Check
out A Time to Splurge
under Glimpses of the Road,
back on Randy's Travel
Page. Into the Countryside
Finally, you can still head out on your own for very little money and do some fairly unique and adventurous traveling without needing great physical stamina or putting yourself into dangerous situations. Just get on a local bus and travel into the ordinary, untouristed countryside. Spend weeks or even months just going from town to village, experiencing first-hand how the local people carry out their daily lives in ways far removed from the modern hubbub of the cities and well-traveled destinations.
Here are a few examples, but in fact you can head out into the countryside in just about any country. Jump on the next bus leaving town and find yourself in a town without tourists, without travelers, without charm, hot water, or guile (and maybe no hotel). You just might find an anthropologist or missionary.
The Western Oases of Egypt. The Negreb of Morocco and Algeria. Almost anywhere away from the main cities in West and Central Africa. Almost anywhere away from the coast and cities in Mexico. The interior lowlands of Peru. The altiplano of Bolivia and Chile. Anywhere off the main roads in Korea. The south coasts of Taiwan. Western China. Bangladesh. Sikkim, and the Southwest of India. Eastern Turkey and the Black Sea coast.
You will be forced to learn some of the language, ask to be taken into homes when there is no hotel, eat what the locals eat and drink their water. You will probably get pretty tired or bored of it after a few weeks. But when you return to the main centers, you will have seen what most travelers saw in that country only thirty or forty years ago. And you will have that same thrill that the old travelers got when crawling out of weeks in the bush to finally reach a place with hot water, cold beer, clean sheets, and a newspaper. Appreciation of the simple people in the bush; appreciation of the simple pleasures on returning to the city.
Try to imagine that only twenty-five years ago, there were very few if any travelers' hotels or cafes. There were the Tourist Class Hotels and then there was the level of the common man. In those days the few travelers hangouts like Goa, Kathmandu, Chiang Mai, Lamu, Marrakech, and Panajachel, were something really special because they were not just another stop along the travelers' circuit. They were the only places within weeks or even months of travel where you could find a hostel set up by English-speaking people exclusively for travelers, get good cheap travelers' food (yes banana pancakes, yogurt, and museli), and sit around genuinely cold beers with fellow travelers from all over the world, telling tales of your last two months in the beknighted countryside.
Another way to add a little spice to your trip is to adopt a theme to your travels. When you planned your trip you may have already betrayed some subtle themes like 'laying on beaches' or 'visiting primitive tribes'. You might also come up with a specific theme just to add some extra interest and variety.
I once traveled with a man who was following the route of Alexander the Great. In fact, he was just traveling around like the rest of us, but he had studied the subject and he made a point of visiting important sites of Alexander's route along the way. It added some extra interest and education to his travels, and took him (and me!) to a few places that most of us would not even know about. This may not sound especially adventurous to you, but compared to just following the usual sightseeing and resort circuits, it can be pretty exciting!
Don't feel left out if you don't come up with a theme. Many people get interested in a new subject while they are traveling. I get interested in dozens of new subjects while I'm traveling. They may lead me to some unusual sidetrips, or just lots of extra reading when I get home. If you find yourself enthralled by the Cathedrals in Mexico, you may end up going out of your way to visit interesting ones listed in guide books. Or you may become fascinated with Mayan ruins or works by the famous Mexican muralists. There are three examples from one country! Each one could lead you off on new trails, collecting knowledge and photos that you might even organize into a slide show or magazine article.
Budgeting your travel expenses is a task you need to do both before and during your travels. If you have an unlimited amount of money you won't need to worry about it as much, but budgeting is still useful, and sometimes necessary -- for example, to plan when and where to get more money.
The amount of money you spend depends on where, how fast, and in what style you will be traveling. Monthly costs may range from under $300 a month (in a few cheap countries) to two or three times that for the same cheap traveler in more expensive countries; and you can certainly spend much more depending on your tastes. Add to that your major air fares.
You should spend whatever you must to achieve at least your personal minimal levels of comfort; there is no point in being miserable just because everyone else is. However, discovering just what your minimal levels of comfort are is one of the great learning experiences of traveling, so make a good effort to get closer to the way of life of the local people. But one cardinal rule: Do not neglect your diet; no matter how little you plan to spend, make sure that you are reasonably well fed, even if it isn't the finest of food. Undernourishment is the quickest route to illness, fatigue, and a bad attitude, so try to sit down to a good hot meal at least once a day.
Budgeting Before You Go
How do you calculate the amount of money you will need for an entire trip? You can just plan a flat average monthly budget, and try to stick to it. You could also take the methodical approach by pouring over guidebooks and adding up the average cost of hotels, food, and transportation in each country. That just gives you the basic costs, and even that will be too low. Double or triple that to include incidental costs such as admission fees, local fares, clothing, toiletries, snacks, post cards, postage, visas, medicines, cinemas, and who knows what? Now add known costs for film, airplane flights, and special excursions you plan to make. That still does not account for trinkets, presents, and various splurges.
No matter how little you spend on your basic needs, any budget can be quickly destroyed on various "extras". Film, presents, extra airplane flights, expensive excursions, hotel splurges, and nights in the pub can easily double or triple your total expenses. All of these things can occasionally be necessary for the enjoyment of your travels, but try to budget for them and keep them to a level where they are still something special.
Clearly, the places you choose to visit greatly determine how much you will have to spend. The less developed countries are also the cheapest, and often the most interesting. That's one of the reasons that young shoestring travelers begin their travels in the most underdeveloped parts of the world. It is still possible to travel in reasonable comfort for $300 to $500 a month in many places of the world, and you can do it for less if you really want to. If you average $5 a night for a hotel, that's $150 a month, and you can about triple that to include food, transport, and normal incidentals in a country where a $5 hotel room is reasonable. I've traveled (not too long ago) in countries where a decent bungalow on the beach with breakfast was typically $2.50 a night. If you're in a country where you must spend $15 or $25 a night for a decent room, the overall costs go up accordingly.
Obviously, taking in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand will put a big dent in your budget, compared to the rest of the world. Other fairly expensive places are Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, most Caribbean islands, and Brazil; but you can still get by on half of what it would cost in Europe. Malaysia, Jordan, Syria, Argentina and Chile are more expensive than adjacent countries in their areas, but still quite good value. Kenya can be reasonably priced, except that the main reason to go is to visit the game parks, and this makes it a more expensive trip, as is South Africa.
Travel in the rest of Africa can often be expensive in relation to the low standards of living. India has a reputation for being cheap, but it is about twice as expensive as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka.
Mexico, Venezuela, and Costa Rica are countries that have fluctuated considerably in their cost to tourists; they are all currently reasonably cheap, and with higher standards of living than many Latin American countries. Transportation around the South Pacific will be quite expensive, and none of the islands are really cheap, unless you bring your own boat and live off the land; similarly for the Caribbean.
The slower you travel, the less you spend per day. Not only do you spend a proportionally smaller amount of time on transportation, but the longer you stay in one town, the more you will to learn to get the best value for your money. Cities are always more expensive, and you will be forced to spend quite a bit of time in main cities just coming, going, and taking care of "business". The more time you can take to relax in the countryside, the cheaper your average costs will be -- not to mention the better exposure you will get to the local culture. You can rent a hut and live on a beach or in a small village for a month, for less than what a week's traveling would cost. Specifically, if you have a fixed amount of money, you can have a longer (and more enjoyable) trip by visiting fewer countries.
If you are on a very tight budget, you should definitely plan a leisurely trip to just a few countries. You may find places where you can "hang out" for almost nothing. Remember that a number of countries will ask you to show sufficient funds before you are allowed to enter; sometimes a credit card is enough, but not always. These are usually the more developed countries, so plan to visit them first, while you still have some money to show.
Budgeting Along The Way
Unless you have so much money that you don't care how much you spend, I recommend that you keep track of how much money you spend along the way. The simplest way is just to count up your money at the end of each country, or each month, to see how much you actually spent. Divide it up to get the average daily cost. Subtract your trinkets and film to get the actual living and travel costs in the country, or add in airline tickets you charged on a credit card to get the total trip cost.
I can also recommend keeping a record of your daily costs for the first few weeks at the beginning of your trip, and perhaps for a few days in each new country. This just makes you more conscious of just how much you are really spending, and what you are spending it on. If it seems like too much, you can identify where all the money is going, and perhaps where you could economize. Don't let your budget run your life or ruin your trip. Once you cultivate the frugal traveler's life style and a willingness to tolerate the local standards of food, lodging, and transportation, you won't need to make regular accounts, or to worry much about your budget, except for shopping and splurges.
I find it easiest to live at approximately the same level of comfort in all countries, regardless of cost, rather than to budget a fixed amount each month regardless of the country. I say approximately, because for example, you may choose to stay in dorm rooms in more expensive countries, while in cheaper ones you could enjoy a private room with a bath for not much expense.
As long as you are not on a very tight budget, look for good value for your money. In some countries and cities, the cheapest available accommodation and food may be so grotty that it is not only quite unpleasant, but also hazardous. In some places, you pay quite a bit more for a private bath or even a fan. Going from Thailand to Malaysia, or from Egypt to Jordan, you will find the price of the cheapest room increases dramatically, but the quality of that room will be much higher -- perhaps similar to what you would get for the same price in the cheaper country; the bottom of the market is just not there. In some of the less developed countries, I find that you don't always get good value when you "splurge" a little; you may get a private bath, fan, or air-conditioner that doesn't work. Find out just what you can get for your money, and choose accordingly.
In China you are only allowed to stay in tourist-approved hotels, which are generally quite comfortable. A "dorm" room is quite often just a 4, 3, or even 2-bed room with no private bath, and usually a good value; while a similar "private" room with a bath in the same hotel will cost four times as much. These are all examples of how your choices of accommodation constantly vary, and the same can hold true for food and transportation. It takes a while to find the best values for your own comfort in each country. In many countries, the price of a single beer is higher than the price of a (basic) good meal, and will add a great deal to your expenses. But you will find a few places where beer is only twice the cost of a soft drink.
Check
out A Time to Splurge
under Glimpses of the Road,
back on Randy's Travel
Page.
Randy's Travel Page
.....
Planning Table of Contents
...........
Next Page