At the end of April I will finally leave the comforts of academic life and it just so happens that my girlfriend is getting laid-off at the same time.
This seems like the last chance that either of us will have the opportunity to really travel; but, now that we have the time money is an issue.
So Dopers, any suggestions on a destination that a couple could travel for a few weeks, that wouldn’t cost too much?
As an example, a friend just got back from New Zealand and said that the trip cost her a fortune, whereas other friends just got back from Thailand and said they were spending about $7 a day and having a blast.
Thanks for your help.
PS We’re in Canada so one HUGE problem is the cost of flying to any of these locations.
I think you have to be a little more specific in what you’re looking for in a trip before you get any useful advice.
Otherwise, I’d suggest Buffalo. It’s close to you, and I can’t imagine that hotel rooms there cost much at all. Whether there’s anything to do there is another question entirely.
Of the three spots you mentioned the answer, if you want economy, is Thailand.
Look for a cheap ticket, check out JAL out of Chicago. Direct, 15 hrs, any time you can save on this long a journey will help. Plus JAL will put you up overnight in their own nice hotel at the airport in Japan. This means you will arrive in Thailand in a much more human condition, jet lag for this journey is a bitch. With only 3 wks you won’t want to spend a full 2 days recovering.
The airfare is costly but the cost of living, if you’re willing to travel on a shoestring instead of top drawer, will more than make up for it.
Thailand is a beautiful country, the people are warm and welcoming, the food is fabulous, the beaches outstanding. The shopping is great and the culture is brilliant and exotic. You will not be disappointed.
I have been there many times and would, ‘go back there tomorrow but for the work I’ve taken on’.
Depending on how things break you might be in Thailand at the wrong time of year, weather wise. IIRC that’s the cusp between the hot season and the rainy season. And you’ll miss Songkran, which is one of those things everyone should see once, by a few weeks. If you can take an extended trip then you might consider teaching English to Thais as a way to make some money and help fund your trip. If you have similar acadmic credentials you might even get a decent gig out of it. $7/day there sounds like Khao Sarn road/backpacker type stuff, so I guess you should also pick up a copy of Lonely Planet to see where you’ll be staying.
I’d suggest you also consider Eastern Europe, maybe Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, etc. Not as cheap as Thailand, but also not too expensive, and again you might be able to do some teaching to help extend your stay and meet “real” people vs other backpackers/tourists. In Asia you might also consider Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam.
There’s also a lot of Central America and South America that are not too expensive and might interest you.
Again, what do you like to do on vacation? Are you intimidated by going somewhere in which there is little English spoken? Do you mind ratty hotel rooms, like to camp out, or do you expect a level of comfort? Do you mind cool weather and rain, or do you want sun and palm trees?
I have about a dozen suggestions off the top of my head that would fit into what appears to be your budget of roughly $1,000-$1,500US per person, but it’s no use suggesting hiking destinations if you’re more into sitting on the beach and doing nothing.
Somewhat, but not extensively. I’ve only been to Mexico and Guatemala. Crime is something you should take into account wherever your are relatively wealthier than the rest of the population. Which is going to be any place in this thread. Most crime in poorer countries is property crime, so don’t be ostentatious about your “wealth” (even if you feel poor at the moment).
I lived in Thailand for 8 months and have visited a couple of other times. My hotel room was robbed there once; most of the stuff they took was relatively useless to them but a pain to lose. We were in Guatemala for a wedding and a couple of women in our group were mugged on the way back to their hotel room after a night out, but weren’t injured. For that matter my car’s been broken into in a couple of cities in the USA and I saw a gun pulled on someone in Vancouver, BC. The last one was the most shocking because I least expected it. Oh, just remembered, I was assaulted once when I lived in Frankfurt by a Turkish guy (I think) that mistook me for a German. Very odd. I guess my point is that you always should have your wits about you, on foreign turf and at home, but don’t avoid life just because there is some element of danger and chance involved.
A friend of mind traveled to Portugal just after Thanksgiving last year. He said it’s the ‘bargain basement of Europe’. He had a blast and said it was very, very reasonable.
India-especially in the south- is about as cheap as it gets. It’s stunningly expensive to get there, but once you are there it is practically free. Backpacker hotels are in the $1.50-$4.00 range. If you want to spend $100.00 one night you can stay at some of the most luxerious hotels in the world. You’d be hard pressed to spend more than few bucks at a restraunt even with drinks and appetizers and desserts. In the south you can get wonderful all-you-can eat thalis served on palm leaves for around seventy-five cents. Cool cucumbers with chili, fresh sugar cane juice, thimblefuls of chai and all manner of wonderfully questionable street food costs pennies. Train rides on the amazing rail network are less than a dollar an hour and hair-raising bus rides are rediculously cheap- you’ll find yourself paying thirty cents for an overnight trip.
Travel there is a pain in the ass. It can be dirty, uncomfortable and crowded. But it’s also one of the most amazing places imaginable. Smoky temples, narrow bazaars, isolated palm-fringed beaches, vast deserts traversed by camels, deep jungles, teaming cities…every day you’ll see something that makes your eyes bug out of your head. Check out my weblog of my trip http://members.livejournal.com/users/jeninindia to read about my trip.
China Air will be cheapest to fly, but their planes are prone to falling out of the sky. The prices on most Internet sites are absurd, and you don’t have to pay that much. Call the airlines directly and tell them how flexible you are willing to be to get a more reasonable ticket.
Mexico and Central America are not rock-bottom, but much closer and a lot of fun. I stayed in nicer places in Guatemala, and it cost about ten bucks a person for rooms, and meals were in the four dollar range. The five-hour bus ride from Guatemala City to Rio Dulce was nine dollars. Safety is an issue in Guatemala, but the people are overall very friendly and travel there is a breeze.
Can you tell me more? Portugal and Spain are at the top of our list. We’ve already toured around both sides of Mexico so that doesn’t interest us too much. We’d also prefer a place that’s warm with beaches since this was one of the coldest winters I can remember.
To answer Raveman’s questions: we’d rather not camp but arn’t shy to stay in a dingy hotel. She’s been all over India and has no problem with similar situations.
Ideally I think we’re looking for some where warm and interesting where we can stay at cheap hotels rather than hostels or camping. I’m training to be a chef so I’d also like a place where this is lots of variety to their food.
I’ve heard that Costa Rica is georgeous and not too expensive. But I haven’t been myself, so no personal anecdotes. A friend went and said that the beaches were great, the scuba excellent, and the prices very good.
Costa Rica and Nicaragua are good bets. A friend of mine just returned from an island off the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, and loved it. Sat in a hut on a beach for a week and fished, drank, hiked, and watched the drug dealers speed by in their fast boats.
It may be stretching the budget, but flying into Bangkok is also an option. Take a bus down the coast for some beach life, then another bus up to Chaing Mai and Chaing Rai for some cheap jungle living. You can even go to Laos (be sure to get your visa early!!), where it is quite literally impossible to spend more than $20 a day, because there is nothing to buy.
Places the come to mind that I have personal experience in are Belize, and Uganda.
Belize is going to be far cheaper to get to, but more expensive to stay in. There are a number of tour operators that have islands on the reefs that you can snorkel from and shouldn’t be too much. (We stayed with these guys). You can also bum around inland, hang in the rainforest. We met up with one canuck there who was hitchhiking around, and was picked up by a nice older guy. They chatted for a while, and when he was dropped off, the driver told him to give him a call if he was in the area again. After the car drove away, this guy looked at the business card, and under his name was “Wildlife photographer, Musician, President of Belize”. No idea if he actually was or not, but the country is just that laid back, I wouldn’t be surprised.
As for Uganda, we had a great time there. Lived for about US$4/day hanging around Bujigali Falls on the White Nile. Staying in Kampala is a bit more, but still very affordable. We fell in love with the place, it is much friendlier and cheaper than Kenya (where we spent a bunch of time too) but getting there can be very expensive.
I was there about this time last year. Spain was cheaper than Portugal, IIRC, but I liked Portugal better. For beaches, head to the Algarve (south end of Portugal) and get out of anything resembling a city. People rent out rooms in their houses relatively cheaply, and it’s a great way to see a different part of the lifestyle. In the Algarve, it was warmish (not hot, but not bad to lie on the beach as long as you brought something to cover up with when the sun went behind a cloud).
On our trip, we had a ticket in and a ticket out; we picked up a rental car our second day, then literally just went where we felt when we felt. Trains, buses, etc. are also a good way to travel around (we were a bit spooked by March 11 so generally avoided trains).