So the first idea pitched to Kickstarter didn't get picked up. No matter, I've got at least seven more ideas to pitch. It just means that this becoming a book might not happen as soon as some other one. So where do I sit with Paris right now? Well...a little ahead of schedule, but still in about the same place. See, right now I have a surprising reserve of extra money that could be a good boost to the trip (in that it actually covers a good chunk of it right from the get-go), but that money is also there in case of an emergency. If nothing major happens then it will be a big help, but as it stands now it's there for other reasons. I'm still assuming I'm at square one. On the positive side, I'm back on eBay again, so hopefully a little money will come in.
The first step in my plan to save is that any money I make from eBay, iOffer, Bonanza, or Amazon.com will go directly to the fund. It will NOT be spent on anything else! This can add up to an extra few hundred dollars a month, so this could make a HUGE difference in the plan! Whether or not I actually sell enough for this to be a reality is another matter altogether. After all, we're still in a recession. In the meantime I'm going to start buffing up on some classic French cinema. It might be fun to view some of the classic landmarks in Paris and see how they were used in some of Frances most beloved films.
Kickstarter: Phase 2
What Do I Want To Accomplish/Write About?
In my pitch to Kickstarter I listed this project as being somewhat of a travel guide that is informative as it is funny. In reality, it's likely going to be a non-fiction account of how someone who is broke manages to raise money to take a trip. That I'll write about Paris in an informative way that is also humorous is one of the perks I suppose. I took a break from writing this blog to review Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris." You can read my review by clicking the link (or - if you're reading this as a book/e-book - by scrolling down a bit), but it would not be fair if I didn't give this movie credit for making me want to write about the city. I have heard that when writers write in Paris, wonderful things happen. They express thoughts and emotions they never dreamed they could.
I want to experience that. I want to write what that experience feels like down on paper. I want to see some of these wonderful sites and best express to people how good they are. And the only way I can properly do that is to walk the streets during the day and night, come back to a hotel/hostel, and write about it. Get the words out while they are fresh on my mind. This is a six month project. Obviously what is going to interest most people is the steps I took to get there. I'm hoping the experiences I have while I'm there are the words that will leave a lasting impression though.
Hostels vs. Hotels
Airline and Hotel Costs
Sites like Southwest and Delta had prices up to $2,000, so this was certainly a big savings. Going to "bargain saving" airlines is never recommended. For starters, I don't know if they are safe. Secondly, while the ticket itself might come in around reasonable $500 rates, the amount of taxes that are added on can literally be hundreds of dollars. This basically means there's very little (if any) money you're saving using these flights. And the flights might be unsafe to boot. Seriously folks, stick with the major airlines in this case. Booking hotel rooms can be a tricky thing as well. While a Google search for "paris+cheap hotels" yielded lots of results, most were a few hundred dollars a night or more. Hardly what I would call "cheap."
This is largely because only the major hotels in Paris really advertise on Google, and pay the high amounts of money to make sure their site shows up first in the search engine. The cheaper hotels are usually buried around page five of the search results. Thankfully, sites like Travelocity and Cheap Travel.com have made this experience a little easier to get around. They will sell you package deals on cheap (but reliable) flights and hotels. I typed in my planned departure dates: Nov. 6th - Nov. 13th. The cheapest deal I found was $1,685. This included a two stop, round way trip to Paris and about a weeks’ worth of nights at a Hilton Hotel (gee, THAT'S ironic). For an extra $100 I could get a non-stop flight.
For obvious reasons, this is an extra $100 dollars well spent. With each of these places they give you a list of hotel and airline packages, and there's simply no time to go over them. Besides, they change on a day-to-day basis, so there's no way to plan what's going to be available one day and unavailable the next. Obviously I won't be able to get any of these until I can be sure I can save for it. I tried to think back to the last time I traveled and how much time I spent JUST on finding the plane tickets...and I remembered such horrible memories of how hard it was! Course, I didn't use the aforementioned sites at the time, so I guess the blame really is mine. My advice to people: Use well respected discount sites like the above mentioned.
Doing this on your own can be very stressful and take a long time. Here are the few I recommend the most:
- Travelocity
- Cheap Travel.com
- Sky Scanner.net
So This Is Going To Be A Book?
Short answer: Yes, that's the plan.
Long answer: Hopefully. People publish travel books all the time. With advice on what to do, what to eat, how much to save, etc, etc...you know the drill. This book will focus on three things: The attempt to save the money to get to Paris, the things I do to prepare for Paris, and the stories of what I do in Paris. If someone wants to give a dollar for every time I say Paris then I'll have enough money to get to Paris in no time flat (just saying). To help with the project, I'm attempting to get a Kickstarter funding project started, but here's the thing I want everyone to understand: If this works do NOT go to Kickstarter thinking they will fund a vacation for you! They won't. This is going to be work. It may be fun work, but it's going to be work none-the-less.
I will be writing in this blog on a daily basis because most of this will wind up in the book. When I go to Disneyland Paris there will be a HUGE chunk of the book devoted to that place because I know Disneyland very well, so giving advice to my American Disney fans on how to plan a trip here would be right up my ally since I have a unique perspective in this area! Other sections of the book will include what you should expect when making a trip. Despite my previous travel experience, every country is a new experience, so I will writing with both what I know and what I'm learning. This is also supposed to be an entertaining book. While it's meant to be informative, it will also be entertaining.
People learn better when they are entertained. The book will likely be finished by February if Kickstarter approves the project and we can raise the money by November. Right now we're in the very early planning stages so I don't know where this will go, but it's going to be a fun experience to say the least!
Why Paris In November?
Years ago when I went to Japan there was a primary motive for me going to Tokyo: I had a friend studying internationally. Now keep this is mind: I'd always wanted to go to Japan. I just needed a reason to push me into actually attempting to do so. This time around I have a few. The first is that due to recent job opportunities, I can get into Disneyland Paris for free every day if I wanted to. Now obviously I'm not going to Paris JUST to go to Disneyland, but I have to admit that it's a nice perk! Secondly is that I'll have not one, not two, but THREE friends studying in Paris at the same time! Obviously I can't stay with them, but to hang with them in Paris during their off time could be very fun. Who knows, maybe we can go to Disneyland Paris together?
The third is that I'm a writer. I love writing books, reviews, and blogs. If I go to Paris, I'm keeping a blog. But people turn blogs into books and e-books all the time. If I could chronicle not only my trip, but everything leading up to that trip, I'd have a nice little e-book to sell on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble is I wanted. Plus it's Paris! It's such a beautiful city that why wouldn't you seriously consider visiting it once (or twice, or thrice)? So the reasons seem to pile up to the point where it would dumb to not at least consider it. If that wasn't enough, I recently saw Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris." While I already wrote a review on the film, it was a beautiful enough movie that I got in the mood.
So why Paris in November? Because the timing just seems right.
A Hopeless Romantic In Paris
I'm not exactly sure how people plan trips to foreign countries. Keep in mind, I'm speaking as someone who has traveled to no less than three foreign countries. Every time I want to go to a new one, I try to think back at what I did to prepare for the previous trips. Usually the biggest hurdle to travel is money. Just the airfare and hotel alone is enough to eat into a couple months worth of savings. Secondly is getting time off work. I don't think that's going to be too much of an issue this time around though (no reason to get into why here). Considering all the hard ships that have gone on in my family recently (I'll talk more about that later), it's pretty obvious that to do this I'll have to save a lot of money. $3,000 would be ideal, but about $2,500 could also cover it.
Now the question is this: Where do I get the money? How to I get the time off? Can I even do this in time for my projected November time frame? Who knows. There's much to write about though, and at least five months before I have to go. So this is what the blog is going to be about: My attempt to get to Paris by November. Yeah, I know Paris will still be there in the future, but it would be ideal to get there by this time frame. This blog will either be me documenting my success to getting to Paris and enjoying it, or my attempt to getting there and failing to do so. Sink or swim with lots of sarcasm. So welcome to "A Hopeless Romantic" in Paris, which - depending on the outcome - will either refer to my failed attempts to get there or my journey there when I don't have a girlfriend.