Author: Sean Keener

Budget Travel: This Week on BootsnAll

Traveling on a budget and getting the most bang for your travel expenditures are extremely common themes here at BootsnAll. It’s not that we’re cheapskates, we just know that the kinds of indie travel experiences we love most often come when you’re traveling “close to the ground” – which means not insulating yourself from local culture in a 5-star hotel. Being conscious of your travel budget can mean making sure your money is going into the local economy whenever possible, rather than to big chains. Spending less usually means being able to travel longer, too, which is definitely something we support.
Okay, and sometimes we’re just cheapskates.
This week on Bootsnall, we’re talking about different aspects of budget travel – including different ways you can use Couchsurfing as more than just a free place to stay, and how you can travel around the world for as little as $14 per day! We’ll even explore the idea that budget travel isn’t always the best kind of travel.

Week 8 of the Indie Travel Challenge 2012 is all about budget travel.
This should be a topic that everyone can talk about from some angle – because no matter what kind of trip you take or where you go, there’s a budget involved. Either you struggle with saving money for travel, or you’ve mastered the art of budgeting and have tips to share. Either you let your bank account determine where you go and therefore have great suggestions for budget-friendly destinations, or you decide where you really want to go and then figure out the best ways to save money while there (even if it’s normally a costly spot to visit).
Rather than just making this a simple topic for a blog post, then, this week we’re issuing a challenge:
Find one major expense to cut from your daily life. How much can you save for travel by cutting it? How many other expenses (large or small) could you reduce in order to put that money toward travel?
Share what changes you’re going to make, and we may use your ideas (with a link back to your blog) in an upcoming feature article on BootsnAll!
The Indie Travel Challenge is a year-long blogging project. Every Monday, we’ll post a new prompt, question, or challenge that bloggers can respond to via text, photos, or video. Respond on your own blog, and link back to BootsnAll so we can find and highlight the best submissions. 
Check out the Indie Travel Challenge landing page for all information related to the event. You can see the week’s daily prompt, follow the hashtag on twitter, share your posts, and check out submissions from around the world.
Read more about budget travel:

photo by comedy_nose