Paul

In a previous message someone suggested that taking food from the breakfast meal for lunch was a good way to 'save money'. Is this a good idea. Once I tried this & the hotel manager or breakfast room manager came over & told us that if we took food out of the room we had to pay extra for it. I pointed out that we had paid for the breakfast meal & that I don't eat very much at breakfast but he wasn't moved by my story.

Al Godon

Egads. If you are that desperate, stay home. Or, just cram your mouth full before you leave the table, and don't swallow it for an hour. <BR><BR>Or just stuff yourself like a prize porker so that you can get by until evening. <BR><BR>

Jane

Paul, I have done this many times and I think that it id not worth the trouble of sneaking it out then carrying it arounf until lunch time when you open your bag to find a smelly, smooshed hard roll with a piece of mystery meat on a slice of stinky cheese on it. Lunch can be very cheap if you don't go to a fancy restaurant. Grab a slice of pizza, a sandwich or potato pancake and then have a nice dinner. The above poster is kind of right, if you need to save money that badly maybe you should save the trip unitl you can enjoy it more.Eating in Europe is half the fun of the trip.

tootacky

I am sure people who consider doing this on their European vacations must be tacky enough to do this all the time in the States too. Or why would they even bother to ask? Breakfast, Europe, Sizzler's, Souplantation, vacation or not, doesn't matter to them. These types of porkers consider buffets to be an open invitation to a feeding frenzy, one in which they hope that the cost of today's meal ticket will last them for the rest of the day or will cover expeneses for tomorrow's meals too. Their embarrassing conduct is, where ever and when ever, just tacky. <BR><BR>If you are inclined to be so tacky, please stay home and confine your lack of manners to within your own borders. Don't fight with breakfast staff at European hotels because you can't afford your next meal. If that's the case you shouldn't be in Europe in the first place. Please--for the sake of the rest of us who use discretion and display proper manners and attitudes at buffets--stay home until you get some manners.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>

Mary

Of course, it's wrong. You paid for breakfast with your room, not breakfast and lunch.

Agree with Mary

Indeed it's wrong. Do you also help yourself to the lightbulbs and linen from your room?

MH

I did this in Cairo, and got caught, the truth was the food wasn't for me it was for some stray dogs (one was missing a leg) that I had noticed on the perimeter of the hotel. When I told the waiter what I was doing with the food, he came back with a big bag of stale rolls, etc. to feed the dogs. Would I do this to save a buck? no, but the Egyptians do not make dog food, at least I couldn't find any, so people food was the only alternative. The dogs were most appreciative and I took to carrying rolls and small snacks with me so I could feed the dogs as I encountered them in my travels.. I am a sucker for a stray. I even married one hahahahh a little marriage humor.

x

Come on guys, lighten up. The hotel won't miss a couple of cellophane packages of those cardboard-like "fette biscotti." Especially if your hotel has those individual serving packets of Nutella, it's a great little treat while your hiking, or late at night in the room if nothing is open.

me

Obviously soemone has been listening to Rick Steves. He makes references to making lunch from your breakfast. If I have to be that cheap I'm going to stay home.He also says to do your wash in the hotel sink. Most if not all hotels frown upon this. I often wonder where he dries out. Does he hang it out the hotel window?? He has some good travel tips but those are way off.

EP

I have noticed that peaople here are usually very careful – to the point of sounding funny – in "how to dress and behave in Europe". Now this breakfast thing is a totally different thing than a baseball cap. That is just not done! That is bad manners.<BR><BR>I have seen that happen once, and I am afraid they were Americans. It was in Athens, and those people actually packed food into their bags. Everybody looked at them sort of sideways and it was written on peoples´ faces that they did not believe what they saw. Obviously that happens also in other places, because I have seen signs on breakfast tables that say: "If you want to have some snack with you, please inform the personnel. They will be happy to pack it for you in the kitchen."

Arlene

I was very amused at the indignation of so many posters. I,myself, will always take a yogurt and fruit for my room fridge. Usually, I wave it to the M'aitre D as I leave the dining room. I always get a wave and a smile back.<BR><BR>As for your anti-American criticisms..a few years ago, we stayed at a deluxe hotel in Portugal. Most of the guests were German..and I saw the women stuffing their beachbags...it is a universal practice...cool it!<BR><BR>You want cheap or tacky...one year we took our sons to a very expensive hotel. The breakfast buffet, then, was over $20 p.p. For the boys, it was$12...so the boys had the buffet. My husband and I had continental(which is all I can manage in the morning,anyway). But my husband kept eating the kids' food. (We were at this hotel for 2 and 1/2 weeks.)The hotel staff consisted mostly of adorable Irish "kids" in their twenties. One day, our waitress simply brought my husband his own plate. We all had a good laugh.<BR><BR>Lighten up. Don't be so self-conscious. A sense of humour goes a long way.<BR><BR>Same for dressing. Be yourself. If you're very young, nobody expects you to dress like a sophisticated European (who, by the way, is probably in office clothes, and not on vacation)

rodney

Actually, this is the very reason I wear a baseball cap and wear a fanny pack at all times, especially in the breakfast room. I can use the cap to block the vision of the other people as I stuff my fanny pack full of hard boiled eggs, rolls, cheeses, and other assorted goodies. Then I can have my nice free lunch while I stroll around in my blue jeans (or on a really good day my purple track suit)and my white sneakers. I calculate that on an average 2 week trip I save about $140 in food costs this way by stealing from the breakfast room. Thank God for baseball caps and fanny packs.

fran

Rodney; Great answer! But seriously, folks...seems tacky to me.

Uncle Sam

Isn't this called...THEFT!<BR><BR>If you have to steal, then stay home and do it, don't embarrass yourself or Uncle Sam!

Ken Lay

Hey, I stole millions and millions of dollars from the investors and employees so why can't I steal a stinkin' old roll and a hunk of cheese?

Julia

Jane, you are right on target!! Couldn't have said it better myself.<BR><BR>MH, did it ever occur to you that the hotel didn't want dogs hanging around the perimeter of their hotel?

jpm

I do think it is a little tacky to pack up a full lunch - but I will admit to taking a piece of fruit with me from breakfast to eat while I am out. I have never tried to hide it and have never had anyone say anything to me about it.<BR><BR>And if the hotel includes a breakfast buffet, you bet I eat a large breakfast. I often find on vacation that I don't want to take the time (or money) to eat lunch. I usually have a granola bars to tide me over to dinner.<BR><BR>

Martha

I have seen so many people do this, I just can't believe it. It is so tacky, not to mention I consider it stealing. On the past 2 trips I have taken the tour leader actually encouraged it and he along with the ones who did it pooled their food at lunch and had a picnic. I got to thinking maybe I was the wrong one but I couldn't do it. Seeing it just really ticks me off.

elvira

I always thought Rick Steves meant you to eat a hearty breakfast (more than you might at home) which would keep you filled up through lunch - I missed the part where he said to TAKE breakfast food with you...<BR><BR>I think the issue requires judgement - I might get up from the breakfast table and take a small pack of biscuits or an orange to eat on the way (in other words, it's breakfast, but I don't want to waste time in the breakfast room eating it) but to pack up enough food to supply lunch in 4 hours is .... cheezy. And many b&bs WILL pack a lunch for you, at less cost than a comparable amount of food at a restaurant. Many of us are very economical in our lives - which helps pay for our trips! - but I think most of us aren't "cheap". I have a rule: if I have to justify an action with "oh they won't miss it" or "oh they can afford it", I'm probably doing something wrong....

elina

No, Arlene, it is not universal practise. I know there are Germans who stuff their bags in breakfast buffet, but they are frowned upon even by their own countrymen. There are also Germans who wake up 5 in the morning to reserve a pool or beach chair. They are Germans who don´t know how to behave. Why ape people whose behaviour is not acceptable? And sfuffing your bag in breakfast table is loutish.