I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion of Cyprus on the expat scene as my interest in the topic has grown lately. This appealed to me as I’ll be learning some Turkish this upcoming fall and am interested in Turkey, a neighbor with a large political influence on the somewhat odd island nation of Cyprus. Thus, I thought I’d do a little travel profile of the Greekish – Turkish island nation(s? - the plural from its political status)

Why go to Cyprus:

• Decent prices – as far as hot beach escapes on the Mediterranean go, Cyprus is a different and affordable option.
• Not yet fully in the EU – They have the Euro, yet with their inclusion in the EU just 2 years old, they haven’t been completely unionized in a sense of prices and entrance requirements that are a bit murky when compared to the free flow of people elsewhere through the EU.  So if ever, now might be the time when looking at price levels and ‘difficulty’ of entrance.
• Interesting Politics - Its current political state is, erm, interesting. Some may dislike the conflict, but I think it adds allure as compromised safety is nowhere near an issue. Stats show Cyprus is unbelievablye safe and content.

Why not go to Cyprus

• Greece – With Greece in the economic shit hole, you may be better off just going to Greece. Greece offers more diversity, islands, historical significance, and [probably] beauty. While Cyprus’ financial situation is very questionable at the time as well, Greece’s seems more likely to discount travel options only in the short term. Its dealing with the crisis seems likely to lead to an economic rebound in the next 5 years or so.
• Limited transit options – Cyprus is accessible only by plane and ferry from (drumroll) Greece, as services from Israel and Turkey are no more. For vagabonding budget travelers seeking a little passport stamp diversity in their travels, it may not be ideal to sit in one spot the entire trip.
• Tourism saturation – not everybody loves British tourist saturation. ‘Cyprus holidays’ is a prevalent British buzz word resulting from its status as a former British colony. So if you have an issue with stereotypical Brits, maybe more off the beaten path destinations are better worth your time.

The Lowdown:
The political issues stem from a few Turkish and Greek disagreements in the past. The North is a bit fractioned off with Turkish influence, while the South is predominately Greek, and more of the stable EU part, per say. You’ll be going to the southern part, atleast for entrance purposes. Holidays to Larnaca in southeast Cyprusare the most common method of visiting Cyprus due to the availability of cheap flights. Other airports include Ercan in the North and Paphos (another beach area)  in the southwestern part of the island. A journey between Paphos and Larnaca would be the obvious route of traveling. The coastal drive linking these two destinations along the beautiful azul waters looks spectacular and is the highlight of a few journals I skimmed.

Internal Cyprus Locomotion
Getting around within Cyprus can be done by bus, shared taxi, or car rentals. Obviously, bus it up if you’re on a budget.

Cyprus Lodging
The term “hostel” doesn’t seem too prevalent in Cyprus from initial research. No worries, however, as quick online searches yielded cheap private hotel rooms for 15 Euros and up. The supply of budget hotels seems a bit sparse, so booking ahead might be a good idea.

Off the Beaten Path
Going off the beaten path in Cyprus seems plausible. I’ve read a few interesting reports and commentary on expeditions, but nothing link worthy. With the prevalence of British tourists and the industry catering to the resort type traveler, you’ll have to search a bit harder. With that comes great potential for genuine Cyprus experiences as well, since low travel saturation in secondary non-resort cities could leave amazing experiences to be had.

Conclusion: I’m intrigued by Cyprus. It’s politics interest me, and hopefully with my future Turkish language skills, a trip to both southern and northern Cyprus is in the near term for me.

Oh, India. Backpacking through India is a budget traveler’s dream I’ve been fortunate to have experienced firsthand. December – January 2010, I spent 3 weeks on a fairly typical route through India. I embarked from Bangkok, Thailand with a 1200 CL backpack (glorified school bag), US Visa, Traveler’s checks, bank cards, and a ragged out dated Lonely Planet: India from Khao San Road.

When I decided to spend a few weeks following my studies on a large trip, India was the only option in my mind. Its mystique, massive population, rapid economic growth and prowess, and completely foreign culture drew me in quickly.

When I tried reading up on India and getting started, I immediately realized I knew very little about the place and how manageable a solo trip would even be for 3 weeks. So here, I’ll quickly cover the main points and to help you plan and prepare for an extended trip through India and let you use my trip as a quick case study….the point you to a few resources to continue your due dilligence.

India Big Picture:

India is huge. A billion people, and pretty diverse landscapes and peoples. As a former British colony, everyone speaks English, so fear not knowing Hindi, Urdu, or one of the other 67483 Indian languages.
With a few weeks, you’ll likely wish to explore a combination of the following, major areas.

Dehli – Agra
Dehli is a likely entry point as it’s the capital and a huge city. Tons of typical urban things to do in the massive, ruthless urban center. A hop skip and a jump away is Agra, relevant because of a little attraction called the Taj Mahal. It’s worth the hype especially after escaping a big city.

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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.

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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.

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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.