For better or worse, the Millers are back in the US of A!
The main lesson I learned from this is...if you want to go, GO! As long as you can be fairly responsible, GO GO GO. See the world! Don't wait until you're too old. You get a lifetime, no more, no less (paraphrasing from Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series). I'm 45 now. We walked a LOT in London and Paris. I was totally worn out by the end. I'm not sure I could have done this when I'm 55, let alone 65 ("normal" retirement age for most people). Although we spent a lot of money, I don't regret any part of this trip. It increased our happiness, and we made lifelong memories and saw a part of the world that I wasn't sure I would ever see. Seeing how people live in different countries gives you a broader worldview when you get back home, and that's a good thing for everyone.
Ways we saved money:
We had some cheap breakfasts, especially in Paris (think total of 6 euros for breakfast pastry items)
We walked a LOT. Whenever possible, we tried to limit use of the metro to getting somewhere in the morning and then getting back home at night.
We used airbnb. They weren't what I would call cheap, but they were cheaper than hotels in the same areas.
That being said, we still spent a ton of money. London and Paris are just very very expensive, especially for a family of four. A meal at Five Guys that would usually cost $40 max was double that. We tried to limit ourselves to one "real" meal per day, but even doing that added up.
Highlights for me:
1) An awesome medieval feast on our last night in London. It was about $150.00, but for that we got 3+ hours of entertainment (think jester, acrobat, singers, sword fights, etc), a four-course meal that was really good, unlimited ale and wine, friendly table mates from California and England who we talked with all night, and a ton of memories, including my youngest repeatedly yelling "Wench!" to our server (to be clear, this was encouraged and our server was awesome) And the performers were really good too.
2) Thames river cruise - It was about $50 for the four of us, and our guide was so funny. We saw lots of sights and got loads of info on the various buildings along the river. It was also a gorgeous day.
3) Seeing Notre Dame. Wow it is just amazing that people built this so long ago. I spent 20 minutes reading all the details of how they built it over the course of about 150 years. We took a tour up to the highest tower and wow my anxiety kicked in, but it was worth it. And totally free with our Museum pass (which saved us a decent amount of money).
4) Just walking in Paris, especially our neighborhood in the Latin Quarter. It was just pretty. So many 200+ year old buildings, flower shops, cafes, trees in bloom, it was amazing. I could have spent days just hopping into all the little bookstores.
And did I mention the weather the whole trip (other than our Disneyland day) was GORGEOUS. Lots of sunny days in the 50s/low 60s. I couldn't have dialed up better weather.
Here are some pics from London. I'll post a few Paris picks in the next post as we are limited to 4 pics per post. (I don't know why some of them are sideways)