France: A Michelin chef goes budget

One of my favorite things about being based in Paris is that train travel, both within France and across borders, is relatively cheap…at least if you can speak (or fake) a little French. I was recently surprised to learn that searching for tickets in English will yield prices that are significanlty more expensive. The SNCF travel website is where all the best train deals can be found. If you scroll down to the bottom of the homepage, you'll see a sign for English that will transfer you to the website for "TGV Europe/Rail Europe." This anglophone portal is handy, but you'll pay more for tickets here. Searching this site today for an October fare from Paris to Marseilles, the cheapest round-trip ticket was $158. With an obligatory $13 charge for an e-ticket (which was cheaper than the $18 or $36 shipping options), the total price of the round-trip ticket was $171. Back at the SNCF website, written in French, the cheapest fare was €75 with no additional fees or charges. Converted to dollars, that round-trip ticket was $107—a savings of almost 40 percent! If you don't speak French and can't find a francophone friend to help you, consider muddling through the SNCF site with the help of Google Translate or Yahoo's Babel Fish. Just paste the address of whatever SNCF page you're looking at into the translation box, and the program will translate every word from French to English. This will require a bit more time and patience than using the English portal, sure, but the savings will be significant. For timetables and prices for intercity train travel in other European countries, check out our earlier blog post "Affordable Europe: Save on trains" MORE 7 tips for booking train tickets in Europe Europe's most scenic train routes 4 ways to save on trains from London

Never let it be said that we don't have "all hands on deck" when it comes to monitoring the latest travel innovations. On August 8, President, Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc., Nancy Telliho christened the good ship Avalon Creativity in Volendam, a Netherlands fishing village. The Creativity is the eighth ship that Avalon Waterways has added to its European fleet since 2004. Avalon Waterways is Budget Travel's pick for "best value in river cruising in 2009." It's also the fastest-growing river cruise company in the world. The company is riding a wave of popularity in river cruising, quite possibly the biggest trend in European travel. Bookings have spiked by more than 20 percent each year since 2001. There's a reason river-cruising is so popular: Unlike on mega ships, you typically won't find surprise fees tacked onto your bill when you sail on these small vessels. This year, Avalon Waterways has added three other ships—Affinity, Luminary, and Felicity—to its European fleet. Six-day trips focusing on Holland recently started at $1,699 via avalonwaterways.com. In a current offer, you can receive half off your airfare with purchase of a qualifying air-inclusive European river cruise vacation. Check out some of the photos celebrating the christening of the Creativity by reading this post on Avalon's blog.

A few of our favorite links from around the 'net this week: German tourist can pre-reserve poolside chairs. [Upgrade: Travel Better] How air travel can be made less annoying. [The New York Times] L.A.'s best clubs for stand-up comedy. [Jaunted] Shopping and spa service—is that really what women want in a hotel? [HotelChatter] Moonstruck: Beautiful moon-gazing shots from around the world. [World Hum] New York City is 'best city for singles' (beating out Atlanta—do we believe these results?). [Gadling] Barcelona: Have a cheapo night out with these inexpensive and free concerts. [EuroCheapo] For more travel blogs, go to Alltop.

Put in that vacation request! The sooner you can take off, the more you'll save during Intrepid Travel's one-day sale, June 30 from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET. Select July departures are reduced by 60 percent, while those in August are 30 percent off, and any other Intrepid package for travel through December 31, 2009, is 15 percent off. Pull up their website or get ready to call 800/970-7299 and supply the booking code 3132. Procrastinators will likely be disappointed as some of these trips have only four spots left. A seven-night tour of Egypt in July covers the Sphinx, the Pyramids of Giza, the Valley of the Kings, and a Nile cruise on a felucca for $310 instead of $775. An eight-night Peru package, including the ruins of Machu Picchu, is down to $664 from $1,600, and a sweeping 15-night trip through Italy, Greece, and Turkey is $910 instead of $2,275. All prices are per person. As we've previously noted, Intrepid is friendly to solo travelers and pairs an individual with a roommate instead of charging a single supplement. Some fine print: The discounts don't apply to Intrepid Travel's additional local payments, typically a few hundred dollars that are due on arrival and go toward incidental expenses and local guides. For instance, the Peru package comes out to $964 per person: $664 (sale price) plus a local payment of $300. Also be prepared to pay in full for trips booked at 60 or 30 percent off. If you can't act fast enough for this one-day sale, bookmark Intrepid Travel's promotions page; trips departing within three months are regularly listed at 20 percent off.