How to travel more without going broke or getting fired

It will not come to a surprise to anyone that I love to travel. As a travel writer by profession, this is probably something you’d expect. There is something about being away from home and the daily grind—whether it’s on a weekend trip to the nearby Oregon coast or a 6-week backpacking trip through the jungles of Panama—that invigorates my senses, wakes me up to new experiences and satisfies my desire for adventure. It’s not that I do not enjoy hanging out in my beautiful hometown of Portland, Oregon, it’s just that I feel most alive when I’m on the road discovering new things and opening myself up to the possibility of the unknown.

Unfortunately, work and finances prevents me from gallivanting the globe on long term trips (not yet at least), so sometimes I am forced to get a little more creative with ways to get away without a) breaking the bank and b) losing my job. Weekend getaways are a great way to satiate your travel bug, while still remaining gainfully employed and with money in your bank account.

Especially with summer here, now is the perfect time to think about weekend trips where you can get away from home, unwind, enjoy the warm weather and forget about responsibilities of home for awhile (without spending much money). Here in the Pacific Northwest, this will mean weekend road trips to the coast and mountains, camping trips in the Cascades and maybe even a rafting trip down the Rogue River.

My mother was definitely the one who instilled a love of travel in me from an early age. Growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, her weekend trips as a child usually involved heading to the beach in the summer and to the Pennsylvania mountains for skiing in the winter. With so many great little beachy hotels in Virginia Beach (and a great beach), it is no wonder this was a favorite weekend getaway spot for my mom and my grandparents when she was growing up.

Another great way to make more weekend trips is to take cheaper trips. This means staying in hostels, cutting down food budgets and finding ways to save. If you spend less on each vacation, you’ll have more money in the bank for the next trip. Whether you are new to hostels or their old hat, reading up on the hostel blog can help you not only find a hostel, but also what to expect (for example: did you know more and more hostels are offering private beds or want to know the most notorious hostels in Europe?).

Until the day I either win the lottery, discover gold, or marry a multi-millionaire I will continue to scheme up ways of saving on each and every trip and how to get out and hit the road as often as possible.

Find Hostels in Europe this Summer

We recently re-designed out Hostel section and are quite happy with the update. Hostels are one of the oldest sections on BootsnAll. I think we put it up in 2001 or so since independent travelers are into hostels bigtime.

Anyway, Hostels are busy in Europe during the summer and 100's of thousands of people crash on cheap bunks as they make their way around Europe. Some of the most Expensive European cities have tonnes of Hostels like London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, and Amsterdam making it super affordable for the average traveler to visit.

Check out our new city hostel pages.

Hostels in London
Amsterdam Hostels
Hostels in Paris

We link to most of the hostels in those cities and in the content bit, try to highlight some of the most popular ones to keep your browsing effcient. So get planning and booking as many of these major cities do not have hostel beds waiting for you if you stroll up at 5 pm on any given day!

Best of the Boards for the week of February 5, 2007

Check out the topics currently being discussed on the BootsnAll Travel Forums:

• Some travelers never pick a guidebook up, others never put them down. Most of us fall somewhere in between. VickyNewell wants to know why some backpackers are so reliant on their guidebooks? Are they all first-time travelers who need the safety net? Are they afraid to step too far off the beaten path? What do you think?




• Bargaining is central to some cultures, and is therefore a key part of many travel experiences. But not everyone is comfortable haggling. Do you bargain when you travel?




• There are often questions on the boards about whether people going on long trips should bring their laptops along, and there is rarely a shortage of opinion on both sides of the issue. If you don't want to bring your own computer with you, you might still want to visit internet cafes every couple of days. On the other hand, you might take your travels as the perfect excuse to get away from email and cell phones. So, when you travel, how connected do you like to stay?




• Often, people who go on RTW trips have been working like dogs and saving money in order to quit one day and fund their trip. Lucky me wants to know how much you're willing to give up money-wise to fulfill the dream of long-term travel.

Please contribute your thoughts and comments to these threads! And if you're not already a member, sign-up here - it's free!

Best of the Boards for the week of January 29, 2007

Check out the topics currently being discussed on the BootsnAll Travel Forums:

• Complete this sentence: "If I never went RTW, I..." Quimby has posed the question, and provided a few answers already. They're great, including, "If I never went RTW, I wouldn't check for creepy crawlies in my boots every time I put them on." So, how would you complete that sentence?




• Mono loco is back from 2.5 years of traveling the world, and is offering his assistance to anyone who's interested. He was traveling for 2.5 years without working, too, so the main question so far is, "How did you save all that money before you left?"




• Most people - and certainly most frequent travelers - have an opinion on this: Where do you like to sit on an airplane? And further, what does said preference say about you?




• So, you tell your friend you'd really like to go to Pisa. He tells you it's not worth it. Where does that leave you? Rawjer asks, "Can you skip an attraction just because some say it's overrated?"




• Those of you who are lucky enough to have traveled for long periods of time may find it a bit depressing to come home, get a job, and then only take two-three week trips. Cherie's feeling this way, and wonders if anyone else has gone through something similar. If so, how did you cope?




• Are you one of those people who takes pictures of the toilets you encounter around the world? If so, don't be shy - you're not alone. Post your bathroom pictures here!

Please contribute your thoughts and comments to these threads! And if you're not already a member, sign-up here - it's free!

Best of the Boards for the week of January 22, 2007

Check out the topics currently being discussed on the BootsnAll Travel Forums:

• We'd all like to find the perfect job that earns us money while allowing us to be permanent vagabonds, if we so choose. KPG thinks she may have found it - hairdresser. What do you think? Could it work?




• Some might say traveling is a gamble. So why not try your hand at the local games while you're out and about? Willis wants to know what foreign casino experience you've got. He's interested in checking out casinos in Central and Eastern Europe.




• It's time to help settle a domestic dispute... Katerina Urda and her boyfriend can't agree on how much they'll need to save for their year-long trip. He thinks she's overestimating with her $20,000 number. What do you think?




• Smells can evoke powerful memories - and not always good ones. Quimby wants to know - what's the stinkiest place you've been? She's voting for the open sewer in Sukhumvit (Bangkok). What about you?




• Jaydeschizo is trying to decide - now that he's nearing the end of his undergraduate career, should he get straight to work to collect some "travel money," or go to grad school (which he'd like to do eventually anyway) in order to be better qualified to make more money down the road?




• Would you rather save for retirement so you can play when you're done with work, or work until you're unable to do it anymore, playing all along the way? Or is there another option?




• Does your pantry look like a travel guide? Can you whip up foreign dishes with the right spices at a moment's notice? Do you bring home food-related souvenirs when you travel?

Please contribute your thoughts and comments to these threads! And if you're not already a member, sign-up here - it's free!

Best of the Boards for the week of January 15, 2007

Check out these topics currently being discussed on the BootsnAll Travel Forums:

• Struggling with what to get for that vagabonding friend before their next round-the-world adventure? How about the Globetrotter's Logbook? Seriously, this thing looks pretty cool. And it's not prohibitively expensive, either!




• Most of us like to travel on the cheap, and that usually means staying with friends on occasion. Maybe we've even played the host role as well. The thoughts in this thread will help make sure that you're always invited back after a stay on your friend's couch. You could also pass it along subtly to the last person who shaved her legs in your living room when she stayed with you. (And no, I'm not kidding. Read the thread.)




• Now that airlines don't always offer the "freebies" they used to (full meals, in-flight movies), are you one of the people who springs for the "extras" when you fly?




• Unless you're very, very lucky (or perhaps you've made a deal with the devil), you'll experience jetlag after a long flight. Are there any tricks to avoiding jetlag that actually work?




• What are the best ways to get around that nasty currency conversion fee bank and credit cards charge? What cards have the lowest conversion fees?




• Returning "home" can be a serious adjustment after a trip, especially if you've been away for a long time. What are the best ways to cope with the returning-home blues?




• Smells can remind us of places we've been, and so can food. What's the best food you've ever eaten, and where were you? Come share, and make all our mouths water.

Please contribute your thoughts and comments to these threads! And if you're not already a member, sign-up here - it's free!

Best of the Boards for the week of January 8, 2007

Check out these topics currently being discussed on the BootsnAll Travel Forums:

• There are a few things that everyone has to deal with the world over, regardless of nationality, income, race, education... And one of them is using the toilet. Poochythedog has had some trouble with squat toilets in the past, and is looking for pointers. (Warning: Don't read this thread if you've got a weak stomach.)



• It's that time of year again... When people are planning their summer European backpacking adventures! Get educated on your Eurail options, and read one person's Eurail tips. You could save yourself money and headaches if you're well-informed!



• What is your travel personality? Find out and post the results!



• Bigmaude wants to take her three teenagers backpacking through Europe this summer and wants to know if she's nuts to even try it! She thinks she's going to have to drag them kicking and screaming because they want to go to Disneyland instead... There are already plenty of volunteers ready to stand in for her kids if they don't want to go! Can you offer any advice for her to get her kids interested in the trip?



• Time to reminisce - what was the first stamp in your passport?



• Madhu met a young American filmmaker while traveling who's making a film about aid, volunteerism and the passion that makes NGOs work - and also fail. This gal thinks that "2 week volunteer programs where you pay to go teach, or similar ones where you volunteer for a very short period fail...they harm more than they do good." What do you think?



• An oldie but a goodie - if you need inspiration to pack your bags and get outta dodge, this video should do it.

Please contribute your thoughts and comments to these threads! And if you're not already a member, sign-up here - it's free!