How YOU Can Afford To Travel

484 Pages·2015·29.83 MB·English

by  Hollick

Travel To Little Known Places

by S. D. Hollick

How YOU can afford to travel

Volume 1
Travel To Little Known Places Copyright Shirley D. Hollick All Rights
Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
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© S.D. Hollick 2015
DEDICATION

To My Mother
The kindest and best Mother, who always encouraged me
to take risks and pursue my dreams. I miss you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my unwavering
readers whose affectionate support leave me constantly
surprised, and without whom, this book would never have
come to be.
Travel To Little Known Places

Map courtesy of www.mapsofworld.com
Website: Travel To Little Known Places
SASSY STYLE OF TRAVEL

Chapter 1: Bored With Typical Travel?

Have you wondered what places you can travel to the cheapest?
Would you like to find unexplored off the beaten path places to travel?
Are you totally bored with typical packaged same-old holidays? Longing for
something a little different?
Are you tired of walking half a mile down corridors, waiting for elevators, then
walking another half mile of paved walks to get to an over-stuffed pool or a
crowded beach with people lined-up like dominoes and fighting over sunbeds?
Are you sick of having to race down to the pool to put a towel on a chair to save
it? Or worse yet, paying for a chair?
Are you tired of lining-up to book a restaurant table a day before you even know
what kind of food you might feel like that day?
Do you get bored meeting only fellow tourists, and never meeting the every day
real people of the country?
Would you like to find lesser-known places that cost less?
Would it be more fun to travel to cheap destinations?
Does waking up on an empty white sand beach a few steps from the sparkling
clear aquamarine ocean, appeal to you?
Does a trip that could actually cost way less than that package holiday appeal to
you even more?
Are you searching for those non-touristy places that are cheaper?
Maybe we’re eccentrics, but we absolutely don’t want to go where everybody
else goes. Oh yes, there are a few traditional tourist places we want to see, like
the South of France, but we have no desire, for example, to go to Paris. For all
the glam and glitter written about Paris, we heard friends and family who have
been there whisper under their breaths (as if they were embarrassed to admit it),
that Paris was noisy and dirty and that the people were really quite rude.
Actually, to us, that’s the same for most big cities – too busy, too difficult to get
around, too noisy, too expensive and too touristy.
To wander around a small town and find homemade local foods at a quarter of
the price of big cities, or have a villager start a shy chat, or when you ask for
advice and found you are taken directly to the place you’re looking for – these
are just a few of the advantages of going to smaller centres.
Safety? Many people think it’s safer to go to well-known tourist destinations, but
think about your own towns and cities at home. Are big cities safer than small
towns? Big cities on the tourist radar map often have scammers and thieves just
ready and waiting to part tourists with their money. But you will wear the
biggest smile ever when a local on a small island offers you a fresh mango that
he just plucked from high on the tree.
T and I had great adventures in Nicaragua. It was inexpensive, fun, intriguing,
authentic and incredibly beautiful. From the most exquisite turquoise ocean on
our own private white sand beaches, to town squares that entertained us for
hours, and to a town that had us contemplating buying a small property there, to
experiencing life on an uninhabited island, to zip-lining across the misty tree
tops of the jungle – We couldn’t have had a better time!
So don’t be afraid to try travelling to somewhere different, away from the
madding crowds.
Chapter 2: Sassy Travel Style: Travel More, Spend
Less
Our travel style is sassy because it is a bit different, a bit bold, a
bit adventurous, and as inexpensive as possible. Trends are more and more
toward adventure travel, which we love, but we like comfort too, so we don’t do
hostels and backpacking. On the other hand, luxury travel is out too because we
like to experience the local culture.
Still we travel somewhere every year, for at least a month, to one country,
usually a little-known place. Our logic for spending a month or more in visiting
that country is that if we are going to spend money on a flight, we want to truly
experience everything about the country – it’s people, it’s culture, it’s food, it’s
natural wonders, and it’s ambiance.

How do we choose little known places?
We choose countries that have less expensive food and accommodation.
Sometimes (don’t tell anyone), I check airfares to places that have had some
unrest or illness fright in recent years (not countries still in the midst of wars),
and you wouldn’t believe how reasonable the prices can be for everything from
airfare to hotels to food.
What time of the year do we travel?
We try to travel in off-season or shoulder-season, when prices on flights and
accommodation are down.

How far ahead do we start planning?
We start to watch airfares six months ahead of time using Kayak,
Airfarewatchdog, Flighthub, Bing Travel, Vayama, Which Budget, Facebook
Travel, Twitter Travel and other local flight search sites, and the airlines sites as
well. On Airfarewatchdog and others, you can set up alerts to be notified of
flight deals, and there is also an option to be notified of flight sales to anywhere
from your city.

What days of the week are best for flying?