I have long been a fan of small spaces. When I was a child, I loved staying in a caravan by the seaside. And my favourite spot to play in the caravan? Squeezed into the door step! So maybe it’s no surprise that, like Mr. Money Mustache, I’ve been interested in tiny houses.
Category: Travel
Should I fly first (or business) class?
Recently, we traveled to Canada with my parents as a group of four. We all flew to Japan, taking a transpacific cruise with stops in Hokkaido, Alaska and Canada. There, we finished with 2.5 weeks visiting breathtaking national parks. Including all flights, meals, accommodation, and car hire, our total cost per person for the entire trip was less than a couple of our friends spent on just their plane tickets to Canada.
Why?
They flew business class.
Should you pay for two tickets?
Should you have to pay extra to bring your baby on a plane, or to a concert? Should an overweight person have to pay for two tickets? Or should an underweight person get an additional baggage allowance on their flight? Should students have to give up their seats to seniors when they’re both getting cut-price tickets? Continue reading “Should you pay for two tickets?”
How can I save by travelling lighter?
After travelling for more than half a year now, I’ve become convinced that one of the keys to travelling the world on $50 a day is packing lightly.
Travelling with hand luggage only doesn’t just mean avoiding checked baggage fees on most airlines. You can also save on:
What is the meaning of free?
There is a Russian proverb that ‘Only mousetraps have free cheese’ (бесплатный сыр бывает только в мышеловке.) It’s reminiscent of the English saying (though slightly more brutal) ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’.
As I sit here digesting one such ‘free lunch’, I must admit, I do feel somewhat like a trapped mouse.
How can I travel the world on $50 a day?
Figuring out how long you can plan a holiday for, or whether you can afford to travel long-term, is a relatively simple calculation if you have the right variables. In a previous post, I illustrated a few different methods of calculating short, medium, and long term or even permanent travel, but all of them are based on how much you will spend each day.
I mentioned the figure of $50 a day, which for some, might sound entirely unreasonable. That’s how much Paul Terhorst suggested in his book, Cashing in on the American Dream, which is what inspired my husband and I to begin our current travels in large part, and was the impetus behind my most recent post, the first in a series probing the notion of the American Dream. But Terhorst’s book was published back in the 1980s, and the world is, unarguably, different today. One could even say it’s a different world since I wrote my first post in this series on the American Dream two days ago. So is travel on $50 a day still possible?
What’s the price of bread? Or a Big Mac?
When a politician is criticised for being ‘out of touch’, it is often said that they don’t know the cost of a loaf of bread or a carton of milk. The BBC describes this as ‘a classical political ambush that has been popular on both sides of the Atlantic for decades’, with cynical voters suspicious that political leaders live in a world divorced from the ordinary lives of the majority. But why are these two items such important yardsticks? And how would they stack up in a global comparison? What about something a little more fun… like the Big Mac?
It’s 30 years since The Economist invented the Big Mac Index, a ‘lighthearted guide to whether currencies are at their “correct” level. It is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), the notion that in the long run exchange rates should move towards the rate that would equalise the prices of an identical basket of goods and services (in this case, a burger) in any two countries’.
How long can I travel for?
Sitting on the bus from Cork to Dublin, I got to thinking about a recent discussion I had with fellow traveller and blogger Elizabeth the Island Enthusiast about the different ways of calculating how long you can travel for – whether for a quick jaunt, extended – or even permanent – travel.
How can I save on my island holiday? | Guest post
Travel can be richly rewarding, but it shouldn’t have to be expensive.
Small tweaks here and there can make a huge difference. Pretty much everywhere in the world that a ‘captive audience’ gathers, you’ll find inflated prices. Having the forethought to bring your own snacks on a boat trip, for example, can save a lot. Recently, I noticed that while Twisties are 45c a packet at the supermarket in Fiji, they’re a gobsmacking $4.50 on the boat I’m currently on, cruising around the islands as we return to the mainland after our final volunteering placement!
Those of you who have been following Enrichmentality closely will know that over the past two months, we’ve been in Fiji on a volunteer program.
Today, I’m passing over to Elizabeth of Elizabeth the Island Enthusiast for a special guest post on how to save on your island holiday – a repost of her guide to Natadola Beach, with a focus on getting the most bang for your buck! Elizabeth is one of the volunteers we were fortunate enough to meet during our time here, and a bit of an island expert! If you’re thinking of coming to Fiji, exploring another island nation, or just traveling vicariously, please check out her blog!
Continue reading “How can I save on my island holiday? | Guest post”