Karen Fawcett

You’re traveling with hungry kids whose stomachs aren’t precisely timed to breakfast, lunch and dinner. They’re hungry whenever, and frequently, at inopportune times.

Here are some suggestions as how to return home from your vacation with some coin in your pocket. Remember, fast food isn’t free food; anything but.

Go inclusive: Take an all-inclusive vacation where food’s available for the asking. Many cruises offer nearly non-stop meals and appear to have on-going buffets. All-inclusive resorts do the same.

Breakfast is important: If you’re not renting an apartment, stay at hotels where breakfast is included. Instruct the kids to get a good start on the day and bulk up. Most hotel staff members are gracious and agree (if you ask) to give you extra fruit to take with you as you embark on the days’ excursions. Do request a refrigerator be in the room.

Carry snacks: Never leave your lodgings without a stash of power bars and drinks. Some people visit Costco or other bulk chain stores and stuff the corners of their suitcases with these high protein snacks.

Go fixed-price, or free for kids: Surf the Internet and see which restaurants offer fix-priced lunches, early-bird specials and free meals for kids.

Clip coupons: Many restaurants offer discount coupons. They may be accessible on the Web. Or inquire at your hotel, check the local papers and the town’s Chamber of Commerce.

Snap up happy-hour specials: Some bars lure people in during happy hours when they serve more than adequate food and reduced priced drinks. Just because your charges are underage, doesn’t mean they can’t have yummy non-alcoholic drinks and eat at the same time.

Plan a picnic: It goes without saying that picnics are godsends and hotels (especially in the U.S.) are generous when it comes to allowing you to fill a Styrofoam chest with ice. Go to the local grocery store and buy all the makings for a picnic. During nice weather, it can be a wonderful way to eat and enjoy nature simultaneously.

Fabulous fruit: Eat a piece of fruit before your stomach screams empty. Grocery stores have plenty and if you happen to be at a local market in Europe at closing, many vendors sell at a big discount, rather than having to pack them up.

All you can eat: Look for restaurants (and many of them are “ethnic”) that offer refills. Moroccan restaurants frequently keep bringing out trays of couscous until you’ve had more than your fill.

Street food: Some of the best food (and most reasonably priced) is found in street markets where locals eat. There are certain rules that must be followed to avoid possible Montezuma’s revenge.

• Never drink the water (or any drink) unless it’s come from a bottle that’s been completely sealed. Use straws rather than drinking directly out of the bottle.

• Eat food only if you watch it being cooked and the hotter the pan, the better. A discerning eye can spot how sanitary the conditions are and it’s important to be careful. It’s amazing what foods children will try and more than likely enjoy it.

• Use sanitized hand wipes before and after eating.

If this sounds risky, remember your kids are probably eating more dangerous food when they’re munching on hotdogs purchased at school bazaars.

What suggestions do you have for stretching your food budget when vacationing?

Karen Fawcett is president of BonjourParis.

Just when they think the Parisians aren’t looking, the merchants have at it. First, they raise prices just a few cents, as if the natives won’t notice when they come back from vacation in September. (If you think Americans are the only ones complaining about prices, you’re wrong. The French are also feeling the economic pinch.)

But walking the streets of Paris will reveal other changes, and some are definitely for the better.

There’s a lot of construction taking place as boutiques are either undergoing renovation or have lost their leases and new ones are moving in and upgrading the space. Unlike American stores getting a makeover, few signs are visible about what will occupy the redone premises.

That is why there are some new-to-the-scene places that have had soft openings and have yet to make a splash. They’ve opted for a shakedown period to make certain the staff is ready for the (hopeful) onslaught.

One is Baboto, a new restaurant. Montpellier native Daniel Alauze wanted to introduce a très Mediterranean, very hip-feeling-and-then-some restaurant in the Forum des Halles/Châtelet area. He spent two years gutting the interior of this building that’s classified as a monument historique. Now it’s anything but traditional and serves very good food from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., but never on a Sunday.

You can eat standing up at the Lucite bar or sitting at one of the higher or lower tables and, during good weather, on the terrace. And there’s free WiFi in the event you’re bored or want to hang out and work (or surf) during the day.

At night, the restaurant takes on a new persona. The bartender shakes up some mean drinks made of faux absinthe since the real thing was banned years ago for being highly addictive, unlike whiskey or cigarettes, evidently. He has an entire repertoire that will leave people who sample them feeling no pain. For non-drinkers, there is an extensive menu of non-alcoholic cocktails.

Shake it up, baby, on Friday and Saturday nights when there’s a DJ between 8 p.m. and 2 in the morning. Don’t wear your go-to-church clothes if you go at night. Opt for something a wee bit sexier.

Another soft opening, but this is the right time of year when people are the most receptive. After a three-month renovation period, Raimo opened its salon de thé in a very charming boutique that’s located at 59/61, boulevard de Reuilly in the 12th Arrondissement. Created in 1947, Raimo is undoubtedly the oldest continuing ice-cream maker in Paris. Now his son is assuming the reins. Some people swear the ice cream is better than Bertillon’s, founded in 1954. Besides Raimo is open in August, and Bertillon is closed.

Another newcomer is Pierre Herme, maker extraordinaire of macaroons—you gain five pounds just walking in the store, ten if you actually eat a couple in his new boutique on the Right Bank at 4, rue Cambon, 75001. The store is so new that it’s not even listed on the Web site. But if you happen to be shopping on the Right Bank and have a craving for undoubtedly the best macaroons in Paris, voilà.

Don’t turn your back long in the City of Light — and love. There are always changes.

Karen Fawcett is president of Bonjour Paris.