Chinese heart

Lately, mostly because of the many trips I made last summer, many people asks me "how can you travel so much? Where do you get the money? travelling is so expensive!"

Well, it's true that travelling is not cheap, but it is also true that, depending on what conditions one is willing to accept, it can be much cheaper than it usually is. Can be even cheaper than not traveling, as I explained in the first post, when I compared the cost of coming China to spend three months or staying the same three months in Madrid in a rented room.

Most people when traveling are used to travel by plane, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants... Which is very nice and convenient, but also expensive.

How can I travel cheaper then? How can I afford to make so many trips while being unemployed?

The expenses of making a trip are mainly three: round-trip transportation, lodging, and food.

Regarding transportation, options are usually airplane, train or bus. I personally don't usually travel by bus, because I feel it to be very very uncomfortable. Whilst I really enjoy travelling by train, and I don't mind at all making long journeys by plane, a journey by bus taking longer than two hours can leave me dizzy and not being able to enjoy the rest of the day...
The train is the most beautiful and enjoyable means of travelling but, in western Europe, it is also very expensive, even a lot more expensive than flying, so it must often be dismissed as a primary means of transportation, when I'm trying to travel with a low budget.
But, fortunately, as we move away from central Europe, the price of train tickets gets lower and lower, and in some countries, such as Ukraine, Poland or China (many more, I guess, but I'm writing according to my personal experience), trains are very cheap, and using them can save us a lot of money, and also can save us the need to get a hostel, if we travel in sleeper.



As for flying, direct flights are usually quite expensive (not always), but there are companies offering low-cost flights in very specific routes. For example, going from Madrid to Kiev, Ukraine, costs approximately EUR 400 round trip. Going Warsaw, Poland, on the other hand, only costs 200. We need to add a 20 euro train journey from Warsaw to Kiev, and we can get Kiev by EUR 240 instead of 400. But... the train departs from Warsaw at 21:09 and arrives Kiev at 18:21... that's quite a few hours.

There are very cheap dates and very cheap destinations, so if we search carefully on internet, we can find really great deals (a friend of mine travelled recently Madrid-Lisbon, round trip, for 10 euro cents, including taxes... incredible but true). The other option is to look for cheap destinations, close to the one we want to go and travelling the rest of the journey by train or bus. But of course, is always harder, more tiresome, and could cost us several days...

Recently, a friend asked me:
-- "Can you help me find a cheap ticket for -xxx-? I can't find any for less than 1000 euro"
-- "But of course, first to -yyy-, and then to -xxx-, including taxes it's about 500 euro"
-- "Oh, but I want a direct flight, it's too tiring to change planes"

So... I'm afraid you will have to pay 1000 euro. That's ok, anyways, it's all a matter of personal preferences (same as I don't like using the bus).

Lodging is usually a more complicated thing. Not because finding cheap accommodation is difficult, but the quality of cheap hostels will often be something most people aren't willing to accept. I usually have no problems sleeping anywhere, but of course sometimes I don't like some places. For example, in Warsaw, where I spent four days, I found cheap accommodation for a day in the Okidoki hostel (incidentally, the best hostel I have been, it's worth going Warsaw just to have the experience of sleeping there), but there was nothing reasonably cheap for the rest of the time I was there, so finally I spent three nights in a train station in Warsaw, which is very safe, but certainly not the most comfortable place to spend the night, and have a good rest. But it is definitely cheap (free) and much better than sleeping on the street (where I have also spent several nights on other occasions).



In Kiev, I didn't manage to find cheap accommodation either, there was nothing less than 10 euro a night, but I discovered that trains in Ukraine are very cheap. For example, taking a night train from Kiev to Lviv, 10-hour journey, in a sleeper, costs about 3 euros.
So... solution? Stay a day in Kiev, taking the night train to Lviv, arrive in the morning, stay in Lviv one day, and... take the night train back to Kiev.

Sounds weird? Indeed it is. But very cheap.



In Simferopol, southern Ukraine, I found a very cheap hostel, just about 2 euros per night.
But... It was just a big room with a bunch of beds (about 20) where many Ukrainians with not much money came to spend the night in a warm place. We could say it was something like a cheap place for homeless people. Very cheap, yes, but not what we would call "luxurious". There were not any lockers or some place to leave personal things (there usually are in dormitories like this), so I slept with my bag with me inside my bed, under the blanket.



In Beijing, upon arrival, I spent 4 nights before going Guangzhou. And I found very cheap accommodation, just 4.8 euros a night, dinner and breakfast included. Where? In a bath house.
It's a place where you would normally go to get a shower, that's it. But they also offer some other services such as free meals (included in the price) and they have a common room with some beds, where you can rest and take a nap... Or even spend the night.
It's not a hostel, and therefore there is only one small locker to leave your things which can hold a backpack, but definitely not a big luggage.
Also, when you leave the place you must return the key, so it means you have to take all your stuff every time you go out. But still, It's a nice place to spend the night... and take a hot shower, a sauna, and even relax in a Jacuzzi.

Once again .... Very very weird, but also very cheap.



In Guangzhou, I am living in a room rented usually by students, in a house owned by a family of peasants. It's an old house, humble, and big. There are five bedrooms on the first floor (called second floor in china, where the ground floor is considered the first), all rented by university students. The price is 30 euro per month, and personally I love the place, but the conditions are not fit for any European.
Recently, a friend of mine, who lives in Beijing, asked me for my room in Guangzhou and was surprised because of the price, she said "wow, I want to find something like this, too" she said... Until I started describing the bathroom.

Of course, not everyone (european or chinese) can live in a place with a bath like this (this is the bath in my previous apartment in Beijing, not the one I have now, but they are very similar):



Or a kitchen like this (again, my previous room in Beijing):



But... There are actually so many students living in China and all the world in conditions similar and even worse, and it's not a big deal for them. You just need to get used to it.

Food is probably one of my mayor expenses when I travel. Not because I use to eat at expensive places, but because I like trying everything, and I spend the whole day trying different kinds of food and drinks there wherever I go. I mean... everything is so delicious... who could resist?
I don't usually eat in restaurants for foreigners, just on local ones, and the price difference between them is huge (but in those there's not an English menu, or forks -in China-, or 3 waiters just for you, neither of those I need) they don't seem very clean -although there may actually not be a big difference- and you have to try and use the local language. But food in local sites, in my experience, is usually more authentic, less seasoned, and generally much better (and more abundant!) while also up to 50 times cheaper.
Obviously, the language issue may be a problem, but for example, in Ukraine, I just looked at the tables around me, and when I saw something that seemed good to me, I just pointed with my finger and said "I want that" (easy to say in any language) and that's it.



Supermarkets tend to be cheaper, and with plenty of choices, both in ingredients for cooking at home and in precooked food, (not so cheap, but usually affordable), but they have usually local foods which foreigners usually find difficutl to get used to.

Taste is usually something you learn, and it may be difficult trying tastes so different from the ones you are used to, I can assure from personal experience that, after trying and trying, many foods which are difficult to eat at the beginning end up tasting really delicious, and you will even miss them when you return to your country. We must take the first step and take the risk... We are traveling, that's all about it.

It is true that the taste can be trained, and if something in this life is worth training... Well, I can think about other things, but let's say this is one of the most important.

And then again, coming back to this post' theme, you can save lots of money by eating what local people normally eat.

So... travel may be expensive, very very expensive. You can pick a plane first class ticket, in an ultra-comfortable armchair, get to your destination, get a taxi to an expensive hotel, go shoping in shops for foreigners and buy a lot souvenirs for a lot of money, eat at the best restaurants, and even hire a guide or interpreter.
Or you can, taking the other extreme, get a bike and a sleeping bag... and go all around Europe, America, Asia... If you just Google "travel by bike," or something similar, you will be surprised with the overwhelming number of people travelling really long distances like that.



The costs of both ways of travelling are definitely not the same. Nor is the experience of the journey itself, may be better, worse ... Or both.

Do you want to travel? What conditions are you willing to accept?

As most things in life, just a matter of personal preference.