Spend Less, See More:
An interview with Arthur and Pauline Frommer
For decades, guidebook guru Arthur Frommer has been an undisputed authority on travel. Now he’s on the road yet again, promoting his timely new book, Ask Arthur Frommer: And Travel Better, Cheaper, Smarter. Along with his daughter, Pauline (whose own series of travel books encourages travelers to “spend less, see more”), Frommer spoke at Denver’s Tattered Cover Bookstore about “Making Travel Work in These Tough Economic Times.” When they sat down with us, the “first family of travel” insisted that the dollar is strong and rates are down—making this an ideal time to travel just about anywhere.
WBY: You have said that 'the less you spend, the more you experience.' What does this mean to you (and to today’s traveler) in terms of what one gets for one’s money?
PF: You get more authenticity! You eat at less expensive restaurants where the locals eat, you stay in alternative accommodations (we’ve found private rooms in locals’ apartments where you’ll spend as little as you would in a hostel but for lovely, private digs), you see the usual tourist sites but you fi gure out how to pay less to do so, and you go off the beaten path to see sights and have experiences most visitors miss.
AF: Paying more simply puts you in settings that do not reflect the cultural characteristics of the places you are visiting. By consciously reducing your requirements, you lodge yourself in small, family-operated places in which you have close contact with local residents. Similarly, by conducting your sightseeing on foot, unaccompanied by a group or guide, you experience the authentic aspects of the place you are visiting—not simply the attractions maintained for tourists.
WBY: In the 1950s, you taught people to travel on $5 a day. What dollar amount would you say people can travel on today?
AF: There are destinations where you can live on $15 a day, like India and Central America. But most other places, by making use of alternative accommodations—rooms in private homes, hostels, student residences, vacation homes, convents and monasteries—you can often reduce your accommodations costs to as little as $30 per person, per day. Add another $25 a day for food, $20 for museum admissions, $2 for public transportation to local attractions, and you can live for less than $80 a day.
WBY: What is the most common mistake travelers make?
PF: They assume that they need a guide to show them what there is to see. One of the greatest joys of travel is discovering things for yourself—and sometimes, simply wandering lost and finding unexpected gems.
AF: They overpack! They become beasts of burden, the captives of porters and taxicabs. Light packing is one of the easiest keys to enjoyable, affordable travel.
WBY: If you had to recommend a three-day weekend trip within the U.S., where would it be?
I generally find that visits to national and state parks, or to local wildlife preserves, are among the most pleasant of all U.S. travel experiences. There are certain places everyone should see—Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains among them—and the admission prices are incredible.
PF: New Orleans! It’s such a rich destination with its incredible dining, world-class museums, legendary nightlife and wonderful day trips.
WBY: What are three items that you never travel without?
PF: A good book, my contact lenses to read it with and food for the plane.
AF: A GPS device for finding my way while driving, a paperback book for those long waits that are sometimes required in travel, and my tiny, two-pound “netbook” computer for Internet access.
WBY: What is the biggest challenge that travelers face today?
PF: Too many options! Just the number of travel choices can be overwhelming.
AF: The overcrowding of key tourist attractions in high-season periods. It has become more and more necessary to travel either to largely undiscovered or lightly visited destinations, or to go there during off-season periods.
WBY: What do you think has changed the most about the way people travel?
They now hold the reins, in terms of booking their own travel. People now have the ability to go on the Web and fi gure it out themselves.
AF: As a culture, we allot too little time for our vacations. Having become workaholics frightened of leaving the workplace for too long a time, people no longer devote at least a month to their important trips.
WBY: Having traveled with young children, what is your advice to families traveling today?
PF: Don’t worry about a destination being “child-friendly” until your kids hit the age of six or so. Before that, they’ll be pretty much happy wherever you go. Also, traveling with young children is cheaper than traveling with older ones (in terms of hotel costs, fl ights, entry fees to sights). So take that into account—and satisfy your adult wanderlust when you can.
WBY: You’re frequent travelers—what’s your favorite destination?
PF: Usually the last place I’ve been.
AF: My own favorite is—and probably always will be—the city of Paris, which I regard as the leader in all sorts of areas important to me: theater and music, cuisine and political discourse, architecture and literary pursuits.
WBY: How should people use guidebooks versus online content?
AF: Online content is great for fast-breaking travel opportunities, limited-time offers and discounts. But for the rest, I prefer to rely on the judgment of the experienced professionals who write travel books. All the content found in our guides is available for free online at www.frommers.com.
PF: “Buzz marketing” is a huge problem on the opinion sites—much of what you read is actually written by marketers working for the property being discussed. And even when you do fi nd advice written by a real traveler, they’ve usually only been to one hotel, a handful of restaurants and a few of the available sights. By contrast, when you take the advice of a professional travel writer, you’re listening to someone who’s actually seen and experienced all of the available options.
