Aer Lingus Does Cheap Like No Others: Aer Lingus is celebrating Europe Week with low-cost tix a full $200 off their normal prices for travel June - August, including Chicago to Paris for $287 (one-way/before taxes) and New York to London for $212 (one-way/before taxes). Click through for all the deals.

New York to Madrid for $584: Lufthansa is also luring the early planners with trips as low as New York to Madrid for $584 (inc. taxes) and New York to Milan for $625 (inc. taxes).

New York to Düsseldorf for $645: This Air Berlin deal’s good for travel in March and April and includes taxes/fees. Did you know, according to WCities.com, Dusseldorf has the third-largest Japanese community in Europe and the largest in Germany with nearly 11,000 residents? I did, I was just checking to see if you did.

Let’s face it, the Romans knew what was up. Even a life of excess needed an equally fantastic getaway, and the people of the ancient empire knew just where to go: Croatia. With some help from our friends at GoNomad, all of us can walk on the same pebbles as Augustus, or eat at the same restaurants that Caesar ate on vacation (well, sort of).

Your jumping-off point is Croatia’s finest attraction, the city of Dubrovnik. Dubbed “The Pearl of the Adriatic,” this UNESCO world heritage site boasts marble streets lined with immaculate Baroque style buildings, and a sprinkling of fountains and sculptures from the Renaissance period.

Wander around Old Town, within the ancient castle walls that withstood the test of time and numerous wartime battles. From the restaurants and bars there, take in the view of the Adriatic over a beer (Pivo, if you want to practice your Croatian) and Mediterranean cuisine (just imagine how good the Truffle Pasta is after a long day in the city). Afterward, throw a towel down on the modest Banje Beach, to take in the sunset.

That’s not all though. Croatia has an up-and-coming national park system — eight parks total — whose beauty isn’t just a Roman secret anymore. Plitvice Lakes is Croatia’s largest, and was nominated for the semi-finals of the New Seven Wonders of the World list. Feeling more adventurous? Head to the cliffs, caves, and gorges of Velebit to get the adrenaline pumping with some outdoor endeavors.

For an even more personal view of the Croatian life, head to the less touristy countryside, where the beauty of the country frames some of the most polite hamlets in the world (Zagreb was actually voted #6 in a Reader’s Digest poll). Intimate markets and cathedrals define this area of “Croatia’s Breadbasket.” The author even experienced some local hospitality, getting swept off to a house for cookies and walnut brandy. I could get used to that.

With food, beaches, mountains, cultures, and some of the most polite people in the world, those Romans were wise beyond their years.

Seeing Paris has always been a dream of mine, as for most anyone I have ever met. The idea of walking along the Seine, sipping coffee with croissants and divulging a bottle of delicious house wine over dinner is enough to make me book a flight tout de suite. I am working on my self-control.

Nonetheless, as a friend just informed me, tourists are pervasive in Paris. To me, tourism is part of what keeps a city financially afloat, yet, it is the underground paths and the off-beat tracks that keep a city alive.

For this reason, I was excited by the NY DailyNews’ look at the “other” Paris . It aims to describe the sights that most tourists don’t get to see, mainly due to the attraction to the more popular attractions like some tower called Eiffel, a gothic-cathedral and a rather large museum used for the set of a Dan Brown movie. This article suggests taking a different route and seeing the churches or regions outside the typical tourist manual.

Nevertheless, I forwarded this article to my friend and he said it was . . . well, he didn’t agree with it. His reasoning was that most of the attractions in the article are outside of Paris, one of which is 200 kms (124.3 miles) away. Although these sights would be interesting, he offered me a list of neighborhoods inside Paris that most tourists have yet to experience:

Butte aux Cailles, Canal Saint Martin, Place Sainte Marthe, Rue de Belleville, Oberkampf, Ménilmontant (rue Boyer), Château Rouge-rue de Montreuil, rue Royer Collard, rue Quincampoix, Parc Montsouris-cité universitaire, Parc Montceaux, Coulée verte, Parc de Belleville . . . (just to name a few.)

He told me there are other neighborhoods even more hidden that are worth a look, but the ones listed above are the more well-known hidden paths. I checked out these neighborhoods online and found lists of things to do and see. There is such a community of information that I can’t help but think: this is where the true pulse of Paris lies.

On a recent return to Tuscany, Danielle Pergament of the NYT discovers things are a little different in the region come the dead of winter when the tour buses have gone home and the crowds have receded from the piazzas. And what remains in the off-season when things get back to normal? None other than the “real” Tuscany.

Forget the magazine covers that promise “The Undiscovered Tuscany!” “The Hidden Tuscany!” “The Secret Tuscany!” When a place has been attracting admirers for more than a thousand years, no square inch is undiscovered. The real Tuscany, as locals have been telling me over the years, is found in the dead of winter, when the crowds are thinner and the rooms, flights and restaurants are pleasantly cheaper.

A December-time stop at the family-run vineyard, Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona, results in a private tour of the facilities (try to get that in the summer), and a visit around the village of Montepulciano — a classic notch on the tourist belt — allows a traveler to “almost glimpse what the town was like before it became a cliché.”

And just so you don’t forget it’s winter, a drive up to the volcano Monte Amiata is a trip into a classic winter scene of ski lifts and hot chocolate — a far cry from most people’s memories of Tuscany.

I know the whole point of “Europe Week” here is to gear everyone up for their summer travel plans. But it’s never too early to begin planning for the winter, now is it?

Ok. Most people don’t really consider the U.K. as part of Europe, but in an effort to keep with “Europe Week,” we’ll make an exception.

CNTraveller recently mentioned that you and 49 others can book a night in Winston Churchill’s wartime bunker for the night of May 14, 2010, and live like the British Bulldog did during the war. For 45 pounds you “will be given a night-time tour around the museum, walking the same historic corridors and cabinet rooms as Churchill did decades ago. Guests will be granted unique access to rare films, objects and replica cabinet documents.” The stay also includes your meals — dinner and breakfast — and a bar (but not the price of your drinks). I assume one will need many room-temperature beers as beds are not provided, just the endearing coziness of an auditorium floor and a BYO-sleeping bag.

Another option is to make some tea, don some Clodhopper shoes, then take the virtual tour online. Plus you get to sleep in your own bed that night.

With the first hint of warmth in the air and the onset of daylight savings time this Sunday, our thoughts begin to turn to the summer and we enter that glorious period of summer travel planning. With that in mind we kick off “Europe Week” here at TheExpeditioner.com (following last year’s ever-successful “Ski Week” and, well, ill-fated “Shark Week”).

So what do active travelers and international currency speculators have in common? They both obsessively follow exchange rates. (Ask any good traveler how the dollar’s doing and you’re likely to get a pretty accurate quote against several different currencies.)

With the recent economic troubles in Europe and the U.S.’s sort-of economic recovery, things are looking up for the dollar, something we Americans haven’t experienced in years. The WSJ takes a look at how the dollar’s recent rise against the euro is suddenly making Europe look, if not affordable, at least doable for the budget traveler for the first time in recent memory. (more…)