Generally, budget travel is
considered shoestring. Lonely Planet almost made the name their own with their original
travel guide to Southeast Asia; for travellers on a tight budget. I even used the yellow
book myself in the eighties.
Now LP have guides to just about everywhere,
and have included mid-range and top end hotels in their places to stay; to cast the net
wider. We'll be looking at the guidebooks next week.
If you're travelling on the cheap, there's
nothing to stop you entering the five star hotels. Some of them have good value, all you
can eat buffets; at a price travellers can afford -- occasionally.
If you're starting out on a lengthy 3 to 6
month overland journey, you will indeed need to budget for three to seven thousand
dollars.
Your budget will vary depending on where you
travel. Europe is not as cheap anymore, and the gendarmes aren't so tolerant of
back-packers sleeping on the beach.
When the Summer is over you wouldn't want to
anyway, but it's still a good time to travel in Europe.
The queues for museums have gone, you'll have less tourists in your photographs, and you
will get to meet the locals; in the high season they're all on holiday too. And guess
what? The accommodation prices are coming down as well; almost half the price in some
heavily touristed areas.
Amsterdam and Prague are great budget places
in September and October, and Paris is coming back to
life -- the Parisians desert the French capital in August, and that's not a lot of fun if
you like to sit at a brasserie table and watch the world go by.
Good value travel can still be had in Asia,
South America, and parts of Africa. In West Africa, for example, the Francophone countries
are more expensive than the former English colonies, with Abidjan and Dakar the two most
expensive cities. Ghana is a treasure. Now's the time to start planning for the Southern
Hemisphere
The most expensive part of the trip is usually
the flight ticket. In this article, we are talking about the budget travel after the the
ticket is bought. Getting a good price on airline tickets
is quite an art in itself.
You can even make
reservations online.
Your budget for travelling, once the ticket is
bought, will of course depend on your comfort requirements in both accommodation and
transportation.
Dormitory
beds, or a room with your own shower; hard seats on 36-hour Chinese trains, or a
sleeper in a closed compartment. These are the extremes and there is always somewhere in
between.
I have stayed in some very nice hotels in
South America for $5, and some dives in the United States for five to ten times that.
There are old colonial mansions in West Africa
that you never want to leave and water palaces, surrounded by rice paddies, in Indonesia
that offer an outdoor swim before breakfast. Once travellers tell Lonely Planet about
these places, they loose the atmosphere. So I'm not going to tell you where they are
either.
There are always gems on the route less
travelled, and that is the beauty of travelling without knowing where you'll be staying.
That's budget travel to me. You have a wad of
money when you start out, and you really don't know how far you'll get with it. If you
want to know how much it's all going to cost and where you'll stay, then book through a
travel agent.
Before you get your head down for the night
you'll have to get there. Some people do hitch-hike in Asia and South America, but
transportation is reasonably cheap and frequent.
The greatest luxury is time, budgeting your
time is also a part of independent travel. Again if you don't have enough of it, you'll be
forced to take the tours.
In countries like India and China you will
need to book the long-distance trains at least a day in advance, sometimes three days or
more.
Many a traveller has come unstuck by looking
around Beijing for three or five days, and then being forced to stay another three or five
because they can't get a ticket out.
On the popular routes, you sometimes need to
book your tickets out, before you settle in. Unwanted tickets are easier to sell than
trying to buy one for a train that leaves in half an hour.
In West Africa you simply turn up at the
autogare and wait for the Peugeot to fill up -- early mornings are always best. While
other countries have bus stations with many companies competing to get you on theirs that
is leaving right away.
So whatever your budget, there's always
something for you -- you pay the money, you take the choice. Don't forget that some
countries require you to pay for a visa, and when your budgeted time is out you may well
have to pay a departure tax. Our featured sites can help you further.
Featured Sites:
1800-Hostels.com:
The place to go for budget accommodation. Search the database for a list of hostels before
you travel and even book budget tours online
to save disappointment later.
Budget Travel:
Frank Fulton puts out monthly specials for people who can't afford to pay five star
prices, and has a list of travel agents who might be able to find you the deal that you're
looking for. Lots of links on the site, although the layout is a little disorganised and
you might have to copy and paste the link you're interested in. Frank confesses he's not
computer literate, but there is a wealth of information on the site if you're prepared to
sift around.
Eurotrip:
An excellent resource for independent travel in Europe. Advice on trip preparation, Euro-railing,
back-packing, destinations and accommodation. Includes hostel reviews, feature articles,
travelogues, message boards and a free e-mail newsletter.
Hitch-Hiking:
There's no cheaper way to travel than that, but it's not for everybody. Bernd Wechner is
the hitch-hiking editor at Suite 101 and writes an article about hitch-hiking once a
month. His list of links is a resource in itself, and he always keeps an eye on his
discussion area of the site. Drop any questions you have on hitch-hiking in there.
Travel Guides:
Let's
Go Europe:
One of the best travel guides for doing Europe on the cheap.
Lonely
Planet Guide to Amsterdam:
Amsterdam is one of the most visited cities in Europe. This informative and savvy guide
captures the best that Amsterdam offers in a practical, easy to use format.
Prague
Condensed:
The capital of the Czech Republic is a favourite of backpackers today. From the world's
largest medieval castle, countless churches and classical concerts to swingin jazz,
traditional beer halls and hip cocktail bars, discover Prague's myriad cultural treasures
and vibrant nightlife with this indispensable guide.
Europe @
Travel Notes:
Research European destinations online. |
