When I found the Hostel Pegasus on hostelz.com last summer, it seemed like the perfect choice. Affordable dorm room beds in a relatively convenient location of Berlin, effectively ending what had been an otherwise torturous search to find available beds that would not break the bank.

If you happen to find yourself in Paris this September 20th and 21st, cancel all other plans, buy a copy of the newspaper, pack a good book, and prepare to stand in line for several hours.

'Are you crazy?' you might well be wondering. Why on earth would I be telling you to do such insane things in Paris, city of love, of light, of wonder and beauty? Because for these two days, you can gain unparalleled access to some of the greatest and most hidden treasures that Paris has to offer - for free.

In my humble opinion, the cream tea is one of Britain's greatest gifts to humanity. The name is slightly misleading - it's not just about the tea - it's about having a hot pot of tea, and a plate with scones (crumbly, preferably with raisins in it) with a side offering of thick, spreadable, Devonshire cream and strawberry jam. The purpose of this civilized ritual is to sip your cuppa while enjoying the delectableness that is a scone covered in cream and jam.

The challenge in London however, is finding out where to go for one of these cream teas, because you really shouldn't be leaving the British Isles without at least trying it once. There's always the gold standard - tea at the Ritz, but that's both expensive and requires reservations and a fancy dress code.

That's where Selfridges comes in.

A trip to London should feature a trip to Selfridges in any case, if only to gawk at how many things you can sell in one department store, but for me (other than their food court), the main attraction is the availability of a quick, not too expensive, delicious cream tea. When you get to Selfridges in your quest to have a cream tea, you must head down to the basement. Somewhere in the homewares section, by the escalators, you'll find the tiny Sienna Café that has a bakery case hopefully filled with scones (but to make sure you get a scone and a table, avoid peak tea-time hours, around 3:30-5:30 pm, and head there a little earlier).

You will be shown to your seat and handed a menu with a decent list of teas to choose from, and once you have selected your blend of choice, your cream tea should appear relatively quickly. It's worth noting that the menu here does feature other items to eat, but since the purpose of this review is a cream tea, those other nibbles shall be duly ignored.

Now the important part: tucking in to your cream tea. Start by slicing the scone into two halves, and then reach for the pot of clotted cream (and do not think of your arteries or your waistline as you do this), and spread it on the inner part of the scone as though it were butter. Put gobs of the stuff on, if you so desire. Then comes the all-important strawberry jam, and finally, a bite of heaven. Oh, and don't forget to drink your tea before the brew becomes too strong.

The French have embraced wireless wholeheartedly, but, unlike Americans, they are much more diligent about password protecting their wireless networks. This, of course, makes joining a wireless network and mooching off of someone considerably harder (free internet in hostels is not a guarantee, and can often be quite pricey).

If you're a Mac user, there's a handy piece of freeware you can use to help find open networks available from macwireless.com, but even if you don't have this tool, there are two good options for finding free internet in Paris.

Eating out in Paris can be expensive, but day after day of cheese and bread can get tiresome, so if you're in the mood to splurge, look no further than your local bakery at lunchtime. The French understand the importance of a hearty lunch, but eating out day after day can add up (especially when you consider that a sandwich alone will be 3-5 euros, a drink 1.5, and a dessert anywhere from 1-4 euros). That is why they have invented the formule midi.