked a flight with several connections instead of another option, € 100 (give or take) more expensive, that involved just one transfer with departure times much more civilized. As a result, I spent a full day racing through 4 airports and then realized how wasteful that had been. Lesson learned.

Another costly mistake was to believe on soft information given by friends and parking at a forbidden area at a curbside in Zurich overnight, only to be slapped with a CHF 550 fine (between towing charges and the fine proper). I had driven the whole day, I was tired, the hotel had a semi-public parking facility (a garage open to non-guests) which was full, the weather was rainy and I just wanted to check-in, shower and go to bed. This friend, who had lived in Switzerland before, assured me that he knew the ins and outs of Zürich and that we could leave the car parked there. It was a mistake, and an expensive one at it - I was not parking in front of a fire hydrant, or blocking a driveway, but it was a turning area for buses reversing there, so probably when the first bus had to maneuver more to avoid a couple irregularly parked cars, they called the two service.

I can't think of any mistake I made by trying to be cheap and having it end up being more costly.

However, I have the opposite story.

When I was in Dubrovnik in 2014, I wanted to take a day trip to Montenegro. But all the "tours" seemed rigid and didn't allow enough time in Kotor. Plus I really wanted to get someone to drive me up to Cetinje, with a stop in Njeguški for the pršut, and I had no interest in visiting the Church of Our Lady of the Rocks. So in spite of the cost (I was traveling solo), I hired a private guide, told him exactly what I wanted to do, and he gave me what I thought was a fair price. I don't remember exactly, but it was in the vicinity of $300 - $350. I told him if he found other travelers who might like to join the tour and split the cost, he should feel free to include them.

The day before the tour, I got an email from him telling me that a family of American tourists would be joining, and my cost would be just $50. I was very happy about that until I learned, when the tour began, that their itinerary was completely different from the one he and I had agreed to. Pretty much their only agenda was to check off another country. We stopped in Perast and took the little ferry to Our Lady of the Rocks. Then when we got to Kotor, we had just an hour. And then we headed back, stopping at a restaurant in some village in southern Croatia for dinner (where I got to dine with this group of strangers who were actually quite pleasant and did their best to include me, but were just American tourists after all, so this was hardly the way I would have wanted to spend my time). I was so disappointed.

The guide's name was Pepo Klaic. Recommended in the RS guidebook. And mine is not the only bad experience with him. (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/day-tours/pepo-klaic-dubrovnikshoretrip-com-day-trips-negative-review).

So sometimes the opposite happens. You are willing to bite the bullet for something expensive and customized to your interest, and all you get is the economy package.

There are accommodations with shared bathrooms that have been wonderful. Depends on how many people are sharing and the quality and care of the management. I have stayed at hostel in Lisbon in which the baths were literally cleaned down to the grout line several times every day and there were plenty of bathrooms to handle the quests. Also have good experience s with accommodations that the owners lived in the building,like the place I will be tomorrow in Valencia. But I know going in what to expect. Booking .com reviews first because only those who have stayed there can review, then trip advisor and any other source that I can find.

My story of saving money is similar to Lane's. My wife and I were in Iquitos Peru and were going to go upriver to a lodge off the Amazon. A big part of the expense was the boat trip up and the guide. The Price if I remember was like $400 for the trip, but they cut it to $200 if we went with 2 other people or more and shared the boat trip and guide. This 30 something yo lawyer from Philly was interested for him and his girlfriend who was elsewhere at the time. He seemed ok so we said sure.

Turns out his gf is an 18 yo city girl from Lima who hated the whole idea of the jungle. On the 2nd or 3rd night he is hammered drunk and threatening the workers at the lodge because they won't give him more beer. He is also mad at me when I told the guide I didn't want to go on the night tour with him because he was hammered. The guide had chosen to take us out and leave the other 2 at the lodge. The next morning the girl hopped a boat back, with the lawyer's money and passport. He was raging. Eventually, the local police, who pretty much just looked like a bunch of local village guys who liked to fight, had to subdue him and tie him up to take him home. A littles scary but we ended up ok and with a good story. The most dangerous thing in the Amazon is a Philadelphia lawyer.

Keith wins--so far.
Keep the entries coming folks.They're great!

Best "Philadelphia Lawyer" story I've heard.

First couple of solo trips, I wanted to be as frugal as possible. So I ate from markets and grocery shops, and walked to and from attractions rather than use public transportation. Reasoning was that the less I spent, the sooner I could afford to come back. With age and experience, I realized that restaurants are about more than just eating - they're part of the experience. Walking everywhere kept me from seeing some great sights, and left me too tired to enjoy the last few days of each trip.

Usually for us it's trying to do public transportation when arriving instead of just getting a damn taxi. Only twice that I can remember have we taken a taxi to our accoms...once in Paris (first time there and we got a bit lost trying to use...public transportation...so we got a taxi) and our last trip in Amsterdam...it was a five min, 10€ taxi ride...so much easier.

oh...we have taken taxis to our friends home in London, once we get from LHR to a certain tube station. And taxis from their home to the airport.

But I still have a hard time paying €50 for a cab ride (even tho I know it is faster and less stressful) when 'I can do it for 10€ on public transport!!!' I gotta stop cheaping out on taxis.

On the flip side, we sprung for one of the 'private van tours' of the Amalfi Coast back in 2014. (Sorrento Silver Star). Boy, I had a hard time swallowing the 250euro cost (about that price, I can't quite rem now)...but when I thought 3 people, 8 hrs and convenience I was able to convince myself. And in the end, my mom said it was her fav day of the trip so it was priceless!

In terms of taxis/transport from port of entry to hotel, I am coming down more and more on the side of "always get the cab". Why? First, you don't know the city until you have been there a day or so. Second, you are usually tired. Third, you aren't ready to see anything when you are toting around a bunch of stuff. Even cities I know pretty well now (Zagreb, Frankfurt, Munich) I am thinking that the cab is the better approach. My wife is very cheap, and likes to walk. I had to make her take a cab in Zadar. We had never been there, the bus station was quite far from the old town, and the cab was 40 Kuna ($6.50). Even so, she was reluctant. As we drove to the old town for our sobe, it was clear that there was NO way in hell we could have found that ourselves. Same with Chartres: We dropped the rental car on the outskirts, and thank goodness they drove us in - one way streets, tiny roads, the whole deal of a 14th century village with modern roads. As of yet, after 12 trips to Europe, I have not been "taken for a ride" by a taxi driver. So, don't be too cheap - take the cab (unless there's a bus to the place you want to go).

OH, wait - I forgot Istanbul. We had gone on a boat, and got dropped in an unfamiliar location. We took a cab, and he agreed to 90 TL ($15). It was a really short ride, and had we known, there was a tram. But that's the deal - until you have the whole town figured out, you DON'T know the tram/bus system.

A compromise around cabs is to take a train or shuttle from the airport to a central point and then a cab for the final leg.

I can't think of any mistakes I have made but I bet my wife could point put some.

I do remember when I was staying at a hostel in Switzerland ( I think in Visp ). One fellow spent the whole day hanging around the hostel rather than going up to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn because that short train ride was not covered by his Eurail pass.

I decided to call a couple hotels in the Cinque Terre area to make reservations, instead of doing it online. I was using my landline, not my cell phone. I knew I could put an international plan on my land line, before placing the calls, but I assumed that would involve a hefty monthly charge on my bill and I was too cheap to pay for it. I thought, how much can 2 or 3 couple short phone calls cost? It was a $103 charge on my bill for 33 minutes worth of calls at $3.11 per minute. The international plan would have been $8.95 per month and I could have canceled it after one month. It would have reduced my charge to .11 per minute, or $3.63.

I guess the cheaper route would have been better. I have no problem with taking the RER-B from CDG into the city. But since it was my girlfriends (at the time) first time to Paris I decided to take a taxi so she could see the city as we approached. Well that didn't work out, by the time we were out of the airport she fell asleep & slept until we got to the apartment. When I return next September it will be on the RER, unless its raining.

First trip to Europe didnt realize breakfast was included so skipped it every day. Finally someone else on the tour gently mentioned that it was included.

Trip to Scandinavia, towards the end of trip, tired and thinking of the cost of trip overall, we had dinner in really cheap and unattractive place. Made us both feel depressed . Should have just gone to the nice hotel next door and sprung for a nice meal and drink.

On the flip side, we did once spring for a expensive at the time drink in a Holiday Inn bar in England because we were homesick. That was worth it.
and like someone else has posted, am starting to see the value in taxis and guided tours.

I will admit that when I am booking accoms I try to find ones that are convenient to public transport. I don't mind walking a few blocks, and don't mind using the subways, but buses and suitcases don't usually mix, so location to public transport is a must.

Thinking back to our first trip when we couchsurfed in Genoa in '08. The train station we got off at wasn't a big popular one, so there were no cabs waiting. He lived about a 15 min walk away. Oh - that doesn't seem bad at all! Except the way there was a slight uphill and 15 min is OK when you aren't dragging a 20lb suitcase...lol. There were some other people walking the same way and they were like - 'are you lost? The hotels are thataway'...nono - we're fine, thanks.

I can think of a couple of times that we definitely should have taken a cab.

But on the flip side, there can be a difference between being frugal and cheap to a fault? I'm thinking most of us here are travelers of a certain age and stage. I love to watch/interact with the younger people - many of them students - whose budgets are on shoestrings short enough that cab rides, guided tours and "better" restaurants are simply outside of their means. They cheerfully hump their (sometimes huge) packs from one hostel to the next, eat street food and out of the markets, and make great use of guidebooks, downloaded audioguides, free city walks and attractions. They've been great company on trains and buses and in pubs, and their enthusiasm over just BEING there is downright infectious! Are they seeing Europe? Yes they are, and having a ball doing it. I guess I'd call it "resourceful" versus "cheap"?

Value is another consideration? We'd rather go slowly, armed with prior research and a good guidebook, though sites most important to us versus being hustled through them with no time to linger here and there. We take few tours for that reason, and left one early - with the guide's blessing, no less - some years ago when it became clear that the time allotted wasn't even close to being adequate. Anyway, sometimes time is more valuable than convenience or money, and opting to go it alone doesn't necessarily mean you're a tightwad?

Great points, Kathy!

I love meeting resourceful people, too.

My budget is the kind that turns money into more time. I can spend €200/day, or €100/day and stay twice as long. Public transportation is a given. Sometimes this results in an expensive mistake (like a €50 taxi ride to another town because there is no bus on Sunday.

Kathy

. . . Anyway, sometimes time is more valuable than convenience or money . . .

This is a truth that comes from experience.

My budget is the kind that turns money into more time. I can spend
€200/day, or €100/day and stay twice as long

Exactly, Zoe, and how we stretch our time as well. It means more work to do the research myself versus pay someone to tell me what I'm seeing but the reading-up just adds to the anticipation. We probably all make trade-offs of one sort of another depending on our situations and preferences, eh?

We almost lost our passports, credit and debit cards, €400, $100, driver's license and IDP --- by trying to save a €5 or €10 taxi fare.

The irony is we almost always take taxis upon arriving in new cities. And when we arrived by bus in Siracusa, Sicily, we saw three taxis waiting ... but I also spied signs for a free shuttle bus that stopped right by our hotel.

Our passports, etc. were securely zipped in my inside jacket pocket. But the sun was hot, and after 45 minutes waiting for the shuttle (still looking at those taxis), I took off the jacket. We had just gotten on the shuttle when it stopped unexpectedly. Everyone had to get off. As it drove away, I was horrified to realize I had left my jacket on the bus! We did eventually get it back from the police station, with everything intact (bless that honest bus driver). But that free shuttle could have been an expensive mistake.

And yes, we went back to using our money belts from then on.

Charlene's experience is important to remember. My wife has the annoying habit of asking me where my wallet, credit cards, camera, hat, camera case, are. ANNOYING!! Except when I almost forget them.

The story that Charlene told is like a similar problem we had. We were taking a sleeper train from Split to Zagreb. It was 4 hours late getting in, and we had to move quickly to our next train to Ljubljana. We packed up, got everything in bags, and moved quickly to the next train. Only when we were on that train did we realize that the little bag with ALL of our duplicate info (credit card #s, passwords, copies of passports) had been left in the sleeper, probably behind the mattress. If only I had the annoying habit of asking my wife where the financial information bag was, we might have remembered it. Although we checked with the Croatian train system several times, we never got the bag back.

Checking on your partner at those moments of moving quickly is a good idea. I have started more frequently to check on her. It's a good habit.

Before even leaving home, make sure you've selected a pair of shoes that are comfortable and provide excellent support for long days of walking. The first time I went to Europe, I wore a pair of moderately-inexpensive walking shoes. At first they were fine, but eventually my feet became so sore that I could hardly walk. After that trip, I splurged on a high-quality pair of shoes (Mephisto work well for me) and have never had a repeat of that experience. My feet may be tired at the end of a busy day of walking, but they feel great again by morning. I've learned my lesson and no longer try to save a few dollars when it comes to travel shoes.

Really tho - we should be wearing good shoes EVERY day. I sold shoes for 12 yrs ('higher' end like Rockport, Clarks, Docs)...before that I wore those $10 white canvas sneakers or $25 black suede oxfords from Walmart or Kmart or Zellers...and every 8 mos or so would have to buy new ones. My first pair of Clarks clogs I bought (sold for $90 but Clarks had a program for sellers and I got em for about $40) - those things lasted me a good 5 yrs and wearing a lot. My Blundstone boots last usually 4 yrs and that is with wearing about 8 mos a year almost every day.

You may spend a little more, but the quality and comfort is worth it in the end.

This message brought to you by a former shoe salesperson...lol. (And after seeing some really horrible feet over those 12 yrs, it really drove the message home about fit, style and comfort!)

My experience with Ecoo shoes is that they're designed for long walking days and close to indestructible. And for those that like to blend in with the locals across the pond, it's a proper European brand.

Shoes are important. I wear a good pair of walking shoes on the plane, and carry a pair of "German sandals" - rubber-soled open leather sandals. This year, I wore Clark's 1825 shoes. Got them in the "quick sale" department for about $80. Good shoes, not heavy. I am not cursed with bad feet - my problem is the knees. I was able to wear the Clark's shoes for 5 weeks almost every day. I bought them about 1 month before the trip. The business of "breaking in" shoes, IMHO, is not as important as it once was. The "breaking in" involved getting a leather sole to be a bit more pliable. These days, all soles are neoprene or some related substance, and the shoes are ready-to-wear quickly. It is important to get good shoes, however, and ones made for walking on streets, not in the office.

I think the biggest ways I've changed over the years is being more willing to see sights that I consider marginal. I always try to go somewhere new on my trips, and I have only so much life left, the chance of coming back to a particular place is fairly slim. Sights I used to write off I'm more likely to visit now. Part of that is most cities offer some kind of pass that allows you to see sights that are only worth a short look.

OTOH I can't remember a taxi ride I thought was a good use of funds since Asia. I had quite a few taxi rides that were not only expensive but the driver had less knowledge of the geography than I did. In France, the last few didn't even seem to have a clue and I ended up saying, "Just let me out here." I had a few taxi rides that were okay in Rome, but that was due to unexpected metro closures at night and a necessity.

Skipping a bathroom because you don't want to pay .50, or now, .80 would be a good one, but I use a bathroom whenever I have a chance unless I know there will be one at the museum or restaurant I'm heading to now.

Lately, I've been looking for better restaurants. I'm starting to decide, at least in France, if you don't need a reservation, it's probably not good. That's not a perfect rule but I've found myself skipping a sandwich or kabob and paying four times as much for a menu at a restaurant, then wishing I'd just gone with the sandwich or kabob. I'm not a reservation person so that works against me.

Also, on a cruise I think you can do both better and cheaper planning your own excursions rather than going with the very expensive and touristy ship's excursions.

I believe the pair of shoes that gave me problems were Rockport, but I recall them not being very expensive so maybe they were on the lower end of their quality scale. I've learned my lesson and do wear good quality shoes every day now, whether at home or traveling, which of course becomes easier to afford as one's career progresses. Just wish I'd been a bit "wiser" about the cost-benefit of good shoes back then.

I brought a pair of Rockport (with Adidas insole/design?) For a monthlong trip to Spain along with a pair of Adidas runners. Both pairs ended up hurting badly even though I had worn them for short distances at home and they seemed fine. The Rockports hurt one foot (something about the way my foot roled through a step) and the Adidas hurt the other (one of the side bands was too tight). I hadn't noticed wearing them to work out before my trip. I searched and searched for shoes I liked during the trip but never found any. I was still too proud to wear one shoe on one foot and another on the other foot :-) That was in 2012 and I'm not sure I've ever fully recovered.

I have had good luck with Rockports, and buy them frequently. So, dunno about all cases, but I've certainly walked a lot in that particular brand. As I noted above, I have a pair of Clark's right now, which are a little odd looking (decorative stitch up the middle), but were quite serviceable on a daily basis on a 5 week trip with a lot of walking.

After several "incidents" where we said, "We wished we would have spent the money..." my husband and I have adopted a saying about travel. And that is, "We never regret the money we spend on travel, but we almost always regret the money we didn't spend!" I've gotten to an "age and stage" (as a PP said) that if I'm going to travel, I want to do it well, and I'm willing to make sacrifices in daily spending at home to be able to spend more money when on vacation to ensure I get a good night's sleep, eat well, etc.!

The Rockport World Tours (which I believe are Rick's shoe of choice) were always a popular seller. They retailed for $150 here in Canada. I know they talked about discontinuing them, but believe they still make them - they are workhorses!

My husband had great luck with some Clarks (but he's has some not so great luck as well with them). He picked up a pr of Clarks when we went to the UK this year, and I think they are working out well for him. He had a pair of Dunham that he loved, and now is wearing a pair of North Face that serve him well. He's bought cheaper shoes (some Bass when we went to Maine) that I think he wore a half dozen times and now sit in the closet.

Shoes seem to have a lot of variability. Some feet are OK. My wife, for instance, has always had problematic feet. She must choose her shoes carefully. I can wear anything, and will do fine. In my 65 years, I only recall 1 pair of shoes chosen for walking that I was unsatisfied with - a pair of hiking boots that were probably too small when I bought them.

On our Alaskan cruise in 2015 we stayed over in Seattle for 3 nights after departing the cruise. I researched hotels and got a great price to stay at the Ace hotel. Shared bathrooms. My wife was not excited about it at all but I wouldn't relent because it was significantly less than a standard hotel at that time and I argued that we could just try it once.

Well, she is still mad at me about that one! It was clean and nice and the bathroom situation was decent enough. However, unbeknownst to us prior to arrival, (which is my fault for not realizing it) there is at least 20 very steep steps to haul the luggage up. We had each went with 2 suitcases since it was almost a 20 day trip and extreme climate differences throughout the trip)

Sound echoed pretty easily between rooms and the hallway.

The worst was that there was no AC. Even though it was May, it was very uncomfortable. Opening the windows helped some but between city lights flooding in and the noise, that wasn't a great solution either. Needless to say, we learned a small lesson there.

I do have to say, being cheap has benefited us much more than hurt over the years. I would say good research and reviews are as much to account for that. Going cheap and leaving it to chance is where, IMO, you stand to be the most disappointed.

Jill your experience in the poor excuse for an hotel in Argyle Street Kings Cross, sounds very much like the experience we had at the Desmond Jene hotel situated in Argyle Street. Is it too much of a conicidence??? We stayed one night. Gladly took a hit on the deposit and left in a big hurry.

It was the Apollo Hotel at 43 Argyle. Probably same neighborhood and similar building. I booked it through priceline. Probably as an express deal.

I always stay at Kings Cross in London, have tried different B&Bs there located on Argyle Street or Argyle Square but regardless of price you can expect them to have these common features: no AC, no elevator, very narrow and steep staircases, en suite rooms, and rooms with the WC down the hall. True that some rooms at quite small, like a shoe box. I'll be going back there in a few days

I rarely opt for a taxi when I travel solo, only if it's pressing at the moment; most trips do not even include one taxi ride. It is all a matter of travel style, cheap or not, what is within and out of your comfort zone, AC, night trains, buses, ferries, paying for a cab, certain level of luxury in a hotel room, elevator, flying within Europe, etc

Hotels and flights.

An unsatisfactory hotel, whether because of location, room size, lack of air conditioning, or cleanliness concerns, can certainly break a vacation.

I enjoy small family-run hotels, but not necessarily those where the room price is on the low side. And if the price is right, I am willing to stay in larger and modern hotels. The one section of the RS books that I only infrequently use is the section on hotels. I want a good price, but I am not going to scimp.

And with flights to Europe, I am more than willing to pay for the premium economy seating with the extra leg room.

Thinking of when we visited California back in 2013 - we were nearby to Yosemite and luckily got our two days in there before the gov't shut down everything because of the debt ceiling/Obamacare (republicans - bah!). But...we were heading for Sequoias National and of course couldn't go in. We stayed two nights at our B&B in Lemon Grove - and really, there isn't much else to do in that area - we stopped in Fresno on the way there and did some shopping, visited Visilia and Exeter and basically wandered around doing - not much of anything.

We should have just cut our losses and left the second day to go back to the coast and Monterey and Carmel - but nooooo - we paid for the room dang it! Actually, we should have just not gone period, swallowed the couple hundred bucks we paid for the room and just headed back to the coast and we could have enjoyed our ride down the PCH in a more leisurely fashion...hindsight!

Spent 5 nights in Gimmelwald as part of our first European trip. We were on a budget and where too cheap to take many gondolas around the area. It was a very expensive experience because we had to go back again and do the trip right a few years later.

@SusanandMonte, OMG how horrible to be forced to take TWO trips to the Berner Oberland! The inhumanity!! ;-)
Good that you got a second chance to take the lifts you missed the first time. Took us until the third trip to Venice to take a gondola ride (yes, because we were too "frugal" until we could split the cost.)

Laura B - we've had 4 trips to Venice and still no gondola - honestly, I'm just not that interested in doing it. But if I could find another couple to split the cost next time we go...

We have stayed in a number of hostels. They have private rooms, but the bath is shared. This seems a very small issue to us

When I stay in an independent private hostel, ie, not one that is a member of HI, and in a private room, it comes en suite.

When I stay in an independent hostel, not in a private room, but a co-ed dorm room shared by 5 others, this dorm room is also en suite.
When I stayed in HI hostels in the 1970s and '80s, the dorm rooms shared by 3 to 19 guys were never en suite.

When I stay in a Pension in Germany nowadays, the single room is not en suite. Those are the cheapest rooms offered.