THE MORE YOU SPEND, THE FEWER PEOPLE YOU MEET AND YOU’LL ENCOUNTER LESS CULTURE.
Or at least, this is what I wrote in a post back in 2016. This post is a cut-paste-edit of what I wrote back then, based on how my beliefs have changed ever so slightly.
In summation, what I believe is this: If we spend money on things that make our lives easier, it impedes our opportunities for connection.
Let’s look at two extremes to illustrate my point.
Situation A: You fly first class to Paris and don’t see your plane neighbors ($5800RT). You take a private car or Uber ($100) from the airport to your hotel and have a professional driver, but you paid for data on your phone ($10) and do not engage in conversation anyway. Upon arrival at the international hotel chain($400/night) that you have points at, the concierge, check-in desk, and bellhops all speak English. You get to your room, relax in a private bath, and venture out to a restaurant($100/pp) that the concierge recommends, and finish off the night with a glass of wine from the hotel bar ($15). You eat out for 3 meals a day at an average of $150/day.=$9655 , not including museums, shopping, other meals, etc.
Situation B: Flying coach on a budget airline isn’t anyone’s cup of tea; if you’re lucky, the middle seat is open ($400). After plummeting through the air with 200 of your best stranger friends, you arrive at a crowded airport, make your way to the bus lines, and drop a few coins in the machine for an RER ticket ($12). 45 minutes later, you’ve seen the ‘real’ parts of the city you arrived in and walk the rest of the way to your hostel ($20). The people in the lobby are playing cards and pulling together supplies for supper. You stop by the grocery store down the street to contribute to this version of Stone Soup($10). Go back to the hostel, make dinner, and all share a 6 pack of 1604 ($5) while telling travel stories and making plans to do a self-guided walking tour the next day. You eat street food or cook three times a day with friends for an average of $30/day. =$867
Plane ticket, Transport, Lodging, Food, Drink. I’m nobody to say who had a richer experience, but I think that my opinion on which situation encountered more of the local vibe is clear.
A personal point:
I traveled to 3 central American countries in March of 2016 and including plane ticket spent about $1000 in 9 days. I traveled to 5 eastern European countries in November 2015 and including plane and car rental spent less than $1300. I traveled to three other Central American countries for 10 days in November of 2017 and spent less than $1200. That’s an average of less than $300 per country including plane tickets.
Now, here’s the flip side.
There are experiences that money CAN buy. Learning to dive was a bucket list experience for me, and I spent hundreds of dollars a day doing it in Thailand. However, the friends I made there were all staying in a hostel bedroom for $10 a night.
I travel to meet people, and to fall in love with places. People help me to fall in love. I want to stay in cheap lodging and have dodgy train experiences, and to eat the street food that the locals do.
I also want to be safe. I don’t eat from the gutter for the sake of saving money. I take private cars and Ubers at night so that I’m not out alone (especially in the US). I typically buy SIM cards so that I can call someone if I am lost.
What I’m saying is
We travel how we choose to, but a week in Paris doesn’t have to cost $10,000. It could be just as fun spending less than a grand.
And also… you probably CAN afford to travel more.
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