Welcome to the last part of “Travel on the Cheap week!”  People reading this who aren’t the least bit interested in travel, I apologize!  I had to get my travel junkie-ness out of my system.

So, back to the post…What did the title just read?

Skip Contiki, Gap Adventures, and Intrepid? But aren’t those considered budget tours?

If you’re trying to have a tour that is seamless, worry free, and want someone to talk to here (assuming you’re in North America) then the above tour companies are for you.  However, if you would still like the convenience and hassle free traveling of a tour, AND you want to save a few bucks, think about cutting the middle man.

You heard me, cut the middle man out.

Gap Adventures and Intrepid Tours although are great pioneers of eco-tourism and sustainable traveling, they do use local tour companies from the travel destination to show you around.  They charge about double the price of what you would find if you went directly with a local tour company.

When I went to Peru with Gap Adventures, we were shown around by a tour guide who was from Cusco and knew the sights well.  It was a great trip.  During the trip, a small part of me couldn’t help but wonder how much cheaper it would be if I had shown up in Cusco, waltzed into the tour shops in the square and booked a tour through a local tour company.

Not only would the local tour company get a much bigger cut than if they were dealing with a North American tour company, you would be able to shop around and choose a tour company that you feel comfortable with.

Well, curiosity killed the cat… I asked how much it was for the same Inca Trail trek and found out it was about 70% cheaper than what I had paid for.

What cost 70% more?  Hmm, lets see:

• Employees from Gap Adventures and Intrepid or Geckos (from your international tour guide to the customer service reps…)
• Internet and social media maintenance
• Advertising (and those awesome “Win a trip to Spain/Morocco/Istanbul contests!)
• Rent in various cities that their travel stores are located in
• Those beautiful beautiful brochures that they make every year, which entices you into wanderlust
• Canadian and US or Australian or New Zealand taxes

Another plus to using a local tour company is that sometimes you can customize your itinerary with them.  You tell them what you want to see, and they quote you a price. You could also have a semi-private tour too, so you wouldn’t have to deal with annoying personalities on your tour.

To book with a reliable local tour company, I would recommend:

1. Going on TripAdvisor and seeing what tour companies other travelers recommend (though be careful, sometimes Trip Advisor has phony ‘travelers’ who are really from the designated country who recommend their own tour company- usually you can tell if their written English isn’t particularly up to snuff).  You can also go to the Thorntree Lonely Planet travel forum for good information.
2. Reading your Lonely Planet or Rough Guide to see which tour companies they recommend
3. Contacting all the tour companies recommended (email is great that way!) and checking their website and asking for three references
4. For me, if their website looks shady and not well maintained, then it’s a pass for me.  If they aren’t able to come up with glowing references, that’s another pass for me.
5. Another thing to consider is often the smaller local companies don’t accept credit cards, so be prepared to wire transfer your money over.

That being said, sometimes finding reliable tours (either online or in person) can be difficult to find in certain countries, so in that case, I would recommend using the budget tour companies (Gap, Intrepid, Geckos etc.).  A vacation is supposed to be relaxing, right?  Getting scammed big time isn’t relaxing!

Also, possibly the cheapest (and arguably the most fun) way to travel (or just about do anything) is just to do it yourself…if you have the time and sense of adventure =)
When you go on vacation, the expenses mount quickly and there is no income going in.  Sometimes people are crazy enough to go to something like a casino to try to pay off part of their vacation (Vegas, anyone?).  This is obviously a risky strategy, and if you do this, it is best to play free roulette for practice before you go risking it all.  However, this may not always work.

Going on holidays is fun and it’s a time in your life when you stop worrying about the expense of it and just focus on having a good time.  Still, in the even of your running slightly over budget, I know a friend who ended up using Wonga or a similar company for a short term loan to cover the deficit.  Now I personally wouldn’t recommend this, but I know she didn’t have any other choice.

Happy Budget Traveling, folks!

Readers, have you used a local tour before? Did you prefer the local tour or a tour organized by a bigger international company?

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When you think of exotic places, you may think of the Maldives (which for your information, costs about $100-$200 a day).  However, there are many places in the world where you can get by per day, for much much less.

With the weaker US dollar, you may think that your dollar doesn’t go that far, but you will be surprised.

There are many countries around the world that are still ridiculously cheap to travel in, even with a weaker US dollar.

Here are some of my favourites (with my personal photos! Don’t laugh at my photography please lol!):

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This week is cheap travel week on youngandthrifty.ca!  Hopefully you’ll be inspired this week to find ways to save money on your future travels.

As a 20 something, I’m sure many of you have considered or even done a big trip to Europe or Asia, living out of a backpack and staying in hostels.

I say take advantage of your non-discerning taste while you can- backpack while you are still young and don’t mind living in hostels and using shared bathrooms and dorm rooms.

Possibly, as you get older, and as your income expands (woohoo, one good thing about getting older), you may decide that backpacking isn’t for you anymore.  Paying $10-$16 a night for shared dorm rooms, possibility of a bed bug infestation, and having to listen to other people snoring just might not be worth it.

Here are some reliable websites to use when booking your hostel.  They come with reviews from other hostelers so you can see what other people think of the hostel, this allows you to make your decision wisely.  Note: When a hostel review says that the place smells like sewage. Believe them.  Learn from my experience! *yuck!!*  That smell infiltrated my nasal passages for days…

• Hosteling International- usually of higher calibre (read- CLEANER), but you have to pay a membership for certain countries in order to book.
• Hostel World- over 20,000 hostels around the world at your fingertips!
• Hostels.com- haven’t used these guys personally, but they have >30,000 hostels to choose from too

Sometimes hostels can be a great place to meet fellow travelers and a good place to trade tips on where to go, what to avoid, and which tour companies to associate with.

Readers, have you ever stayed in a hostel?  What do you think, yay or nay?

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As you may already know by now, I am a self-confessed travel junkie.  I scrimp and save and scrimp so more just so I can get travelin’.

Back in the day, before the onset of this thing called “the internet”, people would go to their travel agent for their flight tickets.  These days, people are using the internet much more to book their travel.  There are a few ways in which your flight can be booked on the internet:

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This is a guestpost from Trish at Simple Life in France.  Trish was born in the United States and is currently living in France (ahh my ultimate dream!!), having made a few stopovers along the way.  She is out of the rat race and prancing through lavender fields…and is young and thrifty, in France!  Please subscribe to her RSS for more updates on her thrifty adventures in France.  Thanks Trish!!

Wanderlust anyone?  You may be planning a trip abroad or just fantasizing about one, but don’t forget to include a little language learning in your preparations–if you want to save money, that is.

How speaking the language will save you:

–You’ll avoid more tourist traps. The more you know of the language the easier it is, but you certainly don’t have to be fluent to find better deals.  On my first trip to Spain, before I spoke any Spanish, I was able to find a very cheap, cozy and well-placed pensión in Zaragosa by asking a few local shop owners in the neighborhood.  My limited language skills and my ability to use them allowed me to ditch the overpriced (and obnoxious) youth hostel rent a room from some locals for the night.  You can get deals on all kinds of travel necessities this way.

Of course, knowing the language helps with finding necessities like the bathroom.  The german translation for “where is the bathroom” is:  “Wo ist das Badezimmer?”  Remember that, it will come in handy one day

–You’ll be able to use cheaper transportation. Language can open you up to the possibility of travel by smaller bus systems used by locals instead of forking over the cash for a taxi driver who can understand you—or who can understand you just enough to overcharge you!

If you can read the departure and arrival signs and can ask a few questions of fellow passengers, the public transportation systems of remote/exotic locations become more user-friendly.  I used cheap buses all the time during my stay in Mexico.  My developing Spanish skills allowed me to find out which ones were safe for me (a woman traveling alone).  I also found better deals by chatting with locals I knew. Cheap and safe—now that’s the way to go.

–You’ll have increased haggling powers. Even if you only know a few expressions, being able to say the local equivalent of, “No way!  That’s a rip” or “Come on, you’re killing me” can make even the toughest market hagglers crack a smile and maybe a deal too. I used this trick with great results in the markets in Antananarivo, where merchants expect you to pay a ‘tourist tax’ if you are not a local.

It’s as easy as getting a bilingual local to teach you a few good expressions before you hit the markets.  You only need a few of them to pull this off—once again, no need to be fluent!  Speaking just a smidge of the local language, even badly can often make you stand out from the majority of tourists and change the negotiations in your favor. (And it’s amusing for all involved).

–The ‘schmooze factor’ and the ‘good will’ factor will work in your favor. Now, I certainly don’t engage in friendly conversation only for the purpose of getting freebies.  It’s something I naturally enjoy . . . however, an added benefit of engaging other people (aside from the fact that people are just fascinating) is that you will often get a ‘freebie’ of some kind.  I’ve had locals invite me in for a cup of tea or coffee or give me great advice.   I’ve had café owners toss in a free desert or cocktail after a bit of good conversation.  I’ve also had locals help me negotiate a better deal with a local vendor on such purchases as . . . a live chicken, a taxi trip and even a small set of hunting spears . . .ok, that sounds random, but all were useful at the time.

Do you try to speak the local language when you travel?

I could go on, but I’ll stop here, because I know there are some other great travel tales out there that deserve a spot in the comments section.  Do you find that speaking the local language saves you money?  Does it provide you with other benefits?

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