Europe on $5 a Day: 52 Years Later
Chalk up another one for Twitter. I was surfing there last week when an opportunity came to win a facsimile copy of Europe on $5 a Day by Arthur Frommer. The little book first appeared in 1957 and it revolutionized travel for thousands of North Americans. Wiley published a 50th anniversary edition in 2007, and happily, I was one of the lucky giveaway winners.
What's the big deal about a book with highly outdated information from 52 years ago?
Before this groundbreaking work appeared, most travelers were under the sad impression that visiting Europe was only for the rich. All others could read about the Piazza San Marco, Lake Geneva or the sidewalks of Paris in books. Frommer gave everyday people (like me) hope for visiting Europe by packing his little book with scores of practical tips.
Europe on $5 a Day came out two years before I was born. But a generation later, Frommer was still writing and updating his original copy. I think the first one I saw was Europe on $50 a Day. The prices had changed, but the concepts and advice still were sound.
When my facsimile copy of the $5 version arrived this week, I expected to find some interesting prices from 1957, and I wasn't disappointed. On the very first page, Frommer decried an unnamed guidebook that he said implied authentic Parisian tours could only begin from five-star hotels: "This tome states that one really can't consider staying in Paris at hotels other than the Ritz, the Crillon or the Plaza Athénée (at $30 for room and bath)..."
According to the usinflationcalculator.com, $30 in 1957 equates to $231 in 2009. At this writing, the cheapest rack rate I can find for the lowest level of room on the Ritz Paris Web site is €550 (about $820 USD).
But not everything was cheaper in 1957. Consider overseas airfares: Frommer cited a New York-London round trip coach class airfare of $522. Usinflationcalculator.com says that's $4012 in 2009. Most times of year, you could probably fly four people for that amount today. But Frommer mentioned that in 1957, there was an installment plan for airfares called "Pay Later." He also cited "excursion fares" for people who would spend 15 days or less overseas. The New York-London round trip excursion fare was cited as $425.
Read on, and you'll discover Frommer directed his 1957 readers to a three-course meal in Paris for 85 cents, a second-class Venice hotel room for $1.30/night and deluxe hotels in Athens for between $2.00 and $2.85 per night.
Even when adjusted for inflation, most of those opportunities could not be found today. But Frommer (whom I consider the father of modern budget travel) demystified places like London, Paris and Munich. He showed people they could indeed afford to visit these places without going broke if they were willing to look for no-frills options and live like the locals.
Mr. Frommer, thank you for writing that book back in 1957. It started a travel revolution from which we all benefit to this day.
Image courtesy Frommers.com
Unlike the author, I was alive and well in the late ’50’s and beyond, and I purchased Frommer’s Europe on $5.00 per day in 1963. When I did venture beyond our shores in 1965, it was only after practically memorizing the Frommer Tome, as we called it…rather than the Frommer Bible…Anyway, armed with the book, which I gleefully tore into smaller and smaller segments as I traveled around Europe, I returned to graduate school intoxicated by the experience and have since had the good fortune to be able to travel all over the world. Had I not followed Mr. Frommer’s advice and kept the book intact, I am sure that it would not be a valuable keepsake – complete with my own extensive annotations – but such is life.
Yes, indeed, many thanks to Frommer for having the foresight to propose, what at that time, was the unthinkable…that just about anybody could and should get up and take to the skyways and byways of this wonderful world of ours.
I will always remember my first trip with great warmth and through rosey glasses. Now, onward and upward…where to next? Well that depends on how my health holds up (not to mention our bank account), but I am sure that with worthy goals like international travel the gods of good fortune are sure to smile on all of us who wish to continue their great adventures.
RBYoshioka
I was stationed in Bavaria with the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969, and I used this book to see much of Europe. It was my travel bible. I’ve told people about it over the years, and the reaction is usually one of disbelief. $5 a day????? But you actually could travel on $5 a day and it was great!
My trip to Europe was delayed by Grad School and later law school – but having procured a copy of Europe on $15 a day in the early 70’s, my third year of law school was made bearable by my planning for our (w/ my two law school roomies) European tour in the late summer of ‘75. We had two months and extensively using our Euro-Rail passes – we covered a lot of ground – landing in Frankfurt – and then criss-crossing Europe – first up to Scandinavia, and then back down through Paris and on through Spain (with a week off from our arduous travels kicking back in Majorca for sun and fun) – to Northern Africa/Morocco – and back through the Med/Italy – over to Greece – for another few days of sunny R & R – and wound up going through Switzerland to get to Octoberfest before my spending the last week in London. Along the way – we treasured our tours of museums and other historic sites due in no small part to the time Mr. Frommer devoted to giving readers a greater appreciation of the history of the countries where many of our forefathers had lived.
We could not have done so much – without using Frommer’s as my “bible” – and by then – also taking advantage of the other tour books he begat – such as Let’s Go by the Harvard Students – a great supplement for the younger crowd.
All I can say is – Thank you Arthur Frommer for having to the foresight to document your travels while serving in the Air Force and jump start many other Americans into planning for and truly appreciating their travels to Europe
Great stories! Keep them coming!
My first ever big European trip (at the age of eight) was in 1967 with Europe on $10 a day (I think, by that point). We were living in Rhodesia and with sanctions, on a very strict foreign currency ration, which had to stretch a family of four for two months in the UK visiting relatives followed by a month through Switzerland and Italy, following Arthur faithfully for bargains all the way. I remember my mother crying when a cat stole our picnic ham one evening. Something must have rubbed off, as I became a professional travel writer – and indeed have just written my first Frommer’s guide (due out early next year)!