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Archive for the ‘Central America’ Category

Greetings Budget Travel Readers!

Posted in Airlines, Airports, Automobiles, Canada, Caribbean, Carnivals, Central America, Cheap Activities, Entertainment, Food, Free Stuff, Internet Access, Lodging, Luggage, Museums, Online Media, Public Transport, Shopping, South America, Sports, Travel, USA, Web Tips on 11 October 2008 | 2 Comments »

If you’re new to Less Than a Shoestring, please take some time and have a poke around! I welcome your questions and comments on the site. This blog shows that travel can indeed be both pleasurable and frugal. Because I live in Europe, you’ll find loads of information on European no-budget travel — but in keeping with This Just In’s post and for your ease, I’ve put together below a collection of my U.S. tips and bargains.

Once a month, the Travel on a Shoestring Carnival turns its focus to the Americas. You’ll find lots of great tips from around the blogosphere collected in the following posts:

Every Friday, the blog features a travel freebie. Some timeless classics for U.S. staycationers and backyard travelers:

Not free, but cheap activities include:

For those traveling a bit further afield, take a look at the posts:

If you’ll be driving to your destination, you’ll want to read:

Before flying, from the wild and wooly world of U.S. airline travel:

Changes U.S. travelers and visitors should know about:

See the no-budget traveler take on the New York Times’ “Frugal Traveler” in the posts:

If you like what you see, subscribe to the RSS feed and have the latest no-budget travel tips delivered to you! It takes just a second to set up, ensuring you never miss a single post.

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Travel on a Shoestring Carnival: Americas #6

Posted in Architecture, Automobiles, Carnivals, Central America, Cheap Activities, Food, Free Stuff, Lodging, Museums, Travel, USA, Web Tips, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 14 July 2008 | 2 Comments »

Welcome to the sixth Travel on a Shoestring Carnival for the Americas. Here you’ll find North American, Central American and Caribbean travel tips for those without a lot of money to spend.

Photographic inspiration this week comes from Ralph Grunewald via Intelligent Travel’s Global Eye feature. You can read the details of his photo from the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin here.

Kicking us off this week is Alistair Wearmouth at Away.com Family Travel Blog, giving us a rundown of his Top 10 Budget Vacations for Families.

Elizabeth helps you curb your hunger for under $2 in The Cheapest Lunch in Washington, DC posted at Go Green Travel Green.

Stephanie keeps costs down vacationing in the area around Asheville in her post Fun and Frugal in Western North Carolina at Stop the Ride!

If it’s a trip to the Mouse you’re after, Karyn has useful information on visiting Orlando, Florida on the Cheap at All About Orlando. She writes, “With the economy the way it is many visitors planning trips to Orlando are looking for discounts or other ways to save money. Here are some of the best ways to see Orlando and save a few bucks in the process.”

Ashley Thompson of Intelligent Travel gives readers the lowdown on one of the most interesting cities in Kansas in There’s No Place Like Lawrence.

When in Texas, Sheila Scarborough of Perceptive Travel Blog outlines a delightful, free and “funky” museum in Houston in her post Baby, You Can Drive My (Art) Car.

If it’s Northern California you’re headed to, check out Weekend Sherpa‘s regularly updated advice on what’s cheap, free and on.

If NYC is on the agenda, you’ll want to read these sites:

  • Getting a cab from the airport to the city and vice versa just got a lot cheaper with Hitchsters.

Mother of seven Jeana Mitchell shares tips on traveling cheaply with a brood in the post 20 Money Saving Tips For Traveling with a Large Group at Family Hack.

Hilary Green‘s post Best Road Trip Cars at Cars for Girls outlines the average cost of an 800-mile road trip in eight of the season’s newest models.

And if you decide you can’t afford to drive away after all, Tip Diva presents Top Ten Tips – Taking A Staycation posted at Tip Diva, saying, “With gas prices and travel costs rising, many people opt just to stay home on their vacation time – hence, a ‘staycation.’ But being at home, or close to it, can make it seem like less of a break. Here are ways to ignore the fact that you’re home and enjoy your time off.”

If you inherit some money, don’t spend it on airfare! You might just afford your own private island (some are far cheaper than you can imagine). Read more in Neelakantha‘s post 10 Beautiful Private Islands for Sale (That You Could Actually Afford) at International Listings Blog.

Nick presents Honduras wants Sustainable Tourism industry posted at EcoFuss Green News, saying, “Honduras is a cheap Central American destination, and new eco-friendly development could make it an attractive destination.”

Finally, if you’re looking for inspiration to stop resting on your laurels and start experiencing life under your own steam, look no further than Couple Quit Jobs, Sold Possessions To Bicycle Around The World For A Year…Find Adventure And Freedom posted at The Life Less Traveled. “In 2006, James and Sarah Welle sold all of their possessions and left their comfortable jobs at Microsoft to bicycle around the world. During their year-long adventure, the pair encountered interesting people, delicious food, new found athletic prowess and the realization of how close at hand freedom and the choice to shake up your daily life truly are. Read about how they decided to bicycle around the world for a year…and how you can, too!”

Thanks to everyone for participating. Submit your blog article (or encourage your favorite travel bloggers to submit) to the next edition of Travel on a Shoestring: Americas using the carnival submission form. Next week this time we travel to Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. You can still submit your posts to that carnival till Wednesday.

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Saving for Plane Tickets, Part One

Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Central America, Europe, South America, Travel, USA, tagged , , on 29 May 2008 | 2 Comments »

Want to fly overseas in the next year? Here’s a quick calculation of what you’d have to save over the next 12 months to pay for your flights:

$2000+ = plane tickets between U.S. and Australia/New Zealand

  • At the lower end, this works out to $5.55/day, $38.89/week, $166.67/month.

$1500 = plane tickets between U.S. and Africa, really unlucky peak season fliers between U.S. and Europe

  • This works out to $4.17/day, $29.17/week, $125/month.

$1200 = peak season (Easter-September, Christmas-New Year’s) plane tickets between U.S. and Europe, U.S. and Asia

  • This works out to $3.33/day, $25/week, $100/month.

$800 = off-season plane tickets to the above

  • This works out to $2.22/day, $15.55/week, $66.67/month. At $100/month, you’ll have finished in eight months rather than 12.

$600 = plane tickets between U.S. and Central/South America

  • Over 12 months, $1.79/day, $12.50/week, $50/month. At $100/month, you’ll have finished in six months rather than 12.

Through the cheapo’s eyes, we see:

+ Plane tickets will be the shoestring traveler’s largest single expense. Therefore it pays to shop around: changes to airlines, itineraries, days of the week can shave off hundreds of dollars. Sign up for email notification of sales. Know what a bargain price is and when to jump on it!

+ Travel more often by traveling off-peak. Summer in Europe is nice, but is it four months of saving nicer than fall? Put another way, in five years of $100/month travel savings, you can experience 5 European summers or 7 European falls, winters or springs. Wouldn’t you rather take two more trips for the same amount of money?

+ Consider other travel destinations. Keep saving and you will someday get to London. In the meanwhile, you can visit Costa Rica *and* Peru for the same airfare (and your money will go further on the ground as well). Don’t be afraid to try unusual destinations you can afford; embrace the fare as guide!

Tune in tomorrow for the Friday Freebie. Saturday’s post, Saving for Plane Tickets, Part Two, will outline creative ways to put travel savings in perspective to get you socking money away without excessive deprivation.

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Travel on a Shoestring Carnival: SUPERCARNIVAL #1

Posted in Asia, Australia, Carnivals, Central America, Currency, Europe, Online Media, South America, Spain, Travel, USA, Web Tips on 19 May 2008 | 9 Comments »

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Travel on a Shoestring Carnival. It’s been a good long while since our last carnival, so instead of trying to catch each carnival up individually, we will throw them all together (hopefully resetting the BlogCarnival listings) and hold the very first SUPERCARNIVAL. In this adventure, we’ll circle the entire globe twice in search of the best posts on travel for those without a lot of money to spend. So without further ado . . .

If you’re looking for a quick spin, try on these first 15 16 posts for size!

Let us start down under, where The Frugal Travel Mum presents A Frugal Guide to Melbourne, a must-read for first-time visitors to the city.

Heading up to China, Joyce Hor-Chung Lau takes us on a hilarious tour of snack stands and popular, low-end cuisine in What in God’s Name is That? Hong Kong Street Food, Part 1 and Part 2 and (update!) Part 3 at IHT Globespotters Blog.

Across the Pacific, Tim Leffel over at Cheapest Destinations is pushing the idea that Central and South America are where weak-dollar travelers will find the greatest bang for their buck. His recent posts on Cheap Fares to Latin America and Prices in Honduras (divide those in the photo by 19 for dollar equivalencies!) certainly have me convinced!

With all the talk of summer gas prices and higher airfares, there is certainly pressure for U.S. consumers to narrow their travel horizons this year. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a wealth of fun, interesting and cheap destinations in your backyard. No matter what corner of the U.S. you’re looking to explore, you’ll find inspiration from the following authors:

Hopping the Atlantic, we find advice from Christine on enjoying Barcelona on 10 Euro Per Day For Two People posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France.

Pam Kent explains how to see world-class performances in Britain for free in Get Outdoors this Summer in England at IHT Globespotters Blog.

Kristen Gunderson presents a collection of delightful and often-overlooked small museums in the French capital in Paris House Museums posted at Intelligent Travel.

Have you gotten your feet wet? There are even more quality posts after the jump!

(more…)

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