oh didn't see the kids ages -we were all posting around the same time.

I hope you realize you could do this much cheaper w/o the car???? But still not @ $100/day.

To clarify - I am ALL for budget travel. Do it myself all the time. But it has to be a realistic budget/itinerary. Neither you budget nor itinerary are realistic.

Sorry - but those are simply facts.

reality check: Petrol costs about €1.60-ish a liter in France. That = approx €6/$8 per US gallon

<<I am hoping we can camp, eat, sightsee and pay for gas on $100 a day>>

Good luck with that. The Renault may have a smallish tank (13-15 gallons [50-56 litres]) but at $8/gallon, it's $100 per fill-up and one full-tank drive every three days will (amortized) eat up about $33/day of your budget. Then add in the tolls . . . Our drive from Versailles to Amboise was about 17E and that's less than a two-hour trip on the toll roads. How much would Paris to CT and then cross-country from CT to Venice cost?

Looking back at Moonlit's question, "Any advice on keeping to a true shoe string budget?...We will camp and buy food from grocery stores. Any other advice?" I don't think ours is the kind of advice she was looking for. Saying we WILL, apparently means we should not confuse her with the facts, her mind is made up. She WILL do these things whether it's possible to do it or not. It sounds to me as if there isn't room for the possibility that adjustments may be in order.

You can save a bit by getting a car which uses diesel (gazole in France). In SW France it's fluctuating between 1.36-1.39€ a litre, if purchased off the autoroutes from stations linked to grocery chains. Has anyone mentioned autoroute tolls in France and Italy?

Gazole prices will be higher in and near major cities.

Regarding groceries, I admit I have limited camping experience but what I do remember is campground stores having very limited selection and high prices. Do some research on locations of large grocery stores, open-air markets and note that with some exceptions the groceries do not keep Walmart hours nor do they have Walmart prices.

It's good to have a goal, yours is just unrealistic given the cities you want to see and amount of road travel.

If your car and air fare is not included in your $100 a day will still be very difficult. My wife and I spent 7 weeks in a leased car and stayed in B&B's, ate one meal a day out and one picnic a day. We didn't visit large cities and stayed in smaller towns in France, Germany and Austria. We didn't go to many museums or tourist attractions. We got by on $150 a day not including the cost of the car lease. you can read about our experence on our blog here:

http://gassawaysadventures.blogspot....1_archive.html

Good Luck!

Thank you all for your replies.mi appreciate the feedback. I am listening. I realize mmeperdue does not know me, but I wouldn't ask for advice if I didn't intend on listening. Thank you mostly for all those that gave alternate ideas. I appreciate it.

Somehow you need more money. The obvious ideas would be to shorten the length of the trip. Or wait another year and save so you have more money to spend.

75 euro per day for 4 people by car simply isn't feasible.

Moonlit is gone already.

Well I guess some people don't want to be confused with the facts.

I want a brand new Porsche for $20,000. That doesn't mean I'm going to get one.

If I wanted to do a very cheap holiday I'd have to look at camping, pick up some cheap second hand bicycles and loiter near some interesting sites. For example

Camp on the Mosel, take trains and bike rides up and down the river getting to know the locals or

Take up a camp site south of the Euganian hills down to the PO valley, there are cheap camp sites there and you can day trip into Ferrara, Venice, Palma etc again by train and bike.

bilbo - the op has left the forum.

Let me see if I can translate again although it is the case that I don't know her.

"I wouldn't ask for advice if I didn't intend on listening."

Listening but not taking advice that she doesn't like even if true and would help.

"Thank you mostly..."

But not entirely. And certainly not me because she especially didn't like what I told her might work on her budget. Who do I think I am anyway.