Thanks you to all of you for your Frugal Traveler insights. I have built with Habitat for Humanity on every habitable continent and Africa twice with extensive travel either before or after each build. I can not possibly state how deeply enriching all of my travel experiences have been. And my attitude and perspective on the world and life generally has been forever colored and shaded with so many cultures and people who were always very welcoming.
As a single woman often traveling on my own I would simply add that it is really important to be aware of the surroundings one is in, do not ever flash jewelry or wear clothing that attracts attention -leave all of that at home. Wearing white v-neck tee-shirts and then donating them (after having been washed) made my luggage lighter and not staying out late unless I was with other people. It is easy to be targeted when alone. So just a word of caution in between having the time of your life!
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to DM: At 23, in 1975, traveling western European countries for two months alone, via Eurailpass and hitchhiking, I gave little thought to the trope, 'solo female traveler'.
I was conservatively dressed, and in my mind, the genderless, journal-writing counterpart to innumerable solo travelers before me. Along with memorable encounters and invitations, including to an extended family picnic in Provence, an overnight at a Swiss couple's home (complete with raclet) who found me hitching at a time they considered too late to be doing so, I was chased around Ibiza by a group of males, exposed to, there, as well, invited to a guard house in Pompeii so I could be shown a special collection of Priapic archaeological finds while fending off the guard, and to complete the evening trip back to Rome, brought to an unknown suburb by a sympathetic professor who, noticing I was upset, had promised to help me get back to the youth hostel before it locked up for the evening. Left there at dawn after refusing his attentions and a sleepless night, luckily happening on the correct bus to town.
My sense of myself as a traveler were revised, somewhat.
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“Of course there are differences in how men and women experience travel, and how they are treated, just as there are differences for L.G.B.T. versus straight travelers, travelers of different races and religions.”
It’s hard to tell from the cartoon portraits accompanying the article, but you all seem to be (relatively clean-cut) light-skinned people. . . ? That could make for huge differences between your travel experiences and those of travelers with dark skin.
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A very fine and interesting article on travel by the veterans. Thank so much for the travel tips.
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Sadly, the Frugal Traveler does not apply if you are (pick any): disabled, a vegan, kosher. Also often the most expensive part is getting to the destination and cheap flights from places other than the major gateway cities (mine doesn't count as one) isn't frugal even if I am willing to travel in the off-season (which usually is when no one wants to be there any way, for good reason).
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My elderly mother has a disability which makes mobility quite difficult, yet she still makes it a point to travel. She's 73 and has visited six countries already this year.
Where you live and what you eat, however, are purely choices. You could move to a larger locale. You could also choose to eat a more universal diet. Virtually all dietary "restrictions" are purely choice-based, unless one has true food allergies (which are quite rare, despite people's insistence otherwise.)
Your choice to be both vegan and kosher is very self-limiting. If you choose to restrict what you eat, most of the rest of the world has little sympathy for you, I'm sorry to report.
In a nutshell: you can complain about the difficulty of traveling while disabled, but the rest of your gripes require a long, hard look in the nearest mirror.
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What a delightful reunion! Thanks for all of your years of inspiring others to get out and travel. I've traveled widely and deeply and hope to do so until the very end.
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If the Times writes about a place, I cross it off my list. Sadly in this age of social media, the hordes have robbed so many places of their charm.
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I've read the column since it started and it's lovely to read this with all of you together. Seth - I miss the frugal family!
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Speaking of age, it would be really useful to have tips on a per country basis for the still able but with limits traveler. Hint, hint NYT. Had great luck recently asking the hotel to arrange for an inexpensive local driver for jaunts going to places off the main visitor path all in one day when bus schedules would not have worked and car rentals to over 70 had been made illegal. Bad signage was the memorable moment. It was also much cheaper.
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It's so true that an over-abundance of money only serves to isolate you from the place you're visiting. You tend to buy packaged tourist "experiences;" you end up in vehicles or boats or nightclubs where everybody speaks English. Pricey restaurants in tourist areas almost invariably cater to expense account diners, so the food they prepare is of high quality but generic and dull. The majority of my most memorable experiences as a traveler have been things that cost nothing or very little.
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having now retired with enough, I'm navigating a change of mindset (helped by my partner) from frugal to now seeking to spend more to enjoy more luxury.
I've travelled with street food poisoning in bumpy sleepless overnight buses and stayed in fleabag hotels - slept on hard tatami mats but my old back and knees now wish to avoid that discomfort and prefer western comforts.
my partner gets sore feet so we usually rent a car - which makes parking expensive in city centres but gives us wider choice away from public transport.
one general observation continues to hold true - 'the worst experiences make the best stories'
friction-less travel in air conditioned comfort tends to be forgettable - rough travel rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi is more likely to give you lifetime memories - ah, that time ... wow !
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First I have to thank all of you for your columns over the years. My husband and I have been reading the Frugal Traveler in the NYT since the beginning and it influenced our travel in a huge way. In 2016, we sold our house in the suburbs, quit our jobs and became long-term travelers—but we're not kids. We're in our 50s! And it's been the most exciting, interesting and soul-defining time of our lives. We wrote about the challenges and rewards of long-term travel as older adults in this column:
http://www.twolostamericans.com/lessons-travel-taught-us-in-2017/
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