While soaring air fares have prevented many people from traveling overseas, some people have managed to find innovative ways to travel cheaply without compromising on fun.
Ma Chi-kang (馬繼康), an instructor at Shih Hsin University’s advertising department, is a devoted backpacker who recently published a book called Travel, Freeze-frame (旅行•定格).
Airfare, lodging and meals account for a large percentage of one’s travel budget, so one has to find ways to save costs on these items, Ma said.
“You can look into flight deals offered by low-cost carriers,” he said. “And the best places to go are Web sites hosted by backpackers, or you can go to sites like www.whichbudget.com, where you can get the ticket prices of all low-cost carriers around the world.”
Staying in hostels, eating like locals or utilizing public transport are other strategies Ma has used. But Ma said he only starts looking for places to stay once he arrives at his destination because he said he can always find special discounts for accommodation that he cannot get online. He has never had to sleep on the street, he said.
Ma has also discovered a novel way of getting souvenirs — trading his belongings for whatever the locals are willing to give him. Once, a woman in India asked him if she could have his plastic water bottle; in return she gave him a hand-made brass bracelet, Ma said.
These methods have helped Ma cut costs. His trip in Iran lasted 17 days and cost a total of NT$60,000, flight and visa included. Two years ago, he made a trip to Thailand and Cambodia, on which he spent NT$15,000.
In Iran, he met a couple on a train and started talking to them. They ended up inviting him to dinner.
“There is no boring place on earth, only boring people,” he said.
“The point is not a free meal or free place to stay; it is to experience a different culture in a different way,” he said.
Tim Lee (李頲翰), a National Taiwan University law student, has just returned from a 50-day bicycle tour in Europe that took him through Spain, France, Belgium and Holland. Though he had saved NT$200,000 for the trip, Lee said he only spent NT$150,000.
Lee stayed at hostels, friends’ houses and camped out, although he said you could also find cheap accommodation by looking at Web sites for couch rentals.
He purchased train tickets online in advance because of the discounts, which ranged from 20 euros (US$31.50) to 100 euros.
While staying at hostels, Lee bought food from local markets and cooked his own meals.
He said food prices in Europe are generally higher than in Taiwan, except for milk or French bread.
Talking to people, he said, also creates unexpected opportunities. While traveling in France, Lee was asking for directions from an Australian woman who had been living there for years. She and her husband invited him to spend the night with them before he left for his next destination.
Inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, Fiona Chen (陳美筑) and her sister went on their round-the-world journey in 2003. They not only followed the route described in the book, but also visited Scandinavia. They traveled for 113 days and spent just NT$600,000.
They did this by buying around-the-world tickets for approximately NT$100,000. They then sent e-mails to all their friends and asked them to forward the message to friends overseas who might be able to put them up while they were traveling. They also stayed at both hostels and three-star hotels.
The sisters’ trip was not short of surprises. In India, they met the chief executive of a company who treated them to dinner at a five-star hotel. To see the Northern Lights, they found a lakeside house in Lapland, Finland, that cost just NT$2,000 per night.
Sharing some of her travel tips, chen said people should: research and prepare for the trip; avoid traveling in high season; ask travel agencies about buying group tickets; find places where backpackers usually meet to get more updated information, such as Bangkok’s Kao San Road and look for ways to save, such as collecting coupons that will give you discounts for certain travel deals.
“Just think and act like a local and not a tourist, and you’ll be able to save money,” she said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
RSS