Traveling for less than one hundred dollars per month is an absurd budget. If you think about it from a western point of view, that’s not even enough money to pay rent for a week, so how is someone suppose to live on that for a month abroad? I don’t know, it’s almost incomprehensible, but I met a few people doing just that. They weren’t dirty, grimy, or shifty westerners though. They were usually travelers from countries with a lower income level than in the West. They of course want to travel too, so they had to get creative with their budget and work as they go.

Those that have tried to meet this budget tell me that they never want to travel any other way. When you must earn money and cut corners to get by, you get to know the locals and the culture at a more intimate level and experience things in a whole new way. Learning to travel for less than rent may be the new way of traveling.

If you’re not looking to be this budget crazy, read over my post about general budgeting and saving (coming soon…)

5 Tips to Travel for Less than $100 a month budget:

• Hitch hike. Use caution and know your area, but bus and air travel are one of the biggest expenses while traveling. If you can avoid it, don’t pay it. Hitch hiking is also a great way to meet locals and sometimes earn a free meal.

• Couchsurfing. A great website that allows you to sleep at local houses in exchange for a little work or nothing at all. It’s a great way to meet locals and learn about the city more deeply.

• Work Exchange and Volunteering. There are a lot of dumb pay-to-volunteer opportunities out there. Avoid these. Sites like HelpX.net and WorkAway.info are great ways to find real volunteer and work opportunities that allow you to exchange your time for a room and board or maybe a paycheck. You’ll be teaching English, rebuilding communities, working in hospitality, doing labor, etc, and you’ll be getting to know the area, the people, and the volunteers for longer periods of time and making longer lasting connections. This is a must on a tight budget, covering hostel costs and food is covering 90% of a tight budget.

• Negotiate and Haggle. It’s so obvious, but haggle for everything. The price is almost always negotiable, and you’ll be surprised how much you can save by simply asking. Pennies turn into dollars and dollars turn into serious savings.

• Don’t Drink. Alcohol is the biggest waste of money on a tight budget. A local meal in Thailand costs less than a dollar, but the national beer costs $2. Go out at night and drink some tea instead, and you’ll rally to the break of dawn.

Finding an actual job is worth noting but may be too obvious. There are jobs all over southeast Asia for travelers and expats, especially in cities. Many travelers find work teaching English or working at a hostel, but other professional jobs exist as well if you’re not picky about location. With the small earnings you make, you’ll be able to easily travel on weekend and vacations without dipping into the original budget. Australia also offers one year working visas to many countries, and this is a very popular way to travel and work simultaneously.

For more budget tips, see LINK TO COME SOON

Find more advice on budgeting and saving money, see these sites.

• Reddit – /r/showstring
• Rick Steves – Thrifty 50 Travel Tips
• NOMADasaurus – 10 Tips For Sticking to Your Travel Budget
• BeMyTravelMuse – What 6 Month Traveling in SE Asia Cost Me

The post Travel Budgeting 103 — 5 Tips to Travel for Less Than $100 a Month appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.

1. Almost all apps operate perfectly on Wi-Fi only. The exceptions being calls and text, of course. Read my other post, Best Backpacker Travel Apps for Free, for the best travel apps. They are all offline or Wi-Fi based.
2. GPS still works without service and without data.
3. Bring a plug adapter with USB ports to make your life easy, and bring an external battery for extra life in a pinch.
4. The camera in your Galaxy or iPhone is just as good as any point and shoot camera. Save yourself the weight and leave the little camera at home.
5. International plans are available from major American providers, but they are generally expensive (additional $40/month).
6. There are international data providers in the region you’re traveling. If your phone is unlocked, you just need to change SIM cards and pay a new company. Most are pay as you go, have no contracts, and are very cheap! Do the research and find the right company for you.
7. New regional data plans and SIM cards can be brought after you arrive in the country from a huge variety of stores. They are super cheap.
   1. Example data plan: Malaysia, CELCOM company, XPax Magic SIM card, 2.5 Gb/month of 4GLTE service plus text and calls from a Malay number for $10/month plus $2.50 for the SIM card.
8. Most cell phones, especially new 4G phones, come unlocked now including all iPhone 5’s and 6’s. This means you can easily put in a SIM card from an international provider.
9. As of 2014 and the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, all phones that have been paid for must be unlocked by the carrier on request. Many companies now ask you to pay for the phone in installments over time so they can get around this.

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Even though we don’t want to have a data and phone plan abroad, that doesn’t mean we should ditch the phone entirely. This is the 21st century and a thousand little convenient tools can all be used with the smart phone. With a proper tool kit of apps on your phone, you’ll find yourself surprisingly prepared for travel anywhere.

Below are the best apps to make traveling easier and better.

Maps.ME: [Offline Maps]  #1 Must have backpackers app. This off-line map/GPS app was a godsend in every country we visited. Not only were we navigating busy cities like a local, we were following trails, finding lesser known attractions, and spotting emergency toilets like a pro. All the locations on the app are crowd-sourced, you can add locations of your own or simply add and share personal locations with their simple interface and tools.

Google Translate: [Universal Translator] There are no good offline translate apps. Google Translate at least allows you to save a list of your favorite translations for offline reference. Do the research on Wi-Fi in the hostel and you’ll be butchering the language to the local’s amusement in no time. If you want an offline app, consider a basic English to Other dictionary app.

XE Currency Exchange: [Updated exchange rates] Don’t get screwed, reference this app. Of course this app does not work offline, since rates change everyday, but it’ll keep the old data saved for reference till you do fond Wi-Fi. Set up your preferences to view the currencies you’ll be using and refresh. Easy.

Hostelworld: [Hostel and hotel booking] Comparable to Agoda, AirBnb, Hotels.com and Booking.com, but I found that Hostelworld had the best rates, the easiest interface, the most reasonable options for a backpacker, and the best and most honest rating system. Hostel with 8.0 rating and less than $10/night? Sold.

Bank and Credit Card apps: Get them, use them, love them. It’s easier and faster than the web for checking on your finances. Read our post on credit cards and banks for useful travel tips (coming soon).

Hangouts Dialer: [Free Wi-Fi dialer] Call anywhere in the United States or Canada for FREE using Wi-Fi. No mutual friendship required. I couldn’t believe it either when I heard it. This app saved me when I needed to call my banks and possible employers who didn’t have WhatsApp

WhatsApp: [$0.99 to call or text any contacts] Texting and Calling between mutual friends on WhatsApp. Super convenient and super easy.

Dropbox: [Photos and file sharing] A must have for backing up photos and videos on the go. It’s also a great way to share high res photos with friends all at once by simply sending them a link. (I’ve recently heard that Google Photos is making this even easier, more organized, and more accessible.) Dropbox is also great for sharing media files like movies and music.

AirAsia App: [Flights] It is the worst app to work with but if you’re flying around SE Asia on a dime, you’re most likely gonna be flying AirAisa. Fortunately, the app works better than the mobile site, so be glad about that. Also, always check AirAsia’s direct rates before booking through any third party for the same flight.

Kayak and Skyscanner: [Budget flight finder] Besides AirAsia itself, these are the two apps with the best deals on airfare consistently.

Google Keeps: [Notes and bucket lists] Write down names, emails, and notes in a second. Our memory is crap, but if it’s written down, it’s forever. Google keeps isn’t the best notes app in many categorizes, but its simple, online, offline, and sharable.

Facebook: [Friends and relationships] Maybe you’re trying to get away from social media, but 98% of travelers have one and it’s the easiest way to keep in touch with travel friends.

Spotify: [Music] If you can afford it, you can have all the music you need saved offline for listening on the go.

Podcast Addict: [Podcasts and music] Podcast are a great way to spend a long bus ride. Try listening to RadioLab, Hardcore History, Serial, or Dirtbag Diaries. There’s a podcast for every taste if you Google it.

Play Books: [Paperless Books] Googles basic eReader app is perfect for reading .epub or .pdf files on the go. It even includes a great internal offline dictionary. Books are heavy and phones use battery, so it’s good to have a book in both categories. Nothing is sadder than ten hours on a bus without a book.

If anyone wants to suggest more apps, post them in the comments. It’s a great feeling when you find a good app to make life so much easier.

Other sites for travel apps:

• 10 Best iPhone Apps for the Outdoors
• 20 Travel Apps You Should Never Be Without
• 21 Best Damn Travel Apps for Backpacking
• 15 Best Free Travel Apps for Backpackers

The post Best Backpacker Travel Apps for Free appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.

The next day, we woke up early and made the trek up a nearby mountain to watch the sunrise from a very tall peak. The view was spectacular and fog was rolling over the nearby peaks constantly. We waited around at the top for the fog to dissipate, but had no such luck. Oh well; it was beautiful anyway. Tock stole the phone for a stealthy selfie at one point.

The rest of the day was spent chatting and playing with an adorable hostel kitten. We were throwing a crumpled piece of paper for him and he was attacking it, then growing bored. At one point, he learned if he brought the paper back to Grant, it would get thrown again. Success, we taught him fetch!

The next day, it was time to hop back on a bus and head further north for more trekking in a new city.

Until the next post!

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When we arrived in the city, we looked for a quick taxi ride to our hostel, but instead got a taxi with a fixed meter and got scammed out of $3 before we even knew where we were. Oh well, these are the lessons you learn quickly in every new city. In hind sight, we've learned not to trust any of the taxis in Vietnam, except for solid green taxis.

Day one was laid back. Besides dinner, we drank coffee and played cards till it was time to kick back with beer instead.

The next day was Danielle's birthday! We visited a millennium old university, a fine art gallery with some great silk art on the top floor, looked at the Soviet meets French meets Chinese architecture of the government buildings and The Ho Chi Mihn mausoleum, and finally went to a water puppet show.

The whole day was made complete with great food. Lunch was eaten on the ground with the local street vendors and dinner was a fine western meal at Green Tangerine.

The last day was spent eating and walking. That night we visited a collection of the local party hostels and rooftop bars for beers and merry making. It was Christmas Eve after all…

The food in Hanoi was absolutly unreal. Besides the normally absolutely delicious pho, bun bo, fried meat donuts, etc, we tried quite a few new dishes.

Bun Cha (a favorite of ours) is a dish that consists of individual plates of cold rice noodles, beef meat balls, fried spring rolls, greens, delicious broth, and a small personal bowl. You take all the ingredients, combine them in your bowl and add chili and garlic. Eat. Repeat. Enjoy.

If you ever visit this city, look up the local food and where to get it. We did our own unorganized food tour and it is worth the extra effort (walking from place to place). If you're eating fried rice here, you're doing it wrong.

Next up Cat Ba Island in Holong Bay.

Thanks for reading,

Grant and Danielle.

P.S. Sorry for the huge gap between posts with little communication. We post when we can (when Internet allows) and we are pretty far behind right now. I hope we can catch up during a rainy or laundry day soon.

The post Hanoi – Puppets, Cuisines, and the Holidays. appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.

We made it in one piece and decided to wander for some food. Our friend was meeting us way later for dinner and drinks (shout out to Connor for being such a great guide!) so we had an afternoon to kill. We headed over to the War Remminance Museum (use to be War Crimes Museum) which was quite an experience. Mostly photos and stories, it painted a picture of the brutality of the French occupation of Vietnam as well as the aftermath from the “American War” as it is called over here. Especially intense is the reality of agent orange victims, and how multiple generations of people are still affected today.

Then we decided to head over to an open market for something authentic to eat. We ordered bahn mi sandwiches and some weird sweet milk gummy thing. The sandwich was delicious; the drink was….interesting. It was the first time either of us had beans in our milk ha.

The rest of our time in the city consisted of exploring and learning about food, history, culture, and the some inner workings of the city itself. One mesmerizing activity is to sit and watch the chaos of the traffic circles around town. I had flashbacks of the madness at UCSB that was created by freshman utilizing the bike paths for the first time. This was similar, but much busier and more deadly. We never saw a single accident however.

When we wanted to relax and weren't watching traffic circle madness, we were most likely people watching in the park. Usually at some point, a group of Vietnamese students would wander up to us and ask if they could practice their English. This turned into a lively back and forth – Grant and I asking about different phrases, local food to try, and scams to avoid. Them asking about grammar, pronunciations, and our backgrounds. We came out of it with local insight and they caught a glimpse into the lives of two Americans. It was a very pleasant experience.

One thing we loved, as per Connors recommendation, was a banana, avocado, soursops smoothie. It was delicious! Much better than the sweet milk thing we had before. Now I know that sweet avocado is something I will recreate.

The final morning in the city, we ended up taking another cooking class. We created fresh spring rolls with prawn on top, sticky rice dumpling things, and BBQ beef wrapped in betel leaves. Yum!

On the final night in the city we saw the AO show at the opera house. It was a cirque du soleil style performance that portrayed daily village/farming lifestyle of Vietnamese people. Only native instruments were used for the live music. The stage and props were built with things that village folks would use in everyday life. Structures were created and broken down in front of our eyes with long bamboo poles and scarfs used to tie it all together. The performers were amazing athletes. At one point, every performer was holding different sized bamboo pieces in place vertically so women could walk along the top of the pieces as easily as if there were stairs below her. It is difficult to convey how awesome the show was.

After the show, we walked back to our hostel, grabbed our bags, and caught a night train to the next city: Da Lat. Such is the life of a traveller.

Danielle and Grant

The post Ho Chi Minh City? Saigon? Both? appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.

We stayed in a bungalow that came equipped with its own frog to nab all of the bugs…score! We were told there was a ceremony going on at the monkey temple down the street so we decided to check it out. No monkeys were seen, but we did meet some nice locals that ushered us into the festival, almost involuntarily, and they gave us a strange, slimy white (fruit?) dish that was sweet and not unpleasant. We communicated via gestures and figured out the festival was honoring Buddha, we think.

We wandered on at this point and found a series of rickety stairs and ladder combination that led up the shear cliff of a mountain. We had to see what was at the top. After seven different levels, we climbed up to the mouth of a cave, and as the sun was setting at this point, bats were chattering and flying around the opening. It was a great find. Two feral dogs escorted us back to our bungalows as we wandered back through the jungle.

The next day we decided to trek into the jungle on the Tan Sawan waterfall hike. The first few km were along a service road. Then, it was jungle trail for the rest of the trek. We were weaving around a trail that loosely followed the river. Up and down we went for miles. Every so often, there was a beach access point or waterfall that we could hike to from the main trail. There was some gorgeous landscape to see. On one such beach, I was eating lunch and noticed blood coming through my pant leg. Crap, what was that from? I lifted my pants up and two fat leeches were happily sucking away at me. I yelled at Grant to come over and pry it off me while simultaneously trying to flick off another one that was cruising up my shoe. I thought leeches lived in water, what the hell was this? My California creature knowledge didn't cover this possibility. We got them off, did a quick body check, and got the hell out of there. Later, we decided to tuck our pants into our socks to ward off any others. Good luck to the tourists we saw with sandals and shorts on.

The views were worth the 10 or so leech bites we gathered. We heard birds and insects chattering away the whole time we were there. At one point we came across a flock of hornbills that were noisily following one another. It was an awesome hike. At the end of the day Grants phone read 14 miles total, and all our clothes were soaked in sweat. On top of all of this, and probably the most important part (Grant typing now), we found a Packer fan! What a spectacular day!

The following day we were off to the other entrance of the Khao Sok national park at Chiao Lan reservoir.

We woke up early and headed out to Chiao Lan. The long tail ride from the main pier out to our floating bungalow was amazing. Sheer faces of limestone and sandstone shot out of the reservoir at random. We drove by many islands made of rock and dense jungle vegetation.

The area was dammed in the 1980s and is now referred to as the largest ecological disaster in Thailand's history. The reservoir filled up with 6 months. Because it filled up so quickly, a large number of animals were displaced or trapped on islands. A conservationist attempted to save the trapped animals, but the combination of stress and limited resources in the relocation areas caused the majority to die. He ended up killing himself due to the failure of this project.

Regardless, it was a beautiful area. About 20 minutes into our boat ride it started POURING. We were soaked within a minute or so. I looked back at our longboat driver who was under a protective canopy and he laughed and waved at our situation. “Good luck!” he yelled. Another crew member walked up and collected all our valuables to put into a dry bag he had on hand. “No rain until today!” he said while laughing. I'm glad someone was amused. Soaking wet and cold (the first time in two weeks!) we arrived at our bungalows. The lake water was warmer than the air at this point so we hung our clothes, changed into bathing suits and hopped in the water.

After, we did a short jungle trek with multiple river crossings (up to my neck!). Our guide Guy (or “chicken”, as some tourists call him) was a very pleasant Thai man who did this trek daily. He knew all about the surrounding land and stopped a few times to scope out noises only he could hear. We were led to a cave that was incredible. There we saw spiders as big as our hands and tons of bats. My favorite memory of the giant cave spider was watching one prance away after we knocked the stick he was on. It was out of a cartoon, and any fear I had at the time slipped away.

We then cruised back to our bungalow for some beer drinking and lake floating for the rest of the evening.

The next day we explored for gibbons and dusky langurs (a type of monkey with a long tail). The trick to spotting them is to look for abnormal branch rustling amongst the trees. We ended up seeing many of both species.

After all of this, it was time to depart. The long tail boat ride out was gorgeous, and dry thankfully. We made it back to our bus, and when we were back in town celebrated the trip with two large coconut shakes.

Danielle and Grant

PS : We posted a link to our Dropbox folder with all the higher quality photos on Facebook. The photos are added in culsters and tagged with a dated folder. Feel free to go through these if you'd like to see better photos.

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While I was chatting with a friend I was questioned about my desire to quit my job, move out of my house in Santa Barbara, and go on this trip. A million reasons started flying through my head including: the money is sitting in my savings account, work is becoming less challenging, and the fact that I love Asian food. The question stopped me in my tracks. I almost felt as if I needed to justify my actions because I have it so great currently. Why was I dropping my life completely to heading into the unknown?

As of now, I would consider myself successful. I found a job right out of college. I am supporting the lifestyle I want within beautiful Santa Barbara County. I have the luxury of being able to explore wherever I want on the weekends. And it’s all been going great…except for the itchy feet syndrome. Some of you may know what I’m talking about. Others will think I am crazy. It started out as a slight tickle and has slowly crept up to inflict my brain. The “next trip” has been in the back of my mind ever since graduating at UCSB. The weekend excursions backpacking around California and even the epic out of state trips I have had the pleasure of being a part of (I have some awesome friends) have not been cutting it.

As luck would have it Grant, my lovely boyfriend, thought travelling in November would work perfectly with his schedule. November is the also time I hit the two year mark of working for the state, which is about where I wanted to be to leave anyway. The “what if” conversations morphed into “when is this happening” over the past couple of months. Cheap flights were found, and lo and behold, a date was set to fly into Bangkok on November 10, 2015.

So far we have covered:

• the who – Grant and myself
• what – adventure of a lifetime
• when – November 10^th
• where – Thailand and beyond
• how – airplane
• why – see above and below (and the reason for the rambling nature of this post)

The rest of the why: I need a challenge. I want to be uncomfortable. I am looking forward to getting lost in a county that I won’t be able to speak the language within. I am ready to LEAP outside my comfort zone. Maybe I won’t have a comfort zone after this trip is over. Who knows… What I do know is that we live on a big planet. One I have seen very little of. I know this trip will be a humbling experience that can open my eyes to different cultures and lifestyles. I love learning and the world is the ultimate classroom. Bring it on Asia!

Some questions you may have:

When are you arriving? We will touch down on lovely, humid Thai soil on November 12th.

Where else are you going besides Thailand? We have a flight scheduled into Vietnam on December 5th. Other than that, we will be travelling to as many countries as make sense. I want to get immersed into the culture as much as possible so we may be travelling between countries slowly. I also want to see as much as possible so certain times may go quickly as well. We will see how it goes once we are there and move on accordingly.

Why southeast Asia? Jungle trekking, serenity, climbing, food, elephants, chaos, diving, public transportation. Is there more we could ask for?

When are you getting back? At this point it is up in the air. We are thinking sometime between February and May. Yes I am trying my hand at NOT being a compulsive planner, thank you for noticing.

Do you have all your shots? Check. And pills for malaria.

Can we get into contact with you while you are over seas? We will not have working cell number. You can always reach me by personal email. We will have a texting app called What’sApp that you can also talk to us on. Reach out to me beforehand to snag the info.

Can I get a postcard from you? Yup! Give us an address and we will be sure to send out one along our travels.

We will be updating this blog throughout our trip for your enjoyment (as well as our mother’s sanity). Grant will handle informative posts about our aspect of the trip for everyone interested in logistics (how-to’s as well as where to go). I will be updating you about our personal experiences. We will both be taking tons of pictures and some of them will be uploaded here. I will send out a facebook notification when we update this site so you can stay in the loop. If anyone is interested in an email shoutout about a new post going out, subscribe to our blog on the left.

Thanks for reading

Danielle

The post New Beginnings appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.