Not only do we love living in a farmhouse in the south of France, but we’ve found it easier and less expensive than we would have imagined to visit many fabulous locations in our larger immediate area. As east coast Canadians used to a 20 hour drive or 2 hour flight to get to Toronto, which is still relatively eastern in the context of Canada, the accessible locations with low cost flights around here is like having a glittering candy bowl to dip in to.
One hour from us over the Spanish border in Girona, there is an airport with budget airlines, Ryanair in particular. Even Perpignan, only 15 minutes away, has some low cost flight options. Flights from 9.99 Euros give us access to locations across Europe. Coupled with the children’s 2 week school holidays every 6 weeks, we have been able to have low cost visits to excellent locations.
During the October holidays, for only 30 euros each return, we flew to the Italian island of Sardinia, and enjoyed the off season sights as well as prices. We booked small inexpensive farmstays or places with a kitchen, and found car rental rates reasonable. We mostly did free experiences (exploring the countryside and beaches) rather than paying for museums or tours.
We also went to Morocco for the February break, an exotic but surprisingly comfortable place to have adventures as the country is well set up with English speaking hotels and used to travelers. It became a family all-time favorite trip.
See the full account of these travel adventures on our family blog, RoamingFrance.com
Over the summer we drove east and were able to visit Nice, Pisa, Cinque Terres, Rome, and Pompeii, and then we took the ferry across the Adriatic and visited Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Croatia. It was all unforgettable, and done on a budget similar to our monthly living costs.
As much as the wider region has stunning locations to visit, there are also places in our local area (up to an hour and a half) that have amazed and delighted us, such as the hot baths at Saint Thomas Les Bains, and the walled city of Carcassonne.
I show you further tricks on traveling in an inexpensive way on my ebook; Portable Salary, Portable Family!
