Posts Tagged ‘Backpacking’

Backpacking Around Thailand on a Budget

// January 18th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Thailand, Travel Tips


Backpacking around Thailand on a budget is a little harder than in the rest of South East Asia, things have moved up in the world and budgets have gone with it.  But, there are still places to save money and often you’ll get a better deal or experience for it… Bangkok is one of those places, a traveller in the know can get a room and a Thai meal for less than 300b – bang on budget!

Below is a hand picked selection of tips, advice, pictures and our posts about budget travel in Thailand – Hopefully to help you stay on budget and inspire you to travel better.

Pictures From Thailand:

Bangkok with SarahBangkok with Sarah184 pictures


Thailand Posts:                                          Travel Tips:

Slip Sliding down the Khao San Road…………………………………… Make money while you Travel
Bamboo Island Camping…………………………………………………. Off The beaten Track: Thailand
Getting down to Diving on Koh Tao…………………………………..Desktop Wallpaper Download
The Buckets of Haad Rin
The Best Sunset in the World

Thailand Travel Video:

How To Make Money while you Travel

// January 13th, 2010 // 11 Comments » // Travel Tips


Making money while backpacking around the world has never been easier and there are so many different ways available depending on how involved you want to get, if your budget backpacking it can be a really useful way to keep traveling for longer and it doesn’t take a lot to get into. Trust me on this – If your traveling with a purpose then your experience will be so much more!
Here are a few suggestions:

-Blogging.

If your a budding travel writer or interested in on-line communities and want to use that to help fund your travels then Blogging is a great idea which gives you as much freedom as you want. To be able to make Blogging pay for you to go off backpacking you will have to take it seriously, but look at it this way – sitting on a beach sipping a beer writing about the culture of a beautiful place hardly seems like work!
Probably the best resource to get started with this is Nomadic Matt – a traveller who has been backpacking around the world since 2005 and pays for his travels with his Blog, he has all the info you’ll need to get started in his two ebooks – How to make a Travel Blog & Make Money with your Blog.
Monetize your Travel blog

-Teaching English.

If English is your native language then there are plenty of good opportunities to make a bit of cash, not always heaps but enough to get by. If your TEFL accredited then the better paid placements will open up, usually they’re more for the long term (6 months) but this can be a great way to get to the heart of a place. If you like it then it could become a great way to see the world.
Getting TEFL accredited is easy, they offer a Free trial of their – Online TEFL course which can be tailored to suit anyone they also have a wealth of experience helping travellers find jobs in faraway places.

Teach English Abroad

-Writing Short articles for Travel communities.

If you like the idea of writing and being paid for it but you don’t want to deal with the admin of keeping your own Blog then writing short articles for sites like Matador Or Boots n All Is a good option.

Matador is a massive on-line community of travellers doing just that, travelling – writing -getting paid -travelling some more. The MatadorU Travel Writing Course is for people who are serious about making travel writing their career and want a helping hand to get started. The community support is awesome and for bit of inspiration they offer a Free download guide of 15 Paying Travel Magazines that want YOUR travel writing.
These sites don’t always pay a fortune but if you’re in a place already then why not get paid to write about it!? Plus exploring a place with an angle other than sightseeing means you’ll most definitely enrich your experience and see things you would have normally missed.

-Using your Current Skills.

I’ve seen this make backpackers money time and time again, they leave home with a skill set that they never really appreciated but it turns out is extremely useful while on the road. The best money make I’ve seen is Hair Cutting, backpackers set up little signs on their beach huts advertising the fact they can cut hair and charge $5 a pop for a trim… If your staying in busy hostels and budget accomodation this can lead to a line of people all waiting for a trim and a cool $100 or so for your travelling fund! Other skills apply too – Web Designing, Building skills and Photography can all do well too.

“It Takes Two” our article as featured in HipCompass Escapes

// August 4th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Travel Articles

Bac Ha market, Hilltribe Women

Back in August 2008 my fiance and I (Georgina) were traveling through northern Vietnam and stopped in the beautiful mountain town of Sapa. Our $7 room had the feel of an old alpine cottage and unparalleled views of the infinite mountain scenery. We knew instantly we had stumbled over something special, surely one of the most romantic places we’d been on our travels to date.

Whilst drinking in morning coffees and that million dollar view (or seven as the case may be) the chat turned to how we should fill our time in such a beautiful place, that’s when the cracks started to show.

Georgina wanted to make a brutal seven hour bus trip to a remote and rural weekend market in a town called Bac Ha, filled with visions of Flower H’mong hill-tribe people selling everything from dried shrimps to dogs – the “real” Vietnam maybe, she was keen as mustard. I however was not. (more…)

Back in Sihanoukville… Back in Monkey Republic… Back in the game.

// June 29th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Sihanoukville

The Sihanoukville Monkey bunch

With all the constant moving from place to place over the last week it’s a big relief to finally get back to a place where we can dwell for a week… Or two… Monkey Republic!

With the night at the casino behind us we sorted out tickets down to Sihanoukville for the same day, packed up and checked out. It was a scorching hot day in Phnom Penh, by far the hottest I’ve ever been in my life and of course the bus was running late… Huddled together in the shade pouring sweat from places we didn’t know we had – dreaming of getting back to the beach was all that kept me standing.

We had a nice bus, not VIP but plenty good enough and the six hours passed in no time. Excitement about seeing the Monkey bunch again set in as we started to make our way into Sihanoukville as did the feeling of being somewhere where everybody knows your name. (more…)

Bed bus to sardine bus, Vang Vieng-Vientiene-Pakse and then Cambodia.

// June 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Vientiane

Kayaking from Vang Vieng to Vientianne

With a couple of full days resting and recuperation behind us we decided it was time to move on from Vang Vieng. We wanted to get down to the south of Laos and then press on to Cambodia again, the plan was to kayak to Laos sleepy capital Vientiene and then sort the rest out from there so that’s just what we did… Beats a bus ride any day!

To be honest the actual amount of kayaking was minimal and the rest of the journey was done in a minivan but we had fun bobbing down river, over some easy rapids and a BBQ on the riverside. (more…)