[pitt]

(02-24-2012 08:56 PM)SVK Wrote:  

When I was 18 and 19, I spent 2 summers traveling around Southern Europe, on a extremely low budget of about $200 or so. I was a poor Eastern European student and simply couldn't afford more. This was in the late 90's.

Transportation - fake Interrail pass, a guy was making these and selling for about $40. Allows you to travel on trains in all of the Europe + Turkey and Morocco for 1 month. Regular trains (no sleeping coach or speed train) are without surcharges. Real pass cost even back then around $500 IIRC. I heard later the train conductors really cracked down on the fake Interrail passes and lots of people got caught - this wasn't a big deal usually (no jail time), but you would lose it which when you have no money means painful hitchhiking back home.

Sleeping - we tried to plan the route to catch overnight trains over long distances so that we can get a good night sleep and be hundreds of miles further (example: Barcelona -> Cadiz, Vienna -> Paris). If we didn't sleep on a train we would sleep in parks or beaches. Beaches were particularly great since sand is soft and public beaches have often showers, toilets, etc. In Morocco the hotels were so cheap, and we were afraid to sleep outside, so we 'splurged' on the $2-3 hotel room.

Food - that was the most expensive part of the budget. Usually we would get some cheap groceries and eat them wherever we were. Sometimes we splurged on fast food or street food. Overall we didn't eat much, combined with heavy walking with backpacks and bad diarrhea I got in Morocco I lost almost 20 lbs in a month, and I wasn't fat at all to begin with. As for booze - all southern European countries have some very cheap wines, not very good, but $1 for a liter or even less. In Morocco we would smoke up all the time since hash is so cheap and there's almost no alcohol at all.

We were basically living just a little bit better than bums. We got sick. Friend got robbed when we got too f-ed up on a beach in Barcelona one night. I have woken up a couple times, sleeping in a train, somebody patting me down looking for my wallet. But it was great experience. Even in these conditions I managed to get laid twice, with backpacker girls of course.
But I don't think I could do it again, I grew too comfortable with age, and there's no reason - I'm in the situation where I have decent money but little time. But these memories of travel and adventure motivates me to leave the shackles of corporate America and get out there on the road permanently again...

Interesting story and glad that things are working out for you.

This makes me agree with other guys on this site that see money as slavery. I mean, money is slavery when you dont have enough and you have to work your ass of to make more dollars and basically you will be selling your most important commodity (Time).

I was happpier when i was travelling, i think the guys who just travel get to enjoy more life than the ones working hard now and thinking 10 years ahead. I think the best combination is to do all at the same time: be an entrepreneur, travel hardcore every year, learn a martial art, learn a new language, read a new book, etc

[Spike]

(02-26-2012 03:19 AM)pitt Wrote:  

(02-25-2012 07:21 AM)Greek kamaki Wrote:  

In my experience you have to have at least 1000 euro to spend on any one week travel.If you do not have this amount just travel for one weekend.

For example if I had 1500 euro I would go to Kiev for 3 days or to ukrainian province for 10 days.

If I had 1000 euro I would travel to Kiev for a weekend or to ukrainian province for a week.

If I had 600 euro I would travel to Poland for a weekend.

If I had 2000 euro I would hit Russian province.
etc

You must have lots of money, thats a lot of money to be spent, A LOT.

Usually when i travel around europe, i spend around 400 to 600 euros per month and i always have a good time.

I think some of you guys may have spending issues, i dont really understand how you can spend so much money when you travel, i never spend that much, never.

@Pitt Please bust out a data sheet on how to travel around Europe on 400 to 600 euro a month. Unless you're only using couchsurfing and leech a bit of your host and only hitchhike and never go out and drink, i can't imagine how this is possible to travel on this budget in (western) Europe.

Traveling is moving from one destination to another at least every 4 days and not working in a hostel a whole month and getting free board this way

Usual costs such as accommodation, (local) transport, entrance fees for sightseeing, 3 meals a day, going out at night minimum two nights a week is not possible on this budget.

Bust out a datasheet or i'll have to raise a bullshit flag.

[pitt]

(02-26-2012 07:03 AM)Neil Skywalker Wrote:  

(02-26-2012 03:19 AM)pitt Wrote:  

(02-25-2012 07:21 AM)Greek kamaki Wrote:  

In my experience you have to have at least 1000 euro to spend on any one week travel.If you do not have this amount just travel for one weekend.

For example if I had 1500 euro I would go to Kiev for 3 days or to ukrainian province for 10 days.

If I had 1000 euro I would travel to Kiev for a weekend or to ukrainian province for a week.

If I had 600 euro I would travel to Poland for a weekend.

If I had 2000 euro I would hit Russian province.
etc

You must have lots of money, thats a lot of money to be spent, A LOT.

Usually when i travel around europe, i spend around 400 to 600 euros per month and i always have a good time.

I think some of you guys may have spending issues, i dont really understand how you can spend so much money when you travel, i never spend that much, never.

@Pitt Please bust out a data sheet on how to travel around Europe on 400 to 600 euro a month. Unless you're only using couchsurfing and leech a bit of your host and only hitchhike and never go out and drink, i can't imagine how this is possible to travel on this budget in (western) Europe.

Traveling is moving from one destination to another at least every 4 days and not working in a hostel a whole month and getting free board this way

Usual costs such as accommodation, (local) transport, entrance fees for sightseeing, 3 meals a day, going out at night minimum two nights a week is not possible on this budget.

Bust out a datasheet or i'll have to raise a bullshit flag.

I think you are being a bit extreme with terms that you have been using lately, for everything on here you want to call ''trolling'', '' raise bullshit flags'', etc, chill out.

I usually dont like to stay at peoples house, however i have got good friends in most of european countries that i travel so i never pay for accomodation during my travels in europe. I think this makes me save lots of money and then nightclubs are not my favourite scenes, i will probably do it 3 times if im in a country for a month. I am a day game type of guy,so usually when i travel i just spend money buying books (no more than 20euros) and eating out (which costs me 6 0r 7 euros per meal), however most of my friends always cook so this may be the reason why i dont spend much.

However i still think some of you guys spend a lot of money when travelling. I stayed for 2 months in DR and i have spent 1300 dollars for each month but i knew i was just blowing money without thinking about the costs, so even if i wanted to, i couldnt see myself spending 2000 dollars a month in a place that i travel. When i told my friend in DR that i have spent 1300 dollars per month while i was there with him, he couldnt believe it, he thought that was a lot of money to be spent in DR and i think he was spending around 500 dollars a month in DR, so when i see a guy on here saying that 2500 dollars a month is a limited budget for a south american country, i cant understand it.

[Spike]

I guess we define traveling in a different way. I don't see how staying at a friends house for longer periods of time is traveling. That more like a holiday to me. Anyway lets leave it at that.

[Jalouse]

The budgets you mention Pitt are very cheap budgets, if you travel around there are lots of things that start mounting up and you can't travel on that kind of money without keeping a very close eye on your finances, 400 Euros a month is just 13 Euros a day, I couldn't survive on that anywhere.

With the opposite if you want to stay in a place rather than moving around there are still lots of things to spend your money on, join a gym, Spanish lessons, a diving course, do a tour etc this all adds up and you will get through $1500 a month in no time

[ElJefe]

All this stuff is treating the symptons for your real problem:

Being broke.

No man who would call himself a man is broke. If you're broke, you're still just a kid, you are dependent on others. A man is not a man until he is independent.

Therefore, while I think traveling is important to being an interesting person, focus on your priorities. Getting a steady income, and increasing your net worth every month, no matter what. If I had followed my own stupid advice when I was 18, I wouldn't be retracing my steps at 25.

[pitt]

(02-26-2012 12:45 PM)Jalouse Wrote:  

The budgets you mention Pitt are very cheap budgets, if you travel around there are lots of things that start mounting up and you can't travel on that kind of money without keeping a very close eye on your finances, 400 Euros a month is just 13 Euros a day, I couldn't survive on that anywhere.

With the opposite if you want to stay in a place rather than moving around there are still lots of things to spend your money on, join a gym, Spanish lessons, a diving course, do a tour etc this all adds up and you will get through $1500 a month in no time

Yeah Jalouse i get your point, however not many people on here have your budget, so if i had your budget i guess i would be spending more, but i think i would still be spending on things that i dont need.

When comes to spending money, my primary goal is to eat good at all times and never to be cheap with food, so i always eat good, i also always join a gym when i travel but apart from that i dont have much expenses.

Also note, i dont think im that cheap with money, i have friends who tell me that i spend lots of money in travelling and they find it pointless, but i like to spend money on things that i enjoy doing, i dont spend money on things that i dont need.

Most of my friends in London live on 50 pounds (80 dollars) a week and these guys always have money to do the things they want to do. When i was 16, i lived on that type of budget and i was still travelling once a year so it all comes down to how you spend your money. I think im just good in calculating my costs.