http://www.foxnomad.com/2007/10/24/the-best-places-to-travel-on-a-weak-dollar-us-edition/

and internationally.

http://www.foxnomad.com/2007/10/02/the-best-places-to-travel-on-a-weak-dollar/

Also, bring a water filter, go grocery shopping, and get your tickets at the cheapest time for the kind of travel you plan on doing.

But honestly, with some planning it can be done. Also it is not as expensive if you follow some simple tricks. Most travel guides cover them pretty well.

I think the key is to just remain flexible and live way below your means while you’re abroad

Consolidators offer cheap airline tickets for flexible schedules.
http://www.consolidatorwebfares.com/

This site lets you apply for work camps all over the world. Cheap rates for 1-3 weeks of work, then use that as a jump off point for more travel.
http://www.vfp.org/

Also search the web for options where you travel light (carry on only) and let a company use your checked baggage space to ship cargo. Make sure you check with the airline to be sure they are approved.

Youth hostels will often allow families to stay there (but not always, and it’s not always the least expensive option. . .) Our biggest tip for being able to afford to travel with kids? Get a job overseas. . .

I travelled almost nonstop from university graduation until… well, until now (I still live overseas). That’s 17 years, if you’re counting.

I left the first time, to Europe, with a copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Europe in hand, and a few grand left over from my student loans. I lived on the cheap in a major way, sleeping rough where I could, got some jobs under the table where I could, and came back to Canada a year later, after an irate boss in Greece threated to sic immigration on me.

I taught high school in my hometown for 6 months on a temp contract, paid off my loans (only about 8 grand — I worked in the sawmills during summer vacations to pay for my education, with some top-ups from my folks), and hit the road again, back to Europe.

A year or so later, I was back, and some friends I’d met in Europe hooked me up with work in Whistler. It wasn’t travel, but given that I lived with Aussies and Kiwis and stuff, and hell, it was Whistler — it felt like it. I was there a couple of years, I guess.

I headed down to Mexico with a couple of grand in hand after that, crewed on sailboats for my room and board. Spent almost a year there, met some amazing people.

Back to Whistler for a while, and I came into a $10,000 inheritance, so it was off again. This time to NZ, then Fiji, then Oz, then Asia. I worked with Working Holiday visas, and ended up leaving Oz with more money than I arrived with. I continued around the globe. That trip was more than two years all in.

Back to Canada, eventually, to Whistler again, then back to Mexico for about 8 months, working with a friend in Cancun.

Back to Whister: short stay this time — ended up getting a job teaching in Korea through a friend. Three years there, then another friend offered me IT work in Sydney, so I went there for about 2 and a half years.

Back to Korea after that, where I’ve been since, with short forays out.

I had almost no savings or possessions of any kind until ‘99, when I went to Sydney. I’d worked hard, saved, then travelled, then done it again.

Since then, though, I’ve continued to live frugally, gotten spoused up, and cut back on the travelling, and I have more money in the bank than most of my friends, no debt, and am still living abroad (which is good, mostly), and have had one hell of a good time. I figure I could retire comfortably by 50, if I wanted, and if I keep up the financial regimen.

The theme, of course, is how much friends I made have helped me over the years, and that’s one of the real joys of travel — meeting folks.

I wouldn’t have changed anything (except maybe I’d be doing more travelling still, but you’ve got to balance these things, and I’m gettin’ old at a rate of knots).

Do it. You’ll never regret it. Have a little money in hand, make friends, and it’ll all work out. I guarandamntee it.

Disclosure: He’s one of my friends.