How Much is Too Much for a Hot Dog?

Travelling costs money. There’s no two ways about it. You can travel on the cheap, you can travel with an endless budget, either way, it is going to cost money. You need to sleep somewhere at night. Poof, money. You have to eat something, at least once a day, every day. Poof, money. We know this and we accept this. Fully.

We were in Geneva, Switzerland, a beautiful city in a gorgeous country and we were finally at the end of a three week trip. A trip where EVERYTHING had gone wrong (but that story is for another day) and our budget had been decimated. We had two days to get through in one of the most expensive countries in the world and there was very little wiggle room left on our credit card.

If it had just been us, I’m sure we could have survived off a bag of chips and some stale-from-the-bottom-of-my-purse-mints until we got fed on the plane. Alas, we had our kids with us and guess what? They like having food, it keeps them both alive AND happy.

Off we went in search of an economical solution to their growling stomachs. It didn’t take too long until we found ourselves in front of a hot dog stand. Perfect! I have eaten at enough hot dog stands after a long night at the bar to know – fast, cheap, easy and delicious!  Visions of $1.50 (CAD) hot dogs floated through my head. Yes! We can eat here breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next two days and we will all be happy.

Paris | 2005

It brought back memories of being in Paris when our son was just over 2 years old. We discovered that hotdogs were the one thing he would predictably and consistently eat, which made us happy – they were easy to find and inexpensive.

There were no prices posted but we weren’t worried. After all, it’s hotdogs. Not even gourmet hotdogs. Just plain old hotdogs in plain old buns. We ordered four of them with a couple of drinks to share. I took the kids and our food, found a spot to sit down at a nearby picnic table and left Jason to pay.

As I watched him walk back towards us, I got the sense that something significant had happened. He looked a bit pale, a little bit shaky and a whole lot stunned. Then he filled me in.

The price of our hotdog lunch? Seventy-five dollars. $75. Seventy. Five. Dollars. We didn’t know if we should laugh or cry. We didn’t even know if we could laugh or cry. We certainly had a difficult time enjoying the hotdog.

Switzerland | 2011

Admitting financial defeat, we retreated to our hotel room, got comfortable, loaded some Netflix movies and watched them all day long. Luckily our kids are very easy going and were just as happy to have some quiet time together. Jason and I were ready for a day or two where we didn’t have to plan anything, and our credit card really needed a break, so maybe this all worked out for the best.

This is the day we learned that kids can in fact, survive on chips from the vending machines and dusty stale mints from the depths of my purse.