{"id":129732,"date":"2012-04-12T05:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=129732"},"modified":"2018-11-21T14:02:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T22:02:48","slug":"why-i-love-budget-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/why-i-love-budget-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Love Budget Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"
I love budget travel. Maybe it’s from watching too many episodes of Europe Through the Backdoor<\/a> and drinking the Rick Steves Kool-Aid, but I wonder if you’ll believe me when I tell you that I wouldn’t travel any other way.<\/p>\n Last year I was considering taking a trip with friends \u2014 an all-inclusive spa vacation at a fancy resort. Ultimately I declined because all of the selling points \u2014 meals included, C ond\u00e9 Nast Traveler<\/em> seal of approval, fancy spa treatments \u2014 were actually drawbacks for me. There’s nothing wrong with all-inclusive trips, mind you.<\/strong> They’re easy to plan, and you don’t have to worry about where you’ll eat or how you’ll get from point A to point B. They’re a good option for a lot of people, and even culinary adventurer Anthony Bourdain has sung the praises of staying put and vegging out.<\/p>\n But our vacation dollars are limited, and my husband and I like to explore<\/em>. The trip would have cost double what we paid for our honeymoon to the same destination (literally right down the beach), and the honeymoon included scuba diving, cooking classes, and renting a car \u2014 things we’d have to pay extra for if we took the spa trip. I also thought about how we enjoy checking out local restaurants, but with an all-inclusive meal plan, we’d be paying for meals that were essentially covered in the trip package.<\/p>\n That’s when I realized that even if we could<\/em> live the five-star travel life, we wouldn’t. We’re budget travelers at heart<\/a>, and here’s why:<\/p>\n As Rick Steves writes, “A tight budget forces you to travel close to the ground, meeting and communicating with the people.” In my experience, that’s been true.<\/p>\n We do make the occasional splurge while on vacation, usually picking one restaurant per trip where we’ll have a really nice meal. During our New York trip, it was Il Buco. While it was expensive compared to The Grand Sichuan, it was worth every dollar (and actually not so pricey compared to what I imagine one could<\/em> spend on a meal in NYC). Plus, the waiter was incredible. We don’t particularly care if waiters are overly friendly or helpful, we’re more interested in the food! But when you’re in the hands of someone who’s great<\/em> at his job, the entire meal feels a little more special.<\/p>\n This isn’t to say I’ll never<\/em> go on an all-inclusive trip. I’d never say never. If you have three kids and both parents work full-time, trying to plan a vacation can be another job and source of stress. (There are<\/em> great all-inclusive deals out there, depending on what you like to eat and do.) And if you’re the most comfortable in a five-star hotel and you can afford it, go for it! By all means, do what works for you<\/a>.<\/p>\n But no matter how my situation might change, I think I’ll always be a budget traveler at heart, seeking out the cheap, fantastic Chinese food and secret bookstores. Besides the obvious benefit of saving money, most of my favorite travel moments have been cheap or free.<\/p>\n\n