Photo: Amélie Dupont - Paris Tourist Office

No doubt. The metro is the fastest way to move around in Paris. If there are no strikes, it works like a clockwork; a new train coming up every two minutes and much less claustrophobic than the tube in London. I use the metro all the time and my daily life would be a nightmare without it. But admitted, if you want to see something else than stressed Parisians and Gipsy musicians living half of their life underground, you should choose another kind of transportation.

And Paris is full of alternatives. Not just busses or tourist double-deckers, but  funnier – and often even eco-friendly - alternatives like bikes, electric scooters, horses, balloons, 2CVs with a chauffeur or a motor cycle with a roof. Check them out here.

This hotel only has two stars, so the official French star-awarding system must not take charm into account. Okay, Hotel Chopin might not be the fanciest hotel when measured against those designer hallucinations pouring out of Philippe Starck’s office, but on a scale of charm and personality, Chopin scores.

I had passed this little hotel several times, as it’s located in one of my favourite Parisian passages, Passage Jouffroy. But I had never stepped inside until last week when, following a sudden impulse, I opened the door and found myself in a lobby which looked like someone’s living room: A green Chesterfield sofa, an old piano, a fireplace and some beautiful watercolours, which turned out to have been painted by the owner’s grandmother in 1903, when she was a professor at the academy of fine arts.

In the middle of all that, the hotel’s receptionist; a lady as charming and surprising as the hotel itself. She called the owner and ordered him to come straight away. ‘Put on your leopard-spotted thong, there is an editor here’ she told her boss. Luckily, Monsieur Bidal, Chopin’s owner for the past 16 years, kept his suit on, but the whole atmosphere was funny and familiar; something quite rare in Paris.

The rooms are small, but cosy, some with a view of Paris’ rooftops and others looking out on the rear of the local town hall.

Hotel Chopin has been a hotel – under various names - since 1846, and if you’re looking for a perfect location on a low budget, it doesn’t get much better than this. Chopin’s most expensive double costs 106€ per night, while their cheapest single goes for only 76€.

Hotel Chopin, 46 passage Jouffroy, 75009 Paris

Photo: Colros

Ryan Air, the European low-cost giant, is considering introducing a ‘fat tax’ on overweight passengers. The idea comes from a recent poll, where the airline asked its customers what the next ‘tax’ or fee could be.

More than 40 per cent of the 45,000 voters were in favour of a ‘fat tax’, charging people who don’t fit a normal seat. The idea of a 'fat tax' has long been an aviation taboo. Yet as the business model of charging for 'extras' - bulkhead seats, checked-in bags, meals and drinks - is now so ingrained, charging passengers by weight is rising back up the agenda, writes the Times Online.

In the US several air carriers have already made overweight passengers pay more. As of last Wednesday, passengers on United Airlines, who are too large to fit comfortably in a coach seat, may be required to buy a second ticket or upgrade to business class, where seats are larger.

Photo by Mahali

United Airlines said it decided to adopt the tougher policy after receiving more than 700 complaints last year from passengers "who did not have a comfortable flight because the person next to them infringed on their seat," spokeswoman Robin Urbanski says to Los Angeles Times.

United's flight attendants, who will have the delicate task of enforcing the new policy, have traditionally sought to accommodate, free of charge, passengers who spill over their seats. That hasn't changed.

"We'll first try to re-accommodate you on another seat on the flight," Urbanski says. "If the flight is full, and that's not often the case these days, you'll be bumped from the flight." If this occurs, passengers will be forced to find a flight with open seating, buy two seats or pay for an upgrade to a class of service with wide seats

Photo: Larry&Flo

Admitted! I always considered tapas to be a passing fad. Like sushi and club sandwiches. Something people gorge for two seasons before they jump on a new trend and forget all about small Spanish anchovies. Coming to Madrid, I realized this was an arrogant prejudice. After two days in town I was totally in love with the small dishes and three days later, I was addicted. Tapas is genius. Especially in Spain, where dinner is served so close to midnight that food lovers like me would die from hunger if it wasn’t for these delicious appetizers. They are available all over town; even the most humble little taberna has a broad selection of salted cod fish, sardines and rings of battered squid.

After the first euphoria, where I could swallow Pimientos - the peppers stuffed with meat or tuna – like others eat candy, I got more selective. Discovered the difference between an average Empanadilla and a top class Empanadilla, where the pastry is properly crunchy.

Did you give up snow this year? Depressed by crisis and doomsday prophecies? Don’t! Because skiing hasn’t been cheaper for years. Prices have gone down simultaneously with the shares, and even in posh Val d’Isère or in the jet-set-nest Courchevel 1850 you’ll easily find 20 percent reduction on the hotels.

The financial crunch has done something dramatically to the market. Not that it prevents people from skiing - the Alps are still full of snowalholics - but people spend less this year, a fact which forces hotels, restaurants and landlords to reduce their prices.

The French holiday giant Pierre & Vacances offers between 25 and 45 percent reduction on most of their 3 and 4 star residences in the Alps and even in the luxury segment you can get 20 percent rebate on a prestigious apartment in the Flaine Montsoleil village in the Haute Savoie.

Especially the British are hard hit by the low pound, making it expensive to go to continental Europe on holiday. Therefore many stay home, and the employees at the tourist office in Courchevel now officially admit that they miss the British (which is very unusual). But even for exchange-worried Englishmen there are good deals to be done. Book a fully catered stay at the Chalet Ysopes in Les Gets in France with departure March 15th for £ 370, including flights, transfers and ski hosting. Saving £ 369 with skitotal.com
Or what about a fully catered chalet holiday in Méribel, at the four-star Le Pied de Voûte for £ 731, saving £ 135, including flights from Gatwick. (inghams.co.uk)

OR. Dare the cap and book a hostel. Editor Jamie Doward from The Guardian recently told his readers how in February he succeeded having a full week in the Alps for £ 466, all inclusive, living in a hostel run by the French organisation UCPA.

At Livigno in Italy eight hotels now offer ski passes for free if you stay at least four nights and the internet site skihorizon.com has recently offered apartments in the French Alps for only ONE € a week.

So don’t say you can’t afford skiing this year. It’s just a question of surfing some few minutes on the web and then – maybe – take the three-star hotel instead of the four-star you liked last year.

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