After several years of aromatic confusion in which the soft, supple smell of maple syrup lingered in the air throughout New York City, Reuters recently broke the news that the cause was New Jersey’s fragrance processing plants. We’re sure there’s an excellent pun to be made about this discovery – please feel free to add your own in the comments section below.

Feeling inspired by this news, we present today’s Friday Round Up: Maple Syrup Edition!

– Gridskipper featured the best spots for hot chocolate in Paris that made us (well, at least me) drool. Each recommendation is also displayed on a Google Map, which is especially helpful (and schmanzy.)

– Have a love / hate relationship with airline food? Then be sure to check out WorldHum’s post “Would you like the chicken, the fish or the dead hamster?”

– Cheapo Editor in Chief, Tom, blogged from Riga earlier in the week about his new found love of Latvian food. Chicken stroganoff….mmmmmmmmmm.

– Our friends at Venere.com wrote about some of Europe’s “Can’t Miss” food festivals, and we’re now contemplating an office visit to the Merano Wine Festival in Italy. Truffle auctions? Sign us up!

– And lastly, we enjoyed seeing the many photos of London’s big snowstorm from earlier in the week — and hearing from a few London-based Cheapos who were mysteriously “sick” and couldn’t make it in to work. Our favorite pic is this one of a snowman in front of Buckingham Palace. Admittedly, this has nothing to do with maple syrup…

Happy Friday, Cheapos, and have a great weekend!

The post Friday Round Up: Maple Syrup Edition appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Cheap eats in Roma

It turns out we’re not the only ones blogging this week about cheap eats in Rome (read our post). Budget Travel’s blog is talking up cheap lunches in the Eternal City. Erica Firpo writes from Rome that we should say “Basta! to pasta” and reach for something a little less filling for lunch. She recommends picking up some triangular tramezzino. We’ll take two.

From Stansted for £4?

Checking in with “Less Than a Shoestring,” poetloverrebelspy has landed in London and is full of Cheapo-advice. First off, book that coach trip from Stansted into the city early, and use either easyBus or Terravision. On easyBus it’s possible to snag a seat (booked in advance) for as low as £4.25 each way!

Furthermore, we’re reminded that the Tate Modern and Tate Britain are not only free, but they offer free guided tours. Join in!

Dinner in London for £5

Meanwhile, Olivia from “High Culture on a Low Budget” is thinking London budgets, too. In this week’s installment of “Ask a Local“, she asks Mike from London where he would find dinner for £5 and £10. (Hint: The Best Turkish Kebab or an Amy Winehouse haunt.) Nice job with this series, Olivia!

Athens in 36 hours

Sunday preview: The New York Times takes us along for “36 hours in Athens.” We’re impressed by how much Joanna Kakissis can fit into a day and a half, including museum hopping, brunch taking, ruin walking, sunset strolling, restaurant sampling, bar hopping… But we have some better ideas for affordable hotels in Athens.

And, regarding our “Name that celebrity” quiz on Wednesday: We still can’t figure out who she is. Stay tuned for the answer and our winner.

Happy Friday, Cheapos! Should we all just head to Athens for the weekend?

The post Flip through: Roman lunch, London Cheapo tips, Athens in a hurry appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

The web has been busier than the Dublin airspace with stories about Ryanair. Our favorite budget travel rebel at “Less than a Shoestring” last week continued to explain “Why I Love/Hate RyanAir.” (Let’s say that it has to do with taxes, fees, and working the system. “Dealing with low-cost carriers such as RyanAir is like playing a game. In order to play well, you need to know the rules.”

Meanwhile, over on the other shoe, Spendthrift Shoestring is back from Carriacou and already monitoring the overall health of the low-cost carrier business. Alex points out that Air Berlin and Centralwings have experienced some turbulence, while RyanAir is reporting growth in March. At least some airlines are showing growth. BudgetTravel, reporting on the ATA airline bankruptcy yesterday, suggests that ticketholders check with their credit card company about a getting a refund.

But, back to RyanAir. How does the airline make you feeeel? Europe A La Carte muses about whether travel brands are important, pointing out that “Ryanair has a pretty negative brand image but loads of people (including me) book with them because of the choice of direct flights and low prices. So do brands matter at all?” We think they do, but price might still be the deciding factor.

On the ground, James from About.com’s Europe Travel challenges visitors in Florence to stop and reflect on the number of American tourists crowding the city. “If you close your eyes and listen closely, you could be in Cleveland. Well, except maybe for the quality of the gelato.” He’s pushing for trips out of town, to the hills surrounding Florence.

And for amusing insider-y kvetching, you should treat yourself to Rick Steves’ blog, where the author recounts his adventures updating his Lisbon and Portugal guidebook. Anyone who has been “on the ground” updating a city guide will laugh (and cringe). Our favorite note: “Hotel Lisboa Tejo: Our room was extremely spacious and clean–but street on the west side of the building was full of young and very busy prostitutes.” Ah yes, how to deal with the “prostitute factor” when deciding whether or not to include a great budget hotel. We’ve been there!

Looking out at a rainy morning, we’ll happily swap for any prostitute-lined street in Lisbon. We’ll take Florence, even with the tourists. Heck, we’ll even take Cleveland, if it’s sunny…

Have a nice weekend.

The post Friday flip-through: RyanAir reports, Lisbon, Florence appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

1. Ryanair’s new routes in and out of Stockholm’s Skavsta. Ryanair is launching another 13 routes to and from Skavsta. Starting in October, routes between Skavsta and Alicante, Basel, Berlin, Bratislava, Eindhoven, Karlsruhe Baden, Liverpool, Malta, Pisa, Porto, Trapani, and Valencia will kick off. A Skavsta-Salzburg route will commence in December.

2. Melati Cottages, Ubud, Bali. Yes, we know that Bali is far away from Europe, but we returned last Thursday from an amazing week in Bali. Much of what made the week so amazing was our experience at Melati, a friendly guesthouse between Ubud and Penestanan. Located in an idyllic green setting, Melati boasts incredibly friendly and helpful staff, a remarkable in-house masseuse, and lovely breakfasts (we won’t forget that black rice anytime soon.) Double room rates booked online begin at US$29, including taxes. Highly recommended!

3. Check out this handy Ljubljana events calendar, provided by the Slovenian capital’s official site.

4. Tomorrow, easyJet kicks off a twice-weekly Glasgow-Ibiza service, which will run through September 8.

The post List: Friday Four appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

1. This fellow’s daily photographs on Flickr. Why? Because we’re suckers for stark landscapes, found objects, and Nordic cityscapes. And we like to be able to depend on regularly scheduled aesthetic replenishments.

2. Eurostar’s green turn.

3. Czech Tourism’s big Brno push. With a big city festival to be held from May 18 through June 3, this is a great time to visit the Czech Republic’s second city. We dig Brno’s pairing of modern and 18th century. Note that Ryanair flies between Brno and London Stansted.

4. Turkish design collective Ilk. We hate to admit that it was Wallpaper* who tipped us off to Ilk, but there it is. Clearly, it’s time to return to Istanbul.

5. San Francisco Bay Area band The Lovemakers (see Lovemakers’ vocalist Lisa Light above) is providing the perfect soundtrack to a slowly unfolding spring. Thanks to Greg Young for introducing us to our new best friends.

The post Friday List: Stuff We’re Digging appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.