Budget accommodations - Five lacunas to plan for
Almost all of my travel has been done on a short shoestring budget. It makes no sense to scrimp on expenses related to the things one actually wants to see and experience, so this little fish finds other economical ways of affording travel. One of these is staying in cheap hotels. They need to be safe, but since I spend so little time actually in a room it doesn’t make sense to pay too much.
On my last trip in Peru I tried not to spend not more than $10 a night on a hotel room. This was a habit I picked up while in Guatemala. And the same basic principles applied, if you are willing to forgo five ‘luxuries’, you can easily find a room for $10 or less.
My survey found that usually at least one (but sometimes all five) of these items missing from my budget accommodations:
1) toilet seat
2) soap
3) toilet paper
4) shower curtain/door
5) hot water
If you come prepared, know how to give yourself an effective sponge bath, don’t mind squatting, and aren’t sharing your room with anyone you don’t want to see you naked, then your money can be better spent on transportation, entrance fees, food, and souvenirs. These quirky details add to texture to your story. After all, how many travelers come home talking about the exquisitely soft toilet paper in the room that they didn’t have to buy from the little old lady in the market, the ambrosia scented soap, and those two weeks of divinely hot showers? A five star hotel just isn’t in my definition of an adventure holiday.
On my last trip in Peru I tried not to spend not more than $10 a night on a hotel room. This was a habit I picked up while in Guatemala. And the same basic principles applied, if you are willing to forgo five ‘luxuries’, you can easily find a room for $10 or less.
My survey found that usually at least one (but sometimes all five) of these items missing from my budget accommodations:
1) toilet seat
2) soap
3) toilet paper
4) shower curtain/door
5) hot water
If you come prepared, know how to give yourself an effective sponge bath, don’t mind squatting, and aren’t sharing your room with anyone you don’t want to see you naked, then your money can be better spent on transportation, entrance fees, food, and souvenirs. These quirky details add to texture to your story. After all, how many travelers come home talking about the exquisitely soft toilet paper in the room that they didn’t have to buy from the little old lady in the market, the ambrosia scented soap, and those two weeks of divinely hot showers? A five star hotel just isn’t in my definition of an adventure holiday.
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