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Holiday Travel- What You Must Know!! It's Never Too Early...
With the summer months past us it is time to start thinking of the holidays and end of year celebrations. So, students, families, parents, and anyone- listen up!!
Obviously things have changed in travel and the world over the past few years, so it...
Online Travel Bargain
Are holiday bargains for true or have catches hidden? REMEMBER YOUR LAST CONVERSATION WITH THAT family relative who couldn’t talk enough of how much they saved on their last holiday package deal? Or that colleague bragging about his $59 round-...
Planning your Trip using Travel Tips
No matter where you're traveling or whether you're traveling by
car, plane, or train, you'll want to make sure that you arrive
there with everything that you need. You'll also want to save as
much money as you can in getting there. If you're...
Save Up To 50% When Traveling On Vacation
Did you know you can go on a 7-day cruise for half the price? Or visit Europe for 15 days for only $2,000 per person including airfare, hotels, car rental and meals? If you follow these steps, you can save more up to 50% in travel expenses. 1....
Time For Tourists To Enjoy Festive Offers From TravelGoDelhi Hotels
Delhi hotels are brimming with tourist and there are still a large number of people pouring in the city to enjoy a Diwali vacation. The city of Delhi looks gorgeous during this festival of light. Hotels in Delhi have also joined the bandwagon by...
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Cheap Travel Secrets
There are two ways to save money traveling. The first way is to get the best deals on the specific things you want. There is a limitation to this type of approach though. If , for example, you find the lowest price on the best hotel in Honolulu at the height of the season, you will save money, but still have a very expensive vacation. Trying to get exactly what you want, or what you think you want, will generally be an expensive proposition, in travel and in life.
Be A Travel Opportunist
The other approach is to be a true opportunist. This will be difficult for some of you, and entirely unacceptable to others. Nonetheless, the travelers who get to travel the most, go to the widest variety of places, learn the most and do the most, are the opportunists. This will be true until you are so wealthy that you have no monetary limits.
The first time I went to Ecuador, I went there because it was cheap. If it wasn't, I would have had a great time - somewhere else. The trip lasted a month, and cost $1045, which included airfare and even the $130 fee for a guide to take me to the top of glacier-covered Mount Chimborazo.
I cut the cost by taking a bus from my home in Michigan to Miami, and back again when I returned from Ecuador. The round-trip ticket cost $158. The round-trip flight to Quito from Miami was only $256, because it was a courier flight, which meant I signed for some luggage (car parts), and could only take carry-on luggage.
Never did I feel deprived, or bored. I had a great time, eating wherever it was cheap and clean, doing all sorts of inexpensive, but interesting things, and traveling across the country to climb Chimborazo. I also met and fell in love with my wife Ana.
How To Become An Opportunist Traveler
Can you drink rum at a dollar per bottle, instead of your favorite beer? Can you eat chicken instead of steak? How about visiting the free sights first, and dancing in the street festival instead of the disco?
Being an opportunist means you'll have just as much variety, and probably almost everything you want - eventually. You just have to stop trying to get exactly what you want exactly when you want it. If the guide that took me up Chimborazo hadn't dropped his price from $200 to $130, I would have spent $2 for a bus and gone hiking on El Altar,
another great Andean mountain. That would have left me with enough money for several other minor adventures.
More Secrets Of Cheap Travel
Plane Tickets: My wife and I were planning a trip to visit family in Ecuador. The cheapest airfare from Traverse City, Michigan to Quito, was $1720. Out of curiosity, I checked Miami to Quito, and it was only $404. Airfare from Traverse City to Miami was $300. Book two separate flights and save more than $2000! The discount sites aren't set up to search in this way (yet), so you have to do this on your own. By the way, the whole six-week trip, which we took in 2004, cost $2400, including losing $100, and being robbed of $174.
Food: Whether traveling here or in other countries, it is usually cheaper to buy some healthy snacks in a grocery store, rather than eat every meal in a restaurant. When you do eat in restaurants, it can be cheaper to to order individual items on the menu from the list of appetizers or side dishes. You also may get more variety in that way.
Accomodations: For a long trip, you may want to rent an apartment in an interesting city. We did this for two months in Tucson, for about $600 less per month, compared to even the cheaper motels. Watch for hotel coupon-books in gas stations. The coupons will often save you $10 on a room you would have stayed in anyhow. If you have a conversion van or RV, you can camp a couple nights a week, like we do, to save on motels. We love the hotsprings we've stayed at, for a $3 fee to the BLM, instead of $40 for the cheapest motel in the area.
Travel Expenses: Do more and travel less. It is often the traveling part that costs the most, due to the cost of gas, convenient fast food, and expensive hotels you are forced to pay for when you just can't drive any further. So if you find a place with a reasonable motel, and a lot to do in the area - stay for a while!
About the Author
Steve Gillman traveled alone across the U. S. and Mexico at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. His stories, tips and information on travel and backpacking, can be found on his websites, http://www.EverythingAboutTravel.com, and http://www.TheUltralightBackpackingSite.com
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