A determined nomad who doesn’t like to work too much (!), I’ve always had to make sure I can travel cheap in order to fulfill my itchy feet syndrome. As such, I’ve picked up a few tips about how to travel on a shoestring and am now a sold-up fan of the budget travel brigade. Here are 5 reasons why I think budget travel is the best.
1. Makes the World More Accessible
The number 1 reason why I think budget travel is best is because it allows people to adventure round the world for cheap. This means, of course, that more of the world is accessible to more people. Was the only form of travel available that of luxury, then I, for one, would not have been lucky enough to see as much of this incredible globe as I have. Budget travel makes exploring this glorious planet more available and more possible for more people and I can’t help but be a fan of that!
2. Makes Me Happy with Less
Travelling on a shoestring, with very little in the way of possessions, has only ever enforced to me how little material stuff I need to be happy. Either making do with less due to economic necessity, or selling what I do own in order to fund a trip, budget travel has taught me how to be happier with less when it comes to material possessions; how to live frugally and how to love it!
3. Makes Me Feel Free
I love the freedom of not being tied to material possessions that budget travel gives me and I love the lack of restriction that comes with this. The fact that I know I can be happy almost anywhere in the world with only a few basic object is very liberating and this is one the greatest gifts of budget travel. I feel alive when I only have 1 rucksack and myself in this wide world and I feel exhilarated when I can carry everything I own on my back. Being self-reliant in this, self-resilient too, is one the best things about budget travel.
4. Makes me Take Risks
I also love the sense of freedom I get from budget travel as it rarely involves a set plan. When you’re always looking for the cheapest ways to do things, budget travel opens you up to not having life set in stone, to your day not being predictable, to everything not being safe and easy. Instead, budget travel makes you take more risks. From couchsurfing and hitchhiking round the world, from taking more nightbuses and to interacting more with strangers, budget travel forces you out of your comfort zone.
5. Puts you in Touch with Local Communities
In many cases, budget travel has allowed me to interact and engage with local communities across the globe in a way that luxury travel perhaps wouldn’t. Whether it’s staying with local people, eating in local places or shopping in local markets, traveling frugally has forced me out of a safe zone and into life on the ground in all sorts of wonderful and different countries. I love this element of budget travel, in fact it is one of the main reasons I do travel, so the way in which cheap adventuring can put you in touch with local communities is definitely one of my favourite things about this mode of seeing the world.
So that’s, my tribute to budget travel and why I think it’s the best. Are you a budget backpacker or more a family flashpacker? Let me know about your style of travel and why you love it too.
