BootsnAll Travel Community

I finally renewed my passport (finally!) and am dying to put some stamps in it. Im a teacher and have about 8 weeks off this summer. My original plan was to visit some friends in England and then go to Bulgaria, because I've never been there before.

Then I started looking at airfare. Sigh. It's been a long time since I flew overseas, and I fear that huge expense. SO, I am pondering different options. And that leads me to ask you, my lovely fellow travellers and travel planners, for suggestions.

Where would you go? How would you stay? If you had 8 weeks (or rather, six, for a 1-week buffer at each end of the summer) and no real funds to speak of, what would you do?

I mean, I'll have a few pennies--probably about $1000, which may or may not include airfare. But without a destination, the idea of a budget is very fluid for me. A working holiday would be great, but I'm too old for the BUNAC, college student opportunities.

Point me in a direction, O Travelling Ones!

I would go to Colombia, Bolivia and/or Peru.

How about an extended road trip? Have you explored the US or Canada by car? If you combine this with camping, you can go a fairly long way, see quite a bit and not spend too much money.

Another possibility -- I'm not sure how long you have been a teacher -- but you could apply for a Fulbright Teacher Exchange. Though the deadline for this year has already passed, it is something to keep in mind for the future. You could explore this as something for 2009....

There is still time to apply for some non-Fulbright summer programs -- though most of the deadlines are February 28th -- so you would have to get organized quickly if you are interested: Other Exchange Possibilities.

$1000 is after airfare, I hope. For eight weeks, that breaks down to $125/week, or under $20/day. That is going to be your biggest limitation. You can't even really get by in Mexico on that budget. In the Americas, the only places that fit would be Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, or one of the Andes countries in South America (definitely not Chile though).

I'd cut the trip down to three or four weeks, and concentrate on enjoying it rather than stretching it as long as possible. If you really break it down, you can live in a hovel on the beach in Mexico, eat rice and beans and avocados, and survive for a few dollars a day, but is that what you want out of your vacation?

i would second nicaragua or colombia. both are pretty cheap. i'd avoid costa rica, panama, and maybe peru. to give you an idea of costs, the 5 nights i spent in the corn islands of nicaragua (supposed to be some of the more expensive parts of nicaragua) was only $200 more than the 1.5 nights i spent in costa rica.

I don't think you can get by on $20 per day in Colombia. Transportation costs will kill your budget there. Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia are all valid South American options though.

I would spend that time in Central America, mostly because the distances are shorter (so cheaper transportation) and the flights to get there are cheaper. I would do your best to raise more than 1000 dollars though, if at all possible!

Anyways, I would spend your time in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras, traveling very slowly - maybe try and do some volunteering (as a teacher there should be many options for you) or WWOOFing (there are WWOOFing opportunities in Costa Rica and possibly elsewhere in the region.) If you can spend 4 weeks doing that, you should have close to $1000 dollars for an additional month of budget travel which seems much more reasonable to me (and would allow for some splurges.)

The decisions you make will be based on where you live and how much traveling you want to do. Flights from Florida to Mexico or Central America will cost $400+ r/t. Don't count on including airfare into the $1,000 you are budgeting. Traveling around will increase your expenses. However, if you look around, you can get an apartment for a few weeks or a month for cheaper than driving around. I personally liked Honduras where you can visit the ruins of Copan and go to the Bay Islands for some relaxed diving/snorkeling.

Do some research on flight prices. Depending on many factors they can skyrocket or plummet. Several years back, I got a r/t flight to Singapore for $825 taxes included - you won't get that now.