Tag Archives: Travel
Tips For Cheap European Travel
GET A EURAIL PASS
A Eurail pass can help you save a lot of money especially if you are travelling across vast countries. Europe boasts of some of the best railways and speed trains across the globe. However, if you buy a single ticket for every time you travel from one point to the next, it may be too expensive. According to sites like this, Eurail passes are a fantastic way to save money when travelling across several countries in Europe. All you need to do is plan your itinerary carefully, to avoid ending in one place twice and book in advance.
EAT LIKE A LOCAL
Have you ever wondered how chameleons survive in the wild? Well, they change their color to match with the environment. This concept should help you as you travel on the cheap in Europe. Avoid the touristy high-end restaurants, cater for yourself in markets, and eat in places where you see most locals, chances are, the food is great and affordable. Eating local dishes also gets a taste of authentic dishes as well as great services. You can also shop for snacks in local department stores and have picnics in any of the numerous parks across UK.
BOOK A LARGE VILLA WHEN TRAVELLING IN A GROUP
Group travelling is always fun and apart from offering safety in numbers in a strange country; it is also a fun way to save money on travel in Europe. Accommodation can really clear your travel budget, and fast, however when travelling as a group, you can enjoy all the comforts of a villa like this and split the cost. Villas are a smart way to save money for groups as they often have more rooms, kitchens to prepare your own meals and offer privacy. Some villas also allow parties on the premises, so you can always party with your friends as you explore Europe.
TRAVEL SECOND CLASS IN TRAINS
Travelling first class is tempting, with all the comforts, but it could end up leaving a huge hole in your pockets. However, travelling second class can cost about 50% off compared to first class but it will still get you to your destination same as the first class. The differences in comfort are always minimal yet the difference in cost is vast, so save money and travel second class.
TRAVEL OFF SEASON
Travelling across Europe when everybody else is on the move can really end up being costly, travel agencies, airlines and hotels are looking up to recover from the low seasons. However, in the low seasons (usually in the winter) you can travel in Europe on the cheap, you can save on flights, hotels, restaurants and avoid long queues in major attractions. During the low seasons, the attractions have fewer tourists and you can be able to visit more attractions than when they are overcrowded. Major cities in Europe such as Paris and London are always fabulous to explore any time of the year, hence travelling during low seasons does not mean missing anything, but it saves you a lot of money.
3 Ideas on how to spend winter break
With final exams coming up in the next few weeks, you’ve been furiously studying to ensure that you make the most of the crucial marks that remain up for grabs in all of your courses. Somewhere in all that studying and exam writing, you need to pick up a few gifts for Christmas as well.
With all that going on, you only now realized that you also have a week or two before you get back to class as well! What will you do with all this free time? Below, we have a few suggestions that instruct you on how to spend winter break in style…!
1) Party like a rock star on a tropical beach
That’s right – do the spring break thing a full three months early. While you might not have the crowds and the hedonistic atmosphere that goes along with that time of year, it’s still warm and sunny, and when you’re in a place where the palm trees sway, any night could be occasion for a blowout party.
Cancun is a place where one can rock out with abandon with Senor Frog at any point during your winter break, while the once-monthly Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, Thailand will give you the excuse you’ve been looking for to finally check out the Far East before winter semester begins!
2) Tear up the slopes at a mountain resort near you
Instead of running away from the snow and cold, you may wish to embrace it. If this sounds like you, then there is no better way to do this than to set your course for the nearest mountain range with plans of ripping the slopes there a new one.
Whether you choose run the glades of the Northeast at a resort like Sunday River, or challenge gnarly alpine terrain in Rocky Mountain ski areas such as Jackson Hole, you’ll get the adrenaline rush of a lifetime, along with all the apres ski nightlife you can handle in these popular snow resort towns.
3) Be a tourist in your own hometown – staycation!
Of course, you could just go home and spend your winter break with friends and family – that’s totally cool. However, if you find things becoming a little stale towards the end, don’t despair … just treat your hometown like a tourist destination and watch new possibilities open up.
Being away from the place of your upbringing at college allows you to see it as a place to be visited, rather than as your home. So check out the museums you’ve always ignored, eat at the joints you passed up because you had your favorites, and drink the bars you’ve never seen before (because you know, you weren’t legal back in high school … duh!)
By the time the day rolls around to go back to your new home at college for your second term of the year, you’ll see your former one in an entirely different light.
Quirky Things to do in Paris
The Big Thumb statue is certainly one of the quirky things to do in Paris…
Out of all the travel destinations that you have dreamt of during repetitive and boring Biology 101 lectures, Paris with its romantic mystique has stood out among all the world cities that you have lusted over recently.
While all the cliché sights and attractions all appeal to you, you also have a thing for the off-beat highlights of any destination that you visit. In spite of what you might think, Paris is no different in this regard, as it has more than its share of quirky things to do.
Before you hop on that plane to head out on the most fun you’ll have all year though, don’t forget to pre-book your stay to avoid a potential crisis when you get on the ground. Find some accommodation here that will allow you and your friends to have a place that will exceed anything you can find in a hotel or hostel, as well as the peace of mind that comes from having an apartment that is ready and waiting for you upon arrival.
Now that we gotten that necessary advisory out of the way, let’s get down to the business of revealing all the quirky things to do in Paris.
1) Musée de la Magie
If you ever spent a significant portion of your childhood attempting to nail that card or coin trick perfectly, then checking out La Musee de la Magie (The Magic Museum) will be of great interest to you.
Here, artifacts from centuries of magic performances around the world can be found, from the boxes where you watched in horror as that magician’s assistant got sawed in half, to ventriloquist’s puppets that are as mystifying as they are creepy.
2) Le Cimetière des Chiens
The great majority of us have grown up knowing a favorite furry friend. Unfortunately, this also means that we have likely been around long enough to witness their inevitable demise. Most pets in the developed world are either cremated or buried on a private plot of land.
However in Paris, there is a dedicated cemetery where human’s best friends are given over to the earth in the same manner that our human loved ones are. Here, custom tombstones and tributes will touch you and creep you out, often at the same time, while the land’s resident stray cats will also give you the chance to celebrate life as well.
3) The Giant Thumb
This attraction is exactly what the title suggests: it’s a statue of a giant thumb, carved in intricate detail from a piece of metal. Located in Paris’ central business district of La Defense across from the ultra modern version of the Arc D’ Triomphe, its positioning in the midst of what is otherwise a rather sterile business center makes it all the more surreal.
How to Save Money For Traveling!
By focusing on how to save money for traveling, you can join these guys in Europe, or wherever you endeavor to go!
With graduation looming at the end of your upcoming senior year, you have big plans. Instead of strolling off the stage with your diploma and marching straight into a cubicle, you’re going to hit the road on a multi-month (maybe multi-year?) trek of exploration and discovery around the world. You want to do this while you are young and physically able to climb mountains, crawl through ruins, discover obscure mysterious islands and endure rough and tumble night buses, and for this, we applaud you.
Far too many people wait until retirement when their health has failed them, leaving them unable to fulfill all the dreams that they had put off for countless decades. One reality of travel that is constant, no matter how slim your budget, is that you need to have sufficient money to travel for any length of time.
Economy class fares cost the same for all of us, so in this final year of school, you need to acquire the eye of the tiger when it comes to saving cash from whatever job you have (if you don’t, start looking).
The following five tips will show you how to save money for traveling in no time, allowing you to get to the fun part of travel: planning out all your amazing adventures!
1) Stop eating out
Bear in mind that this doesn’t mean to stop eating: we all need adequate nutrition to survive. What this tip does prescribe is this: no more lunches at Chipotle, midnight pizza runs, or hungover breakfasts at your local sports bar. Look up some beginner recipes and start making food for yourself. Start off simple, then branch out to more complex meals. Soon, you will be eating better than ever, while spending considerably less dough than you were before. Talk about a win-win proposition!
2) Wave goodbye to your cable company
With abundant free entertainment on Youtube, Vimeo and Reddit, and cost-effective options on Netflix, Hulu and iTunes, why are you still shoveling your cash into your cable company’s furnace for the sake of a few measly channels? Endure the 30 minute phone call you’ve been dreading and cut the cord tomorrow, and watch as all that wasted capital begins piling up in your account instead of padding the wallet of some greedy CEO.
3) Cut back on drinking (and when you must, do it at home)
While going dry would have a dramatically positive effect on your finances, we realize that the college experience is often drenched in booze. So instead of cutting out the alcohol altogether, go out once per week maximum instead of the multiple nights per week that you are doing now. If you normally go out once per week, then take alternating weekends off from the bottle. Band together with potential travel companions and find fun, non-alcoholic things to do on those days to make adherence easier for everybody.
On weeks when you do drink, opt to stay home and avoid the expense of cover charges, marked-up alcohol prices and expensive cab fares. Instead, have your friends over to your house, and host the party there instead!
4) Seek out freelance work
With all that free time between classes (trust us, you’ll be looking back at this surplus time fondly when you enter the real world), you likely have time to find a second job, or failing that, a freelance gig on the side. Got a way with words? Become a freelance writer. Skilled in the art of editing/manipulating photos? Flog your Photoshop wizardry to the people of the internet in return for monetary compensation. $200 here, $600 there … it all adds up fast.
5) With a month left to go, sell everything that won’t fit in your backpack
With your plane tickets booked and your preliminary plans getting you excited, one last thing you can do to top off the pile of gold in your vault is to sell off all your stuff. Furniture, trinkets, gadgets, kitchen ware … anything that doesn’t fit in your backpack, or will have a practical use on the road – GONE. Sentimental items should be boxed and stored at your parent’s house or at the home of a trusted friend, but all that other stuff? Liquidate it into sweet, sweet spending cash!
Cape Verde: Africa’s Little Galapagos!
A small, volcanic spattering of lush islands located off the west coast of Africa, Cape Verde enjoys a warm, dry climate, little rainfall and over the past few years, has sharpened its focus on tourism. Cape Verde is actually very easily accessible via plane, so if you’re studying abroad in Europe, it makes a great long weekend trip or spring break destination!
Cape Verde holidays are most famed for the natural beauty of the land and seascapes, and for the cultural legacy of morna, a haunting creole genre of music made famous by singer Cesária Évora. Discovered and settled by the Portuguese in the 15th century, and gaining independence only in 1975, the country now has a population of over half a million, and welcomes around the same number of visitors to its shores each year.
A mixed melting pot of influences will always produce a colorful culinary destination, and Cape Verde is no exception. Its abundance of delicious dishes uses freshly caught seafood including lobster, tuna and squid, while cachupa is the national dish, assembled from rice, meats and beans, and enjoyed in times of celebration. Grogue is the main alcoholic beverage. This heady brew gets its name from the rum concoction enjoyed by pirates used to keep scurvy at bay, and is distilled from sugar cane.
Nature lovers will adore getting up close with the Loggerhead sea turtles. Preservation efforts are being made on the island of Santa Maria, and visitors can visit a turtle hatchery between June and December. It’s even possible in summer months to head out on a guided walk to the beach where the turtles lay their eggs, and to adopt a baby turtle so the good work can continue long after you’ve set off on your journey home.
You can also learn a new skill on Santa Maria, an island famed for its perfect conditions for kite surfing. The English-speaking instructors give one-to-one tuition, and it’s possible to be picked up from your hotel to learn what could swiftly become an obsession. If you prefer your expeditions from the comfort of a boat, it’s also possible to zip out over the waves around the island of Sal, to spot flying fish, dolphins and whales.
Whether you’re hoping for an active adventure, to learn about animal conservation and sealife, or to enjoy some grogue while tapping toes to the thrum of some traditional folk music, Cape Verde enjoys a unique global position, culture and atmosphere that are well worth further exploration.
