Budget travel need not follow one strict formula or prescribed plan,
nor does it mean sleeping in fleabag hotels, starving or suffering. There
are as many different ways to travel cheaply and comfortably as there are
personality types. To illustrate the point, let's look at 3 different pairs
of travelers and their budgets. Each has two weeks of vacation time,
$4000, and they are all following the same itinerary exactly.
| Sue & Mary | Tom & Jane | Fred & Myrtle | |
| airfare | $505 | $1010 | $910 |
| lodging (13 nights) | $975 | $390 | $1500 |
| ground transportation | $1000 | $400 | $35 |
| sightseeing | $600 | $75 | $250 |
| food | $600 | $1400 | $450 |
| miscellaneous | $300 | $700 | $3350 |
| TOTAL | $3980 | $3975 | $3495 |
Sue and Mary, a mother and daughter team, took a trip to celebrate Mary's birthday. Sue had traveled extensively on business and had acquired enough frequent flyer points to earn a free flight to their destination. They got a special fare of
$505 on Sue's ticket. Since they were sightseeing a lot and wouldn't be in their room much of the time, they decided to
stay in simple but comfortable moderately priced accommodations. It was very important for Mary to have a private bath as she had to get up several times during the night and didn't want to have to go down the hall to the bathroom. They bought rail passes for their transportation needs as they were visiting towns with rail access. They wanted to be sure that they were relaxed and felt they would meet locals on the trains. They also enjoyed museums, concerts, plays and special tours like boat rides and guided tours to nearby attractions. They ate well in restaurants frequented by the locals and packed some picnic lunches.
Tom and Jane found the same deal on airfare that Sue and Mary had. They didn't care to spend a lot on lodging and opted to stay in hostels. This saved them enough money so they could enjoy fine dining at regional restaurants. As Tom had real difficulties following schedules public transportation would be difficult; besides they wanted to eat at some restaurants in the country, so they opted to rent a small car. Not really museum people, they visited a few places and took a boat ride and bought some special foods to take back home with them.
Fred and Myrtle had coupons from an Entertainment book a saved on their airfare. They had dreamed of bicycling between villages with castle and manor house hotels. They enjoyed some museums and tours but felt that they had seen a good bit of the country by being on a bike. They took their bicycles with them and cycled from the airport. They stopped at bakeries and markets along the way and often had breakfast included in the price of lodging.
As you can see these 3 fictional couples valued different amenities
when they traveled but still stayed within their budget. All traveled
independently and also saved money by not choosing a packaged tour.
Sue and Mary almost decided on a
packaged tour that would have cost them close to the same as what they
spent, but it didn't go to several of the places they wished to visit.
Tom and Jane had always traveled independently and found that not being
in a large group made it
easier to meet the locals and other travelers. This was another
reason they opted to stay in hostels. Fred and Myrtle had considered
an escorted bicycling tour but felt they could organize a similar itinerary
on their own for half the cost.
Keep in mind that many factors come into play when planning and in order
to thoroughly enjoy your trip, you need to do what interests you or makes
you comfortable.
