There's no better time to travel than during a global financial meltdown. Price wars between airlines have led to plummeting ticket prices, and posh hotels are practically giving away their beds. Promotions on all kinds of products – ranging from hot chocolate to haute couture - make it possible for even unemployed bankers to get a taste of the good life. We asked our local bloggers to uncover the best deals, and to tell us about the simple and inexpensive pleasures that can always be found in their cities. With cheap tickets and insider advice, there's no reason why a shrinking economy should stop you from expanding your horizons.

Berlin

Almost every headline these days shrieks of the latest financial catastrophe or corporate meltdown. The gutters of Wall Street and Main Street are overflowing with the red ink of failed riskmanagement strategies, but here in "poor but sexy" Berlin not much seems to have changed. Today’s city has none of the prewar manufacturing industry that formed its urban core in the 19th century, instead the city’s complex history and its reputation as a vortex of contemporary art and urban culture has led to sightseeing and tourism being the city’s main source of revenue.

So, while the local papers keep themselves busy with warnings of the German government’s incompetence in the face of global economic collapse, the rest of us continue to muddle through as ever. But where there is smoke there may be fire, so this past Sunday I took a stroll down one of Mitte's most popular streets, searching for clues to our approaching doom.

Located in what was once the heart of 19th century Berlin, Auguststrasse found itself on the grey side of the Wall during Cold War. Following reunification the street was thick with the artist squats and afterhours clubs that earned Berlin its hipper-than-though reputation and today it marks the epicenter of the city's contemporary art scene, lined with galleries, restaurants and posh apartment houses, with more going up every week.

Despite the afternoon's grey chill there are still a number of hardy souls wandering about, gazing into galleries and window shopping at the trendy boutiques. No sign of economic apocalypse here - the artworks are still priced well beyond my means and none of the boutiques seem to be offering any end-of-world-as-we-know-it sales. Meanwhile we pedestrians are forced to pick our way around collector Thomas Olbricht's massive, still-under-construction gallery at No. 68 to get into the KW Institute for Contemporary Art.

If there is a peaceful harbor in Auguststrasse's stormy seas of culture, KW is it. Presenting the best of contemporary art in an intimate setting, its exhibitions encourage a dialogue between modern culture, society and politics. And even more important on a cold dark day in wintry Berlin, the gallery's courtyard is home to Cafe Bravo – whose glassed-in tables and comfy chairs are the perfect opportunity for me to warm up frostbitten fingers and toes while sipping on a Milchkaffee and eyeballing my fellow art lovers.

Cafe Bravo is quite popular with Mitte's culture vultures - at a nearby table a group of intellectuals wearing heavy glasses and black turtlenecks are discussing plans for a new stage production - and last November a gallery director I know held her birthday celebrations here, well attended by artists and gallery people, even the stray writer or two. Say, now that I think of it, she told me last week her gallery was closing down for lack of business - perhaps there is something to this worldwide recession after all....

 "Waiter!  Make that a double!"

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