I’m pleased to bring you a new, exciting budget travel and backpacking website that I think could become a timeless reference for all prospective travelers researching their destinations and making their travel budgets.

The site is BackpackAbility.com. What is it? It can be described in a multitude of ways, the following being my favorite:

• World Travel and Living cost index
• Comprehensive listing of travel and living costs for destinations worldwide

I’ve been developing the site off and on the past month or so, and it will initially be a simple listing of prices and costs for as many international travel destinations as possible, with part of this hopefully due to YOUR INVOLVEMENT. I’d love for the site to become a massive compilation of travel costs based on the recent experiences of budget travelers. So I really really encourage you to spend 35 seconds to submit some travel and living expenses to help the community.

So what are these travel costs listed? Initially, just the consumer staples + whatever else you submit. Including beer, hostels, transportation, hotels, cheap meals, apartments, and internet access. Other things that would be great would be visa costs, nice meals, cover charges at clubs, and major attraction/entertainment expenses.

There will be more…

Really, the site won’t too special right away - just handy price index reference that is easy to navigate and quick to use. But the future, I hope for two other features:

• Simple, definitive travel guides outlining good, relevant attractions for budget travelers and backpackers
• A credible and authoritative rating system that takes price, fun, and enjoyability into account to create an objective rating for a country’s backpackability

What there is now:

Roosh has kindly allowed me to use his South American living costs from his travel guides, but the rest of the world is struggling. Here are some examples of finished cost indexes, amongst some other destinations:

• Israel travel living costs
• Ecuador travel living costs
• Argentina living, traveling costs
• New Zealand cost of travel and living

Plus you get something in return.

So check out the site, spread the word, and submit travel costs if you can. If you have a travel site you’ll get a free link back as well in the post. If you don’t have a site, I can still give credit to you or give you a good ole shoutout of whatever in the post.

If you could care less about this cost index jazz, you can always check out the best budget travel and backpacking resources list I compiled.

Here’s another travel search engine review that’s been bought…

LowFares.com is another comparison flight search engine promising cheap airline tickets to travelers planning their next trip wherever. I had my own assumptions about the site at first before I gave it a test drive and I was kind of expecting something a bit different than what I experienced. (more…)

Travel Guidebooks might be dead in some people’s minds since the internet has all the information we need for free. However, I still wouldn’t consider venturing abroad without a published, reputable travel guidebook. You’re not going to have internet access everywhere, and when you need some quick go-to backpacking or travel tips, a big fat travel guidebook from Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodor’s, or Let’s Go is your best and easiest option, unless you’d rather hunt down an internet cafe to read some restaurant reviews. Now I present you…. (more…)

The topic of Europe getting expensive for budget travelers is getting beat to death with the Euros gains versus the US monopoly dollar. With political biases aside Ron Paul not in office and a weak dollar trend seemingly endless, finding rational reasons to visit Europe for fun is nearly impossible to do when more budget friendly options exist in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

But for those who just need to go to Europe and need to rationalize their decision, here are some excuses you can use to travel to Europe:

“I’m advancing my career” or “I’m furthering my education”- Take a very part time language course in Europe - German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch?? Slap your 1 week course name and description on your resume and there ya go.

“I’m considering a European business acquisition” - Buffet recently went on a tour of Europe searching for businesses to acquire under Berkshire Hathaway, so that’s a legit excuse, right?

(more…)

I was paid for this advertisement by Expedia.com.au

Expedia is an online booking giant and has long been one of my personal favorites above the likes of Travelocity and Orbitz, and Expedia’s Australia site delivers the same great service that we are familiar with in the US.

The Expedia booking engine is intuitive as expected and allows travelers to mix and match flights, hotels, and cars to satisfy your vacation needs and get a slight discount in the process. I’ve always been a fan of the Expedia search results pages as well because of it’s easy to navigate design and plethora of info like ratings, location, photos, and whatever else.

Expedia is often overlooked when it comes to flights though because of all the new, flight only search engines now operating and growing online. But, they probably shouldn’t be, because Expedia continues to offer competitive fares and cheap flights around the world. And by combining good, cheap flights with hotels, the discount by Expedia may make it one of the cheapest options when it comes to booking entire vacations online.

Finally, Expedia offers pretty neat holiday packages that take some of the guess work out of booking a custom vacation all by your lonesome. Whether you have constraints on your time or your confidence online is a bit low, holiday packages are a quick, simple and affordable solution to your needs.

So when it comes to booking entire vacations or just flights online when in in the Australia/Oceanic region, give Expedia.com.au a look or two.