true life planet

This is Part two of a series, written while I was in Paris. 

I’ve been in Paris for a few days now, and the main impression I have is that it is nothing like what I thought it would be like.

I, like countless other people in the world, have held a rather over romantisized view of this city all of my adult life.

It turns out it’s a big cultural melting pot, full of people from around the world, from all different income levels. There are alot of poor people here-many people living on shoestring budgets themselves.

I find this strangely refreshing.

While part of me wants to go museum hopping and go to the top of the Effiel Tower, the rest of me is more interested in eating couscous in an African neighborhood or visiting the local mosque.

I’m interested in the fact that there are so many cultures living here. It makes Paris so much less homogenous.

It also makes it alot easier to plan my time here-and my budget.

I’ve decided to really shoestring it. I have a free place to stay, so why not? Besides that, it’s very difficult for me to validate spending loads of money on useless things after living with some of the poorest people in the world. A few decadent things are ok, but not as a lifestyle for two weeks. It just..doesn’t really make sense to me anymore, living that kind of lifestyle.

Ok, so back to the shoestring lifestyle.

My plan is to spend an average of twelve dollars a day. (That’s an overall average.)

Here’s my game plan:

1. Buy a bunch of metro tickets, because the metro goes everywhere. Use only two a day.

2.  Walk the rest of the time.

3. Plan out each day carefully, so I’m grouping the sights I want to see together.

4. Spend my money on the the big museums that have alot of exhibits and things to do-enough to spend the entire day there.

5. Go to the museums I don’t really desperately want to see everything at on the free day.

6. See if I can find any free events going on in the city.

7. Buy everything I eat in the market. Except for things at bakeries-they seem inexpensive.

8. Seek out ethnic neighborhoods.

9. Find free art and beautiful outdoor public spaces.

10. Pack a lunch.

11. Keep track of every cent spent, and if I spend too much, make up for it the following day.

12. Photographs and stories make the best souvenirs. Forget buying cheesy stuff, and enjoy the experience itself.

Ok, this is my pep talk to myself. For anyone reading along, you’ll just have to follow my progress and cheer for my victory when I’m done!

gigi

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 6:00 pm and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.