The balance between frugal travel and sanity

I have a few thoughts about the notion and mentality of budget travelling and how these differ from traveller to traveller – something that I’ll blog about after the conclusion of my trip. However I wanted to touch on one aspect, because it relates to a one night stopover which I had which falls next into my chronological explanation of my travels. After my night of fun at Newark Airport, I flew to Cleveland the next day, where I stayed in a lovely hotel – a rarity in my universe! It was this stay which got me thinking about this matter.

Sometimes I think that budget travellers develop a complex about the idea of budget travelling – a complex that this makes them better than other travellers, and that they’re ‘above’ taking advantage of small luxuries and conveniences. For some people, the types of luxuries I outline aren’t something that will help them, motivationally. However from talking to other travellers, I can conclude that for myself and for many others, including some little touches of ‘luxury’ and ‘convenience’ into a longer budget trip can be the key to fuelling you on to make the most of a longer trip.

This whole entry will be utterly pointless if you are a budget traveller in the sense of actually being on a strict, strict budget and having no leeway. I, fortunately, have never been in this position. I’ve always travelled with a bit of leeway money, money which allows me to make small allowances to an otherwise frugal lifestyle in the interest of my whole experience being something positive.

Hampton Inn and Suites, Cleveland Downtown

Hotel Shuttle

Depending on where you are staying, there are times where getting public transport from an airport to get to your accommodation can be complicated. You may find yourself arriving in the evening, having to get a local bus which could take an hour, then having to walk to find your hostel. Sometimes, the price of a hotel shuttle can be worth the hit to your sanity and energy. I don’t use them regularly, however every so often it is nice to take the navigation duties away from my weary brain and to instead be able to simply tell someone where you’re staying, cough over the cash ($20 on average) hop into a van and have someone drop you off at the front door of where you’re staying.

Hotel

Now, in my normal life, I have only stayed at a handful of hotels in my adult life. So when I do splash out for a hotel, it doesn’t take much to impress me. In Cleveland, I stayed at Hampton Inn & Suites which was absolutely stunning luxury in my universe. The first thing I did after entering my room, dropping my luggage and poking around the room was to collapse on the giant King sized bed and ‘starfish’ out – when you’ve been staying in hostels in bunk beds for the better part of three months, being able to stretch out on a bed in a delight – something so small that can bring  such enjoyment.

For me, I generally reserve more expensive accommodation options for occasions where I want to visit a city which simply doesn’t have an option for a youth hostel. However similar to the notion of lashing out for a hotel is to spend a little extra money on a private room in a hostel. For me, one of the  things that I find hardest about budget travelling is simply the inability to ever be completely alone and quiet. When I was in Albuquerque in 2010, I arrived at the hostel and they told me that for an extra five dollars a night, I could elect to stay in a small single room rather than in the dorm. I figured ‘what the hell’ and thought I’d give this a go. The room was a shoebox, the single bed pressed against the wall and then maybe a half a single bed width between the bed and the wall on the other side. But it was my space. I could be as messy as I wanted, I could leave electrical items charging when I wasn’t there.

Show tickets and movies

Different budget travellers have different things that they lash out and spend money on while travelling. For some people it is dining at more expensive restaurants to experience local cuisine, for some it is the party scene with copious amounts of alcohol. For some it is experiencing bicycle tours or segways or cruises. For me, I tend to direct any larger entertainment purchases into shows. In London seeing shows on West End, in New York on Broadway. I’ve been to a show at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco. For some budget travellers they would wince at the price and think about how many days food budget that ticket may equate to. For me, it’s an essential experience to have.

Going to see a movie every now and again is also something that I really enjoy while travelling – just something mainstream, not some local film or something arty or subtitled. I can remember in 2008 being in Budapest for the second time, just on my way back through from getting an overnight train back from Romania. I hadn’t slept on the train and it was at that point in your travels where suddenly, all of the excitement and the lack of sleep catches up on you and I felt absolutely wrecked and exhausted. I’d been to Budapest on my way to Romania, it was really just a practical stopover to break up a longer train journey. I found myself wandering aimlessly around a shopping mall, stopping to sit at a bench every ten minutes, and then I stumbled across a cinema. In a lot of Europe, particularly in central and eastern Europe, they play movies with the English audio and local language subtitles. Suddenly, the idea of sitting in a dark room, eating a snack and doing something so normal like watching a movie was the most appealing and delightful thing I could imagine.

Shopping

Sometimes, packing the right clothes and gear for your trip can be difficult, particularly if you’re travelling across a variety of countries or at the very beginning or end of a season. I am a firm believer in allowing yourself to buy new things if the ones that you have with you simply aren’t doing the job. This in itself can be a fun cultural experience – trying to navigate prices and sizes when things are printed in foreign languages.

Taxis

In 2008, I embarked on my first overseas journey. I had ten days in the USA before heading on for backpacking around Europe. While in the USA, I took the red eye from Los Angeles to NYC, so I arrived at JFK airport early in the morning. By the time that I navigated my way to baggage claim and to the air train and then to the subway, it was NYC rush hour. The subway got increasingly packed and by the time that we arrived in Manhattan, it was absolutely chockers. I was trying to stay upright with my pack, which I originally had set on the ground but as the subway became more packed I stupidly put it on. This was less than a week into my first trip abroad, my first time on a crowded subway, and I was sleep deprived and I just remember having this sudden feeling of claustrophobia and I just had to get out. I stumbled my way to the street and hailed a cab. I had no idea where I was or how far the hostel was in conjunction, but I knew that I wasn’t going to survive that subway ride without collapsing into foetal position on the subway and rocking backwards and forwards.

Toward the end of my trip, I was a bit more travel savvy but feeling utterly exhausted. I remember arriving in Edinburgh in the pouring rain. I’d gotten the Megabus up from London, so I’d been on the road for the better part of the day. My hostel was longer than a comfortable walk with luggage and the directions involved walking a few blocks from the bus station and getting a bus and frankly, I just couldn’t be bothered. I knew it wasn’t going to be miles and miles away, so I hailed a cab and I was there within ten minutes.

Budget travel doesn’t have to mean being frugal one hundred percent of the time

This is my mantra. Of course, you should be aware of your own budget and bank balance – if you’re being frugal to make sure that you can afford to eat, then that’s understandable. But if you’re making frugal decisions simply because “that’s what budget travellers do” then I would suggest that you’re being closed minded to the notion of enhancing your travels. I’m not suggesting hiring limos or dining out and eating caviar. Budget travel, especially for an extended period of time, can be exhausting. It can take a physical and emotional toll upon your body and soul; until the point where you’re literally going through the motions of ticking off a list of places to visit, taking a photo and not really having the energy or spirit to truly absorb the experience. By interspersing little splashes of luxury into an otherwise reasonably frugal trip, you just may find that this is what it takes to give you the motivation to travel for longer, and not just to travel, but to really live in the moment of each place that you are so lucky to be visiting.