Why Aldi (and Hofer!) Is a Hidden Gem for European Travelers
It all begins with an idea.
Wait! Is this an Aldi in disguise?
When we plan our travels across Europe, there’s one stop we always get excited about and it’s not a castle or a cathedral. It’s Aldi. Yep, Aldi—the no-frills grocery store many of us love and know from home. And when you’re in Austria or Slovenia? It’s called Hofer, but it’s essentially the same awesome store.
If you’ve ever shopped at Aldi in the U.S., you already know the basics: bring a quarter (or a €1 coin), pack your own bags, and expect great prices. The beauty of traveling in Europe is that the Aldi experience is basically the same—just with a local twist and a lot of similar, but slightly different foods. It’s one of those rare moments while traveling where you feel like you just might know what’s going on.
Looks just like home, right?
🛒 Familiar Setup, Local Flavor
We’ve visited Aldi (and Hofer) stores in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Slovenia and every single one felt like walking into a version of home… with better cheese. The layout is similar, the checkout process is just as efficient and it’s easy to navigate even if you don’t speak the language. If you’re new to Aldi, you can even “practice” at home before your trip—learn how the carts work, how to bag quickly and what to expect in terms of store flow. It really does make the whole experience less stressful abroad.
🌍 Where You’ll Find Aldi and Hofer
Aldi is in: Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, Switzerland, the UK, and more.
Hofer (Aldi’s Austrian name) is in: Austria and Slovenia (though some Slovenian stores are now called Aldi, too).
We’ve even made it a little tradition: first stop after landing = find the nearest Aldi!
Here’s an Aldi in The Netherlands
🥨 Cheap, Fresh, and Local
We’ve stocked up on €0.49 pretzels in Germany, got bakery baguettes in France, and grabbed ice cream in Switzerland. It's the perfect place to grab breakfast on the go, snacks for a hike, or a picnic lunch without draining your travel budget.
When traveling with kids, Aldi is a lifesaver. They can pick out fun local treats (like stroopwafels in the Netherlands!) or grab fruit, yogurt, and even frozen pizza(!) on nights when you’re too tired to eat out. Another favorite quick and easy dinner is a charcuterie board! Plus, it’s not just groceries—sometimes the aisle of mystery treasures has things like art supplies, pool floats, or sandals for a few euros.
Checkout this Aldi sweatshirt I found at the Aldi in Offenburg, Germany
🎁 Surprisingly Awesome Souvenirs
One of our favorite tips? Aldi is a great place for inexpensive, unique souvenirs. On our recent trip:
We picked up adorable Dutch sprinkles (called hagelslag) in the Netherlands that made it home safely in our carry-on.
Found official Olympics T-shirts in France from the summer games—€5 for something we actually wanted to wear!
Bought regional chocolates and cookies that our friends back home loved (and they cost a fraction of the airport prices).
❤️ Little Wins on the Road
Travel can be unpredictable, but finding an Aldi or Hofer on the map feels like a win. It's clean, efficient, affordable, and stocked with treasures that make daily life on the road a bit easier. For us, it’s not just about saving money—it’s about feeling prepared, even in a country where we barely speak the language.
If you're planning a trip and feeling overwhelmed by food costs or unfamiliar routines, put Aldi or Hofer on your radar. Your wallet (and your stomach) will thank you.
Bonus tip: After you load your groceries into the car—don’t forget to close the trunk before you drive off. Not that that's ever happened to us, of course. But if it did… we might have chased a runaway watermelon down an Austrian road. Just sayin’.
So long, Aldi — until next time!
Why We Travel Anyway
What started with one magical Disney trip and a surprise timeshare purchase turned into a lifetime of unforgettable family adventures. From sailing the Virgin Islands to ziplining in the Alps, our journeys—sometimes chaotic, always meaningful have taken us across 14 countries and through some of life’s hardest moments. We Travel Anyway was born from this legacy of choosing joy, even when the road gets bumpy.
In 2010, my parents and I took, Jack, my 18 month old son to Florida for a family reunion. During this trip, we spent an incredible day at the Magic Kingdom, watching my toddler take it all in with wide eyes. The next day happened to be my birthday and we had reservations at a restaurant at Disney’s Beach Club Resort.
Because we were staying at a very inexpensive and extremely noisy chain hotel in Orlando, we had to drive to the Disney property. When we arrived, dad dropped us off and went to park our rental car. To reach the restaurant he had to walk through the hotel and somewhere along the way, he got turned around. So he did what he always did — he struck up a conversation with someone nearby who happened to be the woman working the Disney Vacation Club sales booth in the lobby. Eventually, after a lengthy discussion, he followed her advice and met us at the restaurant.
Upon arriving at our table, he announced, “I think I’m going to buy a Disney timeshare” while my mom and I scraped ourselves off the floor.
The 2010 Disney trip that launched our travels
Now, to understand how wild this pronouncement was, you have to know a bit about my dad: his idea of a vacation usually involved speed and the possible risk of death — motorcycle racing, downhill skiing, mountain climbing, paragliding. Disney timeshares were not exactly his thing.
THIS was dad’s thing!
And this was too — circa 1979 in Colorado
But he did his research and followed through and that simple moment of connection with a kind Disney cast member kicked off a new chapter for our family. After buying the timeshare, we began vacationing at Disney regularly joined by my sister, Christy, and her son. Eventually, both Christy and I added another boy to the mix, and all eight of us began traveling together. We stayed everywhere from Saratoga Springs to the Grand Floridian, Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Lodge and even Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.
The boys enjoying Disney’s Beach Club resort, 2017
In 2018, with the PGA Tour coming to a nearby town, my dad decided to rent out their lake home for golf visitors. He made a deal with Christy and me — if you help me list my home on Airbnb, I’ll put whatever I earn into a vacation savings account. We did and he rented it to a group of USA Today photographers for a pretty penny.
What did we do with the money? We took the boys to Europe. No particular reason—just a hunch that it would be unforgettable and it was.
At O’Hare, headed on our first European adventure, 2018
Of course, traveling wasn’t new to us. As kids, we’d spent a month sailing the Virgin Islands, and we routinely visited grandparents in Florida and Newfoundland. When I was six, right around the time Princess Diana got married, we lived just outside London for the summer while my dad taught computer science at a Department of Defense school. Later, he did the same in Switzerland. As a professor at UW–Whitewater, Dad had summers off and our family leaned into those seasons with full hearts and open itineraries.
Some of the best memories came from when things went wildly off the rails, like the time we found ourselves stranded in a gondola on Mont Blanc and had to be rescued by helicopter. These misadventures became part of our family culture: laugh through the mishaps, treasure the detours, and chase the joy.
When my second son was born and diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, adventure felt like the furthest thing from our minds. But eventually, my husband, Scott Drummond, realized how badly we needed something to look forward to. Our first trip as a CF family was a road trip from our home in Wisconsin to Georgia for a cousin’s wedding. It was, in many ways, a complete disaster and Christy and I nearly turned around in northern Georgia (seriously). But it proved something important: with a little planning and a lot of flexibility, travel was still possible.
Dad and Will — one of the few photos we managed to take during our hectic Georgia road trip in 2013
Our family took two major trips to Europe, starting in 2018 with a 7-week journey through Austria, Croatia, and Switzerland. My dad was always game for anything and on the trip he played with his grandkids like he was the biggest kid in the group.
Travel was still hard — accommodating different interests, schedules and managing to pack extra medical gear was not for the faint hearted, but we did it. And it was better than we even hoped for!
In the summer of 2023, just after we returned from a trip to Newfoundland, my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He faced chemo without complaint, stayed active with tennis and pickleball and still dreamed with me about “just one more trip.” Dad, Christy and I spent months planning our next big adventure — part therapy, part joy, all heart. With his oncologist’s blessing, we took the plunge and spent three weeks during the summer of 2024 exploring the Netherlands, Germany (my dad especially wanted to see the Rhine) and the French Alps.
Exploring Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany 2024
We zip lined, rode mountain carts, and climbed mountains — all activities that probably would've horrified his doctor, but he kept up every step of the way. No naps, no slowing down. We laughed, made new memories, and even visited the same spot on Mont Blanc where we’d been stranded two decades earlier.
My sweet dad passed away in November 2024. He was the best of us—curious, kind, fearless and full of wonder. He was also a faithful Christian and his quiet strength, generosity, and sense of purpose were rooted in that faith. He believed in loving people well, living life fully and trusting God through every season.
Celebrating dad’s birthday in The Netherlands, 2024
Dad’s love of adventure lives on in us. It’s in every road trip playlist, every midnight laugh in a foreign hotel, every moment we choose joy even when things get hard.
That spirit is the foundation of We Travel Anyway. It’s what drives us to help other families, especially those navigating medical or accessibility challenges to find freedom and joy in the journey, no matter how messy or unpredictable it may be. Because the truth is, travel doesn’t have to be perfect to be unforgettable. Sometimes the detours are the best part.