So I thought I would create this vanity thread to see if the esteemed members of this message board have any ideas. :)
I feel gripped with a Wanderlust that is almost as strong as my Weltschmerz, and I want to go somewhere outside the City of Philadelphia that is not Tampa, Florida.
The only problem is I have little in the way in disposable income after my psychotherapy and alcohol bills are paid. And I'll probably have no one to travel with since all of my friends are either too busy, too broke, or too embarrassing/insane to travel with.
So what are some good deal destinations in February/March, when I'll hopefully have some more dough and time?
I can speak bad Spanish and bad French; enough to act like an schmuck, but also to understand when someone is calling me one to my face. :Canuck:
I could visit a friend in Miami and stay with him, which would be cheap, but maybe not exciting enough.
Las Vegas for the buffets? I have no interest in gambling. Maybe just a short jaunt to Atlantic City on a gloomy winter weekend will satisfy me. Drink a half-pint of Laird's vodka under the boardwalk, take in a few porno films, and retire to the Murdered Prostitute Inn. I could even meet up with DGuller on one of his reckless gambling adventures.
I know it probably sucks, but I've always kind of been interested in visiting Kansas City. :tinfoil:
But ultimately I would like to go somewhere semi-"exotic." Mexico and Quebec (and Anglophone Canada as well :bowler:) are calling to me but I don't really know where to begin.
Any thoughts or experiences concerning solo budget travel?
I think you should tell us how many days you will have free and what your budget is. Otherwise it will be impossible to make a worthwhile comment.
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on November 16, 2009, 11:08:06 AM
I think you should tell us how many days you will have free and what your budget is. Otherwise it will be impossible to make a worthwhile comment.
I guess you're right. :blush: I would say I'll have up to 1 week free. As for budget... I really don't know how much the basics of traveling cost. I don't think I'll realistically have much more than about 500 dollars to blow on a trip. Though I could live dangerously and put another few hundred on a credit card.
If you are into music, there is always the Rock n' Roll hall of fame.
Pro:
Fairly close to you
The building is nice.
Con:
It is Cleveland.
In Winter
Oh, the agony.
Exotic, if polacks and dazzling urbanites are exotic.
Get a passport.
Figure out roughly when you want to go.
Check the online travel sites, and pick up a last minute deal and go where seems good.
For example, you could go to Mexico City from Nov 27 to Dec 1 for $390. Includes travel and hotel, food extra (but it's Mexico - you could eat for under $100). Or Palm Springs, California for $337 from Dec 4-6. You get the idea.
Why would he go to Palm Springs?
Quote from: garbon on November 16, 2009, 04:13:24 PM
Why would he go to Palm Springs?
It seemed like a place where 60+ year old retirees go to sit y the pool and drink mixed drinks. It seemed like it would be up Mihali's alley.
Why anyone would visit Kansas City is beyond me. I suppose if you really like Ribs...
Quote from: Barrister on November 16, 2009, 04:21:52 PM
It seemed like a place where 60+ year old retirees go to sit y the pool and drink mixed drinks. It seemed like it would be up Mihali's alley.
Palm Springs is really quite dull unless you are trying to pick up a 60+ year old retiree. I don't think it would pass the exciting enough mark.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 10:56:47 AM
The only problem is I have little in the way in disposable income after my psychotherapy and alcohol bills are paid.
Redundant; pick one.
There, problem solved.
Sounds to me like wherever you decide to go you plan to end up where you began. Is that really what you want?
Do you have a car? That expands the options.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 11:19:57 AM
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on November 16, 2009, 11:08:06 AM
I think you should tell us how many days you will have free and what your budget is. Otherwise it will be impossible to make a worthwhile comment.
I guess you're right. :blush: I would say I'll have up to 1 week free. As for budget... I really don't know how much the basics of traveling cost. I don't think I'll realistically have much more than about 500 dollars to blow on a trip. Though I could live dangerously and put another few hundred on a credit card.
$500 doesn't go very far these days. You'll have to buy a box and
mail yourself somewhere nice. ;)
Let.s see...
You can get a return flight on a cheapo-airline like Southwest for $200 (after taxes).
Stay in a hostel for $25 a night. Six nights would be $150.
Still gives you $150 for food/expenses.
It can be done.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 16, 2009, 05:11:58 PM
Do you have a car? That expands the options.
No. And, also I am deathly afraid to fly. :rolleyes: In retrospect, making this thread was pretty pointless and I apologize. Thanks everyone for the advice, though.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 06:06:35 PM
No. And, also I am deathly afraid to fly. :rolleyes: In retrospect, making this thread was pretty pointless and I apologize. Thanks everyone for the advice, though.
How do you get to down Tampa, then?
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 06:06:35 PM
And, also I am deathly afraid to fly. :rolleyes:
Hopefully you are rolling your eyes at yourself.
Quote from: garbon on November 16, 2009, 06:09:55 PM
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 06:06:35 PM
And, also I am deathly afraid to fly. :rolleyes:
Hopefully you are rolling your eyes at yourself.
Who else would I be rolling them at? :huh:
I don't know. It was weird that you were rolling them at all.
Quote from: stjaba on November 16, 2009, 06:09:09 PM
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 06:06:35 PM
No. And, also I am deathly afraid to fly. :rolleyes: In retrospect, making this thread was pretty pointless and I apologize. Thanks everyone for the advice, though.
How do you get to down Tampa, then?
Xanax, Valium, Xanax, gin. I've got to visit my grandfather every few years so I close my eyes and think of England. :pope:
Quote from: garbon on November 16, 2009, 06:12:56 PM
I don't know. It was weird that you were rolling them at all.
I was trying to represent my feeling of realizing that a thread saying "I have no money, companions, idea what I am doing, or way of going anywhere: tell me where to go!" is kind of dumb. :blush:
If you don't want to fly, hop on the Greyhound to Montreal or Quebec city. In March/ Feb it'll be cold and grey, but it'll still be something semi-exotic (Quebec more so). The Greyhound trip itself will be an interesting experience as well.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 06:14:55 PM
I was trying to represent my feeling of realizing that a thread saying "I have no money, companions, idea what I am doing, or way of going anywhere: tell me where to go!" is kind of dumb. :blush:
Quite fair.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 06:14:55 PM
Quote from: garbon on November 16, 2009, 06:12:56 PM
I don't know. It was weird that you were rolling them at all.
I was trying to represent my feeling of realizing that a thread saying "I have no money, companions, idea what I am doing, or way of going anywhere: tell me where to go!" is kind of dumb. :blush:
I didn't think it was dumb. :console:
I still think you have quite a few options for a week's vacation on $500 if you're willing to be very very frugal.
Being afraid of flying is dumb though.
Rent a car, drive down to Charleston, get a fleebag motel outside of town, or a hostel. 500 clams should do you for 3 or 4 nights.
Hike the Inca Trail in Peru. You have to go with a tour group, so you'll be meeting a bunch of Europeans/Commonwealth people. Peru isn't that expensive if you don't go to high-class tourist hotels, and IIRC the tour fee was about $300-400, and includes everything. Hunt around for deals on airfare.
Go to the largest bus terminal in your city. Get on a random bus, and see where it takes you.
Quote from: Monoriu on November 16, 2009, 09:29:04 PM
Go to the largest bus terminal in your city. Get on a random bus, and see where it takes you.
Then you get 100% chance of a shit bus ride and 99% chance of a shit destination.
How many America cities have more that one bus depot? :huh:
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 16, 2009, 10:56:47 AM
But ultimately I would like to go somewhere semi-"exotic." Mexico and Quebec (and Anglophone Canada as well :bowler:) are calling to me but I don't really know where to begin.
Any thoughts or experiences concerning solo budget travel?
I've been telling you to come visit for ages.
G.
I'd say it is better to save some more money and then go somewhere really interesting than to spend a still considerable amount on going somewhere mediocre
When I saw the title of the thread, I thought it was going to be a discussion of girls basketball.
Take the Train Westward! Being in the train is an experience all by itself.
Quote from: Grey Fox on November 19, 2009, 09:19:58 AM
Being in the train is an experience all by itself.
Well, these days it has become at sort of semi-exotic means of travel, at least in the U.S., so not really a bad suggestion.
I took the train from Philly to Atlanta once when I was a kid (because my mother is terrified of flying). It was actually pretty fun, yeah. We had a sleeping compartment and a valet guy.
In Hong Kong (and China), the majority of people travel in groups. The major advantage is that it is much cheaper. US$500 can allow one to, say, go to Japan for 4-5 days. The price includes return air tickets, hotel accommodations (we're talking about major chains, not bed and breakfasts), 3 meals a day, coach travel in Japan, coach driver, and basic entrance fees to most attractions.
The drawbacks are -
- you have to stay with that group, mostly
- they skimp on everything. The food is crap. And they always feed you Chinese food no matter where in the world you are.
- they make you pay a lot of things extra. Tips for the guide and driver. (The travel company does not pay the guides. In fact it is the other way round - the guides bid for the privilege to serve a group). They make you buy souvenirs and photos, otherwise they will be very, very mean to you.
The walkabout is best done solo anyway.
Permanent travel companions only distract you from immersing yourself in the Journey.
Quote from: Slargos on November 20, 2009, 12:50:46 PM
The walkabout is best done solo anyway.
Permanent travel companions only distract you from immersing yourself in the Journey.
Or immersing yourself within the local hooker population. ;)
Quote from: Malthus on November 20, 2009, 12:52:22 PM
Quote from: Slargos on November 20, 2009, 12:50:46 PM
The walkabout is best done solo anyway.
Permanent travel companions only distract you from immersing yourself in the Journey.
Or immersing yourself within the local hooker population. ;)
I thought that's what I said. :huh:
Oh, wait. I see now where I might be misinterpreted.
Thanks. :D
Traveling in tour groups is much more expensive than going alone. The major advantage is that they'll hold your hand.
Cut down on the alcohol budget and save up enough to go Eurorailing for a couple weeks. That's pretty easy to do alone even if you've never something like it before.
I recommend saving another few hundred dollars, flying to Europe, and then sponging floors/sofas off your fellow Languishites; you'll have a laugh and a good time (apart from the mortal terror on the plane of course) :huh:
Thanks very much for all the suggestions. :) I guess I'll just keep saving my pennies and make a decision when I feel completely stir-crazy.
Living costs are, however, quite expensive in Europe. You'd get more bang for your buck buying a plane ticket to, f.ex., the Philippines which is a tropical paradise where you can live for peanuts once you're there. The Philippines is also one of relatively few places where they generally like Americans. And once you've crossed the Pacific, if you feel like it, there are planes between Philippines and Kuala Lumpur for less than $100. KL is a cool city, they've even got a monorail. And from KL it's a short and cheap western-standard bus-ride to the historically interesting city of Malacca, for example.
You'll get by just fine with English in both the Philippines and Malaysia. And if you'd like to do further travel KL is a regional flight hub. Flights within ASEAN are cheap. From KL 50-100$ will get you to most, if not all, ASEAN countries.
So I'm looking at Amtrak... only 60 dollars to get to Montreal in the comfort of a railroad car, and Via Rail to Quebec City from there isn't too much at all. I'm hoping winter is a good time for hostel rates in Qc., apart from the Carnaval period.
I'd be honored to raise a boisson with any of our resident Quebecois, maybe closer to mid-December now? :frog:
Poor mihali, once grallon gets his claws on him :(
Too old for gral as his testicles have descended.
Not to drag out this thread, but I'm looking at the week of Dec. 14 - 20 for my voyage to Quebec. Is Quebec City worth the excursion? I'd like to make a little side-trip at least to some non-metropolitan part of La Belle Province just to see what it's like. Shawinigan? Sherbrooke?
The other big decision is youth hostel vs. seedy hotel. Youth hostels are going for 25-30 a night. Pros are maybe some friendly conversation with other travellers; cons are sleeping in a public setting. Seedy hotels going for 40ish on Rue Ste. Catherine. Pros are privacy, ambiance; cons are loneliness, ambiance.
Youth hostel. Meet up with other people, have fun.
Seedy hotel just means being woken by crack addicts at 3am in the next room.
Yes to Quebec city. No to Sherbrooke or Shawinigan. Not on the timeframe you're looking at (1 week). But of course I've only ever been to Hull and a baseball game in Montreal. I'm only going by what others have told me.
Yes on Quebec City.
I'm always surprised how easily disappointed I am by a cheap and seedy hotel. All too often they are just cheap and seedy.
Sometimes though you find ones with little communities living there. In Casablanca in a seedy hotel and spent every night sat around the sofas talking to my other guests who were all relatively long-term. A Dutch Moroccan who, for example, who came to Morocco for a month of every year to receive folk treatments for his weak chest (it looked to me like folk surgery) or the recently divorced mother who lived in a suite with a daughter because she didn't want to return to her parents in the country and hadn't the money to find a place of her own.
Other times they're actually just hidden gems. I found one in the some tropical bit of Argentina (I forget the town) which was basically a dilapidated nineteenth century villa. Each room was huge (bigger than most living rooms), as were the beds. The shutters and the fans hadn't been updated in years but that just added to the charm and everything was clean. While I was there I met a Swiss man who has been slowly travelling the world for ten years (he spends several months in every city). He always wore a cream three piece suit with hat and looked like a mix between Blofeld and the man from Del Monte. Apparently he'd discovered a system that let him beat the house at roulette - a system which he was always refining by changing notes and adding different figures. He was a bit suspicious, though. He would never let anyone prepare his drinks. He had to boil his own water and would then carry around a large flask of self-prepared tea through the day which he'd top up as necessary.
Sometimes seedy is romantic, or enjoyable, or a step into a different world - and it's great. All too often, however, it is just unpleasant :(
Incidentally I love trains. Best transport method :wub:
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 23, 2009, 10:51:56 PM
Not to drag out this thread, but I'm looking at the week of Dec. 14 - 20 for my voyage to Quebec. Is Quebec City worth the excursion? I'd like to make a little side-trip at least to some non-metropolitan part of La Belle Province just to see what it's like. Shawinigan? Sherbrooke?
The other big decision is youth hostel vs. seedy hotel. Youth hostels are going for 25-30 a night. Pros are maybe some friendly conversation with other travellers; cons are sleeping in a public setting. Seedy hotels going for 40ish on Rue Ste. Catherine. Pros are privacy, ambiance; cons are loneliness, ambiance.
Quebec will feel small enough no need to go Sherbrooke or Shawi.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 23, 2009, 10:51:56 PM
Not to drag out this thread, but I'm looking at the week of Dec. 14 - 20 for my voyage to Quebec. Is Quebec City worth the excursion? I'd like to make a little side-trip at least to some non-metropolitan part of La Belle Province just to see what it's like. Shawinigan? Sherbrooke?
The other big decision is youth hostel vs. seedy hotel. Youth hostels are going for 25-30 a night. Pros are maybe some friendly conversation with other travellers; cons are sleeping in a public setting. Seedy hotels going for 40ish on Rue Ste. Catherine. Pros are privacy, ambiance; cons are loneliness, ambiance.
I do hope you will make time for us to drink some wine together. Perhaps GF would also condescend to leave his distant suburb.
G.
Capetan Mihali does not drink... wine. :menace:
Quote from: Caliga on November 24, 2009, 08:38:31 AM
Capetan Mihali does not drink... wine. :menace:
So you two have met? Well whatever he fancies he can have. ;)
G.
Quote from: Caliga on November 24, 2009, 08:38:31 AM
Capetan Mihali does not drink... wine. :menace:
Ice cider is pretty good.
Quote from: Grallon on November 24, 2009, 08:48:33 AM
So you two have met? Well whatever he fancies he can have. ;)
You fail at literature. :(
Quote from: Grallon on November 24, 2009, 08:48:33 AM
Quote from: Caliga on November 24, 2009, 08:38:31 AM
Capetan Mihali does not drink... wine. :menace:
So you two have met? Well whatever he fancies he can have. ;)
G.
:lol: No we unfortunately haven't, and wine is infinitely pleasing to me. Though that ice cider sounds intriguing as well...
We'll just have to find a time that works for you and potentially Grey Fox (Oexmelin is still in Europe, I believe, and Viper is far away?). I'll PM you both my contact information closer to the trip.
Hope they don't go all Dreyfus on you.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 24, 2009, 09:44:15 AM
:lol: No we unfortunately haven't, and wine is infinitely pleasing to me. Though that ice cider sounds intriguing as well...
We'll just have to find a time that works for you and potentially Grey Fox (Oexmelin is still in Europe, I believe, and Viper is far away?). I'll PM you both my contact information closer to the trip.
G & I live around Montreal
Viper lives around Quebec
Well? The time has almost come. What will it be? I need a drink with a cute N-Y boy!
G.
Quote from: Grallon on December 11, 2009, 11:12:37 PM
Well? The time has almost come. What will it be? I need a drink with a cute N-Y boy!
G.
Sadly I think it will have to be delayed. New employment and a week of job training in Brooklyn have dashed my plans for an escape to the North. We may have to postpone our drink until 2010, but I do still hope to make it. :)
How annoying :mad:
I was looking forward to the AAR of the Grallon/Capetan/Grey Fox event..........