A balcony view of Airbnb in Turin, Italy.

By Shari Benyousky
Photographs by Tony Garza

“People are really going to hate THIS article.” Tony savored another paper-thin slice of prosciutto on the balcony in our rented Airbnb flat in Turin, Italy. “With gas prices so high and all, people really see their shrinking budgets. They don’t think they can travel.”

I tossed some zucchini and cipollini (onions) into a pile on the cutting board. “But do they know it’s possible to travel affordably but not cheaply?” I slid the veggies into the hot pan. Out the open doors to the balcony, I could hear the waterfall next to our Airbnb and the sounds of Turin: the babble of students, the whine of mopeds, the whoosh of braking buses, the wail of European ambulances, and, over everything, the warble of interesting European birds.

GRATUITOUS UNRELATED BIRDING TIP – Both at home and abroad, if you’re a bird watcher, download the App called Merlin Bird ID. I downloaded the European bird song list and sat on my balcony while the app identified ten new species of bird songs.

“Seriously.” Tony started putting together a simple bruschetta of day-old bread toasted and then piled with the leftover tomatoes and garlic. “We should show people in Warsaw how we travel so often on so little cash.”

“Sure, ok. We can focus a few articles on how to do it…Ouch!” I looked around for my lost hot pad. Traveling could be JUST like home in many ways, but the burn should come from the cooking and not the wallet.

1. CREDIT CARD MILES FOR AIRPLANE TICKETS

Save the most money off the top by using miles to pay for plane tickets. Hold on. I don’t mean just saving up miles by using your credit card. I mean purposely collecting miles from opening various credit cards with bonuses while watching one’s credit score. Oh, you haven’t heard about churning? If you’re a beginner, here’s a great place to start learning. For example, you can get 80,000 Chase Preferred Points (they transfer to many different airlines) by applying here. I haven’t paid more than $125 for an international (or domestic) airline trip for more than a decade. Starting does require a good credit score and some careful organizational planning, but it’s very doable. For example, our current trip from Chicago to Turin used Delta miles and cost about $25 per person in fees. Our trip home from Florence (watch for another article) with American Airlines miles cost about $11 each.

2. AIRBNB FOR LODGING WITH WASHING MACHINES, KITCHENS

The second most important money saver involves renting Airbnbs with washing machines, free parking, and kitchens (use the filters on the site) so you can pack light and save money by cooking your own dinners and washing your own clothes frequently.

TIP – In Europe, hotels most often only have room for two people to sleep, so with a larger party, you’ll need to rent multiple rooms. You can find Airbnb (or Homeaway or Vrbo etc) to suit nearly any size party for far cheaper. You’ll also get a host to give free local tips.

TIP – In Europe, no one has a dryer. Somewhere in your apartment, you’ll find a drying rack instead. Packing clothes with some synthetic content makes them dry quickly and without wrinkles in the Italian sun. Who wants to spend their vacation playing with clothes instead of seeing the world? Also, if you have a washing machine, you can pack only 3-4 days of clothes and wash every now and then. Ditch the suitcase and make your life easy with a light backpack to walk across those charming cobblestones.

Having an apartment with a kitchen means you can save tons of cash by doing a little easy cooking (think $1.50 packages of fresh pasta which take 3 minutes to cook). Save even more by eating out at lunch and in for dinners which cost much more. In Italy, grocery stores are brimming with cheap and easy prosciuttos, cheeses, amazing breads, and easy to make seafood like mussels. Here’s a charcuterie board we purchased at a restaurant, but it’s easy to recreate for a few bucks (euros) from the grocery for your own picnic. Also, in Europe amazing wine is cheap. You can find great bottles for $5 anywhere.

TIP – bring a compact expandable shopping bag from home. If you don’t have one, Airbnb apartments often have them around or you’ll be offered a biodegradable plastic bag at the store for a few cents. Yep. The first question a cashier asks in every European country at checkout is if you brought your own bag or not.

3. LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Our flat in Turin cost $110 per night including all fees and taxes (that included a full kitchen, a balcony, and all of usual WIFI extras plus a coffeeshop making cappuccino beneath). A bus stop under the balcony made for easy transportation anywhere we wanted to go including up the mountains to the spectacular Superga Basilica. How much does this bus cost? $1.70 per ride. Yep – that’s right, it cost all three of us $5.10 to cross town and up the mountain including breathtaking views, a free language lesson from the nice people sitting next to us, and mountain air conditioning.

When our feet tired, we hopped on and off the local busses frequently in Turin. Public transportation is easy and fun. Sure, you’ll probably do it wrong once in a while. But, aren’t you traveling to see something new anyway?  Allow a little extra time for errors and enjoy the ride.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TIP – if you’ve never ridden public transport before, you need to know two things: which line takes you somewhere and which direction you’re heading. The direction of a line is named for its endpoint. Busses and metros often have stops on opposite sides of the street, so check the map on the wall (or Google on your smartphone) to see which side you want to hop on. Also, if you can’t find anywhere on the bus or metro to tell you what the stops are, just open Google maps on your phone and follow along. Even if you can’t understand the language of the announcer, you’ll know you’re on the right track.

“It’s a good start.” Tony shrugged as he read through the draft of this article. “You have a long way to convince people that this is doable for the average person though.” I started a new list. Things to know to travel abroad with ease. Next article – come with us to Camogli, Italy.

Know of an interesting place, statue, or restaurant which you’d like to see featured in this column someday? Send SB Communications LLC an email at [email protected].

The Superga Basilica.