The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

"Budget" travel

What does that term mean exactly? Surfing the internet the other day looking at travel sites and I came across a website for the Budget Travel magazine. Hmph, I thought, this might be an interesting site.

So I had a look at things here...

www.budgettravel.com

I had figured the title of the publication might have something to do with inexpensive travel, or doing things the cheapest way, but the first thing I looked at was their recent "real deals" where I saw air and hotel in St. Lucia for $1,395 for six nights. Reading further, they consider this a deal because if you booked the air and hotel seperately it would cost $94 more. WOW, what a deal! That's not a deal at all.

Or how about the article titled "Fun things to do in Key West". Sorry, but if you're going to Key West you're not likely a "budget" traveler!

So I guess "Budget" travel can mean anybody's budget.

Then, I come across The Frugal Traveler. This guy writes a blog for the New York Times. You can see it here...

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/

In researching his site, I see that he's making his way from Sao Paulo, Brazil to New York City...on ONLY $500 per week. This is for a single guy. I'm sorry, but I don't think he knows what frugal travel is! I guess when you've got a New York Times budget, your perspective on what is frugal changes.

Anyhow, our idea of frugal involves getting someone else to pay for our trip. Okay, maybe that's cheap instead of frugal, but you get the idea. That means you have to vote for us to win. Good thing it only takes 5 seconds of your time.

http://aussieexperiences.com/contest/entry/red-centre-kevin-read/

By the way, we gained 168 votes in the last 24 hours! Thanks guys, if we can keep it up at those numbers, we will win!

19 comments:

  1. Oh how clever you are with the title and then leading into the contest...very clever indeed. Hitting the vote button for a very frugal couple.

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  2. Got my vote in. And if I want to know how to be more frugal, I'll just read your suggestions.

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  3. Your description of "frugal" having somebody else pay, I see as welfare, too much of that already.

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    Replies
    1. Aww, c'mon Mr. Anonymous. Does that mean you didn't vote for us?

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    2. I think Mr. Anonymous is the same stinky person who wrote on my blog too. People like that need a life. Crabbyapples!

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  4. I think you are getting the whole "search engine optimization" thing down quite well. Good on ya mate.

    Frugal really does mean different things to different people. Like when you read stories about Wall Street types who lament the difficulty of living on $200k/year.

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    Replies
    1. Yep, you are right everyone is different. We would love to figure out how to live on $200k a year but then we wouldn't have nearly so much fun!

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  5. Nothing wrong w/ being cheap..have been that way my whole life when it comes to spending money...have always had to work too hard for it to just throw it away, like on clothes w/ somebodies name on it, give me a break.....When I was young my dad used to say I could squeeze a nickel so hard it would make the buffalo sh---t. So if the term frugal doesnt fit, cheap is not really derrogatory. at least not in my mind

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    Replies
    1. We were the same. Always watching our pennies and getting everything out of them.

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  6. I'm a "different" anonymous. I've followed the blog a long time and voted numerous times in this "contest". The other anonymous brings up a good point about the true cost of "things". However no one induces these people/casinos/companies to provide these freebies. These are promotions to interest you in purchasing (grab your attention) in other things they might make a profit on. We have "no obligation" or perhaps an agreed upon obligation only. I appreciate the information provided on this and other blogs about some of these opportunities. There is nothing wrong with friends sharing good information as long as no one is injured.

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    1. You are very right indeed. And if we were to win, the money they give is only good for airfare, hotel or tours. So for us, we would only use the airfare but we would be bringing over our daughter, son-in-law, grandson and our son. So I doubt we would have any money left. We would tour around just as we are doing now and living frugally but seeing the country as we think it should be seen.

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  7. Our budget "limits" our choices, always. Our minds and bodies can limit our choices too. Good information can expand our choices!

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  8. It has occurred to me ,over the years, that most "information" located on in main stream media is mostly about getting one to part with their money rather than really save it. Voted for ya

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  9. Hear Hear! I cast my other vote for CAE. That's the one that didn't vote for you in the contest. :-)

    That's how I see it too. It's all about spending, not about saving. Don't see what's frugal about any travel that costs $500 a week.

    The magazine Budget Travel certainly isn't budget at all and reminds me of the magazine Simple Living. There is virtually nothing about simplicity in it.

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  10. Have cast another vote for you! All the best in the contest and on your budget travelling!

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  11. Voted at 8:40AM EST this morning - 1519 votes total so far! I'm going to send your info to my e-mail friends and encourage them to vote, too.

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  12. Clicked on the link and voted again. Good luck!

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  13. I added a blip to my blog today again for my readers to come over and check out the contest too... hope you get a lot of votes!
    wheeee over 1,660 right now!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

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