Wasting your money

Hi Claire,
In contrast to what you said, I think that often the thing that i have wasted my money on is spending way too much money at an attraction just because I "should" see it. Not that i would have wished to skip it, but it certainly wasn't worth the money. This is especially the case when i have seen something before, but the others I'm traveling with haven't so i go again and it looks exactly the same as it did the first time I saw it!

I think other than that, the things I end up wasting money are silly things like paying too much for a taxi when i could easily walk or take public transport but don't yet understand the system (especially if there is a language barrier). Similarly, the water taxis in Venice are one of traveling's biggest rip offs! however, if you have a hotel on the other side of the city and don't want to drag your luggage through Venice's winding streets, you almost have to take them.

As for the impromptu tours, I think it completely depends on city you are in. I would agree that in cities like Bangkok I wouldn't let someone take me around, but one time in Rome we did an impromptu historical tour of the Roman Forum and in Edinburgh met someone on the Royal Mile giving underground ghost tours and both were fantastic.

oh another silly thing that i feel i waste money on - bottled water and soda when i'm in Europe! it's so much cheaper to drink beer or wine, but if i don't want alcohol, i'm stuck paying like 4 euro for a soda or water, which over here is about $1.60, the equivalent of about 1 euro. it's all the silly things like that which i hate dishing out money for! but it's all part of traveling! Reply to this

Hey Claire,

Welcome to travelblog! We'll look forward to reading some of your blogs when you get going!

It really depends on what you think of as 'wasting money.' Places we could have saved money was in SE Asia, we planned to see Vietnam, Cambodia and then move straight to southern Thailand from Bangkok, however after speaking to so many people in Vietnam who had seen Laos it got us so excited we decided to go there too! So we changed our route completely, this certainly wasn't a waste as we had an amazing time, though we could have done it much more cost effectively had we planned throroughly at the start, but ah well. Flexibility within your route is great though so it is difficult to get the right balance, obviously backtracking is costly!

We also suggest you REALLY think about the things you buy before you leave home!! i.e., do you really need a clothes line & plug for a sink?!?! (In fairness we have used our plug once so that's not a waste eh!) Also a sleeping bag - do you really need this or is a liner just as good? we have rarely used our sleeping bags as we had liners for the places we did need them (we followed the sun so it has been hot!)

Our advice to you would be to listen to travellers who are coming from where you are travelling to as they will give you the most up to date advice & opinions. At the end of the day you gotta make your own decisions. :-)

Good luck with all your planning and have fun & safe travels.

Mike and Sarahx

PS. Try to convince Mr M about Cambodia, it is WONDERFUL!!

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If it is going to be your first time in Asia either bring copies of the Lonely Planet books for the countries you want to go to or at least read about the types of rip off and scams that happen there. Being forewarned could save you a lot of money. There are so many scams going in places like Asia and India and they dont just rip you off a couple of Euros either.

And buying things. Learn how to negotiate a price. What I do when I see something I want to buy is ask another foreigener who has one what (s)he would consider to be a good price to pay for it. Then you will know if the price you are being asked to pay is reasonable or if you should haggle a bit. For example when I was in Thailand I saw cigarette holders that were nice. I asked a backpacker who had one what he would consider a good price for it. He said 80 Bahts. When somebody offered one for sale I asked how much. The girl said 900 Bahts. I gave her a 'you have to be joking look' and went back to my reading. She then asked me how much I am willing to pay. I said 100 Bahts. She offered it for 150 Bahts. I bought it. You dont have to beat them down to the rock bottom price or anything, just dont pay way over the top.

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You have not said what time frame you plan to do this trip?

Once you decide a destination to start Bangkok is excellent as its central to nearly everywhere and these neighbouring countries are so cheap....then there is a natural trail people go onward.

What is great is you have a male partner to travel with which makes thing alittle safer and easier in places. We had no plans at the beginning at all, we started in March 2007 in Mexico and the rest just naturally followed. We dont travel with a Lonely Planet as they weigh a ton and Iv mentioned in recent China Blogs that everywhere in the world has someone to greet you at bus, train stations and airports, even China was ok without a guide. If we are not happy with the first hostel or hotel we are taken too, its always the second that suited budget and comfort. Alot of new hotel are springing up everywhere, and they are great at doing cash deals for new customers and long stay deals (which is only more than 2 nights).

The hostals around the world are actually great places which all kinds of people stay in them not the hippie crusties from days gone by...they are so cheap, $8-25 a night, very clean rooms beds & bathrooms, lots of local information, great fun staff, they all have zero tolerance for idiot travellers with safe deposits and lock ups and you can find out almost anything from the people in them, including onward destinations.

With the tours, well, you have to just see when your there, shop around, the hostels can be the best deal or the worst deal...but something I found was people saying 'oh this historical place of intrest in not all that, its rubbish or dont waste your time going there' Remember its personal taste, as alot of them I have loved visiting and was glad NOT to have listened to individuals. Depends what your into.

Money savers......There are these plastic electric mug kettles, weighs nothing, great for hot drinks, saves time and a fortune in coffee shops, You can buy 3-1 coffee sachets for a few pence everywhere and tea bags are universal.

We have a 12" laptop vital for internet and blogging, doing photos and watching illegal DVDs around the globe as normal TV is rubbish everywhere. Which also saves us money going out every night. We also Have skype account to phone friends back home this costs nearly nothing compared to international call made locally.

Most hostels have free Wifi which again saves heaps of time and a fortune in the internet shops. Be safe with it, dont flash it around out side your hotel.

We dont drink much booze in bars, this is what drains budgets and this has saved us an enourmous fortune compared to others we have met. we may buy a bottle of wine in a local supermarket, then its so cheap.

Check your bank for international charges. My bank is rubbish everytime I withdraw some ATMs charge a fee and my bank charges a fee too. Try find ATMs that dont charge the fee. I heard the the Nationwide dont charge fees for international withdrawls and had a lower currency exchange rate.

Alot of hotels, travel agents and shops around the world charge 3-5%!f(MISSING)or using debit and credit cards, I always pay in cash as the ATM charge will always be less than a hotel bill plus 3-5%!f(MISSING)or using your card.

These days to ship stuff home I have found there is only maybe $5 in it than to send stuff by airmail. I have sent stuff by airmail from every destination and it has all arrived within 5 days (Amazingly Vietnam to London) latest 16 days. Air mail takes years to arrive.

Hope this helps.



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Not sure if you are still in Northern Ireland as you said you come from Belfast, though if you are travelling from the UK, definately get a nationwide bank account as they don't charge for ATM or visa transactions and they give you a pretty good rate on transfers too. Make sure you hook it up to the internet so you can keep tabs on things easliy too!!

I would take a lap top too, if you are away for a 6 month plus peroid it will pay for itself from internet fees etc.



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With laptops you kind of get used to carrying them, as they are so necessary, this will save you a heap of cash in internet charges as wifi is almost everywhere and sometimes free in hostels and hotel in most places. You will save heaps of time by not sitting in these shops when you could be in your hotel room. Try www.novatech.co.uk Mine is so sterdy with average weight, Iv bashed it around for 18 months now and its still running great. Bring the original back up programme discs (as copies) with you just incase it crashes. We have not really seen any great cost saving laptops in Asia, so check out the July sales back home. But plenty of programme discs for real cheap like photoshop. Be even better if your husband is a computer nerd like mine is for those heart stopping ...'what the hell is it doing now' moments.

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If somebody has intentions of using can think of them as they are much cheaper as I already told you.

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Oh yeah know them well lol!!! Yeah we reckon head to Asia first and find out what the sun looks like :-) I take it you guys are on the last leg on the way home? Nice to know of someone from home who has been to some of the places we want to head though i have to disagree with you about Niagara - loved the falls hated the town and Toronto which i absolutely love - they have a shoe museum for heavens sake lol!!!

Our laptop is great but I find it heavy just carrying it to meetings so carting it around the world doesn't sound fun but maybe i just need to get fitter and stronger lol Reply to this