Video: In 3 minutes, how to say hello in 21 accents

The Paris flea markets are famous, but not cheap. A trip to the popular Porte de St. Ouen marché aux puces in the north central tip of the city—usually referred to as Clignancourt—is enjoyable for browsing art deco antiques and costume jewelry. The prices are more reasonable, though, at the Porte de Vanves market on the Left Bank. The hardcore, Parisian discount fanatic prefers to spend his or her euros at brocantes (swap meets) and vide-greniers (attic sales), which are so common in summer that it's hard not to stumble upon one. True, the wares there will be less pedigree, but one man's castoff is another man's treasure. Items such as pre-war cookie tins and souvenir postcard sets are more culturally novel to visitors than they are to the French people who grew up with them—and they sell for beans at the Marché d'Aligre, the most atmospheric of the city's weekend swap meets. Porte de St. Ouen (les-puces.com) Vanves (pucesdevanves.typepad.com) Marché d'Aligre (marchedaligre.free.fr) —Laurie Pike, for our Affordable Europe series. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Save money: On your fourth day in Paris, head out of town to Provins, a well preserved medieval small town.

Here's a roundup of tips that can save you money in Europe this summer. The British-based blog Europe a la Carte has asked several travel bloggers for their best tips about how to make travel to Europe affordable this summer. Here are the top 5 tips, based on their collective wisdom. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL'S BLOG Affordable Europe: Tips from the Rough GuidesBike cities for free (or nearly free) Family travel: European hostels that aren't hostile to families Can you afford Europe this summer? Dozens of readers post comments with helpful tips and ideas. Berlin: 3 wine bars operate on the honor system

It's been just over a year since we last reported on Registered Traveler (RT), a program that enables people to zip through separate security lanes if they pay an annual fee of $100 and pass a security check by the government and a private company. Launched in 2005, RT wasn't quick to take off, but the roll-out picked up recently. A total of 19 airports now either offer, or are about to offer, the lanes. In March, Washington's Dulles and Reagan airports introduced the service; Salt Lake City and Atlanta are expected to follow suit later this month. Enrollment at RT's largest supplier, Clear (flyclear.com), is up to 140,000; new providers, such as Flo (flocard.com), hope to attract customers by adding membership perks, such as discounts on car rentals and cruises. Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection started online enrollment in a similar program that would expedite travelers through customs lanes. Like RT, Global Entry (cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel) costs $100 per year and travelers must undergo a background check to join. Dulles, New York/JFK and Houston airports will offer the service in June; others are expected to follow. I've encountered the Clear Lane several times at JFK's Terminal 4. Two thoughts: 1. I've never actually seen anyone go through it, and 2. I was moving through regular security so quickly that there wouldn't have been time to see a Registered Traveler whiz by me. (Not to mention that I haven't had to divulge personal information nor pay $100.) It still seems like a gimmick—and a waste of valuable airport real estate—to me. Regarding Global Entry, my guess is that those who would join aren't the ones getting hassled by customs officials in the first place—which only seems to leave the rest of us, and, more importantly, guests to our country, even more irritated at awfully long lines. Are these programs a good thing? Any Registered Travelers out there who want to talk about their experience? What about Global Entry—would you do it? Why or why not?

If you haven't heard of RSS feeds, then you're in for a treat. "RSS feeds" is a dumb name for a fabulous technology. It's free and a cinch to use. You get your own webpage, which pulls together into easy-to-read lists all of the latest headlines and stories from your favorite blogs and websites. Here's an amazing video--from the supersmart folks at Common Craft--explains how RSS can simplify your life: Most of the top news websites, such as Washingtonpost.com and BudgetTravel.com, offer these feeds, too. So do travel sites and online travel agencies, such as Priceline.com. Once you start using RSS feeds, you'll be hooked. Let's get hopping. It'll take you about 10 minutes to simplify your Web surfing... Create a free RSS feed at Yahoo (my.yahoo.com) or Bloglines.com. (To find other RSS feeds, click here.) Then dial up your favorite site and click the link that says "RSS." This link is almost always in an orange box. Sometimes, it says "XML" instead. ("XML" stands for "extensible mark-up language." No, we don't know what that means either. Who cares? It works!) [On Budget Travel's This Just In blog, you'll find this link as a button that's in a box that says "Subscribe." You'll find the "Subscribe" button in the right column under the photos of our bloggers and some links to recent posts.] Once you've clicked through, you'll find a list of story topics to choose from.The stories you want—and only those stories—will come at least once a day, as our website is updated. The headlines will be stored so you can view them at your convenience. **UPDATE: The link to the RSS feed above has been corrected. Thanks Betty! By the way, "RSS" stands for: "I'm Ready for Some Stories!" (Okay, that's a fib. The acronym actually stands for "really simple syndication," and you can learn the nitty-gritty details by clicking here. But why bother?)