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Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance; Venice, threaded with canals, is that most serene city of Gothic palaces. Both are renowned for their excellent cuisine. Florentine cooks choose the thickest, juiciest cuts from the Chiana valley's snowy white cattle, brush them with olive oil and cracked peppercorns, and slow-grill them to perfection to become the mighty bistecca fiorentina. Venetian chefs cruise the ancient loggias of the Rialto market with an eye for the finest fish and shellfish caught that morning, which they will put in their famous fresh-seafood medleys. So basically we're talking about one town famous for its steak and another for its seafood. Neither comes cheaply. We're here to help. Below are a dozen of the best cheap meals these two capitals of Italian culture have to offer. We've got everything from a pizzeria in Venice to a stall in Florence's food market; a Venetian tavern where Casanova took other men's wives for romantic trysts to a candlelit Florentine trattoria suitable for a romantic dinner. At all of them, you can get a full meal, including first and second courses and wine or water, for under E13 ($14.04). The prices quoted here are based on the exchange rate of E1=$1.08. To call Italy from the United States, dial 011-39 before the numbers listed below. Buon appetito! Florence loves its food. When Brunelleschi was erecting the cathedral's great dome, the engineering marvel of its age, he installed a trattoria up in the fabric of the dome itself so the workers could enjoy a full meal on their lunch breaks. Here are the joints where latter-day laborers, market workers, and farmers in town to sell their harvest find inexpensive, filling meals of traditional fare. Trattoria Mario Via Rosina 2r (on the north corner of Piazza del Mercato Centrale), 055-218-550, www.trattoriamario.com. Closed for dinner and on Sundays. E8.45-E12.90 ($9.13-$13.93). No credit cards. Tucked into a side street behind slightly pricier trattorie surrounding Florence's central food market, this unabashedly old-school trattoria doesn't seem to have changed one iota since Mario Colzi opened it in 1953. His son, Romeo Colzi, Romeo's wife, Patrizia, and brother Fabio refuse to alter the simple tiled walls, glassed-in kitchen, ancient wood ceiling, and culinary traditions (tripe on Mondays, fish on Fridays, etc.)-or the habit of shoehorning strangers into already packed tables to make new friends and enjoy genuine Florentine cooking at the lowest prices in town. The menu is hand-printed at the door and on the wall, and changed constantly to include such everyday delicacies as mezzelune al rag- (half-moon cheese ravioli in meat sauce) and coniglio al forno (roast rabbit). Even if you order both the most expensive first course and second course on the menu and have wine, you still ring in under E13-practically unheard of in Florence. Le Mossacce Via del Proconsolo 55r (halfway between the back side of the Duomo and the back of Palazzo Vecchio), 055-294-361. Closed Saturdays and Sundays. E10.70-E15.80 ($11.56-$17.06). You can tell this is a working-class trattoria: It's only open weekdays, and you have to thread your way past the bar to the single tiny room in the back to sit elbow to elbow with strangers at tables stuffed around a busy open kitchen. Most primi, including the tagliatelle, rigatoni, and minestrone, are E4.20; for cannelloni (Florence's famed meat-stuffed pasta tubes) or cheese ravioli it's E4.70. To stay strictly within our E13 limit, order boiled or roasted chicken for your second course. If you're willing to go a little over budget, the field opens up to include succulent involtini (thinly sliced veal wrapped around veggies, then stewed) or spezzatino (a goulash-like stew)-pretty much everything except the cheapest bistecca fiorentina in town, which weighs in at E12 to E14 and is well worth the splurge. La Mescita Via degli Alfani 70r (at Via dei Servi, two blocks north of the Duomo, one block southeast of the Accademia), no phone. Closed for dinner and on Sundays. No credit cards. E10.55-E12.65 ($11.39-$13.66). Mauro's tiny, one-room joint is a happy compromise between a fiaschetteria (see box, p.94) and a trattoria. You set your own table and retrieve your own dishes from the bar's high glass counter. It's open for wine by the glass and panini (E1.60-E3.50) from 8 a.m. but doesn't start serving hot dishes until 11 a.m. These include delectables such as fettuccine alla lepre (noodles in a hare rag-), penne alla rustica (pasta quills in a heady pesto of oregano, capers, and zucchini), saltimbocca (veal layered with sage and prosciutto), and scaloppine alla pizzaiola (veal drenched in mozzarella and tomato sauce). Nerbone Mercato Centrale (inside the central market, between San Lorenzo and Piazza del Mercato Centrale), 055-219-949. Closed for dinner and on Sundays. No credit cards. E3.50-E7 ($3.78-$7.56). A stand-up lunch at Nerbone is something of a rite of passage into true Florentine dining. Since 1872 Nerbone has occupied a corner stall inside the Mercato Centrale food market (itself a limitless supply of picnic goodies). Many market workers and other regulars wolf down their food while standing at the bar; those without a stall to return to often prop their elbows on the bar and spend an hour nursing a small beer. More leisurely diners take their trays and grab one of the few tables set in an alcove across the corridor. The menu is simple: trippa alla fiorentina (diced tripe stewed with tomatoes and sage); panino con bollito (a boiled-meat sandwich that's bagnato, or dipped quickly into the bubbling meat-filled pot, before being handed over); pappa al pomodoro (a thick bread-and-tomato soup); and salsicce con patate (sausage atop a mound of boiled potatoes). Trattoria La Casalinga Via Michelozzi 9r (in the Oltrarno, on a side street between Pitti Palace and Santo Spirito), 055-218-624. Closed Sundays. E10.85-E13.65 ($11.72-$14.74). One sign of an otherwise unremarkable trattoria truly favored by the locals: People actually line up and wait for it to open. The old vaulted rooms of La Casalinga open into blandly modern ones, heritage of an expansion several years back that sucked the spirit out of the place (but the food is still both cheap and good). It's tough to break the E13 barrier here, so feel free to order anything ... la carte, be it ribollita (a stewlike vegetable soup), tortellini in a rabbit rag-, polpette al forno (giant baked meatballs), or faraona arrosto (roast guinea fowl). Trattoria Antichi Cancelli Via Faenza 73r (on the main hotel drag two blocks east of the train station), 055-218-927. Closed Mondays. E12 ($12.96). This endlessly popular trattoria's location-nestled amid the cheap hotels near the train station-belies its quirky atmosphere. Ancient wine bottles, garlands of garlic, and framed placemats with artistic doodles line the walls under vaulting of hand-cast bricks. Steaks come not on a plate but on a cutting board, and main courses include a complimentary side dish (usually roast potatoes or boiled spinach). The most inclusive E12 men- turistico in town gets you a choice of among roughly ten primi (tortellini in broth, pennette in tomato sauce, or Tuscany's storied ribolitta) and ten secondi (veal piccata with lemon or under tomato sauce, Florentine tripe stewed with tomatoes and sage-just steer clear of the dry and tasteless grilled chicken), plus a dessert of macedonia (fruit salad) or gelato, and wine or water. The food's not particularly outstanding, but it's the closest you can get to a true restaurant experience for E12. Venice presents a particular challenge. Not only is it the priciest city in Italy, but seafood is included in nearly every traditional dish. As I pondered which restaurants to include, I realized none of the usual suspects fit the bill. The tried-and-true cheap eats of Venice can feed you very well for E15 or E16...but E13? I could picture only pizzerie and cicchetti bars (see box, p.97). I ended up going local: I asked masons and fishmongers, gondoliers and budget hoteliers, the guy at the newsstand and the plumber fixing my hotel's water heater. Many laughed in my face: "A full meal for E13? In Venice? Impossible!" A few told me their secrets, where they and their cronies went for lunch. I sampled a dozen; six made the grade. These are the best E13 meals in all of Venice. Cantina Do Spade Calle Do Spade 860, San Polo (it's hidden: cross the Rialto bridge to the San Polo side, go through the little market and then dogleg a few feet left to keep walking straightish down alleys and passages until you see a profusion of chalkboard menus around the doorway), 041-521-0574, www.dospadevenezia.it. E10-E15 ($10.80-$16.20). A few years ago, Giorgio Lanza expanded his venerable cicchetti bar of 1415. He added more tables, started offering a full menu, and reopened the back room where Casanova once wined and dined his romantic conquests (it has a back door so the famed lothario could slip out should any husbands show up). After a few years and many old customers' clamoring (well, okay, I clamored), Giorgio has finally brought back his five-alarm, tastebud-searing do spade sauce. It graces one of the many bruschetta menus (E10-E11), each of which pairs a slab of peasant bread topped with squid, tuna, or shrimp with a main dish, perhaps baccal... (dried cod), or sausages and polenta. He also offers several E13 to E14 menus that let you mix and match a few genuine Venetian dishes-pasta with peas or baccal..., fried sardines with onions and polenta, sausage and polenta, or pasta with roasted veggies. A E15 menu offers spaghetti with clams (Giorgio's pride keeps him from using frozen seafood) followed by baccal... or calamari and polenta. Rosticceria Teatro Goldoni Calle Teatro 4747, San Marco (at Ponte del Lovo, a block east of Calle dei Fabbri on the main route between San Marco and the Rialto), 041-522-2446. E13 ($14.04). A rosticceria is basically a tavola calda (literally "hot table," a sort of cafeteria with excellent pre-prepared dishes) that also serves roast chicken. This joint behind plate-glass windows near the Rialto has been around since 1950 and goes above and beyond typical rosticcerie by offering a vast array of choices, plenty of seating, and a particularly ample E13 tourist menu. This comes with half a dozen choices each for both primo and secondo-meat-filled cannelloni alla bolognese, pasta and beans, lasagna, one quarter of a roast chicken, breaded veal cutlet alla milanese, mixed fish fry, pork chop-along with a salad, fried potatoes, or veggies; bread and fruit or cheese; and a cup of coffee. Osteria a la Campana Calle dei Fabbri 4720, San Marco (just a few blocks north of Piazza San Marco en route to the Rialto), 041-528-5170. Closed Sundays. E12.75 ($13.77). It just says Osteria in the window, and from the door you can see only the bar. The wood-paneled dining room hidden to the left has curtains in the windows as if to keep the tourists who wash up and down the busy street from discovering this budget eatery. Venetian dialect buzzes from the tightly packed, tiny wooden tables. There's no menu; waiters just rattle off the day's pre-prepared dishes when you sit down (come early before the good stuff's gobbled up). They operate under a true home-cooking mentality: If the rigatoni's tomato sauce is flavored with tuna, then the fried polpette (meatballs) will be tuna as well. Dishes change daily: perhaps pasta with prosciutto and peas, bocconcini (morsels) of veal cooked tender in milk, or batter-fried fish. The sfuso (table wine) is from the Friuli, and if soccer season is on, so is the TV up in the corner. Ae Oche Calle del Tintor 1552, Santa Croce (just south of Campo San Giacomo dell'Orio), 041-524-1161. E8.50-E12.90 ($9.18-$13.93). This perennially popular pizzeria is far enough from the tourist centers-about halfway between Campo San Polo and the train station-that it's packed with mostly Venetians. It's done up as a sort of ersatz American roadhouse, rock music playing softly, the rough-planked walls painted with peeling old sports-team logos, classic American signs from the era when Pepsi cost 5>, and a large map of Yosemite. A meal of pizza-more than 90 to choose from-and beer runs E8.50 to E11, though you could also squeak into our price range a fuller meal of fusilli in a tomato and basil sauce followed by a grilled chicken breast with spinach. Vini da Pinto Campiello Beccarie 367, San Polo (cross the Rialto bridge to the San Polo side and keep walking straight until you see the fish market on your right, just before the first bridge), 041-522-4599. Closed Mondays. E13.70 ($14.80). How fresh is the fish? You could lob a clamshell from your outdoor table and hit the guy who sold it to the chef that morning-Venice's main fish market sprawls under a brick-and-marble Gothic loggia a few feet away. Fishmongers and other neighbors have jostled at Pinto's bar since 1890. A few curious tourists file past them into the blessedly air-conditioned dining room beyond, where they can sit in designer chairs under ancient wood beams. But what really counts is the food: simple, but good and filling. The E12 menus include everything but drinks-once you add E1.70 for water or E2.50 for wine, you're a wee bit over budget-served on one plate, either spaghetti alla bolognese with a grilled steak, seafood-studded spaghetti pescatore with fried calamari, or a generous slab of lasagne alla bolognese with a breaded veal cutlet alla milanese. Trattoria Cea Calle del Prestin 5337-5422/A, Cannaregio (just south of the Fondamente Nuove), 041-523-7450, www.trattoriacea.it. Closed for Saturday dinners and on Sundays. E13 ($14.04). You can sit on straw-bottom chairs inside, listen to Italian radio, and play elbow hockey with the local workmen who pack the place at lunchtime, or you can snag one of the four lovely outdoor tables ranged around an ancient marble wellhead, under an arbor thick with leafy vines. Most everyone orders the fixed-price menu, which offers choices such as pennette in rag- or a rich vegetable soup to start, followed by a mix of roasted meats, sarde in saor (fried sardines in vinegar-a Venetian specialty), or oven-roasted pork, with a salad or vegetable side included. Florentine fiaschetterie: The original wine bars Florence's traditional fiaschetterie are modest little wine-shops-with-a-bar named for the fiaschi, or straw-bottom flasks, in which Tuscan wines were once delivered from the vineyards. Although these flasks are now only used to hold cheap table Chianti and destined to become candle holders, at a fiaschetteria you can still get a sandwich, a platter of meats and cheese, or even a simple dish or two along with your tipple. Many are not much more than holes in the wall. Florence's best, I Fratellini, is a six-foot-deep doorway where two young men behind the counter continue a 128-year tradition of whipping out scrumptious panini (E2.10) and pouring E.80 glasses of wine to be enjoyed while standing on the flagstones of this pedestrian street in the heart of town. It's at Via de' Cimatori 38r, off Via dei Calzaiuoli between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria (055-239-6096). Another classic is Antico NoS, where namesake Noah's drunkenness is reenacted daily by the winos who hang around this passageway in a slightly disreputable corner of town near Santa Croce. It's under Volta di San Piero 6r, off the very eastern end of Borgo degli Albizi (055-234-0838). Few tourists bother hunting down one of the locals' favorites in the Oltrarno. Enoteca Fuori Porta has one of the best wine selections and the broadest menu. It's at Via Monte alle Croci 10r, hidden halfway up the hill and rising to the panoramic viewpoint Piazzale Michelangelo (055-234-2483). Le Volpi e l'Uva is newer and modern, but the wines are carefully hand-selected by the owner, who also serves excellent cheese and prosciutto platters (E4-E4.50) and teeny panini (E1.50-E2). It's just off Via Guicciardini on Piazza de' Rossi (055-239-8132). Cicchetti: Venetian Tapas In the early evening, Venetians will duck into a b caro (wine bar) to prendere un'ombra, literally, "to take a little shade," but really to sip a glass of wine and chat. To complement their wine, many bars offer snacks-on-toothpicks called cicchetti-anything from a savory chunk of salami or pxt, on a roundel of bread to an anchovy filet wrapped around a pickled onion. Cicchetti cost E.75 to E1.50 each, although if they put together a platter the cost per piece usually comes down. You can stroll from one b caro to the next, sipping glasses of house wine and nibbling your way toward a full meal. B cari that don't turn into pubs later tend to close around 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., so if you're making this into a light dinner, plan it early. One of the best and most atmospheric cicchetterie is the 1462 Cantina Do Mori, a long bar under low, wood-beamed ceilings near the Rialto market. Upended barrels serve as tabletops, and though it's widely cited in the guidebooks, Do Mori's staunch local clientele will never let the tourists take over. It's at Calle Do Mori 429, San Polo, just over the Rialto, through the street market, then dogleg a few feet left to continue straight; it's on the next block (041-522-5401). Enoteca Cantinone Gi... Schiavi offers not only a broad selection of E1 cicchetti and inexpensive glasses of vino, but also a few dozen wines under E10 a bottle, so you can take an ombra home with you. After your snack, walk to the far end of the fondamenta to see one of the last surviving squeri (gondola workshops) in Venice. It's at Fondamenta San Trovaso 992, Dorsoduro, over the Accademia bridge, your first right; when you hit the first canal turn left and follow it halfway down. The bar's across from a small bridge (041-523-0034). Though Vino Vino serves cicchetti, it really leans more toward being a full osteria, offering little wooden tables and a few dishes prepared by the chefs at its parent restaurant, the pricey Antico Martini down the block. True to its name, it also boasts one of the best wine cellars in Venice, with many excellent selections available by the glass. It's at Ponte delle Veste 2007, San Marco, just south of La Fenice opera house (041-523-7027).

On Halloween night, the full moon dominated the clear Bucharest sky, glowing and sinister. Like Jonathan Harker of Bram Stoker's Dracula, I realized I'd be heading into Transylvania on the morrow. Yet despite that unfortunate fellow's experience, I wasn't a bit apprehensive. After a splendid $5 meal, I was happily ensconced in plush velvet seats at the Romanian National Opera (eighth-row orchestra tickets $1.75) with Andrei, my charming guide, enjoying a magical Swan Lake - no ominous encounters looming on the horizon. Thirteen years after the overthrow of the Stalinist dictatorship of its latest vampiresque ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, I'd expected Romania to be an unrelenting parade of Soviet-grim towns, eyesore apartment blocks, a few decrepit monuments, and dour denizens. Yes, there is a bit of Communist hangover, but mostly I discovered enchanting medieval villages, gorgeous landscapes, a good travel infrastructure, and warm, friendly people whose Eastern European reserve is tempered by a Latin culture left over from membership in the Roman empire. With 23 million people nestled into an area the size of Oregon, Romania was originally inhabited by an ancient tribe known as the Dacians, conquered and Romanized in the 1st century A.D. (that's why Romanian is a Romance language). Over two millenia, Saxons and Slavs, Magyars and Huns, gypsies from India, and the mighty Ottoman Empire raided, invaded, or settled-a historical Cuisinart yielding a kaleidoscopic melange of travel options at a fraction of typical European costs: decent digs for $12, savory meals for $5, bottles of wine under $3. The land whose native son Eugene Ionesco invented the "theater of the absurd" is the land of "prices of the absurd." At some 32,000 lei to the U.S. dollar, you can answer the question "Who wants to be a millionaire?" for about $32. One of Europe's most inexpensive corners also qualifies as one of the cheapest places on earth. Arresting Bucharest Thanks to its graceful nineteenth-century architecture, Romania's capital (pop. 2.2 million) was once dubbed "the Paris of the East." Gracious buildings braceleted by iron-filigree balconies flank stately boulevards punctuated with parks - there's even an Arc de Triumf. Bucharest is cosmopolitan and hip again, as fashionably clad girls, hair in hues like "Bucharest Burgundy" and "Revolution Red," check out Swatch watch displays at the malls before rendezvousing with friends in trendy cafes. Romanians are friendly, and you can meet them in music clubs such as Green Hours (downtown at Calea Victoriei 120), through listings in local English-language sources like Nine O'Clock and Bucharest - What, Where, When, by placing an ad on rotravel.com, or by taking advantage of numerous homestays (see below). Navigating is easy. On public buses, a one-way ticket is 5,000 lei (16:), an all-day Metro (subway) ticket is 15,000 lei (50cents), and a Metro-plus-bus ticket is 30,000 ($1); a book of ten will run you a whopping 37,000 ($1.25). Taxi fares are 4,000-6,000 lei (12cents-19cents) per kilometer. In addition to exploring Bucharest's myriad museums, palaces, and churches (my favorites being the National Art Museum and National History Museum), few visitors leave without visiting the eye-popping Palace of Parliament, the world's second-largest building after the Pentagon (admission 60,000 lei/$2). Built in 1989 by Ceausescu and designed by a 27-year-old female architect, this gargantuan Stalinist-style monstrosity groans with 3,107 rooms, one-ton chandeliers, and 35 million cubic feet of marble. From its central balcony, Michael Jackson (yes, the gloved one) made a 1992 speech that Romanian fans still remember. Another must-see, especially if you don't visit the countryside, is the outdoor Muzeul Satului (Village Museum), where admission is 40,000 lei ($1.35); 90,000 ($3) if you bring a camera. Located north of downtown in Herastrau Park, it comprises an extensive collection of actual traditional furnished houses and churches from Romania's different rural regions. Avoid souvenir-hunting in the gift shop - you'll fare better elsewhere. Bucharest beds & bites You generally get better lodging discounts through tour operators, who can obtain 40 percent off listed prices, rather than booking independently or trying to haggle with inflexible hotel managers. The best hostels in Bucharest include the 30-bed Villa Helga (2 Calea Salcamilor, tel/fax 1/610-2214, helga@rotravel.com) in a quiet residential neighborhood near the Piata Romana Metro stop. Safes, kitchen, laundry, and Internet facilities are available. The per-person cost with breakfast is 300,000 lei ($10) a night, 810,000 ($27) for three nights, 1,680,000 ($56) weekly. Elvis's Villa (5 Calea Avran Lancu, 1/315-5273, elvisvilla.ro) is a recently opened hostel in district 2 with four rooms of two to ten beds at 360,000 lei ($12) a night, doubles for 874,500 lei ($29), including breakfast. Among more standard hotels, the coolest budget find in town is the elegant, conveniently located, 28-room Hanul Manuc (Strada Franceza 62-64, 1/313-1411, fax 1/312-2811), where the peace treaty following the Turkish-Russian War of 1812 was signed. Cobblestone paths and massive iron doors lead to a central courtyard with an outdoor cafe. Doubles are 725,000-990,000 lei ($24-$33), with bath, TV, and heating but no air-conditioning (true for all lodging below unless otherwise noted). Breakfast isn't included, but the terrace pastry shop is an inexpensive treat for both edibles and ambience. You'll find various rock-bottom options around the train station; a good choice is the Hotel Cerna (Bulevardul Dinicu Golescu 29, 1/637-4087), whose 88 rooms are sparse but clean and functional. A single with shared bath runs 315,000 lei ($10.50), a double 450,000 ($15); if you want private bath, TV, and breakfast, it's 450,000 ($15) and 600,000 ($20), respectively. A bit up the line pricewise, near the airport and the Village Museum, the Hotel Turist (Bulevardul Poligrafiei 3-5, 1/224-2328, fax 1/224-2984) has 293 rooms with good lighting and amenities including a swimming pool, bowling alley, and tennis court. Singles cost 930,000 lei ($31), doubles 1,230,000 ($41), including breakfast. Near the railway station, the 168 rooms at the Hotel Astoria (Bulevardul Dinicu Golescu 27, tel/fax 1/212-6854) are small, but larger than other railway-neighborhood options. All have private bath and include breakfast for 1,080,000 lei ($36) single and 1,575,000 ($53) double. Also in this area, the Ibis (Calea Grivitei 143, 1/222-2722, fax 1/222-2723, ibishotel.com) is a branch of the spiffy French chain, offering recently refurbished rooms with TV, A/C, phone, and modern bath for 1,770,000 lei ($59); avoid the pricey $7 breakfast, though. When it comes to getting fed, bucatarie romaneasca (Romanian cuisine) is tasty and filling, so don't bother with the ubiquitous $2 Big Mac combo when you can dine sumptuously on the likes of sarmale (savory meat-and-rice-stuffed cabbage) for half that; soups, salads, and beer for under a buck; bottles of good local wines like Premiat for $3 or less; and palinka (potent plum brandy, the national tipple) for 80,000 ($2.65/liter). For breakfast, neighborhood patisseries serve calorie-laden extravaganzas of chocolate, whipped cream, and fruit for 7,000 to 12,000 lei (23cents-40cents), and coffee for 4,000 (13cents). If your hotel has a fridge, groceries are cheap (loaf of bread 6,000 lei/20cents, processed cheese 63,510 lei/$2 a pound, yogurt 5,000 lei/17cents a container). The Bucharest dining scene is becoming more international every year, but there are plenty of excellent, centrally located spots to enjoy local grub. A favorite is country-style Terasa Doamnei (Strada Doamnei 9, sector 3, 1/314-6481), with wooden furniture and pottery tableware, serving roast sirloin with wine sauce or chicken fricassee for 30,000 to 50,000 lei ($1-$1.65). The vaulted brick cellar of the Hanul Manuc (see above) is now a bistro where hot entrees and grilled meats go for 18,000 to 73,000 (60cents-$2.40). Becker Brau (155 Calea Rahovei, 1/335-5650) is a faux-rustic restaurant/pub where German-style bere (beer) is brewed on the premises and homestyle entrees run 105,000 lei ($3.50). Good bets for quicker bites are Braseria Cina (Strada Franklin 12, 1/310-1017), an outdoor cafe with a lively young crowd (most female patrons have magenta hair) and stalwart dishes like grilled trout (78,000 lei/$2.60) and beef stew (92,000 lei/$3). At folksy Boema (Strada C.A. Rosetti 10, 1/313-3783), welcome mats of fresh evergreen branches are followed by a plate of smoked sausages and beans for 68,500 ($2.30). Three other novel spots are not to be missed. Burebista (Strada Batisetei 14, 1/211-8929) is styled as an ancient, candlelit hunting lodge, with boar's heads, antlers, and animal pelts, and specializes in traditional cuisine (especially game) such as lettuce with venison and wildberries (45,000 lei/$1.50) and pork fillet stuffed with sausages and garlic (40,000 lei/ $1.35). At Casa Oamenilor de Stnnta (Piata Lahovari, 1/210-1229), housed in the elegant 125-year-old Romanian Academy of Sciences, you're given a free tour of the ornate upstairs before dinner. At its nine tables, diners are feted with the likes of beef schnitzel (63,000 lei/$2.10) and fried carp (72,000 lei/$2.4) to live violin music. The Count Dracula Club (Splaiul Independentei Strada 8A, 1/312-1353) starts guests off with drinks in the Weird Bar, then follows up in the Medieval Room, Count's Library, or Chapel with imaginative (and unbloody) treats like cheese-stuffed polenta with bacon (70,000 lei/$2.35) and wild duck with fruit (130,000 lei/$4.35). Transylvania beyond Dracula Speaking of the toothy count, many outsiders' only image of Transylvania is still hopelessly mired in cheesy Bela Lugosi flicks. In reality, Romania's central region, surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, is awash in dramatic scenery, history, medieval villages, outdoor activities, and cultural diversity. The real Dracula, fifteenth-century prince Vlad Tepes, was one of the most dreaded foes of the invading Ottoman Turks. Though all in all he probably wasn't any more bloodthirsty than the average medieval ruler, "Vlad the Impaler" is remembered for his favorite version of the death penalty: impaling enemies on wooden stakes, then relishing their slow deaths as he dined (and giving new meaning to the concept of a "stake dinner"). Locals are planning to cash in further by opening a Dracula theme park by late 2003. Only one-and-a-half hours from Bucharest by train, the town of Sinaia, 2,500 feet in the Bucegi Mountains, was established by a wealthy seventeenth-century lord who visited Mount Sinai in Israel and built a similarly named monastery. Sinaia climbed in social importance after King Carol I built his summer residence, the fanciful 160-room Peles Castle (admission 60,000 lei/$2), in the 1870s. Today this charming old town lined with elegant villas and gingerbread-style houses is also a ski resort (equipment rental around $4 to $6 a day, lift tickets $8 adult, $3.50 child). Northeast of Sinaia is Bran Castle (50,000 lei/$1.65, also includes admission to the Village and Customs Museums). Perched atop a 197-foot rock aerie, this standard stop on the Dracula trail is extremely atmospheric, with its four towers, Gothic arched ceilings, and secret stairway through the chimney. Alas, the bloodthirsty luminary never actually resided here - but it was owned by Vlad's granddad between 1395 and 1427. You'll find good buys in surrounding souvenir stalls. Continue a bit farther north to Brasov, a stunning twelfth-century walled town (100 miles/21/2 hours from Bucharest by express train, first-class 185,000 lei/$6.15), built by Saxons and boasting Romania's largest Gothic church, the fourteenth-to-fifteenth-century Biserica Neagra (Black Church; admission 15,000 lei/50cents), with an extraordinary collection of ancient Turkish carpets; services (in German) are on Sundays at 10 a.m. Anchoring Brasov's historic district is Piata Sfatului, the central square, rimmed with fifteenth-and-sixteenth-century buildings in muted sherbet palettes (now housing shops, pubs, and outdoor cafes, ideal for an afternoon of browsing). Another two hours (first-class train 165,000 lei/$5.50 each way) northwest of Brasov is Sighisoara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built by Saxons in the twelfth century. There are two main squares, lined with fifteenth-and-sixteenth-century houses, and it was in a mustard-colored house on one of them, Piata Muzeului, where Vlad Dracula was born around 1431. It's very much a living town; I once noticed a bride dressed in foamy white cascading down the cobblestone streets to a ribbon-bedecked Citroan. The fourteenth-century clock tower (35,000 lei/$1.15 for tower and museums) contains eclectic displays of medical instruments, beer steins, and more on the way to the top's spectacular views. The nearby torture room exhibits delights such as a finger crusher, rack, beating sticks, stocks, and chains. If you drop your bags in Sinaia, do so at historic Complex Economat (44/311-151, fax 44/311-150) near Peles Castle. This grand chalet with wood-trimmed pink stucco (where King Carol's guests waited for audiences) has 34 rooms; rates with bath in the hall run 425,000 lei ($14) single and 850,000 ($28) double; doubles with bath 950,000 ($32). There's a spiffier section for about $6 to $8 more that includes a voucher for 450,000 lei ($15) daily to be used in the hotel restaurant (most full entrees 64,500-73,100 lei/$2.15-$2.45). A terrific value! In Brasov, most hotels are in the $30-to-$70 range; one cheaper bet is Aro Sport (Strada Sf. Ioan 3, 68/478-800), where doubles with shared bath are 420,000 lei ($14). Nearby Sighisoara has more options, so it makes a better base. The Hotel Rex (Strada Dumbravei 18, tel/fax 65/777-615, hotelrex@netsoft.ro) offers 28 clean, spacious units with TVs, refrigerators, and large bathrooms for 490,000 lei ($16) single and 590,000 ($20) double, including breakfast. It's a 15-minute walk or quick public bus ride (10,000 lei/33cents) to the main sights. More atmospheric is the seventeenth-century Casa cu Cerb (Stag House), adorned with heads and antlers and housing a new inn/restaurant called Messerschmitt (tel/fax 65/774-625, info@er-messerschmitt-s.ro). It has ten Ikea-furnished rooms (all with bath) for 420,000 lei ($14) single and 840,000 lei ($28) double. The restaurant's brick-vaulted ceilings form a canopy for crisp white linens and forest-green upholstered seating, where diners feast on pork in paprika sauce with dumplings for 59,600 lei ($2) and clatite (pancakes with jam) for 11,400 (38:). You can also dine at Casa "Vlad Dracul" (773-304) in the Impaler's very birthplace. Diners ascend stairs past a fresco of the town dominated by a mega-Vlad looming like a malignant Gulliver, then sit in tall, carved wooden chairs and dine on omelettes with ham and mushrooms for 25,000 lei (83:) and pork cordon bleu 89,000 ($3). The stakes on the wall, they say, are for decorative purposes only. To really soak up local culture, consider village homestays. Through ANTREC Romania in Bucharest (tel/fax 1/223-7024, antrec.ro), you can arrange delightful guesthouses such as Cheile Gradistei in the Carpathian foothills village of Moeciu de Jose convenient to Bran Castle and Brasov on a public bus line. Rooms are spotlessly clean, and some have private verandas with breathtaking views. Doubles with bath run 750,000 lei ($23) and 600,000 lei ($20) without. A stream runs through its chalet-style restaurant, where beef stew or meat-stuffed cabbage rolls are 75,000 lei ($2.50). Maramures: Still Dacian after all these years Inhabitants of the northern portion of Transylvania are of Dacian descent, culturally distinct from the remainder of the province. Here in Maramures, village customs and crafts like gaily embroidered costumes, pointed footwear, and intricately carved wooden gates have been handed down for centuries. Horse-drawn wagons go clipping by, loaded down with animals and people heading to market, horses' bridles bobbing with orange tassels for good luck. Village markets are a cacophony of cowbells, clinking bottles of palinka, bleating goats, and folk music spewing from boomboxes. From Sighis-oara to the region's capital, Baia Mare, the train takes five hours via Cluj (first-class 343,000 lei/$11.45). Explore villages like Birsana, with its beautiful monastery, and Surdesti, with the world's tallest wooden church, all by public bus (autobuz) for 15,000 lei (50cents) per 30 miles or in a rental car (gas: 63,967 lei/$2 a gallon). Twenty miles from Baia Mare, don't miss one of Romania's most fascinating sites, the Cimitirul Vesel (Merry Cemetery) of Sapanta, a 67-year-old garden of carved wooden crosses painted vibrant blue and bearing first-person epitaphs with sometimes poignant, sometimes amusing tales of the deceased ("I worked with sheep, but a bad Hungarian cut my head from my body. I curse this man"). Maramures is also the perfect area to try a homestay; otherwise, good bets include Motel Siesta, in Sighetu Marmatiei (4925 Sighetu Marmatiei Avram Iancu 42 Maramures, 62/311-468, fax 62/311-253, siesta.mm@alphanet.ro), 450,000 lei ($15) single and 600,000 lei ($20) double, with breakfast. All 16 rooms have baths with stall showers, and the hotel restaurant serves filling dishes such as smoked pork with beans (43,900 lei/$1.46) or chicken with rice (27,700 lei/92cents). Hotel Cerbul (Borsa Complex, 62/344-199), with singles at 560,000 lei ($17) and doubles at 700,000 ($23), including breakfast, is a quaint ski resort with 29 bath-equipped rooms and a restaurant overlooking the mountains. It dishes up roast beef for 30,800 lei ($1) and pork with mushrooms for only 22,450 lei (75cents). Moldavia: Paint your monastery Moldavia province is best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Sites found in its northern region, Southern Bucovina. The fifteenth-and-sixteenth-century Orthodox monasteries (admission 20,000 lei/66cents each) were erected by Stephen the Great and his son, their outsides painted with biblical scenes to teach religion to the illiterate. Miraculously, the images still survive, and the most famous monastery, Voronet, dubbed the "Sistine Chapel of the East," is a veritable symphony of color, one wall displaying a masterful Last Judgment, vibrant in "Voronet blue." The six monasteries, as well as Romania's finest citadels, built four to six centuries ago to withstand Ottoman invasion (admission 10,000 lei/33cents each), are connected by public bus (10,000-15,000 lei/33cents-50cents) from the region's now industrialized main town, Suceava. Southern Bucovina abounds with charming options for eating and sleeping. My favorites in Suceava are the ten-room Casa Calin (Strada Horia 1, Vama, 94/549-929, bucovina.casa.calin.ro), where singles (450,000 lei/$15) and doubles (660,000 lei/$22) include breakfast and private bath; the delightful proprietors will also cook dinner for a few bucks. Casa Elena (Voronet 8, 30/230-651, fax 30/230-968, webmaster@casaelena.assist.ro) offers 22 doubles at 650,000 lei ($22), all with private bath. There are great mountain views from the indoor or al fresco restaurant, where spit-roasted meats are 80,000 lei ($2.65). Romania-mania! Get more information from the Romanian National Tourist Office (14 E. 38th St., New York, NY 10016, 212/545-8484, fax 212/251-0429, romaniantourism.com), or online at beautifulromania.com, mtromania.ro, romaniaguide.com. Tarom Romanian Airways (212/560-0840, tarom.digiro.net) flies direct from the U.S.; a round-trip coach ticket from New York to Bucharest costs $350 to $650, depending on time of year. British Airways (800/247-9297, britishairways.com) and Austrian Airlines (800/843-0002, aua.com) are among several European airlines connecting to Bucharest. Fares from New York range from $481 to $935. For packages, contact CMB Travel in Bucharest (tel./fax 1/210-5244, cmbtravel.ro). Once in Bucharest, you can get good rental-car rates from Absolut Rent A Car (1/330-4255). When calling Romania from the U.S., first dial 011-40.

1. Use alternate airports Though this choice has been discussed at length in previous issues of Budget Travel, it can never be sufficiently stressed. Freelance writer Rick Churchill, whose Wynwood, Pennsylvania, home is just outside Philadelphia, points out that "often going a bit out of your way can produce real airfare savings. I always try to fly out of Baltimore rather than US Airways - dominated Philadelphia. Since Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) is serviced by a much greater number of carriers, tickets often cost half that for flights departing closer to home. And, because Amtrak trains stop quite close to BWI - and are linked to air terminals by a bus shuttle - it's not an unpleasant detour." Churchill notes that another key factor favoring BWI, not just for Pennsylvania travelers but for those in and around Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia, is its Southwest Airlines service. In Baltimore (as in Providence, Rhode Island, which is increasingly a bargain lure for Boston-area denizens), Southwest's low rates force other carriers to keep fares down in order to stay competitive. Very often, one airport can be much cheaper than another nearby when the latter is used as a hub. For example, Delta dominates the city of Cincinnati (one of its important hubs) and offers few bargains from that location. However, Columbus is only an hour's drive north and offers a much broader carrier balance, so that many southern Ohioans drive north for a tad over an hour to secure serious savings. Another pick-the-city choice is in Missouri, where fares into hub-free Kansas City are often much lower than into TWA-dominated St. Louis. Christopher Trencher, vice president of transportation for New York City consulting firm Stern & Stewart, emphasizes that "particularly for Missourians living between those cities, driving west is often well worth the ride." Other cheaper airports: Newark compared to nearby LaGuardia in metropolitan New York City, Milwaukee compared to nearby Chicago, Little Rock to Memphis, Oakland to San Francisco, Ontario (California) or Long Beach to Los Angeles, Manchester (New Hampshire) to Boston, Youngstown to Pittsburgh. There are many others. 2. Make intermediate stops at low-cost airports en route When Rick Churchill is West Coast-bound and can afford to trade a few hours for reduced fares, he'll often book via Las Vegas. He explains, "Las Vegas gets a huge amount of traffic from all over the country. It's nobody's hub, and not only are fares lower, but Southwest frequently runs Las Vegas/Los Angeles or Orange County promotions where one-way tickets often cost as little as $29." His only caveat is that "you've got to be careful not to lose what you've saved at the airport's slot machines." 3. Search the Internet Christopher Trencher notes that online searches of the Internet often pay real dividends for business travelers. "Airlines often offer Web site fares that are much lower than those you'll be quoted over the phone. And most carriers also now give frequent-flyer mileage bonuses for booking online." 4. Consolidate your trips Ted Darnall, president of North American hotel operations for Starwood Hotels and Resorts in White Plains, New York, says, "Our company enjoys real travel savings by consolidating business trips and reducing, as much as possible, transcontinental flights." He goes on to explain, "Instead of flying this week from New York to Los Angeles and next week to San Francisco, we're certain that most business isn't that urgent, and a trip incorporating several West Coast stops produces huge savings." 5. Substitute SuperShuttles for rental cars Serious savings are available between airports and hotels. For instance, Shelley Clark, creative director of New York City public relations firm Lou Hammond & Associates, recommends SuperShuttle, which operates blue and gold, seven-person airport/city minivans in 17 U.S. cities. She says, "Always cheaper than a taxi and usually less than even airport-to-city-terminal buses, they take you directly from the airport to your city destination, or from your city destination back to the airport." She points out that La-Guardia-to-midtown New York fares run $15. Comparable taxi fare: $20-$24. According to SuperShuttle Director of Marketing Ken Testani, airport/city fares range from $6 per person in Phoenix to $14 between Dallas/Fort Worth airport and downtown Dallas. He also notes that while the vans seat seven, they rarely make more than three stops per trip. Currently, SuperShuttle airports include Atlantic City; Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Burbank, California; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Denver; Jacksonville, Florida; Los Angeles; Newark; New York (LaGuardia and JFK); Miami; Ontario and Orange County, California; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Sacramento, California; San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. (Dulles and National). For more information call 800/258-3826 or www.supershuttle.com. 6. Save hotel charges by arriving on Sundays With average daily New York City hotel rates well above $200 (and San Francisco and Washington, D.C., not far behind), the chance of finding a bargain these days is slim indeed. However, Drew Schlesinger, general manager of the 770-room Crowne Plaza Manhattan, urges travelers to try arriving on a Sunday. "Among business travelers, that's the least favorite day to arrive, because they clearly want to avoid breaking up their weekends. However, here and at many other New York hotels, I'm certain that rates are much more negotiable for those willing to start their trips on Sunday than on any other day of the week." He adds, "Every city and hotel has one day of the week when arrivals are usually at their lowest. Find out what that day is anywhere you go, and chances are you'll be more likely to get lower rates for your entire stay." 7. Always request preferential hotel rates Charleston-based Byron Miller, director of public relations for South Carolina State Ports Authority, says he continually enjoys business travel savings by requesting a government rate in addition to corporate or whatever other discounts he can find. He adds, "I am a government employee, so my request is entirely legitimate, but no hotel ever asks me to authenticate my job status." On average, Miller says he saves between $20 and $30 per night via his government rate. 8. Avoid those hotel profit centers A number of frequent business travelers stress the need to make absolutely minimal use of hotel services beyond the bare essentials. For example, Karen E. Rubin, senior vice president of HVS International, a global hotel consulting firm, says, "Avoid in-room fax machines. They're incredibly expensive, and often you either don't get inbound returns or they sit for hours in the hotel operator's room before being delivered." When she does have faxing to do, she says, "I head for Kinko's. They're professionals, charge reasonable rates, and always know what they're doing." Rubin also urges business travelers to bring likely-to-be-needed supplies such as water or fruit to their rooms. She notes, "I'm a hotel analyst, always trying to help properties boost their revenues. But I really think $4 for a bottle of water is just a bit much. Travelers should squelch their embarrassment and buy their beverages near their hotel." 9. Avoid hotel phones Health spa planner Patty Monteson, who owns Health Fitness Dynamics, Inc., in Pompano Beach, Florida, says, "Instead of hotel phones, I always use my cell phone to make calls from my room. That not only avoids access charges every time you lift an in-room receiver but results in much, much lower rates." Noting that her AT&T phone plan gives her 600 minutes for $90 with no roaming charges, "I might as well use some of them when I travel. For me it's a real win-win situation." Similarly, Alan Benjamin, managing partner in Benjamin West, a Boulder-based furniture fixture and equipment purchasing agent for the hospitality industry, uses his 10[cents]-a-minute phone plan to avoid "outrageous hotel phone charges." New York City investment banker Julian Schroeder urges travelers to know and use their MCI, AT&T, or other access codes before making long-haul calls. Punching in an extra series of numbers can often cut one's phone bills hugely, he says. 10. When colleagues travel together, rent a suite Alan Benjamin also suggests that businesspeople traveling together rent a suite. If there's no problem with a shared bathroom and no other social or personality conflicts, "a suite can be much cheaper than the tab for two individual rooms." he says. 11. Live like a local at the destination Julian Schroeder, who regularly commutes between New York and Asia on fiscal missions for Schroders, says that the prime ground rule for economizing during international travel is to buy where the locals do. "In Korea, a soda in a local grocery goes for 80[cents] instead of $3 or more out of your minibar. The same goes for snacks, which you suddenly may want in the middle of the night if your eating and sleeping habits are disrupted by flying halfway around the world." Schroeder particularly encourages overseas travelers to eat at local restaurants away from their hotels. "Why spend $20 for a hotel breakfast when something as good or better is probably available around the corner for a fraction of what the hotel charges?" he says. If possible, use quality local infrastructure ("sultry Singapore's clean, modern, air-conditioned subway is a much better bet than sitting in major-league traffic jams"), and check out gift-buying possibilities, either for immediate distribution or for holiday gift giving ("fine silk products in Thailand and Korea are still a bargain"). 12. Make your bookings on cost-cutting upstart airlines Christopher Trencher particularly emphasizes the Southwest factor, including Islip, Long Island as a counterpoint to Kennedy or LaGuardia, and Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York, as another metro New York airport alternative. For every flight, instruct your staff to place calls to the independent, no-frills airlines such as Air Tran, ATA, Vanguard, and the like, always checking what they offer against the fares of the larger carriers.

In Thailand's bustling, compelling capital, a wide range of everything from tourist knickknacks to awesome antiques are yours for a pittance. But your best bets boil down to two: custom rags and shiny rocks. You can spruce up your wardrobe and don (or decorate your mate with) all manner of gems and jewelry for a fraction of the cost stateside. Top Thai tailors Bangkok is one of the world's top destinations for low-cost, top-drawer tailored clothing. Unfortunately, the high quality of some is diluted by the plethora of less-than-reputable self-proclaimed tailors, as well as misleading come-ons. For example, some in-flight magazines and free brochures distributed around town boldly advertise "Two suits, five shirts for $75," and the like. What these prices don't include is the material, which is then marked up considerably, nor do they include truly top-quality work. A more reasonable price to expect from the reputable tailors for one well-made wool/polyester-blend suit (jacket and trousers) is between 6,000 and 8,000 baht ($135-$180); a good 100-percent wool suit will run somewhere in the neighborhood of B15,130 ($340). Applying to women's suits as well, these prices for tailored suits are incredible deals even compared to quality off-the-rack models in the States. Custom-made shirts are similarly affordable; a cotton mix goes for about B800 ($18), a 100-percent Italian or Egyptian cotton shirt for B1,500 ($34). The best and most easily accessible areas to find tailors are around the major hotels and down the perennially popular Silom and Surawong Roads, a B44 to B66 ($1-$1.50) taxi ride from the major hotels along the river (see my top picks in the accompanying box). Also along Silom and Surawong are various stores that sell material by the meter. If the tailor you've chosen doesn't have exactly the material you want, stop in at one of these places and choose your own. They're also great places to pick up world-famous Thai silk, which makes great shirts and women's clothing. Silk by the meter from the famous Jim Thompson store on Surawong runs between B550 ($12) per meter ($3.65 per foot) for single-ply and B1,100 ($25) per meter ($7.60 per foot) for two-ply. You'll need about three and a half meters for a shirt and seven for a suit. To avoid getting taken for a ride, never allow a third party to bring you to a tailor shop; it'll invariably cost you more money in the long run. Also, of the three main ethnic groups making suits in Bangkok (Thai, Chinese, and Indian), stick with the Thai and the Chinese, who I feel are normally the more reputable, honest, and forthright. They're usually second- or third-generation and maintain a small shop with family staff dedicated to producing the best work. Lesser quality shops will often have a three-tiered factory farm-out system, depending on the price you demand for your suit. If you demand too rock-bottom a price, they'll simply send the suit to be made at the low-end factory. If you agree to a higher price, they think you know quality and they'll send it to the middle- or high-end factory. The best shops are the ones that, when you come in for a fitting, have the same person measure you, cut the material, and then adjust the pins until it is exactly right. Ask to speak with the tailor; if the shop is basically just a front for an assembly-line production of suits, then the tailor will be nonexistent. Ask to see completed suits waiting to be picked up and review the stitching and workmanship. Most of all, visit several shops to get a good feel for price and quality before giving the go-ahead to any one tailor. Siamese stones Partly because of its low labor costs, Thailand is the world's foremost center for the highly labor-intensive cutting of colored precious stones, and it has been estimated that in Bangkok you can save between 30 and a whopping 500 percent compared to here in the States. Once upon a time, Thailand was home to some of the world's top ruby and sapphire mines. Those are depleted now, but Bangkok is still a fantastic place to obtain both at a great price-indeed, they are your top gem bets for purchase. It's extremely difficult to pass on hard-and-fast pricing information about loose stones due to the wide variations in quality, but just to give a very rough idea, sapphires can range between B2,200 ($50) and B35,600 ($800) per carat depending on quality, with B13,350 ($300) per carat considered a medium-quality stone. Similarly, loose rubies will go for anywhere from B4,450 ($100) to B66,750 ($1,500) per carat; here, medium quality will run you about B22,250 ($500) per carat. Gems and jewelry in Bangkok also have their fair share of disreputable peddlers. Luckily, the more honest storeowners set up the Jewel Fest Club (JFC) to help regulate the industry. Thus, one of the best ways to know if you're in a jewelry shop of good reputation is to check for the JFC membership certificate prominently displayed on a wall. If you're in a member store, anything you buy is certified for authenticity and quality, but the best part is the refund guarantee. If you simply decide you don't want the gem or jewelry anymore, these stores guarantee you a refund of 90 percent within 30 days and 80 percent within 45 days. I list three outstanding JFC members in the box below. If you make a purchase and want to check before you leave Bangkok whether the stone is natural or synthetic, the independent Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences (see box), located in the heart of the Silom Road jewelry district, will tell you so within about ten minutes for a fee of B356 to B534 ($8-$12), depending on stone size and the tests required. It will provide you with a certificate stating its findings, but it will not appraise your gem -- and neither will any other independent local source. If you can eyeball a stone and tell the difference between a Jager, a River, and a Top Wesselton, then you don't need me to tell you how to shop for gems and jewelry, but if you're a bit unsure, then there are some practical tips for shopping in Bangkok. The first is simply to shop around (preferably among JFC members) and get to know the market. If you aren't an expert on gems, then don't try and buy for investment; your goal should be to find something you like. Once you find a piece that pleases, ask the price and then start bargaining for a 30-to-50-percent discount off that original price. Like bargaining in any market, don't start the process if you aren't prepared to go through with the purchase. Happy shopping!