Examples of How Inexpensive Traveling Can Be!!!

People often ask me how I can travel so much.  I tell them: Travel is a matter of priorities; priorities when you’re traveling and priorities at home.  For example, obviously, a 5-star hotel is alarmingly more expensive than a 3-star—so why spend extra money for it when you only need a safe place to sleep and clean-up?  Likewise, at home, do you REALLY need the $3000 50” plasma TV?  If you got the $1500 32” LCD HD TV, the difference between the two is a plane ticket to almost anywhere in the world!  Voilá!  Your trip is half-paid!  Priorities.  If travel is your priority, then make the adjustment.

Some things to keep in mind:

·         Experience shows that generally, the longer you stay, the less expensive it is per day; but then the overall cost increases

·         Traveling inexpensively is difficult, and you usually have to work hard to find a bargain

·         You can often save money by flying “Open Jaw“

·         If traveling with more than one person, you can save money by renting (sometimes leasing for longer trips) a car

·         Be flexible

·         Purchasing souvenirs can add-up quickly.  I usually buy small, indiscrete, original items (if I were ever to buy something large, I would mail it home, usually from the place where I bought it)

 

Regions Traveled:

Prices listed are per person, and travel originated & terminated in the U.S. (round trip from Salt Lake City, Utah).

Peru (Lima-Nazca-Cuzco-Aguas Calientes [Machu Picchu]-Cuzco-Lima)
Fourteen days (June 2005) [two 16-year old nephews and myself]
~$825 (U.S. Dollars) [$~59/day]

·         Included round-trip air (~$525), room & board, transportation (bus, plane, train), and entrance fees for museums/sites (Sacred Valley Ruins, Machu Picchu, etc.)

·         This trip was to show a couple of my nephews how simple and inexpensive it can be to travel overseas; we were planning on Europe, but airfare to Peru was cheaper.  And the first rule of traveling cheaply is go wherever transport to and from are least expensive.

England, Wales, and London (Avebury-Bath-Cardiff-Cotswolds-Stratford/Warwick-Oxford-London)
Eight days (February 2003) [spouse and myself]
~$800.00 (U.S. dollars) [$100/day]

·         Included round-trip air (~$500), room & board, rental car (for 4 days with gas, insurance, and tolls!) and other transportation (trains, tube, buses, etc.), and entrance fees for museums/sites (Tower, St. Paul's Cathedral, Warwick Castle, etc.), souvenirs, etc.

·         We went because airfare was cheap ($279 for roundtrip from Salt Lake to Gatwick!!!) and Dawn had yet to see Britain; it would have been cheaper per day if we had stayed another week

Switzerland, Germany, Austria, & Italy (Zurich-Bavaria-Tyrol-Northern Italy-Cinque Terra-Tuscany-Umbria-Rome)
3 weeks (March 2002) [spouse and myself]
$1350.00 (U.S. dollars) [$75/day]

·         Included round-trip air (~$500), room & board, rental car (for 2 weeks with gas, tolls, and insurance!) and other transportation (trains, metro, taxis, etc.), and entrance fees for museums, sight-seeing (Castles, Coliseum, Ostia Antica,, Cappuchin Crypt, various National Museums, etc.), souvenirs, etc.

·         Again, airfare was cheap (~$480 round trip: open jaw, SLC-Zurich; Rome-SLC). We also met my sister and brother-in-law in Milan, and spent 10 days in Italy with them (their first trip outside the U.S., and one of their “best experiences” in life!), which brought-down the price of the rental car, because we split the cost (of 7 rental days) with them.

France & Spain (Paris-Macon-Narbonne-Calafel-Zaragoza-Toledo-Madrid)
2 weeks (February 2000) [spouse and myself]
$922.00 (U.S. dollars) [$71/day]

·         Included round-trip air ($398), room & board, rental car (one week with gas, tolls, and insurance!) and other transportation (trains, metro, taxis, etc.), and entrance fees for museums, sight-seeing, etc.

·         Dawn's first trip “on her own” and a great experience for her.  Airfare was cheap again (~$400 round trip: open jaw, SLC-Paris; Madrid-SLC).

Great Britain (London-Lincolnshire-Balloch-Skye-Harris-Inverness-Lake District-London)
One month (September 1995) [solo trip, mooching]
$1000.00 (U.S. dollars) [$47/day]

·         Included round-trip air ($400), room & board (I slept under the stars a lot), and all ground transportation (I mooched a lot), entrance fees for museums, spending money, etc.

·         I list this trip to show how cheap a person can travel if they are open-minded, undaunted by surprises, use common sense, and aren't afraid to “rough it.”

·         This was a “minimal” type trip: I packed a sleeping bag (to sleep outside), hitched rides, ate sparingly, bathed in a river, loch, or public WC, and only went to sites if they were free or if there was some other way of getting in for free or next to nothing (be creative...)

·         I don't mind traveling this way, as it is extremely rewarding, liberating, and fun (I ate fresh blackberries from the forest for breakfast and lunch one day, and drank from a crystal clear spring).  But it is not for everyone, because it takes patience, time, and a care-free, spontaneous, and out-going attitude -- not to mention an iron constitution (and stomach).  It also rained a lot!

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