Bus travel is coming back. After the industry has declined for numerous years, the past few have seen a slight resurgence in bus travel which might be offering budget travelers a decent domestic travel option. But when it comes to booking buses, who honestly knows where to start when booking tickets? Neither Kayak, Vayama, nor Expedia tell me about buses.  And call me naive, but I have honestly only heard of Megabus and Greyhound. Compare that to our knowledge of airline carriers, and you get what I’m saying.

So, obviously, I’m going to give you the solution to the problem and tell you how to find low bus fares (and even compare prices!)

BusJunction.com

BusJunction is a bus fare aggregator that’s a self explanatory bus fare search brought to my attention by its founder in a buried email half a year ago which I just rediscovered. Like Kayak, it’s an aggregator, which is an important clarification because this means it is independent of the bus operators, thus offering you unbiased fares and information.

So, naturally, I’m partial to BusJunction (not even having used the service) and would recommend it. If my word doesn’t mean anything, Frommer himself hearts BusJunction in the HuffingtonPost, one of several high profile coverages the site received. The final kicker of BusJunction is its integration of Yelp, another site i’m a fan of.

GoToBus.com

GoToBus.com is the other, bigger and older bus fare search tool. The site features just Chinatown bus routes zig zagging across the US. While also super helpful, it engages in ticket partnerships with the bus companies for profit, thus potentially resulting in worse bus route and fare searches.

As a capitalist at heart, I love to see BusJunction’s emergence on the scene to give GoToBus a run for its money and help out the lowly bus travelers out there. Let’s hope that this increased bus travel trend continues so budget travelers aren’t left out to dry when attempting to travel on the cheap, and so I can feature fewer rants in posts on US budget travel.

In a week I will be beginning my Asian trek slash study abroad adventure to Bangkok, Thailand, but I will be kicking off the semester abroad with a short stay in Hong Kong for 4 nights. I’m hoping to fly by the seat of my pants for most of the time I’m there, but there’s still much preparation needed (to my dismay).

Hong Kong’s a very expensive city relative to its Asian epicenter counterparts, so traveling on a shoestring in Hong Kong might be a challenge. However, I’ll be documenting every expense meticulously and reporting it here. In the end, every future explorer to Hong Kong should be able to laugh at and learn from my mistakes, and I’ll end up with a fairly comprehensive budget and expense model that any other future budget travelers will hopefully find pretty valuable.

(more…)

A while ago I received news that I was accepted to study abroad in Bangkok, Thailand (application covered here) for the upcoming fall academic session starting sometime in August 2009 - December 2009.  I will be studying at Thammasat University and traveling all around Southeast Asia in my spare time, which should be plentiful.

Thammasat University is set in the heart of Bangkok, nearby the famous backpacker’s haven Khao San Road, the recent Red Shirt riots, and the Grand Palace. All, I’m sure, will be covered in greater detail in my upcoming travels.

(more…)

Hello all. I have a few social networking updates to connect with me and BudgetGlobetrotting.

Twitter

I encourage everyone to start following Budget Globetrotting on Twitter since I finally got one. My new BudgetGlobetrotting account is Twitter.com/BudgetGlobetrot and Twitter is a great utility to stay up to date with friends and news sources your interested in. I’ll be posting relevant/interesting travel links, commentary, and links via the Twitter, and also be giving updates on blog posts, etc. So follow me, @ me (send me msgs), and watch for BudgetGlobetrotting’s future tweets. (you can follow me personally as well: read about me)

TravBuddy

I’m starting to get a little more into travbuddy as I’m solidifying travel plans, so at me as a friend. My username is nickobgt and profile can be viewed here: travbuddy.com/nickobgt

Facebook

Always open for Facebook as well. See about me if interested.

After a lot of travel research the past years I’ve finally concluded a study abroad program is the most economical and rewarding means to live abroad for an extended period of time.  After hours of research and introspection I’m happy to say that I’ll [hopefully] be studying abroad this Fall 2009 in Asia.

I just finished applying for my desired program(s) which go through my business school and are somewhat competitive from what I hear.  My business school has a multitude of programs, mostly of which are based in Europe and are not affordable for me.  However, fortunately they offer some great Asian programs too, and in my application I’m applying for three and ranking each one by preference.  Here are the possibilities:

Bangkok Thailand

Leading my favorite programs my miles is a program in Bangkok Thailand. I would be able to study at Thammasat University, which is the best university in the country and is well known throughout Southeast Asia.

I looked at it first for its great affordability and access to cheap travel everywhere, like Laos, Cambodia, and (more…)

Whether you’ve been directly affected by the economic problems in the US or not, you’re probably concerned about the situation.  With every major media outlet focusing on the ‘crisis’ it’s impossible not to take your uncertain future into consideration when making your future plans and personal budget.

So making that impulse decision to jump on a flight for a week to escape the frigid cold this winter is all that more unlikely (or just more guilt filled) for most Americans. Whether it’s Super Bowl weekend in Tampa, Cancun beaches, or Hawaiian resorts, they’re all struggling even with this terribly cold winter.

Namely, Las Vegas profits are down a whopping 69%, to a level of that 7 years ago.  (And you thought your portfolio’s returns were bad.) Fortunately for the budget traveler, the pain Vegas is feeling has lead to major travel promotions all over the place in Vegas to lure in visitors. Currently, some Las Vegas Promotions peg the Mirage at $72, MGM Grand at $55, and the Luxur at $42.  Some other Excalibur Promotions start at only $31.

You won’t find a more promo filled period of time for awhile.  With large varieties of show packages available to see highly touted entertainment like Cirque Du Soleil, Neil Diamond, and Billy Joel, this might just be the best time to visit if your comfortable spending the money. Besides, it is really cold out

(This post does contained paid links, but I accept these at my discretion based on an advertiser’s relevancy and legitimacy.)