Grand Tours, Kosovo, & Macedonia

It was exciting to see the Frugal Traveler's Grand Tour series round-up in the New York Times yesterday. Matt Gross emerges from his mammoth zig-zag across Europe with some great tips. He proselytizes the following budget gospel: choosing apartment rentals over hotels; shopping for food at supermarkets; signing up for volunteer opportunities; journeying by bus; hitchhiking; and, finally and most delightfully, exploring Europe's outer edges. This is just about the best single how-to article I've seen in the NYT travel section in quite some time. It's full of practical information and is also downright inspiring.

I suspect that I was especially excited to see the above article in light of my very exciting—and very frugal—upcoming trip, which kicks off tomorrow. I'll spend a few days in Haiger, in the German state of Hesse, meeting some mostly distant relatives. That won't really be the frugal part though. Keep reading.

After the family reunion extravaganza, I'll head south. I'll fly Germanwings to Pristina (€150 one-way). From there I'll move on to Ohrid, Prilep, and Skopje before flying back to Germany from Thessaloniki (on Air Berlin, for €100.) The most expensive hotel among the bunch will run €60 for a double, and the cheapest (in the bunk room of a monastery) will cost nothing at all. My hotel in Pristina will set me back €9 for the night; my guesthouse in Ohrid will run €12.50 per night per person.

Macedonia, a country I visited for the first time last summer, is a budget traveler's paradise. In the next multi-installment counterintuitive European Grand Tour Reconsidered feature, in say 2009, it should really be covered.

Happily, I've picked up some assignments for my own trip, and will link when appropriate.

Over and out.