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Travel on a shoestring

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04-Feb-2004 01:33
Cosmopolitan

last reply
20-Jan-2010 20:00
Roaminrobyn

48 replies
11,706 views


Pages 1 2 3 4

FAQ for shoestring travellers

Welcome to the branch for the budget minded traveller.

Please check this thread to find answers to common questions, and generally get you solutions faster!

Feel free to add generally interesting topics which have not been addressed yet; to make navigation easier on the FAQ, I recommend to start with a bold headline to allow people to find topics.

Please carefully check your URL is working properly by using the preview button before you send your reply.

Please do not post questions on the FAQ. Instead, start a new thread on this branch with your question as your subject line/topic.

10-Feb-2010 00:23
jorgegero

last reply
10-Feb-2010 22:59
psychiq

4 replies
81 views


Can any help re Budget Airlines?

Hey guys!

Just wondering if anyone could help me.

I know in Australia the main budget airlines available are Jetstar, Virgin Blue and Tiger Airways.

In Europe the main ones I know are Ryanair and Easyjet. Any others for Europe?

Can anyone tell me what the main budget airlines are for the following…

USA

Central America

South America

Asia

Middle East

Africa

Would really appreciate any help on this. Many thanks in advance.

08-Feb-2010 19:38
hayesdaniel

last reply
11-Feb-2010 02:32
je55689

6 replies
107 views


Visa question

I wasn't quite sure which forum to post this one, but I felt like it maybe fell under this category. Apologies if this is a dumb question.

I'm a US citizen planning on travelling to a few places that require advance visas - armenia, syria, pakistan, india, vietnam, etc. I would prefer not to have to ship my passport around to get these visas and I'm also not 100% sure what my travel dates will be.

Is it possible, or advisable, to obtain visas in other countries? I.e. can I get an armenian or indian visa in istanbul, for example?

And when I get the visas, do I need to use them on a specific date, or are they valid for whenever I enter the country?

Thanks!

Dan

08-Feb-2010 14:20
jillianmary

last reply
09-Feb-2010 03:08
jillianmary

4 replies
89 views


Guatemala or Colombia? Advice wanted!

I am planning a 10 week trip to either Guatemala or Colombia, in both cases with the intent of learning something about indigenous cultures before I apply for anthropology grad programs. The problem is, both will cost almost exactly the same amount, and both have their interesting perks and downsides. I need advice! Soon! Here are some sample itineraries I'm putting together for each. My budget, amazingly enough, is only about $1500.

Yucatan - Guatemala

1. Spend a week in a coastal town on Mexican Yucatan peninsula, hanging out in a hammock. Retreat. See Maya sites. Buy a hammock.
2. Bus down to Xela, Guatemala (Quetzaltenango) to volunteer at a women's weaving cooperative and stay with a family. Take a few courses in Qui'che Maya, practice Spanish.
3. Venture out on a trek through the countryside to meet local people in small villages.
4. Fly home.

Colombia

1. Spend on... more »

08-Feb-2010 06:36
shefnana

last reply
08-Feb-2010 08:51
qwovadis

1 replies
60 views


Finding a hotel in DR

We are traveling to Santo Domingo, DR on Feb 15. Would like to spend 2 days at the beach. Is it necessary to book a hotel before we go or is it possible to pick a beach and then find a place to stay when we get there? Are the only options resorts? Would like to stay in an affordable place, ie <$100 by the beach, but am having trouble finding anything besides resorts. Ive checked out la Romana, Boca Chica, and Juan Dolio since they are not so far from SD. Any suggestions??

07-Feb-2010 00:52
thaigift

last reply
10-Feb-2010 15:12
fluffydragon

5 replies
156 views


paying for my trip

hi everyone,

i live in chiang mai, thailand with my girlfriend. she is thai and i am american. we are both 27 years old. anyways, we are getting bored. she works as a tour guide at the royal palace and i am an exporter of silk. we are planning on a trip around the world for as long as we can. i have about $10K USD saved up and she has maybe a few hundred USD! i have traveled around SEA extensively so i know the general costs associated with this part of the world.

my question is this: i have two semi-professional cameras. one canon 40D and one canon 7D with good, quality lenses. the pictures that our cameras take are phenomenal. my plan is to try to sell our photographs on the internet as well as keep a blog. we are going to travel as long as we can on the money that we make from our photographs. has anyone done this before or thought of it? our monthly budget for both of us is... more »

06-Feb-2010 01:53
preston82n60

last reply
08-Feb-2010 03:38
preston82n60

6 replies
231 views


Advice on Budget

In about a year my best friend and I are planning a trip to Europe. We are novice travellers and are doing a lot of research on how to prepare for our trip. We are only taking a backpack, a map and our enthusiasm. We have decided to do as little planning as possible, and to spend most of our time eating street food and staying in hostels, guesthouses, etc. The one thing that I'm most nervous about is of course running out of money or being robbed. My plan is to keep an emergency fund here at home, but I wanted to know if anyone has any thoughts on how much money I should save if we want to stay in Europe of a minimum of 3 months? My thinking is somewhere between 6,000 - 10,000 dollars

06-Feb-2010 00:17
belvdheir

last reply
08-Feb-2010 06:50
gawkabout

5 replies
136 views


Ideas on self-guided walking tour in Basque Country

Had my heart set on self-guided tour through a tour company from St.Jean-Pied-de-Port, France and end in Logrono in about 9 days. I found out that I'll have to pay a few hundred more for travelling alone and I'm on a shoestring budget, so I have a second thought. I'm wondering if there are more tour companies out there with lower fees and/or someone wants to share a room with me but stay independant throughout the trip. I like the fact that tour company takes your luggage to where I'd be staying each night; I travel light but I have more than just a backpack. If anyone has any good or alternative ideas, please respond. By the way, the trip will be in September. Thanks in advance.

05-Feb-2010 23:12
mitha123

last reply
07-Feb-2010 21:33
neatz

9 replies
224 views


3 months backpacking Europe - budgeting

Hi, I'm planning to backpack around Europe next year, to visit a maximum of 18 countries, and need help budgeting for transportation.

From what I've looked up it will be cheapest to combine Interrail pas, flights, bus and ferries. I've got some rough calculations of about £1000+ just for the transport. Is this correct? Could anyone help me generate more accurate figures?

I'm planning to visit Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Rep, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, (Russia and Georgia maybe) Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain.

Thanks a lot!

05-Feb-2010 07:55
ppablo8

last reply
07-Feb-2010 11:07
ppablo8

6 replies
258 views


cheapest and easiest place to live for 6 months---year

I receive 1000.00 US dollars per month. Where is the easiest place to stay for a year or 6 months? I'm looking at Nicaragua, countries in South America; Colombia, Equador, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia; Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Myamar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia. And are there African nations worth looking into? And any other suggestions would be appreciated also. Paul Cowan

04-Feb-2010 04:00
gretamarin

last reply
08-Feb-2010 14:14
jtorsch

4 replies
168 views


Know of Any Work-Exchange or Volunteer Programs in the US???

I'm planning a year-long trip with a friend in 2011. We are going to work our way around the US--on a "shoestring"! Our plan is to take part in work-exchange programs or volunteer programs that offer free housings. These programs can be anywhere from 1 day to 30 days in length. For example, volunteering at a hostel with cleaning in exchange for a free room for the night. Wwoofing is another idea.

Basically, we want to find organizations that recruit volunteers in exchange for free volunteer housing. We think it would be a good way to see the country, save a bit of money and help out communities at the same time.

Any suggestions would be extremely, extremely appreciated! (We are both American, in case people had questions about the whole visa and traveling thing).

02-Feb-2010 05:30
pam15

last reply
08-Feb-2010 07:58
pam15

9 replies
300 views


Summer 2010

Hi all,

I am looking for some good ideas of where to go this summer. There are 4 of us in total to travel. We have all done the full year of travelling, so have covered off the main spots on that year abroad (s.america, new zealand, OZ, south east asia). We are back working and looking for somewhere exciting to go for about 3 weeks in july / august of 2010 where we can get out travel bug and buzz back again!!

We like places with a backpacking scene, sun and obviously not too expensive.
We come from europe, so we would prefer to keep that for another time in the year to visit those countries and cities.

Thanks in advance.

01-Feb-2010 16:02
miranda_jane

last reply
01-Feb-2010 23:50
qwovadis

7 replies
225 views


Best (quick and cheap) way to get from Croatia to Paris?

Hi Everyone,

not sure if this is the right forum to post in, but as it spans a few places I thought this might be the best...

I'm currently planning a European trip and I think I have it mostly worked out except for one last piece of the puzzle... How to get from Croatia to Paris?

This is the last leg of the trip having gone overland from Berlin to Prague, Budapest and then down to Croatia so I'm looking for a relatively quick way to get to Paris.

I'm more than happy to do train travel, but as we don't really have the time to be making stops, I'm thinking flying would be better, however when I look there don't seem to be any direct (or even kind of close!) flights between these two locations!

Is it possible? Or will I need to rethink my itinerary?

Thanks

01-Feb-2010 08:54
fenwaywrigley

last reply
06-Feb-2010 18:07
fenwaywrigley

4 replies
196 views


Travel bug strikes again...but to where?

As the title states, I have the travel bug again, but having a hard time narrowing down where I would like to go. I am seasoned enough of a traveler, having been to Asia a few times on different trips and of course I have done much of Europe. My G/F will be traveling with and she is just as experienced as myself, although the lucky bugger has also been to Australia.

I have a $10,000 Canadian budget and her's is 10-15,000. We are shoestring travelers for the most part (we enjoy resorts when we go away for a week, but let's be honest, that's less about adventure and more about pampering). We have up to 6 months to travel, and will leave either sometime during the end of Dec 2010 or beginning of Jan 2011, it is more about costs of airfares at that point. Were from Vancouver Canada as well.

All our previous trips together or apart have been single continent ventures, this time a... more »

01-Feb-2010 03:12
SerenaM

last reply
08-Feb-2010 16:57
travelmaven

7 replies
284 views


Honeymoon on a budget

Anybody have any good ideas for places to go on honeymoon in the first week of August? We have about 10 days so we won't want to travel too far. Also we don't want to spend a fortune. So far we were thinking of Sweden or Morocco. We would prefer to go some where a little different. Any ideas would be gratefully received. Suggestions for accommodation would be great.

Thanks
Serena

01-Feb-2010 02:04
vagoja

last reply
09-Feb-2010 00:08
gawkabout

3 replies
217 views


Looking for a list of (lowbudget) tour companies ....

Hi,
Any link to a comprehensive list of tour companies out there please ?
Genre : long duration - low budget- adventure - international group
ex.: Dragoman-Intrepid - Gap etc....
Thanks, Jan.

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