The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: EconDiva on August 12, 2016, 10:29:55 AM
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Hi everyone,
I recently decided to join a major Home Exchange company in an attempt to save on travel accommodations going forward.
I have enough miles to go to Europe this year but had just recently decided not to go because I can't find time to go prior to November now basically. After joining this Home Exchange site, I got an offer to do an exchange with a couple in Paris over Christmas for like a week or so.
So...free flight and free accommodations. Their place seems pretty nice...not extravagant, small of course, but nice. Very close to the Eiffel Tower. Great reviews on the website. The thing is, I was thinking now I'd use my miles to go someplace warm since I live in a city that gets FREEZING cold over the winter. I have been to Paris once in December and although I didn't stay long I got an idea of what the weather would be like. Shorter days, some rain, 50s or so, etc.
Just curious as to if others would take up this offer and go (I've never experienced how the city looks at night during this time of year which I hear is amazing) or do the alternative and shoot for a warmer place? Just wondering in general if people would choose a city like Paris to vacation in over Christmas? As an FYI, I'd be going all by myself.
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In Paris now. I have been here three times. Twice in summer and once in early (freezing cold rainy spring). I take the warm weather 100% because a big part of my enjoyment in traveling comes from walking around and poking through the city, sitting in a cafe people watching, seeing the amazing parks and gardens. I will never do another March or April Northern Europe trip (and most definitely not December or January). A free trip at a time I don't like that prevents me from doing things I love is no good to me. Now YMMV and you like museums and such, and, Willing to slog through snow and slush, then winter may do you just fine. That's my two cents. I'd either go some place warm in the winter or time my trip for a different time of year.
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Try to go over New Years Eve/Day. My first trip was to see the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower....SPECTACULAR and there is a parade on New Years Day. Some tourist things were closed, but we hit the museums, Notre Dame, Versaillles, the catacombs and had a blast.
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How much do you want to see Paris, and how much do you hate crowds?
Personally, I LOVE Europe in the Winter. I was in paris in January, Rome in February and will do Berlin in October and Brussels in December this year. In contrast, we didn't leave the house except for a couple camping weekends this summer because it was too damn hot, and too damn crowded. In the winter, I can get into any attraction or museum that I want without lines, spend as much time looking at the good art and interesting things as I want and am not mobbed by college students puking all over the place. It's my favorite time to travel -- and Paris in the rain is gorgeous.
But it sounds like you're not really all that sold on Paris. If it's not somewhere you really want to go, don't waste the miles and go somewhere you're into -- life is too short for lukewarm vacations. :)