Travel Advice

A Marc Jacobs ad campaign by Juergen Teller. Ok, not really. Just my wee homage to the duo.
I finally made it to the Marc by Marc Jacobs store on Damen Avenue in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, and in a word, it is heavenly. In true Chicago style, I take pride in the fact that MJ chose to house one of just a handful of Marc by Marc Jacobs stores right in my own backyard, just blocks from my last apartment, no less. Speaking of which, I can not believe how much the hood has changed but I won't bore non-Chicagoans with that speech.


The Marc by Marc Jacobs Chicago storefront
The shop is stunning. The clothing - arranged by color - handbags, jewelry and accessories are presented like artwork in a gallery (not uncommon for fashion boutiques, I am aware, but just setting the scene). Exposed piping and the dark denim blue and gray color scheme suggest he took clues from an Army Surplus store (think Urban Outfitters, for lack of a better analogy). The window displays featured huge photographs of Marc by an artist whose name escapes me at the moment...again adding to the whole artistic vibe.


View from the entrance
This is a place for creative types to dream. I wasn't at all put off by the fact that I couldn't afford anything. I was content to look, get ideas and just admire Marc's talent. It took me back to a warm and fuzzy place back in the '90s when grunge was cool, and Starbucks hadn't yet invaded the Belmont and Clark intersection where hipsters and punks once reigned supreme. Marc is just so desperately needed in fashion. And here's the budget part: There are bins of cheap trinkets and baubles and trashy kitschy junk for as little as $1 - and I LOVE it! I scooped up a pair of fingerless gloves for $5 and an adorable fuchsia quilted wristlet for $23.


View from the rear of the store
And did I mention the friendly staff? One of the employees called me out on the Forever 21 Marc knockoff I happened to be wearing that day (gulp!), saying it looked just as good as the real thing. Not sure her boss would feel the same way, but I appreciated her down-to-earth attitude. She even offered to take my picture in the store when she realized just how obsessed I was. Yeah, I felt like a tourist but who cares? I got my photos, got my little "consolation prizes" and left feeling happy and inspired. I suggest you pay the store a visit next time you're in the Windy City, too. Take the Blue line towards O'Hare, get off at Damen, walk north to 1714 N. Damen.

The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor Fifi LaMode revisits Paris and discovers the more things change, the more they...well, you know the rest. —BB


by Fifi LaMode
PARIS - Plus ça change... OK, OK, I know I said I'd focus on places other than Europe, but heck, it's France and I couldn't stay away. It's 3 years since I was last in Paris and here's an update on what's changed and what hasn't:

What's changed: The prices. Big time. The cute boutique hotel we stayed at for 120 Euros is now a Best Western and charges 290 Eu. Ouch. I also switched from cappuccino to the local brew, i.e. espresso, because it's 1/3 the price and I discovered you can sleep after you drink it. Anyway, it's much cooler drinking the teeny cups of mud, er, coffee, than big globs of foam which stay on your upper lip marking you as a tourist. There's a reason they charge 3.5 Eu for these things.

They've also discovered yuppification where wine is concerned, i.e. charging stupid amounts for a glass of something that costs little more than that for an entire bottle. Shame on you, Paris. I recall my student days when no matter how little money we had, we could always get a decent bottle of vin rouge, a loaf of bread, and some cheese. The bread and cheese are still cheap and good, but even the locals complain about the high price of everything. Mr. Sarkozy, please, you love America, learn a lesson from us. If it's a moneymaker, run with it. French wine and cheese are why folks keep coming back - really. Keep those taxes down! Continue reading "Savvy Travel: Fifi Returns ... »

The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor Fifi LaMode makes a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France. —BB


by Fifi LaMode
I've wanted to visit Lourdes since I was a child, so I went on a tour of the shrines of France. After seeing a bunch of churches in Paris, we set off for Lisieux in Normandy to see the home and shrine of St. Therese. Ah, the French countryside. Lisieux is low-key, friendly, much cheaper than Paris (note: Once you leave Paris, everything is about 20% cheaper.) A plate of cheese, fresh bread and a glass of Cotes du Rhone and I'm rejuvenated. All for under $12 US. Love this place. Bought a St. Therese cake, and the proceeds go to the St. Therese school for pastry chefs - now that's a worthy cause if ever there was one, encouraging French pastry chefs. Yes.

Now about Lourdes. At first glance I thought I was in Las Vegas for holy people. The shops have all sorts of junk, from Virgin Mary night lights to schlocky bracelets with saints, popes, kitty cats, you name it. Then I attended a French Mass in the Basilica and the candlelight procession. What a moving experience to see folks from all over the world praying together and being nice to each other. It grows on you. What's there to see? Well, for starters, the Grotto where the Virgin appeared to Bernadette. Get as much holy water as you want - it's free. Bring your own containers or buy anything from vials to gallon jugs or used Evian bottles. I filled mine up and used it as drinking water. Better than Evian. Continue reading "Savvy Travel: Fifi the Pilgrim" »

Which type of travel is right for you? Fifi LaMode, The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor, gives us the scoop on traveling with a group. —BB


by Fifi LaMode
Never have so many opportunities been available for people to see just about any place in the world. Not long ago, in the 50's, an economy ticket to Europe cost about 4 months' wages and people dressed up to go on planes because it was such a big deal. Going to Florida in the winter was for the well-off and if you did a family trip to California from the Midwest, it was by train, or you drove. Now, even with rising airfares, travel is still a bargain. To get the most from your travel dollar, it's important to decide how you want to travel, whether in a group or on your own.

Group travel has its advantages:

1. Once you are met at the airport by the group representative, you don't have to schlep luggage. It's delivered to your room at each hotel. It's picked up in the morning and placed on the bus. All included in the price of the tour.
   
2. You get to meet people from all over the place who share your interest in the places you're visiting.
   
3. The research is done for you. You don't have to look for hotels on your own and negotiate prices. Some of the meals are usually included, breakfasts almost always.
   
4. Once you've paid upfront for the tour, in US dollars, you don't have to worry about exchange rates or budgeting except for non-included items, like tips for the guides and incidentals and lunches/dinners.

Continue reading "Savvy Travel: The Scoop on ... »

Plan your own sailing adventure à la Fifi LaMode, The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor and seafarer extraordinaire. —BB


by Fifi LaMode
If I can sail, anybody can. I'm terrified of the sea, terrified of getting seasick, terrified of huge sea creatures and medium sea creatures; ok, I'm a big scaredy cat. I overcame all these fears during our week in the British Virgin Island's and you can too.

We booked through a company called Sunsail, which is British, but they have U.S. headquarters too. They offer flotilla vacations in Greece, Turkey, Croatia, the British Virgin Islands, and the Grenadines. They're either 1 or 2 weeks, and they have different grades of difficulty.

We took the baby grade and there were a lot of families with kids. Of course the kids knew more about sailing than I did. There were also couples with not a lot of sailing experience (moi!) but as long as the "captain" knows how to sail, they let you use their boats. You can contact them through www.sunsail.com. You pay for the boat, not per person, and most of the boats can hold up to 6 people. Continue reading "Savvy Travel: You Too Can Sail!" »

It's a pirate's life for The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor Fifi LaMode (minus the pillaging). —BB


by Fifi LaMode
So now we've experienced a storm at sea, nights under the stars, all sorts of fish, and we're getting quite used to this sailing routine. It's our last day and it's a "free sail" day, which means we're free to sail wherever we want as long as we're in harbor by 5 p.m. We depart Spanish Town and choose a route that's windier than we want, so we turn away from the open sea and enter the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

The sea is much calmer and we can once more take time to enjoy the scenery. I love the names of these places. They evoke adventurous times and hundreds of years of history: Pirates, ships laden with Spanish gold, and, unfortunately, slaves. These islands have many stories to tell. (For an excellent read, get James Michener's "Caribbean" from your local library. Each set of islands has a different history.)
Continue reading "Savvy Travel: Fifi's ... »

The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor Fifi LaMode recounts an envy-arousing excursion to Biras Creek in the British Virgin Islands. —TBB


by Fifi LaMode
After surviving our first storm at sea (we found out that these weather events occur just prior to hurricane season and go away after about 12-18 hours.), we woke to a clear sunny day. We could finally appreciate the beauty of Marina Cay and looked forward to a new day.

The route for the day was relatively simple, and I felt more comfortable navigating, especially since I could actually see the places on the chart (in sailing talk it's "charts", not maps). There were some neat rock formations, some small islands with strange names like "the Dogs", and we saw Necker Island which belongs to Richard Branson. We sailed thiiiis close to it. You can get as close as you want because the water belongs to no man.

Destination Biras Creek in Virgin Gorda. The chart shows a long coral reef to be avoided, but after yesterday's ordeal, Fifi is undaunted. I navigate almost into it. Oops. Saved by the GPS. We enter a huge harbor, along with many other sailboats. It's such a lovely feeling as you and others around you all enter the safety of this enormous harbor for the night. Continue reading "Savvy Travel: Calm Waters ... »