A Child's-Eye View of the Continent

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Dec, 1998 by Lynn Woods

And twice when we ate in restaurants we were charged exorbitant amounts that did not seem to add up. When I asked the waiter to itemize the bill, he agreed to charge us less. Because you pay for items that are usually free in the U.S., such as bread and water, I learned to speak up when we didn't want something that was placed on the table.

DON'T BANK ON DISCOUNTS FOR KIDS. I had figured that Alec was still young enough to qualify for reduced admission fees. As it turned out, however, he had to pay full freight at a number of attractions. Many Italian institutions parcel out children's discounts based on nationality, and invariably Americans don't qualify. In Paris, admission policies varied: Alec paid full price at the Eiffel Tower, but got a discount at the zoo.

As it happened, many of our most memorable experiences were free. Alec was fascinated by the decaying German bunkers on the Normandy coast. He thought the fantastic parade of Sienese men--dressed in armor and medieval costumes at the Palio was "awesome."

And even when we had to pay two full admissions, ii felt we got a great value compared with, say, admission to Walt Disney World or your typical U.S. amusement park. For $13 we could explore the real thing--a 2,000-year-old dead city (Pompeii)--where we walked over ruts left by ancient chariots and visited an amphitheater where gladiators had fought to the death.

BOOKING TRAINS AND CARS IN ADVANCE IS A MIXED BAG. For touring the D-Day beaches, I reserved a car through Kemwel Holiday Auto (800-678-0678), one of several car-rental wholesalers that rent Avis, Hertz and other brand-name cars overseas at a discount. Kemwel markets mainly through travel agents and tour operators, and you must book in the U.S. prior to your departure to get the best rates.

The Kemwel rate of $50 a day for a stick-shift economy car included insurance and tax. One pleasant surprise: The car had a diesel engine, so we avoided the notoriously steep charges for gasoline, which costs three to four times more in Europe than in the U.S. We owed the car-rental company only $7 for fuel.

To pick up our car in Caen, we took a train from Paris. Reserved in the U.S., the tickets cost $118, including a half-price discount for Alec and a $10-per-ticket handling fee. Next time I'd eliminate the handling charge by buying the tickets in Paris.

The cost of the seven-passenger van we rented with our friends in Sorrento was steep--$535 for three days (Kemwel's required minimum)--especially because we drove it for only two days. We might have paid less by renting a van directly from a local agency that charged $150 a day--although with my limited Italian I couldn't tell if that price included insurance and taxes. One advantage of booking in advance is knowing what you're paying for.

When we got home, I called Kemwel to question the three-day minimum (which had been waived for the car I rented in Caen). The customer-service representative agreed to refund us about $120, after I provided proof of the two-day rental.