The site is BackpackAbility.com. What is it? It can be described in a multitude of ways, the following being my favorite:

• World Travel and Living cost index
• Comprehensive listing of travel and living costs for destinations worldwide

I’ve been developing the site off and on the past month or so, and it will initially be a simple listing of prices and costs for as many international travel destinations as possible, with part of this hopefully due to YOUR INVOLVEMENT. I’d love for the site to become a massive compilation of travel costs based on the recent experiences of budget travelers. So I really really encourage you to spend 35 seconds to submit some travel and living expenses to help the community.

So what are these travel costs listed? Initially, just the consumer staples + whatever else you submit. Including beer, hostels, transportation, hotels, cheap meals, apartments, and internet access. Other things that would be great would be visa costs, nice meals, cover charges at clubs, and major attraction/entertainment expenses.

There will be more…

Really, the site won’t too special right away - just handy price index reference that is easy to navigate and quick to use. But the future, I hope for two other features:

• Simple, definitive travel guides outlining good, relevant attractions for budget travelers and backpackers
• A credible and authoritative rating system that takes price, fun, and enjoyability into account to create an objective rating for a country’s backpackability

What there is now:

Roosh has kindly allowed me to use his South American living costs from his travel guides, but the rest of the world is struggling. Here are some examples of finished cost indexes, amongst some other destinations:

• Israel travel living costs
• Ecuador travel living costs
• Argentina living, traveling costs
• New Zealand cost of travel and living

Plus you get something in return.

So check out the site, spread the word, and submit travel costs if you can. If you have a travel site you’ll get a free link back as well in the post. If you don’t have a site, I can still give credit to you or give you a good ole shoutout of whatever in the post.

If you could care less about this cost index jazz, you can always check out the best budget travel and backpacking resources list I compiled.

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Here’s another travel search engine review that’s been bought…

LowFares.com is another comparison flight search engine promising cheap airline tickets to travelers planning their next trip wherever. I had my own assumptions about the site at first before I gave it a test drive and I was kind of expecting something a bit different than what I experienced.

Basically, the site just allows you to put in your travel dates, and search three different websites with the same criteria. Then it launches separate browser windows with those searches inputed into each respective flight search so you can manually compare which airfares are the cheapest. The flight search engines that you are allowed to compare are Kayak (Look to the right at my sidebar), Vayama, Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, Expedia, ………. etc.

So when I tested this out with a quick search comparing flights from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, I found that Kayak [and Vayama] had the cheapest flights, while Orbitz’s search didn’t really work out.

Other features of LowFares.com include a travel news section which is like a mini travel blog with travel tips and ideas, and a travel deals page that is pretty self explanatory and is a common feature of the top travel search engines everywhere.

Concluding, LowFares.com does do everything it claims to do - find low fares by allowing you to search other websites like Kayak and Vayama side by side. It’s main strength is that it saves you time by inputting multiple criteria (like dates and tickets) on several sites, but it does not actually offer deals exclusive to the site. So check it out if you like this form of comparison shopping for airfares and flight tickets.

The Best Budget Travel Guidebooks

	Lonely Planet’s Europe on a Shoestring - Probably considered the must have guidebook for a European backpacking budget friendly trip. This was the first guide I’ve read (not in its entirety of course), and I was pretty impressed. It’s fat, helpful, and well worth its price. For planning and traveling it’s a must read for creating your European backpacking itinerary.
	Rite of Passage - A very interesting and entertaining book of travel stories. Gain insights into others’ memorable backpacking trips through Europe to help mold your own itinerary and attitude.
	Let’s Go 2008 Europe - Let’s Go is a major player in travel guides, and this Europe travel guidebook does not fall short. It has good ratings and is surely a helpful companion.
	Lonely Planet Eastern Europe - Western Europe isn’t really affordable, and if you don’t feel like making excuses to travel to Europe, Eastern Europe may be your best bet. This Lonely Planet guide will pick up the gaps found in other general Europe guidebooks so you’ll have more specific tips and information to help you plan.
	The Rough Guide, First Time Europe - Not that the other guidebooks aren’t friendly towards first time travelers to Europe, this one just doesn’t take anything for granted and explains everything. Good ratings and surely a great guide for beginners traveling to Europe.
	Rick Steves Best of Europe 2008 - Rick Steves has made a name for himself regarding budget travel, especially in regard to Europe. Best of Europe has good ratings and should be a big help to anyone.
	South America (Shoestring) - This relatively new Shoestring guide should give you a good overview of South American countries. There aren’t many other guidebooks covering the entire continent, so looking into country specific books may be necessary.
	Latin American Spanish Phrase book - If your Spanish is a bit rough, or just non existent, this Spanish phrase book is a cheap solution helping you avoid a lot of hassle in Latin America
	Frommer’s Australia 2008 - The land of OZ is a backpacker’s dream. English, partying, great natural beauty and sweet accents.
	Southeast Asia on a shoestring - I’m not forgetting about Southeast Asia’s wonders. the Lonely Planet on a shoestring series should be a good overview of the region for budget backpackers

These are just a few of the top rated books covering different destinations. There are tons of other guides from a wide range of publishers and countries, so give Amazon a search as well.

But for those who just need to go to Europe and need to rationalize their decision, here are some excuses you can use to travel to Europe:

“I’m advancing my career” or “I’m furthering my education”- Take a very part time language course in Europe - German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch?? Slap your 1 week course name and description on your resume and there ya go.

“I’m considering a European business acquisition” - Buffet recently went on a tour of Europe searching for businesses to acquire under Berkshire Hathaway, so that’s a legit excuse, right?

“I want to see Venice before it’s flooded” - This make believe thing called global warming causes sea level to rise, and eventually Venice will be under water. While rising sea levels are a bit more gradual and won’t be wrecking your vacation plans imminently, this excuse could lead to a tangent political and environmental debate with whoever you’re trying to convince.

Also, if Italy and the Venice area would cramp your style, you can substitute the Netherlands and UK in for Venice since they face similar situations respectively.

“Mid life Crisis” - While it’d work in the moment, it kind of sheds a negative light on yourself in the rumors that will circulate. Also, as a young person or student, you’re not allowed to have a midlife crisis yet. Therefore, you might want to use the next excuse to travel to Europe.

“I’m taking a Sabbatical” - Sounds professional and gives the impression that you have a real career, a real plan, and can afford it. It’s classy and adventurous. Quite the wordplay.

And finally, for those rowdy partiers and/or young people looking to tell it how it is, a couple obvious, candid excuses to travel to Europe:

“I want to get laid” - With some money, it’s legal in the liberal Netherlands. The trip’s price might be cheap for some people.

“I want to smoke” - Another future visitor to Holland.

“I want to drink” - Any under 21 year old, American citizen and student. Probably the number one excuse for under 21 year olds to travel to Europe whose legal drinking ages officially are around 18, but actually allow anyone looking over the age of 12 to drink in bars.

So can you come up with any excuses to travel to Europe? Or to just travel in general?  Feel free to leave them in the comments.

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Expedia is an online booking giant and has long been one of my personal favorites above the likes of Travelocity and Orbitz, and Expedia’s Australia site delivers the same great service that we are familiar with in the US.

The Expedia booking engine is intuitive as expected and allows travelers to mix and match flights, hotels, and cars to satisfy your vacation needs and get a slight discount in the process. I’ve always been a fan of the Expedia search results pages as well because of it’s easy to navigate design and plethora of info like ratings, location, photos, and whatever else.

Expedia is often overlooked when it comes to flights though because of all the new, flight only search engines now operating and growing online. But, they probably shouldn’t be, because Expedia continues to offer competitive fares and cheap flights around the world. And by combining good, cheap flights with hotels, the discount by Expedia may make it one of the cheapest options when it comes to booking entire vacations online.

Finally, Expedia offers pretty neat holiday packages that take some of the guess work out of booking a custom vacation all by your lonesome. Whether you have constraints on your time or your confidence online is a bit low, holiday packages are a quick, simple and affordable solution to your needs.

So when it comes to booking entire vacations or just flights online when in in the Australia/Oceanic region, give Expedia.com.au a look or two.

So are these projects sustainable? And will they be budget friendly? Well probably not too nice on the pocket book, but that is yet to really be determined. But for theses massive building projects going on…

Kazakhstan - Entertainment Center

Norman Foster is bringing Kazakhstan (yes, the Borat kazakhstan) up to speed amongst it’s Asian neighbors with this entertainment center meant to show off the country a bit. Featuring retail space, a massive park, and some “entertainment center” Kazakhstan is looking to tap into some high end tourism. Maybe they’ll have some budget hostels in the normal part of the city so a day trip wouldn’t be too impossible.

Moscow, Russia - Crystal tower with world’s tallest skyscraper

Another “world’s new tallest building” planned for Moscow that is huge. The Crystal tower is a breath taking development that has everything - apartments, hotels, shopping all within the same walls. The building is green and sustainable (kudos!) and has a base four times as large as the US’s Pentagon. Yeah, so it’ll be big and definitely a fitting development for the world’s most expensive city. Doesn’t seem too backpacker friendly, so don’t expect to see it anytime soon if you’re on a budget.

South Korea - Songdo City

Songdo City is probably one of my favorite developments. Basically it’s bringing the most technologically advanced, sustainable, environmentally friendly urban center to South Korea (as if they need any more right?) But the city is the perfect, high dense urban area featuring beautiful buildings, lush parks, a great university, and probably lots of shops, high end hotels, and nightlife. There will have to be some hostels in this perfect city, right? Let’s hope so.

(check out this songdo video)

Beijing, China - New Airport!

Sure, it’s meant to facilitate travel to Beijing and the rest of China, but the airport will probably be an attraction in itself to many travelers. The airport was another project by Foster, and it’s amazingly modern design actually attempts to solve a lot of travel hassles associated with flying. At 3.5 KMs long, it’s the world’s largest airport, and will be able to handle a lot of passengers.

Dubai, UAE - If you haven’t heard of Dubai you haven’t been stumbling around the internet very much. They have way too much going on that I couldn’t dream of covering in this simple post. Sports City, new Disney World, tallest building in the world, man made islands everywhere, indoor snow skiing, and amazing buildings everywhere….etc. Just look at some pictures below.

Once again, thanks to innovative techies we have some better options. Below are all the options to make international phone calls available to those traveling abroad.

Skype

Skype is by far the most popular new medium for phone calls between people across borders. If you haven’t heard of it, Skype is a free service that allows people to make free calls to each other from computer to computer. With just a microphone or cheap handset, using skype abroad is one of your best options. Also, if you don’t want to bother your non-technologically inclined mother or friend with having to figure out it on a computer, you can make calls to landlines and cell phones for very good rates.

Talkster

Talkster is Skype’s new competitor, and it offers completely free international phone calls for its users by assigning local numbers to the users through your mobile phone or computer. While the service is completely free and legit, I warn you that the service really is somewhat complicated. How so?

Well… The process involves obtaining local numbers online, and then calling the person, and then them hanging up while you are on the line, and then the other person calling back at your new assigned local number. Sounds foolish? Definitely does, and maybe because I explained it wrong. (See how it works for yourself).

But if you follow the instructions, Talkster will work, and it will work free and well, which can save you some valuable money when you’re conversations with ole mother get a little extended.

Pincity

Pincity is a very popular online service for making international phone calls. It’s basically the same thing as a phone card, but the calling process does not involve typing in a pin - therefore it’s simplified quite a bit. It is also a virtual prepaid calling card, so refilling the card is easy. It’s basically a phone card without the hassles associated with the conventional, store bought cards.

Conventional Phone cards

While any of the above services are probably better, conventional phone cards still work fine. Figuring them out can be a bit tricky for a few minutes, but they’re not impossible by any means if you can read the instructions. The rates for conventional cards trend to be higher, but they are still a solid, reliable option if you don’t want to figure out the cheaper (or free-er) options listed above.

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There is a good side to the down economy; at least as far as budget travelers are concerned.
Some destinations are awash with new hotels aimed at budget travelers. Some of these, like Accor’s brand, Formule 1 Indonesia, are chains.

Why? Budget hotels are cheaper to build and furnish. Therefore, the profits from the initial investment come about more quickly. These factors make budget chains attractive to investors in uncertain economic times.

But why not just flop in some run down guest house?

Many of these new budget hotels are in prime areas. The above-mentioned chain has a hotel within walking distance of Jakarta’s Blok M. For a walk in rate of $30 (cheaper if you call ahead), visitors get a basic, brand new room that is a notch above a guest house, and a central location.

So, you see, this economy is not all bad.

So for the ultimate guide to find cheap flights online. Really, it can be summed up in one word: Kayak. But, I will cover some more as well.

1. Kayak.com
…is your best bet for finding cheap flights online. Kayak has long been recognized as the best fare search tool that finds the cheapest flights, and through my research and usage I must agree. From being able to utilize flexible dates, seeing the “buzz” in flight searches, and having the ability to search basically every other website in seconds, Kayak is hands down the best online fare search website..

2. Lessno.com

It’s a solid flight and hotel search that gives good results for Europe and some Asian destinations. It’s similar to wegolo which is also a good European fare and flight search engine that should be used when booking online.

3. Mobissimo

Mobissimo is a metasearch engine for fares and flights just like Kayak. The results are usually very good. It has a leg up on Kayak because it has access to all of Vayama’s fares and results whereas Kayak only can search a portion of them.

4. Vayama

All of Vayama’s search results are included in Mobissimo, but I figured I’d still list them to give them some credit here. Vayama has long been a favorite search of mine, and they also partner with previously mentioned WeGoLo for European low cost carriers. They have a nifty interactive map too that shows physically how far you’re traveling - aesthetically pleasing if you will.

5. The Giants - STA Travel, Priceline

Among the giant online travel booking agents, I like STA Travel the best for finding cheap flights. Young travelers and students can sometimes find pretty good rates through STAtravel, so they’re usually worth a search. After STA, I’d try Priceline and then Expedia. But chances are, you won’t find any fares that beat Kayak.

3. Your local travel agency -

It’s always good to check your local travel agency and their website out. In my family’s experience, the local travel agency offered the cheapest flights about 50% of the time. For example, as I was researching a Latin America trip, I was compiling the cheapest flights while making a budget, and then fell upon Minneapolis’ little local travel agency website - Hobbit Travel. After a few clicks I found that they offer the best fares by far. They had a list of flights that included Guatemala for $270, Cancun for $120, Ecuador for $360ish, and Panama for $300.

So don’t be fooled by the meekness and or ugliness of your local travel agency, because unfortunately, they still have access to fares that the online flight search tools do not.

4. Web 2.0’s Farecast and FareCompare

Other big hype, web 2.0 flight search websites include Farecast and FareCompare. These are innovative sites that are great for research and planning because of the unique spin and features they have. But, once again, Kayak is still much better.

There are plenty of choices when it comes to credit cards that earn you frequent flyer miles. But (surprise) most are not worth the trouble.

All FF-earning cards have annual fees. All have higher than normal APRs. One could easily cancel out any gains or upgrades with interest payments and fees.

There are some secrets to wielding the plastic without killing your budget.

First, choose a credit card that is specifically for the airline you intend to fly. This focuses all your airline miles into one place. Make sure that the card allows you to use miles earned from flying with miles earned from using your card.

Check blackout dates. These can be a real joy killer if you are unaware of them. Also know that miles have an expiration date.

Find a card that offers a bonus for signing on. Some cards dole out a bunch of bonus miles when you sign on the dotted line.

Don’t be put off by higher interest rates. Cards with higher rates usually offer more miles (1 mile per dollar is average, higher APR or a higher annual fee might earn two or even three miles per dollar). As long as you pay the balance off monthly, you won’t be hampered by interest. You’ll have to weight the annual fee (between $50-$100) against the possible gains in FF miles.

Using your card to buy gas and groceries and then paying off the balance monthly might save you a couple hundred bucks or even a shot at a sought after upgrade.