Colombian empanadas, Tibetan momos, Greek gyros, Chinese hot pots, Korean noodles — Queens is the most diverse, and cheapest, place to eat in New York City.
Category Archives: Frugal Traveler
New York Times Travel: Taking the $57-a-Day Challenge in Prague
In a temporary return to the Frugal Traveler column, I visit Prague on a budget the equivalent to an average local worker’s salary, and find it’s plenty to eat Czech food, stay in a decent guesthouse, and visit one cultural attraction a day…but not quite enough for beer. [Click headline to read full piece.]
The Frugal Five: Contributors to the NYT Travel Column
I wrote my first Travel piece for the Times in 2004 and soon ended up with a column called Weekend in New York; I was the travel writer who didn’t travel. I moved to Brazil in 2008, and it was two years into my stint as a freelance foreign correspondent that Stuart Emmrich, the Travel editor, called me up.
My Final Frugal Column: High and Low Budget Ecuador
I tried luxury travel for a few days and, though I can see why people like it, went back for a final few days of adventure on the cheap, bussing it for a homestay with a Uno-playing indigenous family and visiting the forgotten town of Quingeo.
Parents in Tow, Finding a Cheap and Charming Corner of Panama
For the fifth and final time as Frugal Traveler, I take my brave parents on the road and subject them to my budget: Nicaragua, Croatia, Norway, Vancouver and now Panama.
Going to Germany – As a Newly Minted Citizen
My dad left Germany as a young child in the 1930s, fleeing the Nazi regime. He and all his descendants – my brother, nephews and I – just became citizens. I was the first to go back since – and wanted to choose the most traditional Germany I could find.
Glacier National Park, Through Foreign Eyes
In which a Brazilian environmentalist observes our National Parks system. And Montana peaches.
In Indonesia, Many Islands and Many Faces
More than 30 years after my grade-school report on the 17, 000+ islands of Indonesia, I finally get to visit four of them. And am not disappointed.
A Bike Tour of Eastern Kentucky’s Back Roads
In Appalachia on one of my best trips ever, a perfect example of how travel can wash away stereotypes. (Though not all of them – I sure saw a lot of guns. Turns out I’m not a bad shot with a 9mm Smith & Wesson.)
A $1000 Day in Paris for $100
Well, not exactly. But the best I could do in a new series that (I’m coming back later to say) will live on beyond my days as Frugal Traveler.