In the docu-series how to un-fire yourself: Part 2 – go to Paris! A quick guide today how to un-fire oneself fast. It’s really not that difficult to be honest, one just needs to get him/herself to Paris for a few days and it magically happens by itself!
How to Un-FIRE yourself
It is surprisingly easy to Un-fire yourself. Buy a big house, buy spreadsheets for your finances or go to Paris. Today in this crash-course how to unload nearly €1.600 in just 5 days! How did we do that? Well, let’s have a look!
Go to Paris!
To start off, we were actually quite dumb, because we should have gone a few weeks later during the Olympic games! We could have easily increased expenses by a factor 2 to 3! So a free pro-tip, go when it’s even more expensive! Anyhow, here is what we did and how we tried to un-fire ourselves (and failed miserably at a few points) by going to Paris.
Day 1 – Train to Paris & the Louvre
We arrived mid-morning with the Eurostar in Paris at Gare du Nord and walked our way over to the Louvre (mistake one, we should have gotten a cab!). But not before having bought ourselves a croissant and a large expensive macaron!
Day 1 in a few pictures:
Day 2 – Gallery Lafayette & City walk
As the weather was not very nice, we decided to go “shopping”. A past time we suck at. And this time was no different, as we only spent some money on food and drinks. Yet, there was so much potential this day! We did see cloths and shoes that didn’t even have a price tag. Which is generally a great sign if you want to un-fire yourself.
Day 2 in a few pictures:
Day 3 – Cycling!
With the weather improving, we decided to rent a few bicycles instead of using the metro system. It is both more expensive and more dangerous, so we were improving slightly compared to the days prior. Also, our lunch next to the Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre was expensive at €90! It was a good day.
Day 3 in a few pictures:
Day 4 – Castle time
Yes, today was the day to spend money in royal fashion! It was time to visit my favorite topic, castles. In this case the Palace of Versailles. Tickets to get in where expensive, the gardens massive, the castle massive and we walked over 32.000 steps that day. It was glorious.
Day 4 in a few pictures:
Day 5 – Eiffel Tower climb & Train
On the final day of our city trip to Paris, we enjoyed the expensive views from the Eiffel Tower. Stupidly enough, we took the stairs and accidentally saved a few euros that way. After a quick city walk it was time to get some more expensive food at the train station. Before catch the train again and returning to Les Pays-Bas!
Day 5 in pictures:
The Damage!
Okay, time to see the damage in detail (so for 3 people of which one 10 year old):
By far the most expensive part was the lodging. Again, we made another mistake here by finding a reasonably priced hotel within the ring road. We should have gone for a high priced hotel (or AirBnB) close to the Seine. that could have easily been the same price, but then per day. We still have a lot to learn.
Another mistake we made was booking early with Eurostar to get train tickets (€170 for 3 people – Schiphol Airport to Paris). Add in some metro tickets, local train tickets and bicycle rentals and we only spend €340. We could have gotten that far on just 1 plane ticket…
The total damage was €1.586,60 or €317,32 per day or €105,77 per person per day. Albeit a good attempt to un-fire ourselves, it could have been executed much better! But we have another shot at this, when we go road-tripping for 4 weeks this summer to southwestern Europe. Hope we can do better then!
How are your un-fire attempts going this summer season?
I feel you. You tried so hard and failed sort of. But keep trying, maybe you get better at it.
I have also a lot to learn myself. Was on a trip and only bought food at the supermarket and slept in a little tent. But it’s nice to know you have room to improve. 😉
Yup, definitely room to improve! 🙂
Hope you enjoyed your trip.
Aww you tried! 😀 Clearly this is something that needs training. Like the Olympics.
The road trip will definitely work much better, I’m doing it right now! Avoid the cheap countries in SE Europe where they don’t ask enough for their lovely food. Also don’t accidentally put your house on Airbnb for those four weeks. You can do it!
We certainly tried! 😉