How and when I move<br><br>
You have seen everything you want to see and are now ready
to travel to your new destination. How do you do that safely
and relatively inexpensively?
<br><br>
This is dependent on your current country. The general rule
that I follow is to travel the way the locals do. Local people
already know the best routes and modes of transportation.
If you have a couple of choices of what transportation to take,
do your homework and compare some prices. Choosing to
travel during non-peak times in a lower class coach on a week
day could save you some money. Using a student card could
also save you an additional 10 to 15% on the cost of the ticket.
Depending on the way you travel, and your finances, you
could look into buying a pass. Many train and bus lines have a
plethora of different passes that are available to the public.
Make sure that it fits the way you travel. Some passes allow
you unlimited travel within a certain number of days. If you
find that you are spending up to a week or more in one
destination, it may not be economical for you to have this kind
of ticket. However, if you were travelling for only a short time
and wanted to cover large distances this ticket may be worth
the money.
<br><br>
The day that you travel is also important. I generally try to
avoid travelling on Fridays and Saturdays for two reasons.
First, these are the days when the hostels are most likely to be
booked. I like to have a choice of hostels instead of trying to
find the one in town that is empty. The worst case would be
that you could be forced to find more expensive
accommodations such as a hotel or you could end up sleeping
in some bus or train station. Second, if any event is going to
happen, it usually starts on a Friday or a Saturday. You could
end up missing something interesting while riding on the bus,
train, etc.
<br><br>
Sundays are best to avoid as well. When you are arriving in a
new location, a lot of the time you are dependent upon city
transportation and stores being open to find food, information,
etc. On Sundays, many of these services are open for a limited
time. Sundays are okay for finding accommodations since
many people check-out on Sundays to get back to work for
Monday. The optimal time to move cities are from Monday to
Thursday. This way you get access to all services and know
that the stores are open longer hours.
<br><br>
The type of transportation that you take is not important. The
main goal here is to arrive at your destination safety and
relatively inexpensively. Again, use what the local people use
to travel. Here are just some of the modes of transportation I
have taken:
<ul>
<li> Buses (primary source of transportation, usually
cheaper than trains).
<li> Trains (whenever a bus was not available).
<li> Rental car (amazing freedom to explore where tourists
don’t go).
<li> Minivan (Vietnam border crossing).
<li> Speed boat (over 6 hours on the Mek Kong river).
<li> Theonqew (converted pickup trucks in Thailand).
<li> Tuk Tuk (chainsaw engine powered three wheeled
buggies in Thailand).
<li> Elephant (out back in the Asian jungle).
<li> Tram (to some mountain resorts in Malaysia).
<li> Subway/light rail transit (lots of cities have these).
<li> Ferry (going to various islands).
<li> Cruise ship (slept on the floor and partied all night).
<li> Airplane (sometimes the cheapest way to travel –
budget carriers).
</ul>
<br><br>
<br>Internet Search Directories:
<br><a href="http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Travel/Transporta
tion/Air/Budget_Airfares/</a>
<br><br>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-5235665451804270";
/* 728x90, created 1/7/09 */
google_ad_slot = "3071001127";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>