Are the days of cheap spontaneous travel pretty much over?

>>1135501
3000 for a week sounds about right. I like to live a little while traveling.

>>1135501
depends on where you go. over time it's getting more expensive. the golden age of travel was probabl the 70s, when american currency was at its strongest and other countries were a lot weaker. your money would go 4-5 times as far.

from the 90's to the 2010s as well, costs have maybe doubled for non-industrialized countries.

it's still not that expensive though. it just depends.

Well $3000 today is not worth the same amount as $3000 10 years ago. Inflation happens.

Now if you own a hotel or something, or if you are the govt, you feel the effects of inflation and raise prices of things accordingly. But regular people feel inflation a little more slowly, and our perception of what a $20 is worth takes a lot of time to change. Things aren't necessarily getting expensive, its just the money used to buy them is worth less.

>>1135520
>But regular people feel inflation a little more slowly
not disagreeing, but not following you. please explain

>Two days off after I leave work tomorrow
>never traveled and don't know what to do with my free time
>the internet discourages "adventurous" travel for the uninformed

Guess I'll just stay home, then.

>>1135578

Inflation of the U.S currency hasn't been that much. 2% yearly is normal and to be expected.

>>1135501
A number of popular tourist destinations became dangerous and unpopular lately. Like e.g. Egypt. So many remaining destinations became overcrowded and more expensive. But there are still many nice places around the world where you can do a 3 month trip with your $3000.

Quite the opposite actually, at least from a European perspective. Flights are cheaper than they've ever been, and the internet lets people know what possibilities are out there. Can't be sure of course but I doubt I'd have done the travelling I've done if I'd have been a student in the 80s or 90s rather than the early 10s.

>>1135501
not in europe
spend 450 € for one week in morocco just booked flights and went to the hostels and asked for a bed.

in these 450 € is everything included, transport to/from the airport, flight, hostel, food and lol weed.

also eastern europe is pretty cheap

For me its just so easy (and often cheap) today to book accomodations, trains and stuff in advance that i prefer to be safe than sorry. I can still be adventurous in choosing day and night activities while im there.

20 years ago, cost of life in many affordable places like eastern europe, south east asia, south america allowed the live like a King effect.

Now even though those regions are still cheaper, the days of feeling like an emperor are kind of over.

>>1135598
Definitely not discouraging you with my post, just some observations I've seen on my travels. Unfortunately we now have to deal with Chinese and Indian tourists which are the worst... Travel is still awesome and I'm heading out on a multi-year trip at the end of this year.

>>1135672
Yeah I get that and I've pre-booked places during busy seasons as well but I also enjoy traveling where I don't have a set schedule. Sometimes during my planning stage I don't account for things that happen during travels and when I'm in a place for not enough time I wish I could adjust on the fly but I've been noticing this is less and less possible now.

>>1135739
I was recently talking to an older guy who was saying how he traveled from Berlin to Moscow. He said that he stayed in Poland in student accommodation for what amounted to 10 cents a day. That was in the 70s.

My issue isn't so much with wanting to be a king among the poor, it's more to do with the fact that so many people travel these days that it's difficult to adjust on the fly like backpacking really should look like. The sort of travel where if you want to spend more time in a city you just go to the registration desk in a hostel and say you're staying 2 more days...

You can still travel for cheap, it's just harder. Train tickets, airfare, even bus tickets cost more. One thing I notice is more regulation and rules. Used to be you could pull off the road and sleep, or just go in some woods and camp. Now they'll arrest you for that or at least give you a hefty fine. Swimming holes of the past are now regulated no swimming allowed. Shit like that. It's like they're closing the world off behind yellow tape. And a lot of places that used to be free are now charging. Let alone what airplanes enforce as to what you can and cannot bring. Security theater...

>>1135654
Couldn't agree more. Euro travel with low cost carriers is ridiculous. There are destinations in my own country that are more expensive 1 way than a round trip across the continent.

Some careful planning, couchsurfing and all other available cost-cutting measures and you can have a nice weekend somewhere that wasn't planned months ahead.

Not to mentioned the borderless EU.

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Completely agree with OP. Travel to a major tourist destination like Rome or Venice during peak season and all you find are other tourists. Where the hell are the locals? Cities are becoming tourist theme parks instead of living, breathing civilizations.

Years ago you used to be able to find insanely cheap flights if you did things like book the last flight on a Wednesday during off-season two weeks before leaving on a lesser known airline etc etc. Now with computers and all the instant pricing algorithms that's long-gone. The moment a price updates its manipulated to hell and back within nanoseconds to wring every single penny regardless of the flight taken and magically, all the other airlines' prices moved accordingly too.

>>1135501
OP, you need to travel to depressed places, and shoulder seasons.
I recently did a self drive vacation around Nova Scotia, staying at luxurious 4star, B&Bs with honeymoon level plushness and settings, and it was damn cheap. The whole island was for sale. There were 12 room queen anne historical sea captain mansions, fully furnished and for sale all over every town for under $350k. Same properties in any new england town with a former fishing industry is also cheap, as long as its farther than a day's commute from NYC or DC.
For a city example, I recently did the St. Patrick's parade in Chicago for $100/rt from RSW Florida and got a $111/nt double bathroom suite at the Palmer House.
Last week got $150/rt on Delta to and from Hartford, which was a launching ground to from Manhattan, New Haven, Hartford, Providence and july 4th holiday shows. Delta has their own oil refinery, and between them and Fronteir and Allegiant and Jet Blue, should find great deals.
Mid-Sept is a nice time to travel...kids are back in schools...airfares and hotels and tourist destinations are all quiet and cheaper, like half price cheaper. Just test it out with some price checking on places you'd like to go, from Iceland to S. America.

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Money and especially the term "cheap" is relative. In my opinion travel has never really been cheap. As an American going off to other economically well off places like western and Northern Europe is not cheap for me at all. If I want to go there I have to be aware of what I'm spending on a daily basis. On the contrary if I go to SEA or central America I can live like a god.

I'd honestly disagree with your original statement though. Flights seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper, I'm flying to London from Vancouver in a few weeks for under $500 round trip. I'm staying there for a week with a friend, it's an expensive city but considering I won't need to pay for accommodations I don't think I'll spend more more than 1k. But yeah if you want to book a last minute ticket to Paris and stay in nice hotels and eat fancy food for the sake of being spontaneous, it's going to cost you a fortune. Again, it's all relative.

It's totally possible, but you need to avoid the developed countries that are popular tourist magnets. Over time, as more people have the money to travel, prices will inevitably go up in most destinations. You need to find shittier and shittier locations to go.

Real budget travel is still very much possible in a place like Vietnam or Ethiopia where older people and people with families don't generally want to go. Adventure is still possible anywhere that most people think is "dangerous".

>>1135520
>>1135614
For international travel, you also have to take into account the economy of the country you're going to, too.

So while your $ might be of similar value as it was 20 years ago, your destination might've become more accessible due to ease of transportation, maybe became more attractive otherwise, suffered high inflation themselves, etc. etc.


For me, a European in Europe, travel is super cheap. Almost all countries have the Euro or their currency pegged to the Euro, so there's no exchange, just some price differences of products/services.
With AirBnB you can find super cheap places. And Ryanair (sometimes Wizzair) let's you get to your destination ridiculously cheap. (Last trip, Berlin->Athens round trip flight, cost me 30 EUR)

>>1135816
(I booked the flight 20 days in advance, so pretty spontaneous)

>there were days of cheap, spontaneous travel

Did Asian tourists fuck everything up?

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This is definitely the time for cheap and spontanious travel
I'm a poorfag from Eastern Europe, never have I traveled with more than few hundred euros.
I have a really nice tent that I just build wherever looks good, stay how long I want, hitchhike everywhere, have met some of the best people that way.
Even if you don't want to stay in tents you can volunteer literaly everywhere in the world, just a few hours of work for a place to sleep and food seems pretty and a unique experience on top of that.
I know this forum is mostly filled with americans, though, and you lot probably have to traverse thousands of kilometers and spend a shitton of money before you can even start travelling.

Right now going to Sicily via a cheap flight from Hamburg, which I booked less than two weeks ago, gonna help repairing a boat in exchange for food and lodge and sailing lessons, then roam the mountains just with a sleeping bag and a pad, hope to climb Etna, cause there's no rain there and the nights seem to be mostly over 20 C.

Seriously, use the internet, there's so much information about how to travel withouth money.

>>1135652
Will this meme ever die?

Cheap travel in Europe is still possible.

I mostly use budget airlines like Ryanair and WizzAir and can fly from London to any European major city for cheap.

I went to Copenhagen for example and a return flight from London was £20.

Just bought flights to Luxembourg for £12 each way.

Hotel prices are also manageable if you shop around. I'd say the average for decent hotel in Europe is £50 per night across the continent.

>cheap spontaneous travel
>posts a picture of rich 1%ers with a private jet

it's easy to spontaneously travel when you're loaded and have people flying your planes

I think you guys missed the point in a way. Sure getting from point A to point B is cheaper now but everything else associated with travel is much more expensive these days. And things are booked up months in advance so even if you travel somewhere spontaneously you miss out on many opportunities while at the destination.

As an example, I'm going to New Zealand soon and the great walks are already booked up for the summer season. A generation ago it was possible to go there and book up a walk a few days in advance. 2 generations ago bookings werent necessary. I will go to New Zealand but will likely miss out on some of the locations I really wanted to visit. Locations that my parents had no problem getting to.

I think the internet ruined travel more than it helps it. You pretty much have to set your itinerary months in advance if you have specific items you want to see. IDK about you guys but I think planning a set itinerary is boring and often times stupid, but we as travelers are competing with people who have money but are also afraid of being adventurous so they set their schedule a long time in advance to make things easier.

You just need to go to countries where they dont expect you to go. Countries with tourism warnings, countries that just went through a war or revolution etc.

These countries are always less expensive and if youre not stupid they are also safe enough.

>>1137309
Super jelly of these insanely cheap European air prices. How on earth does it make sense to fly people for those prices?!?!?

>>1135501
Not intracontinental. If you are in Europe you can spontaneous travel across Europe cheaply. The same can be said for North America/Caribbean, and Asia.

>>1135501

I traveled for 5 months in 2014 with $3,000.

>>1135501
Hotel employee in Charleston, SC here. If you come to Charleston on a weekend without a reservation somewhere you are retarded,.and no I do not have room for you. I'm probably oversold as it is because of fuckery with the corporate website frantically looking for someplace to send my overflow

Make reservations if you're going to a major city thunderhead, it doesn't have to be more than a day or so in advance.

>>1135501
Take a Basha and a Woobie (Poncho Liner). Sleep under it wit thermals/puffer jacket if you need to. I've been sleeping for free all over the world this way for nearly a year, paying only for flights and cheap food at supermarkets.

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>>1135504
That's including flight, right?

>>1139084
Where?

>>1141284

Iceland-UK-France-Belgium-Germany-Austria-Italy-Slovenia-Croatia-Bosnia/Herzegovina-Serbia-Bulgaria-Turkey-UAE-India.

>>1135501
I just went across europe with absolutely no solid plans and a train pass doing couchsurfing, airbnb, and sleeping bag.

>>1138211
If you're dead set on seeing someone everyone wants to see then, yes, planning ahead is almost inevitable because nowadays everyone has the disposable income required to travel.

Then again, if you go ever so slightly off the beaten path, you immediately have the option to travel cheap and spontaneous. Go even further off, and you have all the freedom to do whatever for no money.

6 nights between lisbon and faro
what do?

>>1135504
I spent barely 300/ week on my trip to Asia. Lived comfortably and did alot of things, dive cert, mountain hikes, bought some artworks and ate really good food.
Where the fuck do you spend 3000 $ a week??

>>1135668
what did you do in the evenings in Morocco? Seems pretty dull in terms of nightlife

The rise of middle classes in large third world cunts like India, China, Brasil, etc killed traveling.

>>1141427

>people having less shitty lives spoiled my "exotic" poverty destinations

:-(

>>1141428
>people having less shitty lives spoiled my "exotic" poverty destinations
I was mainly talking about Europe and NA but whatever nig

>>1141415
one of the two hostels had a pretty nice 'entertaiment' program in the evening, you could buy weed, beer and there was authentic or electro or regea music, was pretty nice

marrakesh has a huge party scene, its pretty much the biggest party city in arabic countries but i can do this at home to so i wasnt there and cant say how good this is. heart its pretty expensive

>>1135614
thats bullshit between 1700 and 1900 there was about zero inflation in the Pound. inflation is NOT inevatle, thats just a lie you were sold..

>>1136034
I'm curious, how old are you? What are your skills and how did you get them? Not everyone knows how to repair a boat or is this actually unskilled labor?