On Budget Travel
Recently, after hitching four hours in the rain to check into a DJH (official = institutional, boring, and expensive) youth hostel, I became suddenly disillusioned with one of my primary hobbies: ultra-low-budget travel. Yes, I have had plenty of Gil White-esque days, meeting great people, spending only pennies, sleeping in strange places, experiencing things no one else has experienced (and not many people would want to.) But... there are also the days when nothing works out, and spending twice as much would remove every inconvenience from my path, theoretically clearing the way for more fun.
I'm not willing to say goodbye to budget travel. But here are some thoughts.
1) Spending more money does NOT CAUSE ONE TO HAVE MORE FUN. Spending more money only reduces inconvenience. Sometimes, inconvenience outweighs fun, therefore, there is the illusion that money = fun. It's not true.
2) It is possible that budget travel is only fun in the summer. One MUST sleep for free sometimes in order to hit so low a budget, and camping is really more of a summer pastime. Many of the best free attractions are outdoors (castles, plazas, hiking trails, etc.) and many of the expensive attractions are indoors. So perhaps budget travel is losing its sheen now that we are over halfway through October.
3) It is possible that deprivation of creature comforts is only fun for a limited period of time; say, two months.
4) It is possible that inflation since the euro came into being has put Europe permanently off the budget destination list. Obvious solution: go to less-developed countries.
Also, I can't rule out the possibility that the free thousands of dollars of cash I will soon be handed (for the pain and suffering when I broke my rib) are influencing my thoughts.
My budget is currently 30 euros per day. I may bump it up to 35, or else give myself the cash I saved during the first three months, when I was living on 25 a day. Both are fudging. But is that really such a big deal if I actually do have the money? Thoughts?
posted by karenlikescereal @ 3:21 p. m.
3 Comments:
I'm not as hardy a traveler as you. I don't particularly like meeting flatulent, orange boxer-breif-clad men in filthy hostels. But that's just me. So I say, bump your budget up as high as you can. Why not 40 euros a day so you can enjoy some of the finer things that Europe has to offer, like fancy food or theater? One gets few chances to spend the year traveling around such a refined continent. Why spend it hitch-hiking in the rain?
What about my pain and suffering? If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have even broken that rib!
um.. hmm..
Okay, you know that I'm a bit more spend-happy than you are anyway, but I think you should bump it up and I still advocate for alternating ultra-budget days with splurge days.
I agree that winter means you have to spend more money because you can't do the free stuff all day or you'll freeze. Furthermore, I agree that you're getting a shitload of cash for the whole rib thing and I agree with Bernardo (by the way, I have no idea who he is) that you will really only travel Europe for a year once, and you'll probably spend the rest of your life making oodles of money to go into some trust fund for your grandchildren. So spend some cash now, baby, you won't regret it. TRUST ME! In Australia/NZ I went skydiving for 300 bucks, scuba diving for 100, flew to the red center for 300, went on a camel safari for 50...I don't regret one cent of it. In fact, I don't even know how much I spent in total. Because you know what? It doesn't really matter. You will never be out of money. Dad never let you buy sodas from the machine, remember?
Okay, now I also know that you LIKE ultra-budget travel as a hobby. So I recommend that you attempt ultra-low-budget travel when you feel like it. It could be one day of under 25 euros. It could be trying to do a week for under 175. Whatever you feel like. Then when you reach your ultra-low-budget mini goal take a few days of splurge budget - 40, 50, even 100 once in a while! This way you'll get the challenge, the stories, the crazy experiences of budget travel but you won't get so worn out and you won't start to dislike it because you're forced to do it. Also, the splurge days will be all the sweeter because you've deprived yourself before them. It's like not eating all day because you're going to the Chinese buffet for dinner.
So there's my ultra-long budget advice. Low-budget for the experiences, splurge to regenerate and for the pricy fun. You might consider the strategy "bulemic traveling." And as the Citi bank (your bank) commercials say: Live richly! :)
Your dearest sister,
Andrea
Publicar un comentario
<< Home