Travel Myth: “I can’t afford to travel”
The most common and probably the most misinformed reason for not traveling, is:
International travel DOES NOT have to be overly expensive. Let me explain a little further by analyzing the 4 main costs of travel in a comfortable, yet budget travel context: transportation, accommodation, food, and site seeing.
Airfare: First of all, for anyone who has not flown recently, airfare is not nearly as expensive as it used to be. Yes, it’s still a significant expense, but with new competition from low-fare carriers and increased demand worldwide, international fares are significantly less than what they were just a few years ago. And, second, just because you want to travel internationally, doesn’t mean you need to fly halfway around the world. There are dozens of amazing and intriguing international destinations, that are just a short and inexpensive plane ride away.
For example, if you are based in the United States, you could check out Chichen Itza and other wonders on the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico ($318 RT from New York, $265 RT from Miami, $394 RT from LA), to colorful colonial Nicaragua for ($345 RT from New York, $212 from Miami, $601 RT from LA), or even make your way across the Atlantic to London on an airfare special ($300 RT from New York). For Europeans, with so many low cost airlines like Ryanair, travel throughout the continent is extremely affordable (even FREE on occasion). Finally Australians, in such close proximity to Southeast Asia (the Mecca of budget travel), your options are endless.
Accommodations: For most of us, accommodations is usually the deal breaker. If we can find a cheap place to stay we feel more inclined to take advantage of that budget airfare we found online. The problem is that most people don’t know how to look for budget accommodations in international destinations. In the US when we want to find a cheap hotel, we log onto Expedia or Travelocity and do a search for our destination city. However, do the same search for a city like Lima, Prague, or Bangkok, and you will NOT find the real budget accommodation deals that each of these cities has to offer, you’ll only find the same international chain hotels available in the US (which are quite expensive by international standards). When abroad, the real budget accommodation opportunities are in small locally owned hostels and bed & breakfasts. Now, often times people assume that these types of places are run-down, dirty, and dangerous, but that is not the case. Just check out the following examples of some amazing hostels and bed & breakfasts around the world, all for under $15 per person.
Seven Suns Chiang Mai, Thailand
$11/personVillage Royale Goa, India
$6/personSecret Garden Quito, Ecuador
$10/person
To find more budget accommodations in your dream destinations I recommend logging onto a hostel booking website like Hostelbookers.com, Hostelworld.com, or Hostel to get more of an idea what’s out there. If you have the time, it is advisable NOT to book through these sites, and instead wait until you arrive in-country to see accommodation options in person, but if you are in a rush you can take a chance by booking online.
As you may have noticed, the 3 examples I outlined above are from Southern Asia (India), Southeast Asia (Thailand), and South America (Ecuador). In general the cheapest destinations in the world for travel are in Southeast Asia and Latin America. So, what if you want to visit Western Europe, the United States, or Australia? Are you out of luck? No! First of all, you can still find hostels in each of these regions for $30-$40/night, using the hostel locater sites I recommend above. However, $30-$40/night definitely adds up over time, so what do you do if you can’t afford $40/night hostels? Enter Hospitality Exchanges”! A hospitality exchange is a new phenomenon where travelers can search the hospitality network for places to stay the night for free! There are 100’s of thousands of users around the world, especially in developed countries in Western Europe or North America (where coincidently accommodation costs are also the highest). See my series on Hospitality Exchanges for more information about how they work, pros/cons, personal experiences, etc. They are an incredible way to see the world, without spending a small fortune for a bed to sleep in.
Food: The first false assumption that people make about meals while traveling abroad, is that they have to eat all of their meals “out”. After all, you’re not at home, which means no access to a kitchen, right? Wrong! Most hostels also provide “kitchen-use” to their guests, which means you can cook your own food thus saving on restaurant costs.
But I’m on vacation, I don’t want to have to cook! No problem! Depending on where you’re traveling, restaurants are more than likely significantly less expensive than you are accustomed to. In Asia, Africa, South America, and even Eastern Europe, a tasty meal can usually be found for under $3 (including tax and tip) - often as low as $1 (if you don’t mind the basics). Honestly, it’s pretty common to actually spend LESS money on food during your trip than you usually do at home.
Site-Seeing: So what about site-seeing, after all you are going to want to do more than just eat and sleep on your trip, right? Well, believe it or not, visiting some of the most amazing sites in the world, is also extremely affordable. Let’s take the “New 7 Wonders of the World” for example, and see how much each would cost to visit:
- Great Wall, China - $8.57-$13.86
- Petra, Jordan - $40.61
- Christ Redeemer, Brazil - $18.91
- Machu Picchu, Peru - $109.00
- Chichén Itzá, Mexico - $24.86
- Roman Colosseum, Italy - $15.00
- Taj Mahal, India - $37.90
Surprisingly, 6 of the 7 can be seen for less than one day’s admission to Disney World ($67 for adults). Imagine, it’s more expensive to spend one day in Disney World than to visit world-renowned sites such the Great Wall of China or the Taj Mahal! See my post on Budget Travel Costs for the 7 New Wonders for more information on each of these sites and their associated costs.
Conclusion: In conclusion, let’s look at a possible 7-day international trip and the costs that would be involved in that trip. The example I will use is a trip from the United States to the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico to see Chichén Itzá, relax on the beaches of Cancun, and enjoy the unique Mexican culture in the charming town of Mérida.
Photo: Chichén Itzá
Transportation: a flight from Miami to Cancun costs $265 RT, from New York $318, or from LA $394. Bus transportation from Cancun to Chichén Itzá, from Chichén Itzá to Mérida, and from Mérida back to Cancun costs around $38.5. Total transportation: $303.50 (Miami), $356.50 (New York), or $432.5 (LA).
Accommodation: In Cancun you can stay in the Chac Mool Hostel for $15/night (private room, shared bath), 2 nights would come to $30. After Cancun, you can make your way over to Mérida where you can base your visit to Chichén Itzá and the rest of your trip. Accommodation in the Nomadas Youth Hostel will cost you $12/night, 4 nights would come to $48. Total cost of accommodation: $78.
Meals: On the Yucatán peninsula, meals are a little more expensive than the rest of Mexico (especially in Cancun). However, even if you eat every meal in restaurants, you could still get away with paying $3 for breakfast, $4 for lunch, and $4 for dinner, coming to $11/day. Total cost of meals comes to: $77.
Site seeing: Chichén Itzá will cost $7.42 for admission. A budget of $20/day would be more than enough for another 6 days of excursions across the peninsula. Total cost of site-seeing is $127.42.
Totals: $585.92 (Miami), $638.92 (New York), or $714.92 (LA).
*Keep in mind that even these low costs could be further reduced if you found a hot airfare, stayed in cheaper hostels, cooked some of your own food, and didn’t organize an excursion or trip every day of your trip. With a little effort and a couple of tricks, you could pretty easily knock another $100-$200 off of these total costs!
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For lunch, it’s always a good idea to investigate the supermarkets. A ham/cheese/bread/salad/fruit lunch is always much cheaper than a restaurant or take-away and you can often find cakes, muffins or doughnuts in there much more cheaply than in bakeries. The only downside is that it seems impossible to buy individual serves of butter (such as those you get in restaurants, when ordering bread) from a supermarket.
Just remember to pack a pocket-knife in your luggage!
Excellent point Paul. And a good place to stock up on small servings of butter, salt, pepper, jam, and the like, is at those hotel breakfast buffets. Or even a normal restaurant buffet if your hotel/hostel doesn’t offer one.
Wow, you did a lot of great research for this post!
I hate when people say they can’t afford to travel. Especially living in San Francisco. I just cut my wedding expenses from $30,000 to $3,000 by deciding to get married in Bali instead of the Bay Area. Both are gorgeous places, but I’ll take the insane discount, please.
I think people just want an excuse to justify their lack of ambition. Thanks for making it harder for them to do so!