Travel noob seeks advice regarding destination.

December 30, 2007 2:28 AM

I'd like to take a trip to somewhere outside the US, for about a month, for about $1k, during an undecided time of the year. Where are two or three good places to go and what are some good things to do for a single mid-20's dude who's looking for general first-time traveler stuff and a little culture shock?
posted by philomathoholic to travel & transportation (25 comments total)

I doubt you will get much further than a place like baja with your budget. spending a month on 1k means backpacking. europe is out, the weak dollar being the main reason (not that it would be enough at some other time), as is, I suppose, canada.
posted by krautland at 2:39 AM on December 30, 2007

how about $3k? backpacking is ok.
posted by philomathoholic at 3:02 AM on December 30, 2007

Does that 1k include airfare? Or is it the cost of getting somewhere + 1k?
posted by Arbac at 3:03 AM on December 30, 2007

Guatemala is good for this, especially for a first time traveler. It's a bit cheaper than Mexico. I spent about 2 months there with a side trip to Honduras, my budget (after airfare) was about $1000 per month. This was three years ago, prices may be higher now.

Guatemala is good for mountains, hiking, history, ruins, markets, learning Spanish, etc. I stayed in a couple different places for a week to study, otherwise you might run out of major attractions to do if you're constantly on the move.
posted by bluejayk at 3:06 AM on December 30, 2007

You could easily backpack Europe for under 3k including airfare. Especially if you go on off-peak times. And for that, you can go anywhere in Europe and get a healthy dose of culture shock.
posted by wile e at 3:56 AM on December 30, 2007

$1K does not include airfare: Thailand! Good place for intro-traveling: very different but still accessible/safe, great food, great weather, easy to get from place to place.
$1K total: Caribbean or Latin America. Guatemala (above) sounds good, perhaps the Dominican Republic would be cheaper to get to. Depends what you're into, I guess.

Backpacking and hostels is fun and all but I really really recommend couchsurfing (.com) to get the most cultural exposure and, well, value. Have used this now in 3 continents to meet and stay with people who really know and love the places they live in. Never a disappointment yet.
posted by whatzit at 4:33 AM on December 30, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

No problems living on $35 a day for a month backpacking in Europe. Staying at youth hostels and keeping to the cheaper southern or eastern countries will go a long way. If your $3K budget is OK, then you can also get a 1 month Eurail pass for around $760, but there are cheaper options depending on where you will be traveling. That should leave you with > $1K for getting there and back, which will be more than enough if you don't care what city you start in. Roundtrip flight for $700 would leave you with around $500 spending money above what it would cost to sleep, eat and travel.
posted by qwip at 4:48 AM on December 30, 2007

If you can spend $3K and you're looking for both culture shock as well as overall cheapness while traveling, I'd suggest that you head to India.

Even though I've been all over Africa and a good part of the Middle East, something about India has really hit a nerve in me, so much so that I'd like to move there for an extended period of time someday.

Its a wonderful country, you'd get the culture shock you see (Boy Howdy would you!!) but still in controllable doses. You could chose to spend all your time in only Bombay (like I did), or travel about. And after you've gotten there it's one cheap place.

As I live in Europe I'm not sure what travel from the West Coast would cost you, but I'd find it hard to believe you couldn't low end it for less than $1K.
posted by Mutant at 4:52 AM on December 30, 2007

Oh, and per whatzit, Thailand is a great place to travel, but it is also hot. I only say this because you are thinking of backpacking and carrying around your life on your back when it is 100 F and humid, that isn't always fun. The upside is that the weather allows you to travel extremely light (pair of shorts, a pair of cotton fisherman pants, sandals, and a few shirts is all you need - though covered shoes are required for some temples). Food, travel, and lodging will be ridiculously cheap by US standards.

I just came back from Thailand and it is currently the cool season, but it was pretty damn hot in the south. Chiang Mai was beautiful. Also need to be aware that Malaria is very present, as well as Dengue. Need to factor in prophylactic medication for Malaria and lots of bug spray to avoid Dengue. To say that you get eaten alive by the mosquitos is, well, understating.

You could do the whole trip in Thailand and eat/sleep well, including airfare, for under $2K.

The upside for Thailand is you'll be forced to learn some Thai and you will be functionally illiterate (as the alphabet is indecipherable, as opposed to sounding out French or German based on the roman alphabet). The downside is that most of the tourism seems to be based on visiting temples, or Wats, and going to a beach. If you like hanging out in the cities and touring the markets, eating at street vendors, etc. it is amazing, but I couldn't do that for a month. Someone else may have a better understanding of what you can do on the cheap as a tourist in Thailand, but I found Europe to be more interesting for an extended period of time. If I spent a month in Asia I'd try and see Vietnam, Cambodia, etc as well - not just Thailand.
posted by qwip at 5:15 AM on December 30, 2007

FYI, there is no malaria in Thailand, save an area along the Burmese border. It's a great, cheap place to travel, probably one of the best values in the world, and full of young guys on their first trip. but your $1k will only get you to the bangkok airport, so you might want to save that for another time.

For now, I'd recommend Guatemala: you could get a ticket for around $500 and then live for $20/day once you're there.
posted by lunasol at 6:04 AM on December 30, 2007

If you expect to pay for travel out of that $1K in addition to living expenses, I am afraid that you are bound to be disappointed. I agree with the others: $3K is a much more reasonable target -- unless you like sleeping under bridges.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:50 AM on December 30, 2007

What whatzit said.
posted by furtive at 6:58 AM on December 30, 2007

Also, for Thailand I was there for five weeks during the dry season and only encountered two mosquitos. I didn't go to Chang Mai but I was in the south on a lot of islands. I still used a mosquito net most nights and took malaria pills.
posted by furtive at 7:00 AM on December 30, 2007

Why leave the country? Go to Puerto Rico, Vieques specifically. It's one of the last, undeveloped places you'll be able to visit without a passport. I went during the summer, and my friends and I stood on pristine beaches with not a single other person visible for miles and miles. $1k will last you for weeks - the biggest expense is renting a Jeep to go offroad (about $40-50/day, you can haggle).

The locals said that Donald Trump was trying to buy property. Even if that's not true, it won't be long before the hotel chains start moving in.
posted by exhilaration at 8:46 AM on December 30, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

The best place hands down for someone doing their first international travelling is Western Europe, but as others have said it will cost you a minimum of $50/day on the ground.
posted by tkolar at 8:54 AM on December 30, 2007

You know, you might qualify for a place on http://www.bunac.org/

Like the others suggested, Thailand maybe even Vietnam or India. Europe can get kinda exxy; you'd be lucky to get a bed for the night on $30/day... But there are a few opportunities to work your stay. If you get something like Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet) http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Europe-Shoestring-Vivek/dp/1740593146 ...

Culture shock will likely be anything outside of US/Canada tbh...
posted by ladiorange at 12:10 PM on December 30, 2007

Wherever you go consider making plans via couchsurfing.com. This is a great way to save money on lodging, especially if you're planning to move around a lot. You also get the benefit of having a local perspective on things (staying in someone's house vs. a hotel) and you have a built-in source of local advice. Even if you don't use couchsurfing to find a place to stay, it's also a good resource to find people in the area interested in meeting travelers. When we went to Coimbra (Portugal) we stayed in a hotel, but we contacted a local through couchsurfing who ended up showing us a great time, and got us in to places we never would have known about on our own (like a students' commune, an underground restaurant, etc.)

Also if you're associated with a university (student or faculty) try studentuniverse.com which has great deals on tickets, even without a lot of advance purchase time.
posted by tractorfeed at 12:18 PM on December 30, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

On that sort of budget, think 'volunteer vacation.' Something with room and board.

Spain has an Englishtown: in exchange for speaking English to fantastically friendly Spaniards, you get an all-expenses paid week in a four-star Spanish villa (all you need to do is fly to Madrid). As it turns out, there are four separate Englishtowns in Spain, and you could do them all, back-to-back. You talk to actual people, a cross-section of modern Spain: managers of pig farm empires, PhD students in heroic bloodshed action movies, computer programmers, guttermouth grandmothers, etc. I had a ball.
posted by laughinglikemad at 1:15 PM on December 30, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

I'd also highly recommend Guatemala. Lots of interesting indigenous markets, small villages, ruins, etc. but if you get tired of that you can hop on over to Antigua for a mini-european city at 1/3 of the prices and plenty of ruins. Or you can go hang out with the expat hippies around Lake Atitlan, which is absolutely beautiful. Or climb a volcano and see flowing lava....

My warning, though, is to really know what you are getting yourself into if you are traveling on a budget - particularly because you say you are a first-time traveler. Yes, you can certainly get by with $20 a day in a place like Guatemala, but if you are used to typical US-style vacations, you will be miserable if you aren't prepared for it. For $20 a day you won't be able to eat in restaurants exceppt for the very cheapest, you probably won't have enough to do cool stuff that costs money, will be riding chicken buses for transport, and, most importantly, you WILL NOT HAVE HOT SHOWERS. This really makes a difference after a few days. Some people are completely fine with all of this, just be aware that you won't be able to live like you are probably used to. On the other hand, if you are able to budget slightly more, you can get really cheap, high quality accommodations/meals - a $20-25 room over there is probably equivalent to a $100 room over here.
posted by btkuhn at 1:26 PM on December 30, 2007

It's totally possible to have hot showers in Antigua, Guatemala for under $20 a day. There are a couple of hostels there with hot showers, and they cost about $7 a night, including breakfast. Try The Black Cat or Jungle Party.
The big question is how much booze do you drink? Backpackers tend to be a hard drinking crowd, and it can quickly add up.
posted by conifer at 2:47 PM on December 30, 2007

I also recommend doing central america. for instance, you can get a flight to Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica or DR for under $350 with all taxes. That leaves you $650-700 or so for the month, which should be enough if you are careful. Also, you can find language schools for far less than that.

I would avoid Puerto Rico - i don't know why an above poster suggested it. It is extraordinarily expensive compared to the other countries listed.

You may consider taking a bus from a more expensive Lat. American country (CR) to a poorer one as well. For instance, Nicaragua is VERY cheap.
posted by waylaid at 2:48 PM on December 30, 2007

My friend, I would consider Cuba, if you can get there... Also, if you're near a coastal region, think about getting on a boat south. You could even, if you really want to make your time there as good as possible, set up a job. I don't think there's much problem with the TEFAL system; go teach English as a foreign language anywhere in the world, get a little money for it, and once you're there, go traveling. And Nicaragua is cheap for two reasons, both making it a more interesting place than Puerto Rico, IMO. Say hi to the Sandanistas for me... :)
posted by omnigut at 3:21 PM on December 30, 2007

Try a language school in Centrla America. You will learn a lot of spanish, live with a host family that will feed you, and definetly pay less than $700 for a month.
posted by waylaid at 3:26 PM on December 30, 2007

nth-ing Couchsurfing.com. It's completely changed the way I travel. Hosting is awesome too.
posted by quiet at 7:08 AM on December 31, 2007

Awesome folks, thanks for the responses!

I'm leaning more towards Thailand or India. It's hard to get excited about Central America.
posted by philomathoholic at 11:54 PM on December 31, 2007