Travel is without doubt one of the great adventures that life has to offer. Exotic locations, fascinating cultures, smells, food and music all add up to an experience that would be sadly missed just be-cause it may cost too much. But it doesn’t have to. Follow these tips and you could possibly have a richer experience than you ever anticipated!
Destination (un)known
Choosing your destination(s) will take a bit more creativity and forethought than it may have when our Rand counted for more than on the verge of “junk” status. Of course London, Paris and Rome are at the top of the list when it comes to destinations; however, they will be prohibitively expensive to visit right now. If these have already been ticked off your bucket list then you are lucky. However, the world is a big place and there is a lot to see. So where can we go with the Rand?
Possibly at the top of the list for affordable destinations are Croatia and Vietnam. Croatia is exquisitely beautiful, friendly, as organised as Germany and still affordable on the Rand and the Price of Travel Index (priceoftravel.com), ranking 31 Asian cities by price, confirms what many travellers have known for a while – Vi-

etnam’s cities are tops for budget options. Both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi (third and second in the list respectively) are in that most magical of price brackets for the budget traveler : R304 (US$20) per day or less for food, lodging and sights.
The list does not end there. For the adventurous there are places like Montenegro, Thailand, Estonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Costa Rica all of which are culturally interesting, beautiful, safe (other than maybe Bosnia and Hercegovina which may require a bit more of an adventurous spirit) and affordable.
Taking flight
Modern travel is like playing the stock market…things change on a day-to-day (sometimes hourly) basis. The internet has also played a role in revolutionizing tourism and an internet savvy traveler can save a fortune just by working smartly with technology. Thus, conventional travel wisdom is all but out the window.
Our parents used to book flights well in advance (sometimes by a year) in order to get the best prices. That is no longer wise advice. In fact, so buoyant is the flight market that current advice says you should check up to 4 times a day! Howev-

er, as a general rule of thumb it is now better to wait until (according to Conde Naste magazine) approximately 57 days before you want to depart and then start searching in earnest for the best flight deal. In May 2016, using this method, could get you a flight from Cape Town to Venice, departing in June/July, for R6500 return. Using sites like cheapflights.co.za or going directly to the website of a favoured airline is the easiest and most convenient way of booking your flights.
Getting around
There are so many ways…planes, trains and cars. It all boils down to how much freedom of movement you wish to have. It also varies dramatically in terms of cost. Probably the most independent means has to be renting a car. This does not have to be as expensive as it sounds. First of all, use everything you have now learnt about booking a flight and apply it to renting a car! There are websites like rentalcars.com or autoeurope.com that you can surf your way to and start exploring your options. There are a number of tricks (or hacks as they have become known) that you can use to get the best deal. For instance, it is sometimes much cheaper to rent from a downtown office or nearby town than from the international airport at which you land. Invariably there will be bus services to these depots from the airport and if you are renting for a lengthy period it may well be worth taking the trouble to get there. Doing a little bit of homework can save you thousands. A South African who recently travelled around Europe for 3 months rented a station wagon for

R21 000, bought a double bed mattress, a comfy duvet and pillows and travelled throughout Europe staying at excellent and spotlessly clean campsites. The adventure of a lifetime for about R50 000!
There are many ways to get around cheaply while travelling. Just a bit of fore-thought and the use of budget airlines and fantastic travel bargains like the Eurail pass (eurail.com) are ways of getting around without breaking the bank.
Cruises are another way to have an adventure for relatively little. Gone are the days when cruises were the domain of the newly wed and nearly dead. In fact, many young families have realised the saving potential of a cruise. Anyone with a teenager(s) will know how much they can eat. This is where things become expensive for a family holiday on the Euro. Eating out is prohibitively expensive and add a teenager or two to that mix and you will have a serious case of credit card wobble on your hands! Cruises solve this problem with all-inclusive rates that include 24 hour restaurants with an all you can eat buffet. A cruise will also eliminate the costs of petrol, toll gates and hotel rooms. When you add it all up, the fact that you can get 12 day Mediterranean cruises for as little as $899 per person makes a lot of sense. That’s R 1107 per day for all accommodation, entertainment, food and travel to exotic places.
Pillow talk
Accommodation is an interesting topic because this is where South Africa is on a par, if not more expensive, than many foreign destinations. Obviously a hotel in