Tag Archives: budget travel

England Notes for Budget Travelers

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Bıg Ben

Bıg Ben

Ok. Budget is a bit of a misnomer. Let`s refer to it as a bleeding. The U.K. is an expensive place to visit when you`re on vacation and headed back to work and a paycheck next Friday. Coming from months in Asia, it was just painful to watch the pounds pour out of our wallet. In one week, we spent almost as much money as we did in two months of travel in India. Ok. So maybe this is not a fair comparison, but still. Ouch!
Like I said in Damn that Dollar, the prices are high and the exchange rate is a killer. So here are a few tips if you would like to make an attempt at budget travel ın England.

  • Transport can be expensive. Buses tend to be cheaper than the train for getting around the country, but if you`re traveling mid week and buy tickets in advance, you can get a good deal on the train. Getting around Central London is pretty easy on foot. For longer journeys around town or tired feet, the Tube is pleasant but pricey. If you are planning to do a few things outside the central area, it`s best to buy a Travel Card and take advantage of all day riding. Personally, I prefer the bus. A day pass is less than a return fare and much less than the Tube and you get the pleasure of riding around town on the double decker.
  • Lodging is a source of much pain. Hostels are plentiful throughout the U.K. but the prices are often more than you would pay for a decent hotel some places in the U.S and many are complete crap. In Liverpool our options were slim since much of the accomodation was already booked. We opted for the backpacker stalwart known as the Embassie. It`s the cheapest place in town, but only has dorm rooms. So we squeezed in with several others and tolerated the comings and goings of our roommates, one little shared bath and one long night of very loud snoring. You know it`s bad when Dave gets up, shakes a stranger`s bed and tells him to roll over. All this luxury cost us about $60 US a night. In London, we stayed at the massive Generator (better when pronounced with Schwarzenegger accent). The Generator is a full service mega hostel. It`s full of people, but is in a good location, clean, well serviced and provides free breakfast and good, cheap dinners, plus a free drink on arrival. A private room with bunk beds (we`ve gotten used to this), a sink and shared bath ran about $81 US a night.
  • Food runs the gamut in England. You can find all types and at all prices. Many restaurants offer good lunch deals, and there are plenty of cheap and tasty ethnic restaurants around town. A budget meal for the two of us was probably about $15 US – and it doesn`t get much cheaper than that.
  • Touristy Stuff is often free, though some entrance fees are a little pricey. We had considered visiting Buckingham Palace – which has additional private residences open this month – but tickets would have been around $60 per person. This was money better spent on LFC tickets – which were roughly the same price.

We`ve both been to England before, and will definitely return again, but with more cash and a paycheck waiting in the bank at home.

Mongolia Notes for Budget Travelers

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Mongolian Kid and Friend

Mongolian Kid and Friend

Mongolia is a bit different than the other countries we have visited thus far. There is only one real city, UB, and there is very little infrastructure to support public transport around the country. As we mentioned in Off We Ger if you want to get out into the countryside, which is really THE reason to come to Mongolia, then you need to a) join a tour; b) hire a jeep; or c) be completely raving madand take the local long distance buses. You could also fly, but since that wasn’t remotely within our budget (boohoo), I’ve left it out.

Tours run the gamut from budget backpackers piled into Russian vans that look like VW buses to the Golden Circle gang who get flown into luxury ger camps and driven around in shiny Landcruisers. (Yes, I’m a little envious.) Many travelers join together a group of 3-4 people and hire a jeep and driver. This can work out to be a pretty good deal since you choose your route and have freedom to stop whenever and wherever you choose. Since there were only two of us and we were not organized enough to find other people to share the costs of a jeep, we skipped option b. Our disorganization and adversity to tour groups ruled out option a as well.

So as you may have read, we went with Ger to Ger, an organization that supports sustainable tourism among nomadic herders. Good organization, good philosophy, a little loose on some details, but still a very good, authentic and low cost experience. That said, taking the bus to and fro was pure, sheer, total hell like no other. And yes, I had the bruises to prove it.

In terms of lodging, outside of UB, the main choices are basic hotels, ger camps (both luxury and budget) and camping. Mongolia is excellent for camping and it’s free. Just pitch your tent and snooze. Many ger camps seem to cater to foreigners offering less authentic experiences at tourist prices. And from what I’ve heard hotels range from grotty to decent. Not a lot of luxury in this category. Lucky for us, we stayed at what may be one of the nicest guesthouses outside of UB. This was mighty welcome after a week of no showers. AND they had a cafe with a vegetarian menu. Sadly we missed the veggie burger, but did have some tasty bakery treats for the bus ride.

Within UB, pretty much the same lodging choices exist except that there are loads of guesthouses and some nicer hotels. Our guesthouse was bare bones at best, but to be honest we didn’t mind since we were the only ones there most of the time. Plus the owner was a really great guy. As always, dorms are cheaper and most places have shared baths. We paid a pretty average $16 per night for a room with a double bed (and literally nothing else!).

Food is relatively inexpensive in UB and even cheaper in the countryside, though choices are more limited there. UB has a surprising plethora of western restaurants thanks to the number of NGOs and foreign aid agencies. Though the food was inexpensive by western standards, it was a little bit more than we had been paying in China and India. Still a bargain. If you visit UB, don’t miss the weird mix of flavors at Los Bandidos – Mongolia’s only Indian-Mexican restaurant. We went three times for the nachos.

Overall, Mongolia is pretty good for budget travel. The lack of infrastructure outside of the city prohibits it from being super cheap, but we managed pretty well on an average of about $50 a day including the trek, transport, food, lodging, etc.

New Zealand Notes for Budget Travelers

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Spending Tips from the Experts!

Spending Tips from the Experts!

Some of you are probably wondering how the heck we are making our money stretch around the world. The answer is on a budget! As we planned and planned and then planned some more prior the trip, we did our best to estimate our costs from everything to tickets and visas and travel insurance to daily costs and special, one-time expenses like tours. For each country, we’ve established a daily rate for the both of us. For more expensive countries (or comparable to the U.S.), we’ve set out a rather tight daily allowance.

Arriving in New Zealand as our first destination on the grand world tour was both good and bad. On the positive side, it was easy to travel here. Everyone speaks English and the place was built for tourism. On the negative side, it was a hard landing for our budget. It definitely took us a couple of weeks to sink into a pattern of not eating out and nickle and diming ourselves to death. At home, we are in the habit of eating out frequently and even when you travel on a 2-3 week trip, you would eat most meals out. Well unless you have loads of cash, you don’t do that every day on a round the world trip.

So, if you’re interested in budget travel in NZ, here are a few things we learned:

  • Though the country is small, it can take some time and money to get around to the most remote and interesting places. I would really not plan a trip here for under four weeks. Take your time, get your own mode of transport and do it the way you want.
  • The best way to go for us was with car and tent. We scored a super cheap car rental (approx $14/day) that was very economical on gas. We travelled almost 4000 km and spent about $250 on gas. Not too bad. The campervans are a very popular rental option and probably great if it’s cold and wet and you don’t want to deal with bringing a tent, sleeping bag, etc. They are also equipped for cooking which is a bonus. For us, at this time of year, the price would have been about 5-6 times more than the car.
  • Lodging was easily one of our largest expenses – mostly in the cities. We opted for private double rooms, rather than shared dorms in the hostels. It was extremely difficult for us to stay on our daily budget when we were in cities. In contrast, it was quite easy to be under budget when we were camping.
  • Caravan parks are everywhere and are certainly cheaper than hostels and hotels. They have full kitchens, often with all the utensils you need. Most also have basic cabins which can be a great bargain.  A little more than a tent site for two and far less than a hostel.  For us, it allowed us to dry out the tent and sleep in a bed frmo time to time.  Even cheaper and typically more scenic than caravan parks are Department of Conservation or DOC sites. You usually have to have your own cooking supplies, but they almost all have toilets and water.
  • Come during the non-peak season. We were here during the high season with half of Germany. As to be expected, prices are higher. We’ve heard reports of rentals and lodging being heavily discounted with many fewer tourists later in the year. You may have to forgo warm, summer weather, but as far as we can tell, that wouldn’t mean much.
  • Restaurants are expensive – even by our standards at home. When we did eat out it was usually at a take away type joint with falafel or a veggie burger. Grocery stores even in the smallest town had a decent selection of food (even tofu) and for us we could cook more balanced and interesting meals cheaper than we could eat out. Our other little find – as bad as this may sound – was food courts. In both Dunedin and Auckland we found very good and very cheap Indian food at the local mall food court.
  • Skip the tours or at least be selective.  You could spend thousands in New Zealand on sightseeing flights, skydiving, bungy jumping, zorbing, glacier hiking.  We skipped most and don’t feel like we missed out on anything.  We had originally planned to hike the glacier, but for the cost we would have had very little time on the ice.  At Franz, we basically did the same hike up to the face as every tour.  No, we didn’t put on the crampons and walk on the ice, but we enjoyed it just the same. Again, for the kind of trip we’re taking we have to decide which experiences really add to our experience and are unique to the place we’re visiting.  You could argue that AJ Hackett’s – home of the original bungy jump – is unique to NZ, but watching those silly people jump off the bridge was more than adequate!
  • When planning a trip like this, don’t forget to budget for the miscellaneous little things. They add up.
  • Get a job. If you’ve got the time and feel like experiencing a country without blowing all your cash, this is a great place to make some cash (seems like fruit pickers are in demand) or even subsidize your stay with a few hours of cleaning at the hostel. This wasn’t in our plans, but had NZ been later in our itinerary it may have been.