For the past few days, my intrepid traveling companion Lee and I have mostly wandered arouind the streets of London and battled jet lag. We have not yet hit our travel stride. We've enjoyed the pubs, yes. We had a good doner kebab. Saw the British Museum and the Tower of London - the medieval weapons collections were heaven for avowed geeks like ourselves. But we are still not really in the groove.
We have been spending like sailors, too, but living like hobos. My (considerable) travel skills were mainly honed in places like Thailand, India, and West Africa, which are, in some ways, difficult places to travel, but are, in others, really easy. The difficulties you can probably imagine, but the easy thing about traveling in the 'Third World' is that, quite simply, I'm rich there, and things are easier when you're rich. I can take taxis wherever I please. I eat at whatever restaurant I want. No national treasure requires such a steep admission that I think, 'I could miss that.' I just pay the four bucks and see the Emerald Buddha, or the Red Fort, or Ankor Wat. But the Tower of London - $30 to get in?! I'm not sure...
I'm also not quite sure how I feel about the fact that I love traveling in places where I'm rich. I feel like much tourism in poorer countries is grounded in a nostalgia for colonialism, where the foreigners lived like kings, and the natives existed to be their servants. Is that why I like traveling in Thailand, or in Ghana? I don't think so... I like those places because the people are so friendly, and the culture seems so much more accessible to a traveler like me. Right?
It's hard to say. All I know is that I'm looking forward to Morocco and Egypt. And I'm not completely sure why.
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Yeah, but isn't ISIC only good for under 26's? Damn kids.
You are looking forward to Morocco and Egypt for exactly the reasons you put forth. Being rich is fun. Also, they are kick ass places (I've heard), as imdancingbarefoot said. I got my first taste of money-fueled power in Argentina, and it's certainly a relief after traveling in post-euro Ireland.
The best money saving tips I can think of for Europe, besides hostels of course, is suck it up and eat at McDonald's and mom-and-pop takeaways a lot. If you're somewhere where there's actually cuisine to be had (hello, tapas), then have it. But the rest of the time (hello, London with the exception of curry) there's no point. So cook your own food in the hostels, have Big Macs the rest of the time, and lie to everyone at home.
Oh, also. Pre-drink.
Jesse! Nice blog. Glad to hear you gave up the motorbike across China idea. This is probably better...and a bit safer.
I concur with my esteemed travel-mate. Traveling places where you are rich does rock, because you really don't have to sacrifice anything while you are there. But if you have to sacrifice something, definitely make it unmemorable Brit food.
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