By Julie Lawrence Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Aug 12, 2009 at 10:26 AM

A month ago, as part of OnMilwaukee.com's partnership with AirTran, I flew out to Los Angeles to be "professional tourist" with the goal of returning awash in interesting ideas and good travel advice for our readers entering our Free Recession Buster Getaways blog contest.

My account of the L.A. experience is coming in a couple weeks, so you've got a little time to prepare your blogs detailing why you, and only you, deserve two Air Tran tickets to L.A. and a netbook on which to blog about your trip.

When I wrote a blog asking for your list of must-dos, you readers were gracious with your responses and I ended up doing and seeing many of your good suggestions.

That said, I come to you again. I'm about to get hitched and, subsequently, go on a honeymoon that takes us to Paris for a week and then London for a week. I've never been to either place and am ecstatic to explore unfamiliar cities across the pond.

But, to say we are on a shoestring budget might be an understatement. I'm pretty sure we could put the Frugal Traveler to shame with the number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we plan on consuming in the City of Light.

That being said, we've saved enough to be able to see some sights. For Paris, we've done our research and have committed to a five-day Metro pass as well as the five-day museum pass that includes more museums than we'd ever be able to actually get to. That should keep us fairly busy, but I know there's got to be more options out there for us penny pinchers.

Has anyone done Paris on the cheap?

In London we're saving money by staying with family friends who live near the Globe Theatre, so that should free up some cash to have a little fun. Suggestions?

Julie Lawrence Special to OnMilwaukee.com

OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.

As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”