Ten years ago this week, we launched EuroCheapo from my apartment in Berlin with a guide to 25 budget hotels in Paris. On June 14, 2001, with three friends huddled around my desk, I clicked “upload,” refreshed the browser, and watched djddz.com come to life.

True to “cheapo form,” we clinked glasses of inexpensive sparkling wine and went off for a Vietnamese dinner in Prenzlauer Berg.

The "Original Cheapos": Gianni, me and my old red bike reunited in Berlin in 2008.

2001: A Web Odyssey

Remember early 2001? George Bush was sworn into his first term in January. The US economy was rolling along and airline security less restrictive. European travel was different: You shopped with francs in France, Deutsche Marks in Germany and (lots and lots) of lira in Italy.

I had been dreaming of writing a guide that would promote the idea that European travel could be affordable for everyone. As I’m particularly fond of small, interesting hotels, I decided to focus on them. Guidebooks covered some of these, it was true. But I thought we could find an audience by only writing about cheap hotels, showing photos, and putting it all on the Web for free.

To start the site, I flew to London in January 2001 and tried to sleuth out cheap sleeps in the Bloomsbury neighborhood. That first day I knocked on the doors of B&B’s along Gower Street.

But there was a problem: The city was flooded with B&B’s. There were dozens of them lining Gower Street alone, and they all looked about the same from the outside. How was this ever going to work?

Kari and Alex working in my apartment, summer of 2005.

Saved, by Cheapo standards

I panicked… and headed to Rome, where my friend Gianni Bettucci helped me get my–and the site’s–act together. At the tourist information office by Termini Station they handed over a thick directory of every hotel and alberghi in the city.

On the back of a place mat at a nearby Chinese restaurant we listed out what we called our “EuroCheapo Standards.” To even be visited and “inspected,” the hotels had to be centrally located and cheap. To be chosen as an editor’s pick, they had to be clean and, ideally, smaller, non-chain properties. Bonus points would be awarded for personality.

I'm failing to impress the receptionist at the Winston Hotel in Amsterdam in 2005.

We got to work inspecting bedrooms, taking notes, and snapping photos of beds, showers and breakfast rooms. All the while we were explaining a site that didn’t exist to somewhat skeptical proprietors. In a few cases, we even had to explain the concept of the Internet. (“Is it like the fax?” asked one B&B owner in Rome. “Kind of.”)

Throughout the spring of 2001, we also visited hotels in Amsterdam, Florence, Paris and Prague. And yes, I revisited and re-tackled London.

Throughout the first month in the new office we didn't have an Internet connection. We tried to find one wherever we could.

Finally, we set up our apartment (with office) in Berlin’s Friedrichshain neighborhood. I spent a couple of months composing the hotel reviews and designing the site at the Staatsbibliothek near Potsdamer Platz.

How was the site going to make any money? Easy–banner ads! I proudly coded one into the top of the home page. There were also some ads to Amazon.com that could pay a small commission if somebody bought a guidebook. These would pay the rent, right?

Finally, on that balmy June night, we clinked our glasses and celebrated the launch of our new guide. And then we waited for Yahoo! to notice. We’d be waiting for a while. (As for that other, newer search engine with the stripped-down design–we didn’t pay it much attention.)

Dash forward

Growth was slow for the first couple of years. I moved back to New York in 2002, although I headed back to Europe many times a year to add new cities and revisit the old ones. The site started to take off in 2004, which allowed me to hire Kari Hoerchler, followed by Alex Robertson Textor and Vivien Kim Thorp the following year.

The night got late early for Pete and me at Wake Up London in 2005. (The hostel--and dance club--no longer exist.)

At about this time we lost the lease on our sublet office space in SoHo, and the office memorably moved into my apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. There the expanded crew (plus interns!) sweat out the summer of 2005. We moved back into New York’s historic Cable Building at Broadway and Houston several months later, where we remain today.

In 2006, my brother Pete and sister-in-law Meredith became my business partners, and helped take the site to another level professionally. Pete’s business and marketing skills immediately served us well, as did Mere’s editorial experiences. During the following two years we invested heavily in the site’s technology, building a hotel and flights search engine.

Ten years after launching, we’re still hunting down cheap sleeps and taking photos of bathrooms. The “EuroCheapo family” has grown with new hires, correspondents, tech wizards and interns. Like any Web site, we’ve gone through redesigns, logo antics, bug testing (and more bug testing), site crashes, and incredible new launches that leave us proud.

The site has expanded from reviews of 25 hotels in Paris to include hotel recommendations in 28 European cities, a guide to New York, and a blog that publishes dispatches from correspondents around Europe. And we’ve got some new cities ready to launch this summer. (Stay tuned!)

Vivien, Kari, Meredith and Pete in London in 2005

Cheapos I have known…

The site would not exist today without the contributions of the many talented people who have joined the team along the way. We feel fortunate to have found so many others who have agreed with our site’s mission to “help make European travel affordable to everyone.”

Presenting some Very Important Cheapos:

Pete Meyers and Meredith Franco Meyers: Pete and I are brothers, born 15 months apart. We’ve worked summer jobs together and run businesses together (including a wildly–some might say “weirdly”–popular shaved ice stand in Lakeside, Ohio). Therefore, it wasn’t a big surprise to those who know us when Pete and his wife Meredith joined the company in 2006 and became my business partners.

Pete and Meredith officially become my business partners -- and our mother signs as a witness.

It’s hard to imagine what the site would be today without them. The Web site with a funny name suddenly became a “family business,” and I had partners who were deeply invested in and passionate about the business. Pete came from a strong interactive advertising background and took over the business and marketing efforts. Meredith had spent years writing and editing for women’s magazines and gave those skills a “Cheapo” twist.

Kari Hoerchler: Back in New York in 2004, Kari was EuroCheapo’s first hire. During our initial meeting (at the “Big Cup” coffee shop on 8th Avenue in Chelsea), we filled a legal pad with the projects that she’d be tackling during her two days a week. Clearly, she needed to work more days–and I needed to learn how to prioritize projects.

Kari poses as Sarah lines up a shot in 2010.

Since then, Kari has visited hundreds of hotels in Europe (this year, in Seville)–and she currently serves as the listings manager for our hotel search engine. The site would be skimpier without Kari–and the office much less fun.

Suzanne Russo: A master of all editorial trades, Suzanne first interned for EuroCheapo in 2007. We assigned her to fact-check our city guide articles during the day, while she worked on her Masters of English at New York University at night. Sure, she could understand Joyce, but could she make heads or tails of Venice’s vaporetto pass? (Yes, she could.) Suzanne now serves as our listings editor, editing hotel reviews from our correspondents around Europe.

Michael Cargian and James Ellis: Since 2007, Mike and James have been writing and bug-testing the code that makes EuroCheapo work. Mike is on the line daily from San Francisco, and James works his magic from Sydney, Australia. Together, the duo have created a hotel price-comparison search engine, a budget flights search, built a blog, and dealt with many other “Cheapo-” prefixed projects. Without them, the site would be… well, it wouldn’t be.

Meredith, Suzanne and I plotting cities out on a map of Europe in 2011.

Our correspondents: As the site expanded, we needed to find hotel reviewers who could add new cities and revisit the existing listings. Finding the right reviewers can be tricky, as you need someone who shares a sense of value and keeps an eye out for charming touches, quirky details and that certain “je ne sais quoi.”

Additionally, the site sprung to life in 2007 with the launch of the EuroCheapo blog. Suddenly we were publishing daily dispatches about cheap and free things to do in a couple dozen cities. The blog continues to be an extremely important part of the site.

Thus, many, many thanks to the fine writers who have hunted down hotels and penned blog dispatches over the years. And many thanks to our current group of Europe-based writers: Audrey, Bryan, Chaney, Cynthia, Jacy, Jessica, Joann, Laura, Marc, Monica, Nicky, Nicole, Nina, Regina, Susanne and Theadora.

Alex, Vivien, Tom and Pete celebrating the redesign of EuroCheapo in December 2008.

Alex Robertson Textor: Alex joined EuroCheapo in 2005, and quickly attacked our city guides and transportation sections with a sharp eye and budget sensibility. Alex has reviewed hundreds of hotels for us all over Europe, this year in Dublin and London. Alex also served as the EuroCheapo blog editor for its first two years. Today, he also writes for Gadling.com, maintains his own blog, Spendthrift Shoestring, and contributes to numerous publications. Importantly, Alex also introduced our office to the magic of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Vivien and Kari planning their hotel visits while staying at the Hotel Garth in London, 2005.

Vivien Kim Thorp: As Vivien assumed her position as hotel listings editor in 2005, armed with a red pen, she asked, “Which style guide do you follow? AP or Chicago?” I had no idea what she was talking about, no doubt clarifying the scope of the project before her. During her three years at EuroCheapo, Vivien reviewed hotels in several cities, cracked an editorial whip, and greatly elevated the quality of the writing on the site. Today she lives in San Francisco, where she’s finishing off a Masters in journalism.

Sarah Silbert: Originally brought on as a summer intern, Sarah “graduated” into an editorial position at EuroCheapo, where she fact-checked, copy-edited and blogged from 2008-2010. She was also in the cheap hotel trenches, inspecting hotels in Copenhagen and Helsinki for the site. Today Sarah is an associate editor at Laptop Magazine in New York.

Tom, TJ, Laura, Viv, Annie, Alex, Pete

Annie Shapero: For several years, Annie served as our Italy-based correspondent. From her home in Rome, she reviewed hotels in the Eternal City, as well as Florence, Venice and Milan. When Vivien and I first interviewed Annie for the job at a cafe in Rome in 2006 (see photo, below), we immediately knew that we had found a Cheapo-in-spirit (which is evidently why I felt compelled to photograph the event). Today Annie lives in New York where she runs DiVino Wine Events, and she still reviews hotels for us in Italy (this summer updating our Milan guide).

Gianni Bettucci: After helping me out that first year, Gianni launched a career stage managing and producing theater in Berlin. He now runs the incredible Familie Flõz troupe of masked performers and still lives in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg.

Finally, my family has been involved in the business from the very beginning. Of special mention:

Vivien and I met with Annie Shapero in April 2006 in Rome. We hired her on the spot.

“Grandma Miller,” over the course of a Fourth of July family game in 2000, came up with the site’s original name, AntsyPants.com. I registered it the next week and was approached immediately by another company to buy it. (Those were the days…) I sold it, and this provided much of the site’s start-up capital. (“EuroCheapo” was a back-up name. Read more about this on Budget Travel’s Web site.)

Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Mel made an additional family investment (along with cousins Drew and Dave) that funded much of that first year in Berlin. We still hold annual meetings.

My mother and father: My dad, a lawyer, incorporated the business in 2001 and tended to the banking when I was traveling those first years, while my mother has been a constant source of support and encouragement through every entrepreneurial endeavor. Traveling with them in Europe is always a blast.

"Travel Gram" on a trip with me in Salzburg, 2004.

Eileen Detlefsen, a.k.a. “Grandma Det,” a newspaper woman since the 1930’s, continues to serve as a source of inspiration and occasional columnist, as “Travel Gram.” Eileen founded and operated her own newspaper in the 1950’s and 1960’s with my grandfather, and my mother and aunts were teen columnists. She still has the best copy-editing skills I know. (Read more about “Travel Gram.”)

Ben and Elizabeth: My two other siblings, both of whom have worked as editors, have offered thoughtful advice, editing help, and introduced us to interns. I ran the site for six months from my sister and (now) brother-in-law Matt’s home in upstate New York after returning from Berlin in 2002.

Guillaume: My partner and sounding board for business (and non-business) matters. During the past five years, he’s participated in thousands of hours of business discussions–and changed my mind about many things.

Louie, one of our early interns.

Looking forward

The Web is constantly evolving and user expectations have shifted dramatically since we launched the site ten years ago. This can be a daunting challenge.

I believe, however, that there will always be a demand for expert budget travel advice. I look forward to the next ten years, and am hopeful that, blessed with the talents of this group and the Cheapos yet to come, we will continue to provide a service that is helpful and relevant.

A meaningful travel experience in Europe doesn’t need to be expensive. We’ll do our best to promote ways to keep it affordable–and accessible–for as many readers as possible. We hope you’ll join us.

The post EuroCheapo Turns 10: Cheapos who made it possible appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

My fondest memories of traveling to Paris are when I traveled solo. Paris is a city of discovery and when traveling alone, I felt free to look into every nook and cranny of the city to find new museums, galleries, boutiques and markets. Traveling solo gives me the freedom to walk wherever I want to walk and at my own pace.

There are times, however, where I do want to socialize and meet up with others. Here are a few suggestions for places to meet fellow travelers in Paris:

Meeting through Web sites

The Web sites www.traveldaddy.com, www.meetup.com and www.virtualtourist.com have listings of “meetings” where travelers can connect with each other. This usually involves having dinner or some type of similar activity with anywhere from 2-25 travelers.

I’ve been to several of these gatherings. For the most part, I have enjoyed them. I’ve made friends with people that I have kept in touch with over a long period of time. There are online listings for people interested in getting together on www.tripadvisor.com, www.craigslist.org, www.fusac.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Use common sense and normal precautions when meeting strangers. Always meet in a public place and never give out personal information until you feel absolutely confident about whom you have met.

Organized events

I’ve also had success in attending organized functions like wine tastings or bike rides. For instance, last month I attended a wine and cheese lunch at O Chateau near the Louvre. About 20 people attended. The sommelier gave an excellent presentation on the wines of France. The lunch, while simple, was excellent. I enjoyed meeting people from Australia, Canada, and the U.S.

Fat Tire Bike tours are extremely social and include activities like lunch and wine tastings with the theme of a bike tour in Paris, Versailles, or Giverny – the home of Monet.

I find that attending performances like concerts or shows doesn’t offer the social opportunities I am looking for.

Taking a class

Many people are interested in taking a cooking class while in Paris. I have heard positive comments on L’Atelier des Chefs. Be sure to do it in the beginning of the trip so that if you do make friends, you will be able to enjoy each other’s company for the duration of your stay.

Finding other travelers

Another way to meet people is to go where other travelers congregate. For example, I have always been able to strike up a conversation at Starbucks. Some restaurants like Chartier have communal tables where I have met some interesting people. I have always felt welcome whenever I have attended religious services in Paris.

An American ex-pat, Jim Haynes hosts a dinner at his home for about 50-100 people on Sunday evenings. I attended one night and met quite a few English-speaking guests and made some new friends. Jim is very welcoming and makes guests feel right at home. For details, check his Web site.

Your ideas

Have you traveled alone in Paris? Do you have suggestions about interesting places where you can make new friends? Tell us about it in the comments section.

About the author: Professor Stephen Solosky is the author of “The Traveling Professor’s Guide to Paris”. He runs the Web site, http://www.travelingprofessor.com and organizes small group tours to Paris and Italy.

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We had the pleasure of getting to know Sam when our paths crossed in London last year, during which time he told us the fun and interesting story behind the company he runs with his brother, Peter.

We’re big fans of Travellerspoint and the service they provide to help travelers from around the world share useful tips and advice. Interested in learning more? Read on, Cheapos…

1. Please tell us the story behind Travellerspoint. How did it get started?

We first discussed Travellerspoint over an MSN chat session in the middle of 2002, while I was living in the Netherlands and Peter, my brother and co-founder, was living in Australia.

The idea originally was to create a “find lost travel friends” site, as we had both traveled and met people, just to lose contact with those same people soon after ways parted. Three months later, we launched Travellerspoint with that function, a basic travel diary and a travel log function.

Throughout the years we’ve added forums, blogs, mapping, a wiki travel guide and a pretty advanced budget accommodation booking system as we moved along and our ideas developed or new possibilities came along. A few years after launching we all of a sudden realized that the focus had changed to that of a travel community, with great members keen to help each other out with advice and share their experiences.

From then on our focus has been to keep developing complementing services to make it easy for travelers to share experiences with one another, whatever stage of their trip they might be on.

2. Are there any recent travel trends or topical themes you’ve noticed within the TP community?

I often notice waves of posts around a topic, but I’m not really sure if I can blame it on a trend, or just some Google algorithm that all of a sudden sends a lot of traffic looking for information about overstaying their Schengen visa, or visiting the US with a criminal record!

Broadly it seems to me that there are a lot more people asking about traveling to Europe this year than last though. Lately it also seems that “everyone” is visiting Machu Picchu. There are also trends that are very indicative of our times, for example traveling with a laptop seems to be more and more accepted than it was just a few years ago.

One thing that I’m definitely noticing is that no matter how many sites are currently being started trying to help take the hassle out of trip planning, there is just no substitute for personalized advice and interacting with other travelers, whether it’s on travel specific sites like Travellerspoint and Bootsnall, or broader sites like Facebook.

3. How often do you travel, what is your favorite destination to visit and where are you heading to next?

If I define traveling as leaving home for a minimum of one night, I probably travel about 10-20 times a year. Most of it isn’t particularly glamorous though; just short trips for work to conferences, meetings and the like.

I also try and get back to the Netherlands at least four or five times a year to visit friends, and like most Norwegian residents, a year isn’t really complete without at least three or four cabin trips. This year I’m particularly excited about visiting South Africa for the first time in June, and especially as it’s for the World Cup, the greatest sporting event in the world.

What’s also fun about the trip is that I only know one of the guys that I’m traveling with through TP. We’ve met a few times in the past few years so aren’t quite strangers anymore, but it all started with him posting on our forums.

I’m also looking forward to visiting China later this year, even if it is for a conference.

Still, if I had to pick my favorite destination, it would be Australia. I studied and worked there for a while, and there’s something about the combination of the people, country and lifestyle that makes it a fantastic destination. Luckily my parents and brothers live there, so I have both the excuse of visiting for personal reasons and work reasons, even if it is a long trip with a toddler in tow.

4. What is the best travel advice you’ve ever received?

Oh, there’s been so much throughout the years! But last year, for example, my wife and I were looking for a place in Malaysia to spend a relaxing 10 days with a three-year old on the way back from Australia. I asked on the TP forums and got some great tips, one of which led to a lovely stay on Redang Island at a place that was exactly what we were looking for on that particular trip.

I love how you can ask open ended questions like that and get good advice, based on a specific situation that might be totally different next time when I’m travelling alone or travelling for work.

Bonus question: We came across this wonderful photo of you traveling at a very young age. Please tell us more about this and your other early travel experiences.

Ah yes, part of my collection of early childhood photos from the Solomon Islands, where I grew up. The main reason for uploading those photos was this “unofficial history of Travellerspoint” blog post.

In seriousness, I was about a month old when my parents left the comforts of the Netherlands to head to the Solomon Islands, by way of PNG (where that photo is taken). For my first six years, we lived on an island called Rennell, which isn’t very well known, but Gary Arndt of Everything Everywhere has it listed as one of his favourite articles.

After that, we moved to Honiara which is on Guadalcanal, a name that rings a few bells with people due to its part in the second World War. We lived in the Solomons till I was nearly 13, so I have lots of memories from growing up there, but for me it was pretty much just “home.”

We traveled going back and forth to the Netherlands and US every three to four years, usually trips of between two and six months. I really remember those trips well; all the luxury that surrounds you, escalators, fast food, supermarkets that are stocked, etc.

Once in Singapore we were staying at a hotel with a McDonald’s on the ground floor and Peter and I would just endlessly take the elevator from the hotel room down to McDonald’s–such luxury! Living in the Netherlands, travelling just is one of those things everyone does, every year, so it wasn’t hard to keep the travel bug alive from then on.

Thanks for your time, Sam! And keep the photos coming!

The post 4 Cheapo Questions for Sam Daams of Travellerspoint.com appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

While airport overnights can begin rather interestingly (Who knew there was so much activity at the Relay newsstand at 1:35 am? Where’s my journal?), usually sometime around the second americano, fourth Guiness, or third attempt at reading that old Corriere della Sera it becomes necessary to find a place to curl up for some real shut-eye.

This is when SleepingInAirports.net comes in handy.

About The Site

SleepingInAirports provides listings of the best and worst airports for sleeping overnight world-wide. Site members post reviews of airports and upload photos of their own nocturnal experience (such as the image above of London’s Stansted Airport).

The site also provides practical summaries of what to expect if you’re thinking of pulling an overnighter.

For example, SleepingInAirports has the following assessment of Stansted’s sleeping conditions: The airport has limited seating, is cold and crowded, requires getting there early, and provides uncomfy benches and too frequent announcements. (Ahhhh, good times!) Well, at least that Ryanair ticket only cost four euros…

Why We Like It

There are more than 5,000 user reviews on SleepingInAirports.net, making it a surprisingly thorough resource covering not only the best (Helsinki and Amsterdam) and worst (Paris Charles de Gaulle) airports in Europe, but many less-famous airports as well. The site has been around since 1996 and sports a no-nonsense design to reinforce its authenticity.

We love the war stories from travelers and the helpful tips posted for the first-time overnight airport sleeper. For example, one traveler advises, “Act innocent… do not act like a professional sleeper.” (“Professional sleeper” has just enterred our travel lexicon.)

Finally (and perhaps most impressively), the site has also been mentioned on “Hollywood Squares,” giving it instant street cred as far as we’re concerned.

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