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.

Bucket list item, check - sleeping at an airport

Sometimes when I talk to other budget travellers, I find myself creating my own ‘bucket list’ of experiences. It isn’t like a normal person’s bucket list, though, like someone who might have “Climb Eiffel Tower” or “See Niagara Falls.” Instead, my bucket list is filled with the kinds of things that budget travellers endure, like a rite of passage that may not be a good experience but will be a worthwhile experience. I found myself presented with the optimum opportunity to tick off one of these – stay overnight at an airport.

It came about, essentially, after deciding to get the train to Montreal and back from New York City to avoid paying ridiculous flight prices to and from Canada. Originally I figured I’d be heading to the west coast from NYC and so was going to try to book a red eye flight, since the train arrives in the evening. However, this changed to my next stop being Ohio, which meant that I couldn’t get a flight the night that I got the train in, and my flight would be the next morning. Now, hostels and hotels in New York City are so expensive that I seriously couldn’t justify in my brain the cost of accommodation for literally, less than a night’s sleep. It was going to be 10pm at the earliest before I could arrive at accommodation. My flight the next day was from Newark, so if I stayed in the city near where the train came in, I’d be looking at needing to be on the train at 5am to the airport, so therefore waking up at 4am. Ridiculous!

Among travellers, the concept of staying in an airport/bus station/train station for the night isn’t particularly out of the ordinary; however it was something I’d yet to experience. And so with this travel ‘bucket list’ item in mind, plus the monetary factor, I was set on bunking down at Newark for the night.

What I didn’t count on was that I would be absolutely exhausted before the night had even begun. The train trip back down was nowhere near as pleasant as the way up – between losing my phone and being stressed (long story that I’ll save for another entry) and having a seat mate the whole time (on the way up, you may recall, I had a half of a couple who were in the dining car most of the way) which meant I couldn’t get up and stretch and wander as I wanted without disturbing him, and so I only got up twice in 11.5 hours. This in itself is exhausting! A couple of hours before arrival into New York City I was researching options to stay at an airport hotel near Newark and came seriously close to booking before telling myself to harden up and that worst case scenario was that I would be unimaginably tired the next day, but I’d get through.

When the train pulled into New York City, I killed a little time at Penn Station but then decided to get going to Newark. It was probably 10:30pm by the time that I arrived at Terminal A. I’d done my research (thanks, sleepingatairports.net) and knew that Newark Airport was open 24/7 but the actual departures lounge would close after the last flight arrived in for a few hours, so the best place to bunk down is near the check-in counters. ‘Best place’ is relative to... well, not much.

The only accessible sections overnight have horrible plastic or metal chairs that have arm rests so you can’t lie down, the floor is hard, and it just feels kind of dirty. Most of the power outlets don’t work properly. I had to stalk around the area to find an available and working outlet – not near any chairs, so I was going to be relegated to the floor. I paid $9.95 for a month of Boingo internet access (which I have used again in Detroit and suspect I should be able to use again at another airport before I leave so it was worth it). I used the internet for a while and then found myself overcome with a wave of such exhaustion that I thought I might actually be able to sleep, or at least doze. I set up camp, spreading out my blanket I acquired at Wimbledon so I wouldn’t be lying on the floor. I knew that sleep was extremely unlikely but at a minimum I wanted to be reasonably comfortable so that maybe, just maybe, I could make it happen.

Before I could even lie down on my blanket, a fellow in his early twenties came up, asking if I was using the second of the two outlets. I wasn’t, so of course I told him to go ahead. He was sitting just a phone charger cord length away so sleep wasn’t going to happen. He was tipsy and nice so we chatted, mostly small talk. He was from Florida, in New Jersey for a work training event. He seemed genuinely fascinated by my accent and I gather he isn’t the well travelled type, or even really aware of other cultures – he asked me if we have Facebook in Australia, which made me giggle and was taken back to my time in Edinburgh  with my friend Shelle, going out with a group of her friends and being asked that exact same question by one of them.

I was surprised by how many people were around, and especially surprised that they didn’t all have the budget traveller look or feel. There were solo people, some couples, groups, business travellers, plus people in my age bracket. It seems that it is a common opinion that prices in the area are ludicrous and outrageous.

The most surreal encounter of the evening was one with a fellow who was either the world’s greatest actor/con artist; or he’s legitimately got the saddest tale ever. I’d seen him an hour or so earlier, pacing around and swearing about something. He then wound up coming and sitting down nearby me and my Floridian friend. He was probably in his mid twenties. He was of slim build, reasonably strong looking. He carried an army backpack, was wearing boots, basic jeans and a shirt that said ‘army.’ His story was that he’s serving in the army in Afghanistan and that he’s been in transit for two days, rushing back because he got news his mother had passed away. He didn’t even know she was unwell. He gave some elaborate explanation regarding not having access to his bank account and he was trying to get a bus three hours to Pennsylvania for the funeral which was at 9am. His grandmother was apparently waiting at the bus station to pick him up. He was trying to get his seargent on the phone because he was apparently going to call the bus company to see if they could let him on without having the cash to board. In the midst of telling me his story, his phone rings. His voice was low but I could hear a lot of “sir’s” and he was obviously dejected. While army!guy and I are talking, my Floridian friend was half passed out so he didn’t hear any of the story. He woke up, and asked if we knew where the bathroom was. Army!guy knew and said he needed to go too so off the guys went. They came back five minutes later and army!guy tells me that Florida!guy is giving him the cash he needs. Florida!guy doesn’t quite have the whole amount. I’m feeling a bit cynical as to whether this guy is legit so I offer some Canadian money which he accepts – supposedly there’s a cash exchange in Terminal B. He pretty much takes our money and runs – you know, to the bus, to get to his waiting grandmother.

It’s sad that I’m automatically questioning of people, but that’s just this day and age. There ws something off about him that I cannot put my finger on. However, I’d be the worst person in the world if he was for real and I didn’t offer something.

Between all of this, I found myself pretty much awake enough to not actually crash. My Floridian friend took a nap, I watched an episode of Happy Endings, and before I knew it, the action was starting to happen. The terminal opens at about 4am, ready for first flights out at 6am, and people were arriving at about 3:30am. Even if you were able to sleep, you only really have a 3-4 hour window where there are less people around. By 4am, I joined the queue at the Southwest check in counter, which opened at about 4:30am. I took my time after this, getting some breakfast, and for the first time ever I was gladfor a long queue at security because it took at least an hour to get through.

I’d not had a full night’s sleep my last night at Montreal, then spent more than 11 hours on a train, then it was almost 11 hours from arriving at Penn until my flight departed from Newark. Needless to say, I was exhausted, and despite my normal aversion to sleeping on transport, I fell asleep before they did the safety demonstration and woke up after we were in the air – I missed the entirety of take off.

If necessary I would do it again, but I’d avoid doing it at Newark. I’d be more inclined to try to jig my flights. I still don’t see the point in paying for accommodation for literally six hours. But if I was in the economic position where I had the money to throw around, then I can safely say that I would, with protest, give in to the hotel bed and avoid the hard floor. However I survived, and should in my budget travel life I be faced with a similar predicament, I know that I can survive a similar scenario, on the whole, reasonably unharmed. And hey – it’s always nice to tick something off that bucket list!

Broadway on a Budget

 I am a huge fan of musical theatre. I say this without having seen a huge number of productions, not in comparison to real musical theatre junkies. Having said that, this is largely because Australia just doesn’t have the kind of scene that you can find in London or New York City. But I love everything about theatre, I love the way that an amazing musical can overtake your body and soul and fill you with glee. My favourite part of London is West End, I love wandering around midtown in New York and taking photos of the various billboard posters and the theatres. However the life of a theatre junkie isn’t cheap, because professional musical theatre performances are expensive.

This year after Boston, I headed back to New York City, and the primary focus of this time in New York was Broadway – on a budget.

I genuinely believe that seeing a show at some point while you’re in New York City is essential to the experience, whether you’re into theatre or not. There are a plethora of options, from Broadway to Off-Broadway and even Off-Off-Broadway. If you don’t care to spend the big bucks, you could look at one of the latter two options to go out, have a night at the theatre and see a show on the cheap. However if you’re wanting to have a real ‘Broadway’ experience, then you’re looking at coughing up the cash, or hunting around to get a cheaper ticket.

Buying directly from the box office

I generally assume that if you’re reading my blog then we are related, you are either my friend or you’re interested in budget travel. Whichever category you fit into, I generally presume that paying full price at the box office isn’t something that most people in this crowd would do, if there is a cheaper alternative available. However, this is sometimes your most logical option, as you will find out when you read below. Some of the most popular shows simply don’t have cheaper options available – they don’t need to offer discounts to fill their audience to full capacity. Sometimes it is a matter of paying for the convenience – time is money, and the time you spend trying to obtain a cheaper ticket is time you could spend lazing about in Washington Square Park or shopping for bargains on Canal Street. If you have the money and would rather just buy the ticket direct and not worry about the hassle of scouting cheaper options, you can buy tickets directly from the box office at full price, either via their website or in person. Each show has its own theater, each theater has a box office. Opening hours are usually from about 10am - 7pm, however avoid in the hours surrounding  a show time.

 Sometimes you can get cheaper tickets which have various levels of ‘view restrictions.’ I saw a show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London which was restricted view because it was the front row of the balcony, and the barrier of the balcony was supposedly the restriction. However it wasn’t at a height that would affect anyone but a very, very short person or a child. This same restriction at the Victoria Apollo for Wicked in London had everyone in the front row of the balcony having to lean forward to see. Sometimes it might be a seat on the very side which will lead to you not being able to see an element from the very side of the stage. If you’re buying in person, generally, if you are upfront with box office staff, they’ll be honest with you about the extent to which the restriction will impair your view. Tell them that you’re a budget traveller, in town for a short period and want the best experience possible spending the least amount of money.

Online discounts

Just type in ‘Broadway discounted tickets’ into Google and you’ll find a whole series of options become available. This may be an option to get a cheaper ticket if you don’t have the time available to hunt around for better prices and deals in person, via the options I will list below. The problem with doing this is that you get less control over seeing where you may be sitting, and you have less of an ability to gauge whether the discounted ticket may be partial view. However you can compare to the prices listed on the official website for the same time and performance, gauge if you’re getting a good deal, and still save time in comparison to hunting around New York City on the day of the performance to get a cheaper deal.

Half price/discount booths

At the back of the steps lies access to all your Broadway dreams!

In New York City, the main TKTS booth is in Times Square, ‘under the red steps.’ Essentially, the way it works is that on the day of the show, the theatres look at how many tickets they have left to sell. Depending on how full they are, they will then allocate their discount. For example, if it is three hours before a performance and only half the theatre is sold, they might give seats away at 50% off. It’s all a gamble – if you really want to see a particular show on a particular day, but you have a price range you can afford, you cannot rely on TKTS. You just may not be able to get what you need on the day you want it.

The main booth only sells tickets in the hours leading up to a performance. There are other booths – one downtown, one in Brooklyn – but all the action is at Times Square. The other booths also offer discount tickets the day before a performance, however, the discount may not be as good s you cn get on the day of the performance. In London, the equivalent is one of the many half price/discounted booths you’ll find around the Leicester Square region, and they operate in a similar fashion to NYC – best deals available on the day of the performance, because the theatres hang onto their tickets until the day and see how many they need to sell and therefore, how low they can go with their prices.

In New York City, if you go to the Times Square booth, a TKTS rep near boards which list the shows that they are selling tickets for and what the discount is, who can answer questions for you. There will also be reps from some other discount agencies around. In my experience they’re all really nice and if you speak to them like they’re humans, they’ll be upfront with you. I saw that Once (which won the 2012 Tony for Best Musical and is currently the ‘hot show’ in town, and very expensive) actually was on the TKTS board, which rarely happens. I said out loud, in earshot of the TKTS rep “Wow, Once is being sold discounted. Wonder how shit the seats are?” and he answered me – “They’re terrible. Don’t do it.” I was chatting to one of the other reps and told him I can only really afford rush ticket prices and he put in some calls to try and get me a ticket for The Newsies in my price range, even though it was pretty much a pointless battle. He had a conversation with me about what kind of shows I enjoy (musical theatre, poppy, funny, bright ) and gave me some suggestions about options on Off-Broadway that would fit my ‘type’ of show, and would also be in my price range.

If you aren’t particularly attached to seeing a particular show, or won’t be phased if you miss out completely, then you can gamble and show up at the TKTS booth maybe an hour or even half an hour prior to doors opening – if theatres haven’t sold house tickets, sometimes they will drop to a lower discount, or house seats (read: the best seats) that were only being sold at full price will be available discounted to try to get rid of it last minute.

In general, I would recommend TKTS or one of the similar discounted agencies if you’re not attached to seeing a particular show and you have a little bit of extra cash to spend. Have maybe a list of five shows that you’d go see, and you can compare prices/seats available. Be prepared to wait in line, especially over summer, school vacations and on weekends.

Rush Tickets

Rush tickets are, essentially, cheap tickets available on the morning of a show. Rush tickets are sometimes for students only, sometimes they are general rush.  Normally you’re looking at from $20 - $30. You queue up in the morning and the tickets are available when the box office opens, typically at 10am. Typically they offer about twenty tickets or so, but this can vary. Most shows, each person can purchase two tickets. So, effectively, you’re aiming to be among the first ten people in line.

How early you need to queue up is dictated by the popularity of the show, the day of the week, and to a certain extent, the weather. I was told that for Once you would normally need to arrive at about 6am and possibly earlier – I got there at 8am on a rainy day and I was about the 25^th person in line, so I promptly left – under the assumption that there are about twenty tickets and that the people in front of me would buy more than one, I was going to miss out.  For Hairspray in London, before I knew that they did rush tickets, I went to the theatre at about 2pm to enquire in general about tickets and was told that they had a front row ticket for thirty pounds available for that night. I blinked in shock – and then later learnt that they just hadn’t sold all their rush tickets. For Bring It On: The Musical during preview, there was only one other woman and I there waiting prior to box office opening. But I could see a bunch of people waiting across the street at Memphis. I have a friend who queued for rush tickets to see How to Succeed  while Darren Criss did a limited run of just a few weeks, and she had to camp overnight  - in February.

There are a few different shows which, instead of/as well as rush tickets available on the morning of the show, there is a rush lottery available. A couple of hours before the show, you arrive at the theatre and put an entry into a barrel. They have a set number of tickets available for the lucky winners of the lottery, at a discounted price. Sometimes these tickets are in the front couple of rows, sometimes they are variously scattered around the sides of the orchestra.

Entering her name into the lottery.

When they draw the lottery, there is an exciting process in itself, with people cheering and clapping and chanting. At Peter and the Starcatcher there was a big group of people who were all going to see the show. Apparently they’d gotten cheap tickets through some other means and they had a handful of people in the group who needed a ticket. All twelve of them entered into the lottery even though they only needed three tickets. About half of them got drawn out, so there were three times where the person would call back “don’t need it!” and the whole crowd would break into cheers - it meant they would redraw.

What I and a bunch of other people did, was enter the lottery for The Newsies – the barrel opens 2 hours and 30 minutes before a performance, with the lottery drawn 2 hours prior. The drawing takes about ten minutes. If you are unsuccessful, then Peter and the Starcatcher does its lottery with the barrel opening 2 hours prior and the draw 90 minutes – so you rush the four or so streets uptown to try your luck a second time. I tried The Newsies lottery twice and Peter and the Starcatcher once and was unsuccessful each time. I must admit, I was very heartbroken but just going through that process, running madly through the streets and waiting in anticipation, was a surreal experience in itself, and  whole lot of fun. If you’re totally set on seeing a show even though you’ve missed out, this is the point where you head to TKTS and see what is available last minute.

The location of seating for rush tickets varies for show to show. I got tickets for Hairspray on West End and for Bring It On: The Musical on Broadway via rush and was in the first/second row – you have to sit with your neck craning up but you are so close to the action that the rush is unbelievable. I was told by the woman I was talking to at Bring It On that the rush tickets for Once are all really terrible seats. At the Peter and the Starcatcher  lottery, we were told that the majority of the tickets were single and double sets of seats on the far sides of the orchestra – so for the price, a fantastic deal, though you do have a side view.

The best website I’ve found which offers an up to date summary of the shows that offer rush tickets (both queuing and lottery) is: http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/82428-Broadway-Rush-Lottery-and-Standing-Room-Only-Policies However note that it is susceptible to change and I would recommend checking on the website of the show itself to confirm that nothing has changed.

Standing room only

I’m not someone who would opt for this, largely because I’m not good at standing still for long periods of time. However if a show is sold out, they will often have standing room only tickets available, for places at the back of the orchestra. These are generally at a discounted price. You will need to queue to get these tickets – I saw people queuing several hours before the show began at The Newsies, probably an hour prior to the lottery. They were in a group, they held the place of their friend while they each went forward to enter the lottery, and then came back to the standing room line. If they won the lottery then they would pay for the cheap seat, if not, they had their back up available of standing room tickets.

Which option is best for you?

The best option for you depends on your budget, your attachment to seeing a particular show and how flexible your time is. I was staying at Equity Point Hostel which is in midtown, actually next door to the Nederlander Theatre where The Newsies is showing. If you were in New York City for a whole week and you were staying in midtown, then you could potentially play the field, give different shows a go with rush and lottery tickets. Wake up early, go check out the queues – if one looks realistic at a show that interests you, then you’re sorted. If the queues are all insane, you go back to your accommodation and back to bed/to go on about your day. You could do the lottery circuit every single day for a week and surely, surely, at some point you would strike the jackpot. If you’re a serious Broadway junkie then basing yourself in midtown is the best thing to do, so that you’re close to where you need to be and not hauling yourself in from accommodation on the upper west side or Brooklyn or Queens to find out that you’ve wasted your time and it’s 6am and you could still be in bed. If you succeed with morning rush tickets, then you’ve got the whole day to yourself to explore. If you win a lottery, then it’s a perfect amount of time to grab food and then head to the show.  If you don’t want to rely on gambling or really aren’t a morning person, then the ticket booths might be the way to go, allowing for the fact that you may need to spend a couple of hours lining up.

Whatever you decide, embrace the experience, because there’s nothing quite like the amazing feeling of seeing a brilliant show and being utterly delighted by the music, the dancing, the costumes, and every enthralling moment.

USA on a budget without a car – really!

How many days could you make this last?

I write this entry a few weeks after arriving in the USA. I was here for two months in 2010, and for ten days on my way to Europe in 2008. I think this year, more than any other, is the first time that I’m truly able to understand and draw comparison between the extent to which ‘budget’ is something within the realms of possibility here. In 2010, it had been two years since being in Europe and I couldn’t quite recall hostel prices, plus in 2008’s Euro trip I was, on average ,in more expensive cities than this trip. The exchange rate also didn’t work in my favour in 2008 and it was a lot better in 2010 so it really wasn’t a fair comparison. However this year, I’ve gone from the Eastern European prices to arriving in New York City in summer – my bank account is groaning in misery, after being quite delighted in Europe at how slowly its size shrank.

When I was in Europe and I’d tell people that I’m continuing on with my budget travel adventures in the United States, I often got some strange looks. Condemnation from other Australians (‘You mean Canada for the whole time, right?’ they ask. ‘Why would you want to go to America!’) and the Americans ask, ‘how?’ They assume I must be renting a car, roadtripping, camping – and that this is the only way to do it on a budget. I shake my head and inform them I’ll be flying, bussing and training around and they shake their head back at me, feeling sorrow for my stupidity.

I think the first thing to be clear on is that the word ‘budget’ must be realigned in the States. When I say that I’m budget travelling in the USA, by no means can this be compared to Europe. You could travel for twice as long on the same budget in Europe. Budget travelling is just about making smart choices. When presented with two options, one which is the more expensive but easier more luxurious way – I chose the second option, the cheaper often harder route.

Transportation

Free bus in Baltimore, undoubtedly one of the most wonderful services I've encountered in the USA.

The United States is a driving country. Now, as an Australian, I get this. Concepts of distances to travel and time in a car are different for people from driving countries.  I’m not sure if it is a lack of transportation infrastructure that makes a country become a driving country, or if it is the fact that a country is a driving country that prevents the ‘need’ to establish good transit systems – it’s kind of like a case of what came first, the chicken or the egg. I know that in Australia, I would think nothing of driving an hour and a half to pick someone up at the airport, even if there is a train they could take. My friends and I once drove five hours south to Coffs Harbour to spend a couple of hours filming scenes for a video we were making for our other friends birthday, and then turned around and drove five hours back.

The USA is similar – a friend drove four hours to visit me in Baltimore, coming with her big van, three kids and a picnic lunch from coastal Virginia. I have plans to visit a friend in Ohio, with talks that her parents will be happy to drive three hours to an airport to pick me up. When I was in England visiting my friend Amy down south, I asked how long it would take to drive to London from where we were. She said, maybe an hour and a half. I joked that she should just turn off onto the motorway and take me back and the look I got back from her was such a reflection of the mentality of people who live in a country where you don’t need to drive an hour and a half and battle with the motorway and traffic and parking; when from where we were she could drive ten minutes in any direction and drop me off at a train station where I could get back just as easily. I accept that her point is more than valid and I am jealous of people who live in countries with transportation infrastructure to feel this way.

The flow on affect is that for the budget traveller, getting around cheaply is difficult in countries like the United States. When you’ve just come from Europe, you feel this even more so. There are some bargains out there, if you can snap them up – especially with budget airlines. Megabus, Bolt Bus and other similar carriers do have a presence in the USA however their routes are limited, and you have to be care to observe where they actually serve in the city because in lots of cities they don’t go right into the city centre – they go to an outskirts stop, a mall or another park and ride type location. Amtrak can in some situations work out cheaper than flying, if you book ahead of time – for example I will pay about $70 to train from New York to Montreal; a flight which would cost about $300 minimum, plus associated expenses of getting to the airport and inevitably buying expensive airport food. Because of the general dramatics you go through with an international flight – being at the airport early, extra security, customs – I’ll only be taking a few extra hours. However, if you’re looking at a route like San Francisco to Seattle, or any across country flight, it is cheaper to fly than get the train, even when you take into account the added expenses. Amtrak and Greyhound have passes available but just like a Eurolines or Eurail pass, these can be deceptively attractive and leave you out of pocket. Not all cities have public transportation geared to tourists - generally, it is focused on transit for locals, from the suburbs to work in the city centre. 

The overall result of this is that you need to be organised. If you’re trying to adhere to a budget, you can’t just wake up in the morning and decide if you’re going to stay another night, or think about jumping on a random train and going where the wind takes you, like so many people I met in Europe were doing.

Hostels

Wonderful outdoor space at my hostel in New York City - out in Brooklyn!

Point blank – hostels more expensive in the USA than in Europe, particularly central and eastern Europe. The way that you wince at weekend prices in Paris during summer is like New York City, every day. If you can get a hostel for $20 a night then you’re laughing. Then they’ll add tax. This is one of the most frustrating things in the USA – sales tax and hotel tax. The price you’re looking at (whether you be in a shop or looking at a hostel price online) is never the final price. In major cities (NYC, Boston, San Francisco) expect to be paying $50 a night, plus tax, for a decent hostel. If it is cheaper, it may be located out of the city centre (i.e. in NYC, in Queens closer to LaGuardia airport than Manhattan) or something is wrong with it.

There’s a completely different vibe in hostels in the USA than in Europe. There are more Americans, for starters. At a hostel in Poland, I wouldn’t expect many Polish people to be staying at the hostel. Hostelling International has a larger presence than in Europe, because there isn’t as much competition from independent hostels or other hostel chains. HI hostels often have a no alcohol policy, causing a whole different vibe in the hostel. You’ll be staying among families, groups of kids, Americans doing weekend getaways to look at prospective colleges, as well as other budget travellers. Therefore it is harder to weave through and meet other people. However, in a lot of cities, you are likely to wind up at a HI if you want a good location, wi-fi, breakfast and a generally good hostel rating. So on that note – get a Hostelling International membership or be prepared to pay the $3 a night non-member fee!

Not all cities have a hostel – or if they do, the hostel may be located far outside of the city centre – it is there for people who are driving, located a ten minute drive from town, or if it is a ideal transit city it is just off the interstate. So if you’re assuming that any major city will have a hostel – think again. And because there are fewer hostels, beds book out faster, so you need to research and book ahead.

Destinations - Planning Your Itinerary

One of the famous New Orleans street cars - a tourist attraction in itself.

As a summation of the above two topics – your itinerary will be chosen for you. As a budget traveller who is not using a car, the first thing to note is that your itinerary will be worked around cities that you can get to and travel around accessibly. If you’re trying to adhere to a strict budget, then the reality is that your travels will purely be focused on major cities and even then, not all the major cities are remarkably tourist friendly. Public transportation systems lack efficiency and thoroughness. The trains and buses don’t arrive in the city centre, and so getting from where your transportation comes into town to your accommodation can involve three buses and a walk through a not so pretty or safe part of town.

You want to be in a city that has public transport. The USA isn’t like Europe where you have these cute walkable city centres which flow out from the town square, with the majority of attractions within the old town or just on the outskirts. You need to be able to arrive in the city centre, or, do research on how to get there from where your transit arrives – for example, if Megabus drops you off at the White Marsh Mall in Baltimore, you can get a bus to Penn Station which will take about an hour. If you might be arriving after dark, I would avoid any scenario that involves having to fiddle around changing buses – a lot of the time, these buses and stations are in the not so pretty and not so safe parts of town.

If your budget is a little bit more flexible, then you may not be relying on the presence of a hostel – you may be able to spring for a hotel. The cheapest of the cheap hotels in town may be so cheap for a reason, so be prepared for things to not meet your standards, or for the accommodation to provide all the specs it indicates it does online. I stayed at a budget apartment style accommodation in Atlanta, Georgia. “High speed internet in all rooms” meant “weak, slow, mostly not working internet.” “Full kitchen” meant “Microwave, hotplate, no crockery or cooking utensils.” However, I saved $50 a night by putting up with this and sure, I had to walk an extra four blocks if I wanted to avoid the homeless shelter and the overspill onto the street which was in between my accommodation and the subway, but walking is good for you, right? Similarly I will be paying for a hotel in Cleveland (just the one night and I am paying a lot more than I wanted to!) and in 2010 I paid for a hotel in Milwaukee.

Eating and Drinking

 

Admittedly delicious. Don't look at the calories though!

The USA has a reputation for a reason. If you want to eat on the cheap and not feel grease coming out of your pores, then I would make it a priority to ensure you have kitchen facilities and to get to the supermarket as soon as you can, before the allure of burgers and curly fries wins you over.

USA on a budget – it can be done!

 As I said in my intro, the ‘budget’ aspect must be taken in context. The amount of cash which I spend in my 7 weeks here is what a non-budget traveller might spend in 2 weeks. If you stayed at hotels instead of hostels, got transfers from the airport instead of taking public transport, caught cabs instead of walking, ate out at restaurants instead of aiming to self-cater at least one meal a day. The money adds up. Depending on where you are coming from, sometimes it is in the long term, more economically efficient to spend more time travelling – for me, I have to pay so much for airfares to come from Australia, that I want to make the most of every trip and go to multiple destinations and spend a little more time at each. This is a personal preference though, and it suits my lifestyle now. If I was in a well paying job then you could perhaps justify an amazing whirlwind two week vacation. However even then, it’s worth keeping in mind the tourist friendly nature of the potential cities on your itinerary before making your travel plans.

Follow my my blog over the next couple of months to see exactly how I went about approaching budget travel in a series of US cities, including New York City, New Orleans, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and more!

The ‘cheap fare’ illusion and my crazy night in Dortmund, Germany

I know, I haven’t done my write up of Portugal and Spain yet. As the Spanish would say, I will do it ‘mañana.’ Instead, I feel the need to capture what happened to me last night in Dortmund while it is still fresh in my mind.

You know, you’d think I would be travel savvy enough to have thought through my decision to take advantage of a cheap EasyJet fare to a random German city I’d never heard of prior to looking on the EasyJet website for cheap fares. I’m well aware of being careful about which airport you’re flying into – that if a city has multiple airports, make sure that you’re not flying into one that is so far away from the city that you’ll pay an arm and a leg to actually make it into the city – that so called cheap deal can be misleading.

When I saw this flight from Barcelona to Dortmund, I must have been acting on a whim of spontaneity, which is rather unlike me. I mean, when I booked my arrival time at the hostel, I said I’d be there at 9pm. So obviously I’d had enough sense to recognise that I wouldn’t actually see any of Dortmund – I’d arrive, go to my hostel, sleep, wake up, make my way to Frankfurt. I didn’t sit and do any of the actual math, or research the train fare from Dortmund to Frankfurt. If I had, I would’ve realised that for the fare from Barcelona to Dortmund + the train fare to Frankfurt; I really should’ve booked with a  ‘real’ airline that flew from Barcelona to Frankfurt and skipped the whole Dortmund extravaganza of a crazy waste of time. Then again, maybe it was meant to happen so I could come away having learnt this lesson and having an absurd story to tell.

Most hostels provide instructions on how to get from various points (the airport, train station, bus station etc) to the hostel. The instructions offered by A&O Dortmund is that I should get the Airport Express bus to the Dortmund haubtbahnof (main train station) and then they offered walking directions from the train station to the hostel. I found the stand for the airport express bus, to be reading the sign that the next one wasn’t leaving until 9:30pm. It was 8pm. It was freezing cold – I mean, not quite England cold, but I had just come from Spain. A girl wearing a backpack came up behind me and spoke to me in another language, which I thought was German. I told her I only spoke English. Turns out, she spoke English too. She remarked that we could get a shuttle bus to a local train station right near the airport, and get a local train to the haubtbahnof. We chatted for a little while and she seemed nice and harmless and it made more logical sense to try her suggestion than to sit for an hour and a half in the cold.

 So I followed her onto the shuttle bus, we were dropped off at one of those train stations that is literally the platforms, a bench and a ticket machine – no staff or toilets or facilities – and we went over to check out the timetable. She was distraught because the next train wasn’t due to leave until 9:30pm. She told me that the regional train would take ten, maybe fifteen minutes to arrive in Dortmund, so to me we were still making up time because the original bus from the airport was going to take between 30 – 45 minutes. And from all this I got to chat to someone and try something a bit different, so I was still in good spirits. We chatted, turned out she was on annual leave from work and went to Barcelona for five nights on her own, to get away to somewhere warmer. She goes on jaunts occasionally and always takes her backpack and stays in youth hostels. We talked about various things, including the English language and travelling, and how if she didn’t speak English she couldn’t get by in other European countries.  9:30pm came and there was an announcement to be careful of the oncoming train (so the girl told me) and the small crowd of gathering people all stood up and were waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Ten minutes passed, and there was no train at our platform. People started to leave. A few trains came to other platforms, going to other destinations, none going toward the Dortmund hauptbahnof. We went back over to the departures board to see if there had been a delay – the 9:30pm train ceased to exist. It had not arrived, disappeared from the board, and now a 10:30pm train was due to arrive next on Platform 5.

How can a scheduled train just not arrive?? My new friend simply rolled her eyes and said “That’s Deutsche Bahn (German rail)!”

By now it was getting dark and she didn’t think this was the best train station for us to be sitting at this late at night, so we decided to take the shuttle bus (which was back there at the time) back to the airport. Whilst we were on the bus, I expressed that my only worry about all of this drama was that I could not recall if my hostel had 24 hour reception. She asked if I had their phone number, I handed over my booking details and she called them for me, establishing that there was 24 hour reception and because I had paid a deposit online, my bed was held until I arrived. I felt a lot better now! We arrived back at the airport, a sense of déjà vu! We’d now missed the 9:30pm airport bus, and the next airport bus wasn’t due until 10:30pm. Our plan was to just wait for this bus, but she felt bad that she’d had me buy a ticket for a train that didn’t come – it wouldn’t be valid on the airport bus. So she was determined to find another way. She went over to another bus that was there and had a chat with the driver. New plan! My ticket was valid on this bus. He would take us to a metro station, we could take the metro to the main station. I asked her if she could ask him how often the metro ran at this time of night. He told her that it was timed so that it left about five minutes after his bus arrived. Perfect.

Finally, after much more drama than necessary, Plan C had worked and seventeen stops on the metro later, we arrived at the Dortmund haubtbahnof. My new friend had to get two more regional trains, evidently, to get to where she had to be, so I insisted she be on her way since it was getting late. In our conversations, she knew I was staying at the hostel. I had told her that it was very nearby - my directions from the hostel were to take the main exit, turn to the left and walk for 300m. My companion insisted that she had stayed in the only hostel in Dortmund once and that the directions were wrong – she gave me a list of instructions including “go over the road, up the stairs to the church, turn left, then right, then left....” I knew she was wrong – I would not have booked a hostel that was complicated to get to when arriving at 9pm at night. I didn’t have a map and didn’t worry about printing one because I would’ve conferred with a map and their directions a couple of months ago when I made this string of bookings, and decided that it was simple enough to not require a map. However, she evidently was feeling guilty about having taken me on this wild goose chase – I would’ve been in the city an hour earlier had I just waited for the 9:30pm airport bus – so she wanted to accompany me to make sure I arrived safely.

And so, off we went, across the road, up the stairs, behind the church, up an alley... She was looking less and less certain as she searched her mind for something familiar from this one night she spent at the hostel a few years ago.  Finally, I exclaimed, “Look, I’ve stayed at 57 hostels in my life. Sometimes the directions aren’t very clear, but never, ever have I seen a hostel mix up ‘turn to the left and walk 300m’ with the way you’ve taken me.” At this comment she paused, thought, and decided we should head back to the train station. We sort of cut through so we emerged probably 100m or so down from the train station if we’d just walked to the left to begin with. Surely enough, we kept going and volia! Hostel was there.

At this point, I realised I didn’t know my new friends name. I’d followed this girl from the airport to a train station, back to the airport, to a metro station, to the main station and around Dortmund city and I didn’t know her damn name. She told me it was Liza. We hugged, she apologised profusely for her muddling everything up, I wished her well in getting home and told her if the trains weren’t running, she knew how to get to the hostel in Dortmund now! And we parted ways.

In my time with Liza, I got to see suburban Dortmund, I got to use the metro, I got to see the (closed) strip mall in the city centre. I was shown how to use the DB ticket machine and given some tips about my upcoming routes and how I might get some cheaper fares. She might say that she led me in the complete wrong direction the entire time, but all I can do is walk away and laugh at the experience. I made it safely to the hostel in the end, a couple of hours later perhaps, but slightly more enriched with experience. I also got to meet a lovely woman who for me, represents exactly what I would like to think I would be like if I lived in Europe – the kind of person who takes advantage of cheap getaways and explores around them and embraces other cultures and languages and is kind enough to reach out to help a stranger, even if her help was more of a hindrance in the end.

I learned that never again will I blindly book a cheap airline flight to a city I have no interest in seeing or staying in because in the end, the so called cheap fare is just an illusion. I probably broke even in money, if I’d just booked a flight with say, Lufthansa, straight into Frankfurt – but I did lose a day in travel – this is an extra day I could’ve spent in Frankfurt. But as I say, maybe the experience I gained is worth more than any amount of money or time.

 I present to you the two photographs I took in Dortmund, which represents the 12 hours or so that I spent there.

I gasped in excitement at the airport when I saw this – my favourite musical, evidently coming to a local theatre.

And that damn elusive train station. Better to have found it late than never.

Realistic travel budgeting without compromising who you are

Over the years, I've read countless volumes of blogs, websites and forums where people discuss various tips for how to budget for your trip abroad. A large volume of what I've read I find to be accurate, but my experience has taught me a great deal more than any of this research could have prepared me for.

Travelling should not be a burden - a minor, manageable credit card debt is one thing, if you know you have a reliable job upon your return. However if you're embarking upon an overseas journey, the ideal is to do this without having to slave away just to survive when you get back, check your credit card statement and start to regret your travel decisions.


Tip 1: Don't forget the real world will continue to turn up until you leave, and from the day you get back

You can plan and plan and plan to eat only noodles, bread and butter in preparation to save cash for your trip; you can think you have your accommodation/job for when you get back all sorted and organised. However things go wrong. If you are embarking upon a long overseas trip, for starters, people in your real life may want to catch up - go out for farewell drinks with your work colleagues, catch up with all of those pals you only see once in a while for coffee/lunch. The dollars add up. Sure, if you're being completely frugal you can insist that they'll have to shout if they want to see you, otherwise it is budget brand soda and popcorn in front of a DVD at home for your pre-trip catch up. However, in the interest of normality, try to find a line between locking yourself away and being wise.

Depending upon your living/job situation, you may need to account for start up costs when you get back - if you're moving out of a rental accommodation, if you're quitting your job. Include in your budget any realistic start up costs for your return and put them aside into an account which is separate to your travel budget account. Do not touch it, under any circumstances. This may include cash for bond and two weeks rent, and even to allow for your wages for a few weeks if you're going to be looking for alternative work.


Tip 2: Separate your budget for major pre-trip expenses, and allow for lots of minor extras


This will depend largely upon your style of trip, but generally most people who are backpacking or budget travelling will have booked some sort of major flights, and then will do travel within a country/continent with some sort of pass (whether it be a Eurail Pass or a Greyhound Bus Pass or the like) and other smaller flights and travel costs. All of these major expenses should be accounted for as pre-trip expenses. So too should your luggage, travel insurance, any clothing you may need to buy, any guidebooks you wish to purchase. Budget for lots of extras, little things that you won't realise you need until you're almost leaving, last minute journals you pick up and when you decide that you do, in fact, want a travel pillow for that major long-hail flight you'll be starting out with. Try to think about all of these little things in advance, and where you can, shop around - check out Ebay for travel accessories, start looking for things early so you know what you want and can grab it when a sale comes up.



Tip 3: Prepare for the worst.

Always get travel insurance, and get comprehensive travel insurance: for an extra couple of hundred dollars, you'll be grateful if something does go wrong. I was staying at a hostel in Nice in 2008 and one of the guys in our mixed dorm went out drinking one night and slipped over in a bar where someone had spilled a beer and they'd yet to mop up the floor. He managed to do some serious damage to his knee, and he and his brother spent the next three days trying to arrange for emergency flights home for him. This poor guy was laid up in the hostel, the joy of his day being when his brother would sneak him in 'medical' marijuana.

When you're reading estimates for your budget for a particular area, and they range from one dollar figure to another - use the higher figure in your budget. Always. This will allow you more flexibility in your budget. I not once have sat down and actually budgeted a trip to the dollar, I've never been at the point where I've spent the last three weeks of my trip filling up on the free hostel breakfast because I can't afford to buy food. I believe that the reason for this is because I've always estimated HIGH in my general expenses budget. If they've said to allow 75€ - 100€ per day for Paris in summer, I budget 100€. 

You'll have days where you eat the hostel breakfast, all of your tourist efforts will be free and you'll just be paying for lunch and dinner and you decide to self cater and grab things from the grocery store. You'll likely break below 100€ even allowing for public transportation costs. But then, because you've budgeted high, you'll be able to afford to go to Disneyland Paris; or if all you've ever really wanted is to go shopping and buy something from Champs-Élysées, then it will be realistic for you.


Tip 4: Be realistic with yourself

Some people plan their travel budgets with this notion that they're going to become a whole different, frugal, targeted, simplistic person. You can have all the best intentions but you can't deny the person that you are. You aren't going to enjoy your travels if you never take the opportunity to experience things and sometimes, experiences cost money. Beer and pretzels cost money in Germany, so too do hotdogs from vendors around Central Park in New York City. If you deny yourself the simple pleasures, then you're going to be denying yourself experiences that you want to have. If you're likely to want to go out and party, then that's fine, if that's who you are and that is the trip that you want to have. You're going to have to allocate extra money. If you'll want to go see a show when you're in London at West End, or go to theme parks in Orlando - allow the cash.


Tip 5: Be true to yourself

Just because you know someone who managed to spend 6 months in Europe and never paid for anything more than their hostel and basic food and transport, it does not mean that this is the way that you should experience your travels. There is no formula for the best way to travel - the best way is your way. Sure, branch out, have new experiences, try to cut down on extra expenses - but don't do away with the things that will bring you joy. You're the one who has to look back at the experience you had and know that you made the most of it.