Travel Toils And Tales

An Overview Of Peru

2010-11-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Think of Peru and you instantly think of the Machu Pichu ruins. While this marvel of Inca architecture is indeed spectacular, Peru has a lot more to offer that piles of old stones. From the world’s deepest canyon to naked dogs, via Amazon River trips and roast guinea pig, Peru has something for everyone.

Most tourists arrive in Peru and head straight for Cuzco in order to visit Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Machu Pichu itself is as spectacular as its reputation would lead you to expect, and as crowded. To get to the ruins you have to travel to the base camp village of Aguas Calientes by expensive train (get a bus to Ollantaytambo first to cut down the cost). Aguas Calientes itself only exists to feed and water travelers and tourists on their way into and out of Machu Pichu. It has a reputation for being expensive and just downright horrible but this isn’t fair. The further up the hill away from the train tracks you get the better value it becomes and we had some perfectly decent food in the restaurants close to the hot pools (and some unspeakable ones by the train station).

While Machu Pichu dominates, the rest of the Sacred Valley is also well worth spending a couple of days in. It is perfectly possible to hike around between the different towns and ruins (despite what taxi drivers say about guerillas). The ruins at Pisac would be world famous if they weren’t overshadowed by Machu Pichu and the spherical terraces at Moray are fascinating. Pisac town has a decent, if touristy, market and pretty Ollantaytambo town has a set of ruins worth a visit.

Cuzco itself is a pretty colonial town with a mixture of Spanish architecture and Inca ruins. The Saqsaywaman (known as Sexywoman)ruins are famous for their enormous, geometric stone blocks and some of the buildings in the town centre are built on Inca foundations (look out for the famous 12-sided stone). Cuzco sees so many tourists and travelers that it has a great selection of bars and restaurants and some top notch hostels. It is easy to get to Bolivia from Cuzco provided they roads aren't blocked by protests.

It is a great shame that northern Peru falls under the radar of most people visiting the country. The walled ruins of Kuelap close to Chachapoyas town are world class and the whole Chachapoyas area boasts fabulous scenery and fascinating glimpses of the myserious Chachapoyas culture. The area also boasts spectacular valleys and the third highest waterfall in the world. The Gocta Waterfall has only recently become known as the locals believed it was protected by a water nymph and kept its location a secret. Its a great area for hiking and very friendly.

Also in the North are the adobe ruins of Chan Chan, the remains of what was once the largest city in South America. The actual ruins are not much to look at but the reconstructed parts are impressive and the nearby Pyramids of the Sun and Moon are genuinely impressive. Look out for the naked Peruvian dogs; a local breed with no hair and goofy teeth that is so ugly it is endearing.

Iquitos, set in the middle of the Amazon, is the largest city in the world with no road link to the outside world. A good option is to travel in by riverboat and then fly out. The boat trip from Yurimaguas takes two to three days and provides a fascinating glimpse of life on the world’s largest river. For the trip, you will need a hammock, drinking water and snacks. To arrange passage, simply head down to the boat dock in Yurimaguas and ask to speak to the ferry captain. Expect to see river dolphins, tiny villages, flocks of parrots and even the odd cayman!

The famous Nazca lines are also worth visiting, but be warned that the lines are only really worth seeing if you go up in one of the small planes that offer tours. These are bumpy and most of the pilots insane!

A trip to Peru should also include a day or two spent around Lake Titicaca and its floating islands. The area has become touristy and you might consider seeing the Lake from Copacabana on the much quieter Bolivian side. Don't believe any boat captain who says he can whizz you between Bolivia and Peru without any visa hassles, even for a day trip. If the police find you, your captain will vanish and leave you to pay the fine.

Peruvian cuisine is gaining a global reputation. Be sure to try the Ceviche (raw seafood marinated in lemon juice) and perhaps even a roasted guinea pig. There are a lot of Chinese restaurants in Peru (called Chifas) and these are a reliable source of cheap eats.

Peru is a fascinating a friendly country to visit. Machu Pichu is its premier attraction for good reasons but does tend to overshadow the immense range of other things to do. Be sure to read up well on Peru before you visit it. A trip away from the tourist areas is likely to be just as rewarding as that first glimpse of Machu Pichu emerging out of the clouds.

The World's Craziest Foreign Foods

2010-11-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

Octopus: In Korea you have to eat it before it tries to eat you!

Travelers are never happier than when they are sitting in their hostel comparing disgusting food stories over a cold beer and peanuts. Before you get too judgmental about exotic food choices abroad, remember that we eat lamb, which the Japanese think is just cold, and cow, which nearly a billion Hindus regard as sacrilege.

I’m not sure whether it is just because travelers spend a lot of time there, but Thailand seems to have more than its fair share of entries on the list of extreme foods. Spend any time on the Khaosan Road and the bug trolley will find you! We sampled a mixed bag and found that the frogs were crispy and chewy and pretty good if you ignored the bones. The silkworm larvae tasted like salty custard, the scorpions were overdone and the beetles tasted of floor polish. On balance, a fun snack, but not as good as a green curry from round the corner in Soi Rambutri.

Thailand is also home to the Durian Fruit, the ultimate love it or hate it foodstuff. A Durian looks like a giant spiky cannonball and is full of creamy yellow flesh. The smell is overpowering, a mix of armpits, onions, gas and almonds and the taste is the same, only sweeter. To some, the Durian is the king of fruits. It is also banned on most airlines and you won’t make many friends bringing one into your hostel.

Don’t confuse the durian with the jackfruit, which is larger with smaller spines and full of sweet and tasty yellow flesh. If in doubt, just sniff!

In Ethiopia it doesn’t matter if you order a pizza or a camel curry, it comes with a side of fermented Injera bread. Injera is made from local Tef grain that is left to ferment (make that rot) for a few days before it is cooked. I would like to be kind and say it is an acquired taste, but we never met anyone who had acquired it!

If you think eating Guinea Pig in the Andes is brave, wait until you get to Vietnam and Indonesia and try Balut eggs. The basic recipe for a Balut egg is to take one freshly laid duck egg, wait 28 days until it is about to hatch, then boil it and eat the embryo out of the shell. They are said to be delicious but I wouldn’t know. I will eat absolutely anything, except a Balut egg!

Icelanders regard our obsession with fresh fish as a sign of weakness and prefer Hakarl, or fermented shark. Why would you want to eat a fish straight out of the sea when you can bury it for several months until it has rotted instead? All I know is that it smells much worse than it tastes and it tastes absolutely dreadful!

The South Koreans they have gone one step further down the path of weird seafood than the Icelanders. In Iceland they let their seafood rot, in Korea they don’t bother killing it! Sannakji is a Korean delicacy consisting of a small octopus chopped up alive and eaten with a sesame seed garnish (if you are lucky) before it has stopped wriggling. The taste is fresh, like the sea, and the trick is to chew fast and hard to stop the suckers from grabbing on to your tongue and throat.

After all this bizarre food I would recommend a drink. How about a glass of Kopi Luwak from Indonesia? It is basically just coffee but it is made from beans that have been swallowed and then excreted by civet cats. The digestive process is said to make the coffee taste better. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s on my list of things to try next trip!

Top Ten Budget Surfing Spots Around The World

2010-11-10T08:48:00.000-08:00

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Surfing is becoming big business with a lot of breaks hosting surf schools and hordes of hapless grommets. Thankfully the ocean is bountiful and there is always clean water just around the corner. Check out these budget surf destinations that are still off the beaten track:

Dominican Republic
From October to April the North coast of the Dominican Republic receives pretty decent surf, much the same as the more famous spots of Puerto Rico. You can get to the breaks by using the beige local mini-vans or guaguas. Accommodation starts at 20 dollars a night and the local Presidente beer isn’t half bad.

Nicaragua
San Juan del Sur is a small town with some big waves and Nicaragua is Central America’s budget destination par excellence. There are buses from the main hostels to the most accessible waves and boat trips to secret spots guided by local surfers. Boards are available to rent and best of all, you can get by pretty easily on 30 dollars a day.

Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has remained unfairly off the mainstream travel routes because of its long civil war and the havoc wreaked by the 2004 tsunami. With the Tamil Tigers now defeated the paradisiacal island’s surf breaks will soon be crowded again. Stay away from Arugam Bay and Hikkaduwa, which are already mainstream, and head for the more remote breaks.

Iceland
The financial crisis has hit Iceland hard but it has made the point breaks of the Reykjanes Peninsula, less than an hour from Reykjavik, much more accessible to the budget surfer. Just remember to take a wetsuit (5mm with a hood). October and November are out of high season but still not too cold.

Bali, Indonesia
Bali makes most top ten lists in one way or another and it’s a pretty decent surf destination as well. Food and accommodation are cheap and the people are as friendly as it gets. Bali has a good range of beach breaks and tubes: Go January to March if you want solitude, May to September for the big swells.

Central America
It’s not just Nicaragua that has good, cheap surf. Ignore the naysayers and hit the Pacific Ocean waves or El Salvador, or head south to Caribbean Costa Rica for laid back surf and sleepy towns. In Panama you can pick you coast!

Portugal
Portugal is the forgotten country of Europe but its waves keep rolling in anyway. Peniche´s hollow wave is world class and just an hour and a half from Lisbon and there are plenty of other spots along the West and South coasts.

Canary Islands
Within cheap flight range of Europe, the Canary Islands boast some of the best reef breaks in the world. The West coast of Fuerteventura and the North of Gran Canaria have dozens of spots between them. Best of all, the islands are cheap by European standards and the water rarely drops below 20 degrees C.

Mozambique
Ok, it’s not the cheapest place to get to but if you are in the vicinity, the surf around Inhambane is some of the best on the continent. Start in Tofo and Tofinho and ask around for other waves.

Your Local Break
Once you are at the waves, surfing is a pretty cheap sport. Don’t waste precious time learning to surf in an exotic paradise if you can do it at home. Bad advice if you are Swiss but from Brits, Americans, the French and the Spanish, the best budget surf is a bus ride away.

Eating On Budget In Paris

2010-11-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

Paris: Grin if you can bear the prices!

Paris seems to have it all! The world’s most visited museum, the world’s most famous painting and a giant iron tower shaped like a woman’s leg that you can climb right to the top of. That said, Paris has a well deserved reputation as an expensive destination and eating out can chew through a budget in no time. There are a few tricks of the trade that locals and savvy visitors alike use to eat well in the world's most romantic city and still have enough money left over for a glass of wine.

Breakfast in Paris involves hitting the nearest backery and tucking into their fantastic assortment of pastries. Parisians are fussy about their bread and almost every loaf eaten in the city is baked on the same day. The law prevents bakeries from using any ingredients other than flour, yeast water and salt . Try the traditional baguette still warm from the over or the delicious sourdough bread. If you have a sweet tooth go for the brightly colored macarons and rich madeleines. Don't hit the first bakey you find as many down the back streets do a cheap breakfast deal with coffee and a pastry for half the price of sit down cafes and tourist oriented backeries..

French law also obliges restaurants to provide an affordable lunch menu to all comers. These will set you back between 13 and 15 Euros for two courses, either a starter and main or main and dessert. There is something about a visitor taking advantage of the cheap lunch menu that tugs at the purse strings of the average Paris restauranteur and they have devised numerous ways of bumping up the basic price; watch out for water that is more expensive than wine and for supplementary charges for better cuts of meat or fresh seafood. As for a carafe of water rather than a bottle and you will perfectly drinkable tap water rather than overpriced tapwater from a bottle.

Most neighborhoods in Paris have a local speciality. The old Jewish Marais quarter has lots of falafel carts and the 13th arrondissement is full of affordable Chinese and Cambodian restaurants. The Latin Quarter rivals Montmartre for its density of crepe stands serving huge and filling crepes. Whatever you do, avoid any restaurant with a menu board in multiple languages as they are virtually all overpriced and serve poor quality food to foreigners.

Other things to try in Paris include Croque Monsieur, essentially a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. This becomes a Croque Madame if it has an egg on top! Escargots or snails also appear on menus and are tastier than you would expect for a lettuce eating animal and not slimy at all. For seafood lovers, mouclade is a must try dish made of mussels backed in cream and white wine. Onion soup makes a great, and very filling, meal for vegetarians. For duck lovers, Confit de Canard is an essential dish to try, while Coq au Vin is a good example of the time-honored French way of cooking almost anything in huge amounts of wine.

Sure Signs That You Are Caught In A Tourist Trap

2010-11-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

Beware The Tourist Trap!

So you have decided to strike out and explore the remote, unspoiled part of your destination. Not for you the comforts of a smart hotel and the ease of booking travel tickets in English. But what if you go off track and are unwittingly heading into tourist land? Here are a few tips that should help you turn around before it is too late.

The sure fire sign of a tourist trap is the presence of any form of garnish in your drink. If you get a Mojito with a parasol or a coffee with a sparkler in it you are in the wrong place. Run, run for your life before the menu in nine languages appears and the Mariachi band asks for a day’s budget as a tip!

Everybody likes to see people wearing traditional costume but you are heading into tourist land if everybody is in jeans except for the woman who is heading directly for you wearing local garb. In Colombia for example, every tourist spot has women wearing bright clothes and selling fruit out of baskets. In Northern Vietnam we saw two members of an American tour group knocked over and trampled by a mob of Red Dzao women trying to get onto their bus with a sack of embroidered cushions. It was a sign that we needed to trek to a different village before they homed in on us.

Be aware that the tourist trap appears in many forms and can disguise itself and appear without warning. In Guangxi Province, China, a couple of hours cycle ride out of Yangshuo (a bona-fide tourist trap), we found an old woman alone by the side of the road wearing a huge straw hat and stopped to ask her for a photograph. As soon as we got off our bicycles, her entire family jumped out of the ditch by the road chanting “photo money, photo money”. It was such a well laid tourist trap that we paid up with good grace!

The truth is that after a while, we all crave a tourist trap. After two weeks of bus travel around rural Guatemala drinking Chicha Morada (maize juice) with the locals, there aren’t many travelers hard-core enough not to pop into Starbucks in Antigua for a latte. Even the ones who swear blind that they don’t will eventually be found sneaking out of the side door with a foamy top lip.

What To Do When The Airline Loses Your Bag

2010-11-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Travel for long enough and your baggae will disappear!

Airlines manage to lose 3000 bags a day and if you travel for long enough they will lose one of yours. As a savvy traveler, it is nothing to worry about because you have that hand luggage bag with all your documents and a change of clothes Your main pack, of course, has a neat little label with your details on for easy identification.

While airlines have plenty of experience at losing bags they are, to be fair, almost as good at getting them back. Less than 0.5% of lost bags stay lost forever! If you main pack goes AWOL in transit, there is a very good chance it will turn up in a couple of days. Start the recovery process as soon as you realize you are the last person left at the carousel:

Find out who the baggage handler is for your airline in the airport and report the loss to them. They will want to see the stub you were given on check in. As a savvy traveler of course, you didn’t leave this on the plane!Get a loss report so that you have proof that you told the airline your bag is missing.

Now get on the phone and find a hostel or hotel near the airport that has a room. Give the baggage handlers their address, along with a description of the bag and its contents. Next wait around for a bit to make sure it didn’t just drop off the carousel and then head to your hostel.

In the morning phone the airline to find out if there has been any progress, or get the staff to do it for you if you don’t speak the lingo. If your bag shows no sign of turning up after a few days report it lost to your insurance company and go shopping!

In many cases you are entitled to compensation directly from the airline so phone them up or look online. Airlines are not always upfront about paying out so don’t take their word for anything if they have lost your bag, especially if you had to pay to check it in the first place. Keep any receipts for valuables that you are carrying home in your pack as well, as the airlines will demand them. Be careful claiming back costs from the airline and again from your insurance company, they might just check.

To reduce the risk of your backpack disappearing in the first place put it into a big carry sack before you check it in. This stops all the straps and other dangly bits from snagging. Take off old tags to make sure your bag doesn’t go back to the last stop off.

The Top Ten Nudist Beaches In The World

2010-11-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

Maspalomas Beach on Gran Canaria is ideal for nudists.

Nudist beaches are not everybody's cup of tea but are becoming increasingly popular around the world. If you fancy a day by the sea but can't be bothered to think about what to wear, check out this list of some of the best nudist beaches in the world.

Cap d'Agde, France
Not so much a nudist beach as a nudist town, Cap d'Agde is known as the "naked city". Located west of France's Côte d'Azur on the Mediterranean it the place to go if you want to shop or eat out without putting on a shirt. The beach itself is three miles long and boasts a festive atmosphere only slightly dented by the occasional non-nudist starer. Up to 40,000 nudists descend on Cap d'Agde during the summer months.

Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain
Three miles of golden and and blue water backed sand dunes, Maspalomas beach on Gran Canaria is as close to sunbathing in the Sahara as most nudists are going to get. The central section of the beach mid way between Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles resorts is nudist and there is even a signposted gay nudist area (look for the snack shop with the rainbow flag). Maspalomas attracts all types and ages of nudists and is large enough for bashful first times to find a dune of their own. There are a number of other nudist beaches on the island.

Playas Grandes, Fuerteventura, Spain
Just south of Corralejos town in Fuerteventura, Playas Grandes is series of white, sandy beaches inside a national park. Some are so small you can hardly spread a towel while others stretch out for miles. All the beaches are nudist but you don't have to bare all to enjoy them nd many are also used by windsurfers and kite surfers. Fuerteventura is a windy island and savvy nudists arrive early to bag one of the semicircular stone shelters that have sprung up on the beaches. Being in the Canary Islands, both Playas Grandes and Maspalomas get more sunshine hours than anywhere else on Earth and are year round nudist destinations.

Tulum, Mexico
Tulum used to be the laid back backpacker hangout famous for its cheap beach cabañas and its gorgeous clifftop pyramids. Now it has started to go upmarket with spas and luxury lodges stretching out down the long, Caribbean beach. Nudism is perfectly acceptable all along the beach although you may have to put some trunks on to eat in any of the restaurants and bars.

Playa d'Es Cavallet, Ibiza, Spain
Tha largest nudist beach on Ibiza, Playa d'Es Cavallet is broad and backed by dunes. The atmosphere is lively with plenty of bars, restaurants and music and there always seems to be a game of beach volleyball going on somewhere (what is it with nudists and volleyball?). The northern end of the beach is best for families while the southern end caters to the gay crowd. The centre is straight and the dunes allow for privacy.

Swanbourne Beach, Perth, Australia
Swanbourne is home to the annual Nude Beach Olympics featuring beach volleyball (of course), tug-of-wars and three-legged races, all, of course, in the nude. Australians don't take likely to starers so nudism is pretty much obligatory in the nudist section of Swanbourne beach. The nudist bit is on army land so don't wander too far back off the beaten track or you might have to explain yourself to the soldiers.

Valalta, Croatia
Just few miles from Rovinj and 60 miles from Trieste, Valalta beach sits on the Istrian Peninsula and is lined, Mediterranean style, with olive groves and vineyards. The beach itself is two miles long with several secluded coves and rocky areas that are more private. The beach is also home to the best nudist campsite in Croatia.

Orient Bay, St Martin, Caribbean
A classic Caribbean beach, white sand Orient Bay is a mile long with beautiful blue green water. There is a nudist or naturist resort at the southern end of the bay and nudists congregate around it. The beach, actually five beaches in a row, is a great water sport and snorkeling spot and you can even go on a nudist day cruise. Orient Bay is the only nudist beach on St Martin (or St Maarten) Island and one of the few public access nudist beaches in the Caribbean.

Haulover Beach, Miami, Florida
Just north of Miami, Haulover Beach has an 800 yard partitioned nudist area and boasts year round sunshine as well as lifeguards and police patrols (so no pickpockets then!). Haulover Beach comes alive every year in July during National Nude Week. Expect a gay and lesbian crowd with parades, live music and plenty of dancing.

Wreck Beach, Vancouver, Canada
Five mile Wreck Beach was Canada's first nudist beach and now attracts over 500,00 people per year. Situated at the mouth of the Frasier River and backed by white cliffs and green forest it is a spectacular, if seasonal treat for nudists. It is long enough to have both quiet areas and more lively sections with bars and restaurants.

Where To Travel On 30 Dollars A Day

2010-11-03T03:08:00.000-07:00

Tubing in Laos; one of the best remaining budget travel destinations.

Finding that cheap paradise destination is getting harder and harder as the number of people travelling with a bigger budget than yours keeps on growing. The rise of the flashpacker means that even the old stalwarts are becoming expensive as they cater to the up market crowd by installing Jacuzzis, mending the roof and doubling their prices. Fortunately, there are still a few places dotted about where the genuine budget traveler can live well for less than 30 dollars a day.

Old school travelers always moan that Thailand isn’t as cheap as it used to be! While this may be true, next door Laos is as cheap as Thailand used to be and is a fine destination in its own right. Who needs paradise beaches when you can sunbathe on the shore of crystal clear rivers at a third of the price? Laotians are an incredibly friendly bunch and the country is ripe for exploration.

From Laos skip over into Vietnam where the dollar will get you thousands of dong and prices remain affordable. Between dirt cheap and delicious Pho noodles and virtually free Bia Hoi beer, Vietnam offers arguably the best value food and drink anywhere.

Also in Asia, incredible India is incredibly affordable provided you stick to local transport and don’t want to stay in palaces. To visit on a budget, explore a small area of this kaleidoscopic country rather than paying to travel long distances and only seeing most of it out of a train window.

Let’s not write off Thailand just yet as a budget destination; just because the islands and Bangkok have become more expensive doesn’t mean that you can’t find a great dorm bed in the capital for way less than 10 dollars. Head into the northeastern Isan province and you will find the untouched Thailand of old and the prices of old.

Nicaragua is the up and coming budget travel destination in Central America, especially if you are into your surfing. Whether you settle on the spectacular lake island of Ometepe, let loose in the surfing party town of San Juan del Sur or explore the northern cloud forests around Esteli, Nicaragua offers great value for money. 30 dollars a day will do you proud in Nicaragua, even in the tourist hubs of Leon and Merida.

While Peru suffers from package tour price inflation, neighboring Andean countries Bolivia and Ecuador are much more affordable, even if they don’t have the same standard of ruins. Even Northern Peru is cheaper than the Cuzco/Sacred Valley circus and the incredible Chachapoyas area and the unknown ruins of Kuelap are easily visited by budget travelers. Just make sure you wrap up warm on the local buses!

Whatever the out of date blogs and guidebooks say, Argentina is no longer a budget destination. Prices have soared since the economic crisis and Argentina is now only slightly cheaper than Chile and Brazil. If you want to visit more expensive countries then sticking to your budghet may involve unimagineable sacrifices, such as getting temporary work or quitting the beer.

Top Tips For Green Gap Year Travel

2010-11-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

Using the flying guide book is much more ecofriendly than flying.

By default, backpacking and staying in hostels is already a fairly green way of travelling. Being on a budget implies that you don’t waste resources and backpackers tend to travel by bus or train and not by plane. Thgey also share transport costs rather than take individual vehicles. There are a few simple ways that you can further cut down your carbon footprint and do your bit for the Planet while you are away.

Use hostel water refills rather than buying new bottles every time you need water. If there isn’t a refill option, suggest it and maybe next time you pass by there will be one. By refilling water bottles, not only do you use less plastic, but you set an excellent example to other travelers and people in places where the recycling message may not have arrived.

Take a battery recharger with you rather than leaving nickel-cadmium time bombs strewn behind you on your travels. Not only is this ecologically sound, but you will save a lot of money over a long trip. You can now even get solar chargers that do it for free!

If you have to fly, offset your carbon miles when you take a flight. If will only cost a few dollars and is well worth it for the warm fuzzy feeling alone.

If you would rather have the cash, spend a few days planting trees or doing something else environmentally friendly. There will be information about this sort of project in most decent hostels and on the net. Just watch out for the odd scam. There is a rumor in Vietnam about an eco-project bridge that is built by paying volunteers every year and taken back down by the locals after they have finished, ready for the next year.

Support local initiatives that promote sustainable activities. Take a canoe trip rather than a Jet Ski tour or cycle about town rather than hiring a moped. Buy local crafts from sustainable forests and skip anything that you are not sure about. Avoid buying seashells and starfish as these are almost always overfished to supply the tourist trade. The same goes for those exotic sounding animals on the menu.Feel try to try the guinea pig though, as they are farmed.

Instead of trying to see the whole of a country or continent in six weeks, choose one small area and see it well. The less long distance travel you do the more eco-friendly your trip becomes and the more money you leave in the local economy of the places you visit. This way, you can even save paper by not having to print off that must-see list!

Finally, whatever else you do while on your travels, remember to recycle all your beer bottles. A shortage would never do.

The Top Ten Budget Travel Accessories

2010-11-03T02:45:00.000-07:00

The most important item you can bring with you when backpacking is a zip-lock bag full of zip-lock bags. If this sounds crazy, then wait six months and then get back to me. Zip-lock bags keep your passport, Ipod and cards dry, they keep your stinky socks isolated and your soap off the rest of your possessions. They are invaluable, and impossible to find when you need them.

Given that most hostels don’t let you bring in guard dogs, a padlock has to be on the list of essentials. Most travelers and most hostel staff are honest, but it only takes one rotten egg to relieve you of your few valuables. Take a decent padlock, or three, and more importantly, use them!

Everyone grudgingly respects the traveler who staggers into the hostel having hitchhiked across China for six weeks without seeing another traveler or running water. That is of course, until they sit down next to you and the odor knocks you over. Travelling hard is cool, smelling bad isn’t. Take shower gel, keep it in a zip lock bag, and use it!

I walked around barefoot for three months in Africa and nothing happened to me! Except the septic thorn in my toe and the curious little parasites crawling around under my skin. A cheap pair of thongs or sandals will keep you feet disease free and stop you from slipping over in front of the hunky barman.

At some point during your hostel stay you are going to need to get up early so bring an alarm clock with you from home. Don’t rely on the ones you buy for two dollars from bus stations, as they are universally lousy. If you really don’t want to leave your hostel in the morning, you can always just turn it off!

A flashlight or torch, even if it’s one of those LED ones on the end of a pen, is invaluable. Electricity supplies can be erratic and after a big night out, so can bladders. Don’t be that guy who turned the light on at half past four in the morning, even if it was just to find his torch. A head torch is great, but get one that switches over to red light so that you don’t blind everyone you look at.

A sarong. Normal towels are bulky, go moldy and smell! A cotton sarong costs nothing, packs down small and dries in a jiffy. If you haven’t got time to dry it before you leave, a wet sarong fits nicely into a zip-lock bag!

An inflatable pillow. Most hostels provide pillows but they have a strange habit of disappearing in dorms. A blow-up pillow rolls down to nothing and stores away easily. It might just save your night’s sleep if you roll in late and the scary guy in the bed opposite has decided he needs two pillows.

Man’s ingenuity is expressed in many ways. The diverse range of different sized holes used for electricity sockets is one of them. Take a universal adapter and you will be able to marvel smugly at them rather than miss your bus because you couldn’t plug in your charger.

The best hostels have sun terraces or front on to the beach. Avoid panda eyes and third degree burns with sun block. And to stop it getting everywhere, keep it in a zip-lock bag. Told you they were useful!

Bats and Bedbugs: Budget Hostel Tales

2010-11-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

If you are lucky your room will come with a free plant pot

Ever walked in on your dorm-mate having sex with the night watchman? In the land of crazy hostel goings-on, that doesn’t even make the list. Are the stories true? You never know, the good ones just keep going round and round.These ones are, I promise!

In one hostel we found in Oaxaca, Mexico, the owner refused to wear any clothes and only sold drinks to people who could get the tip into the tip jar from the other end of the bar. When the police came in to complain about the noise he lay on the bar naked and refused to talk to them until they scored a basket. To their credit, they did, and without even batting an eyelid!

In another hostel in Lijiang, China we tried to leave after three days of freezing rain and no hot water. The owner refused to let us go and locked us in our room with three tiny puppies for two hours. As we left the hostel with our backpacks, he tried to charge us for the puppies.

It is always encouraging when the staff at a hostel go out of their way to help you. In Valladolid, Mexico we complained about the bedbugs. We would have moved, but the last two places we had tried had them too. Apparently the town was in the throes of a bedbug plague. We went off to visit a few Cenotes and came back later that day to find the hostel owner stuffing burnt curtains into the bin by the front door. We went up to our room, which was completely soaked and had no curtains. The owner and the maid had spent the day blow torching the entire room to get rid of the bedbugs for us. All went well until they set fire to the bed and had to use a garden hose to put the fire out. They gave us a new room, which, of course, was infested with bedbugs.

In Mendoza in Argentina, we heard a story about a couple who had a bat in their top floor room. The windows were jammed open and it kept flying in and out, scaring the daylights out of them. They complained but the watchman just shrugged and rolled over in his hammock. After a couple of hours they were woken up by a knock at the door. The watchman came in, walked over to the bed and handed them a can of fly spray before going back downstairs to sleep.

The Solo Travelers Guide To Love

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Love can strike at any moment on your travels.

We have all met that couple whose eyes locked across a crowded hostel bar and have been travelling together ever since in a state of bliss matched only by a pair of loved-up lemurs. Others have found they perfect partner on a sweaty bus or in the queue at the airport. Traveling forces out of our routines and makes meeting friends and potential soulmates a little more likely. But how does a love hungry backpacker improve their chances of finding their partner amongst all the potential candidates?

In principle, the same rules apply when traveling as they do at any other time. The dirty and smelly are unlikely to attract Cupid’s attention. The guy with the tight shorts who is too drunk to stand by 10 PM is going to stay single forever. That weird hat you bought in the market may attract attention but it might not be the right sort!

Unless you look like Scarlett Johansson or Joaquin Phoenix you won’t catch anybody’s eye unless you talk to people. Get yourself to the bar and mingle. At the very least, sit close to it with the latest copy of a guidebook and wait for someone to come along and ask to borrow it.Learn the phrase "so what are you guys doing tomorrow?" and use it often. Follow it up with "do you mind if I come along too?".

If you are too shy to approach strangers book yourself in for a few tours. With fewer people about these tend to be good places to meet people, especially if something goes wrong and everyone has to sit about for a few hours while it is fixed. Another trick for meeting people is arriving early for breakfast. People instinctively eat pancakes in groups and you won’t be sitting alone for long.Carry a decent medical kit; it is remarkable how many good looking people need aspirin or gauze and don't have their own.

It might sound counterintuitive but you stand more chance of meeting people and finding love in remote areas than in large cities. With less people about, travelers tend to be sociable and open. In cities with huge hostels cliques form quickly and four man taxis fill up fast. Get out into the countryside! Who said the love of your life will be another backpacker and not a Guatemalan cacao grower?

Be aware that not everybody with a backpack is looking for romance and love. Some people are working their way around the world with the idea of, well, working their way around the world. Remember that it is easy to promise the Earth when you are booked on a bus out the next day.Play it cool and let things develop slowly!

A final word of warning; because hostel staff see so many people coming through they tend to be sharks. Sharks with access to free booze; A dangerous combination!

What To Expect From Modern Budget Hostels

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Modern hostels have stepped up a gear since the bad old days.

In the dark old days, you dragged your backpack into the hostel and paid the sullen attendant in advance for your bed before groping around in the feeble light of a forty watt light bulb to make sure it wasn’t infested with bedbugs. If there was a kitchen it was cold and the entertainment room smelt of mice. The main amenity was the roof!

Nowadays we are spoilt by free coffee and Wi-Fi, well stocked bars and on-site travel agencies. I even stayed in hostels in South America that have on-site microbreweries! Hosteling has grown up and has become a way of life rather than a way of avoiding having to sleep in the bus stop in between long journeys.

Hostels, as well as being comfortable and convenient places to stay, are a meeting point for people of every age, nation and opinion. Every hostel bar or social area is buzzing with conversation and the exchange of ideas that occurs in them is as important a part of the travelling lifestyle as the ruins and beaches.

Living in close proximity with strangers and sharing limited facilities teaches travelers to share and compromise. After two years of traveling and living mostly in hostels I think I have become much more patient and understanding of other people. I also know a huge number of swearwords in other languages!

Hostels have become so cosy that sometimes you get the impression that half the people staying at them haven't left for weeks. If you want to party non-stop go to Benidorm not Bolivia! What is the point of going somewhere off the beaten track and spending all your time at the bar with a gang of teenagers.

As with every lifestyle, hostelling has its etiquette and unwritten rules that stay the same the world over. It is always rude to eat other people’s food out of the fridge and you should only wake up your dorm mates by staggering in drunk once in every stay.

Even if you disagree with the opinions of your dorm mate or the guy at your breakfast table, hostelling is about understanding rather than arguing. Nobody will thank you if their early coffee if disturbed by a heated discussion about the future of the free market. One great thing about the hostelling lifestyle is that you are free to choose who you share it with.