Hi there funky travellers!
If anyone is interested in writing some country guides and travel articles for our website then please give us an email info@myfunkytravel.com and we'll send you some more info
Thanks!
Monday, 28 June 2010
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Website Launched!
We're delighted to announce that www.myfunkytravel.com is now live. The site includes some excitng features including:
* Visa requirements for almost every single country in the world
* An in depth guide to seeing the world on a budget
* A Budget Travel League Table which compares the average daily travel costs around the world
* South Africa World Cup Travel Guide
Please check it out!!!
* Visa requirements for almost every single country in the world
* An in depth guide to seeing the world on a budget
* A Budget Travel League Table which compares the average daily travel costs around the world
* South Africa World Cup Travel Guide
Please check it out!!!
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
How to See the World for Free: Transport
Hitchhiking is the most obvious way to get a free lift. Sometimes you may be expected to contribute to petrol fees, but often drivers will just be grateful for the company on long and boring journeys. It's normally safe but there a few nutters around in every corner of the globe so do take care, especially if you're a girl travelling alone. On the positive side, solo female travellers will get loads more people (men) stop so you won't have to spend all day waiting for someone. Hitchhiking is in fact probably best done alone, as not many people will want to collect a big group or even just two dudes. The usual common sense and respect for local customs will help you have a fascinating and free travel experience with the bonus of getting you to where you want to go.
Good countries for hitchhiking include most areas in North and Central America. In South America Chile and Ecuador are good bets, but in Colombia for example it's not really sensible to hitchhike given the number of kidnappings that take place. Romania and Turkey are perhaps the best places in Europe to hitchhike, but generally speaking it's not as common in Europe as in North America. In Australia and New Zealand you may have to wait a while for a lift but it's definitely a great way to cover the huge distances. The vastly different culture in parts of Asia, means different customs can apply when hitching a lift so check before you travel but certainly don't let it put you off. Many Asians are fascinated by Western culture and will happily pick you up and go out of their way to ensure you reach your destination.
Aside from hitchhiking it’s really hard to find free means of transport. One option is to get a job that involves travelling but that’s probably harder than it sounds and why work when you could be having fun. Cycling is one possibility and is certainly growing in popularity amongst travellers. It’s a great way to travel for free, keep fit and see new places. Given the speed of public transport in some countries you stand a good chance of beating the bus anyway, just make sure the roads are remotely decent enough all the way before setting off. If you don’t want to take your own bike halfway across the world, renting is normally cheap and easy.
Not brave enough to hitchhike? Fortunately public transport is very cheap in a lot of backpacking hotspots, if not always entirely comfortable but it's all part of the experience. 1 hours travel often works out at less than $1 by bus or train, so unless you're completely skint you can still travel great distances and see many different countries without being blessed with great riches. With the exception of Europe which has plenty of very cheap airlines, travelling by bus, rail or even ferry is almost always cheaper than flying. You also get to see much more of the country this way as you watch locals go about their daily lives as you pass through random towns and villages.
Travelling by bus and rail is really cheap in South East Asia. Highly recommended is the re-unification express train in Vietnam which runs from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. There are many places to stop on the way and the whole trip will only come to around $30 even making several separate journeys. You can travel across the whole of Cambodia for the cost of extra value meal at McDonalds. Thailand is equally cheap and the conditions on buses and trains are of a higher standard. Egypt is another country with fantastic cheap trains, travel the 200km from Cairo to Alexandria for under $2. Buses are the way to go in Latin America, Ecuador is one of the cheapest with buses costing around $1 for every hour travelled, Quito to Guayaquil is $7 for an 8 hour bus ride. As mentioned earlier budget airlines such as Ryanair have ridiculously cheap flights from around £5 (plus ‘optional’ extras) across Europe if you book a couple of weeks in advance. Europe rail passes are fun but aren’t that cheap even for youths and students. Eurolines has affordable coach routes across much of the continent. One piece of advice which applies world over is that it often cheapest to travel to an international border, cross by foot and then travel on from their rather than taking an international service all the way.
By far your biggest transport cost is likely to be those long distance flights which you will almost inevitably have to take to reach your backpacking paradise wherever it may be. There are some tempting round the world deals, however these are often inflexible and restrictive. Your plans will almost certainly change at some point on your venture and it's impossible to know how long you will want to stay somewhere until you get there. You might have dreamt of visiting Thailand all your life only to find you hate the place within a week and want to be on the next plane, bus, train or whatever out of there. Only you’re stuck to the itinerary you meticulously planned at home a few months ago. On the contrary you may fall in love with the first place you visit and want to stay there and let forever be. The airlines and travel companies who offer these deals are well aware that these things happen and will happily charge you to cancel flights, change dates and so on. That's not to say it's totally a bad idea to get one of these round the world deals but be totally aware of all the terms and conditions before opting for this. Otherwise keep checking flight comparison sights for cheap deals on long-haul flights which airlines offer every now and then. STA Travel are a good starting place for reduced fares for students and under 26’s. An ISIC card will save you plenty of cash on your travels (even if it’s a fake one from Bangkok). If you’re struggling to find any remotely reasonable flights drop us an email telling us where and when you want to go and we’ll do some investigatory work!
Good countries for hitchhiking include most areas in North and Central America. In South America Chile and Ecuador are good bets, but in Colombia for example it's not really sensible to hitchhike given the number of kidnappings that take place. Romania and Turkey are perhaps the best places in Europe to hitchhike, but generally speaking it's not as common in Europe as in North America. In Australia and New Zealand you may have to wait a while for a lift but it's definitely a great way to cover the huge distances. The vastly different culture in parts of Asia, means different customs can apply when hitching a lift so check before you travel but certainly don't let it put you off. Many Asians are fascinated by Western culture and will happily pick you up and go out of their way to ensure you reach your destination.
Aside from hitchhiking it’s really hard to find free means of transport. One option is to get a job that involves travelling but that’s probably harder than it sounds and why work when you could be having fun. Cycling is one possibility and is certainly growing in popularity amongst travellers. It’s a great way to travel for free, keep fit and see new places. Given the speed of public transport in some countries you stand a good chance of beating the bus anyway, just make sure the roads are remotely decent enough all the way before setting off. If you don’t want to take your own bike halfway across the world, renting is normally cheap and easy.
Not brave enough to hitchhike? Fortunately public transport is very cheap in a lot of backpacking hotspots, if not always entirely comfortable but it's all part of the experience. 1 hours travel often works out at less than $1 by bus or train, so unless you're completely skint you can still travel great distances and see many different countries without being blessed with great riches. With the exception of Europe which has plenty of very cheap airlines, travelling by bus, rail or even ferry is almost always cheaper than flying. You also get to see much more of the country this way as you watch locals go about their daily lives as you pass through random towns and villages.
Travelling by bus and rail is really cheap in South East Asia. Highly recommended is the re-unification express train in Vietnam which runs from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. There are many places to stop on the way and the whole trip will only come to around $30 even making several separate journeys. You can travel across the whole of Cambodia for the cost of extra value meal at McDonalds. Thailand is equally cheap and the conditions on buses and trains are of a higher standard. Egypt is another country with fantastic cheap trains, travel the 200km from Cairo to Alexandria for under $2. Buses are the way to go in Latin America, Ecuador is one of the cheapest with buses costing around $1 for every hour travelled, Quito to Guayaquil is $7 for an 8 hour bus ride. As mentioned earlier budget airlines such as Ryanair have ridiculously cheap flights from around £5 (plus ‘optional’ extras) across Europe if you book a couple of weeks in advance. Europe rail passes are fun but aren’t that cheap even for youths and students. Eurolines has affordable coach routes across much of the continent. One piece of advice which applies world over is that it often cheapest to travel to an international border, cross by foot and then travel on from their rather than taking an international service all the way.
By far your biggest transport cost is likely to be those long distance flights which you will almost inevitably have to take to reach your backpacking paradise wherever it may be. There are some tempting round the world deals, however these are often inflexible and restrictive. Your plans will almost certainly change at some point on your venture and it's impossible to know how long you will want to stay somewhere until you get there. You might have dreamt of visiting Thailand all your life only to find you hate the place within a week and want to be on the next plane, bus, train or whatever out of there. Only you’re stuck to the itinerary you meticulously planned at home a few months ago. On the contrary you may fall in love with the first place you visit and want to stay there and let forever be. The airlines and travel companies who offer these deals are well aware that these things happen and will happily charge you to cancel flights, change dates and so on. That's not to say it's totally a bad idea to get one of these round the world deals but be totally aware of all the terms and conditions before opting for this. Otherwise keep checking flight comparison sights for cheap deals on long-haul flights which airlines offer every now and then. STA Travel are a good starting place for reduced fares for students and under 26’s. An ISIC card will save you plenty of cash on your travels (even if it’s a fake one from Bangkok). If you’re struggling to find any remotely reasonable flights drop us an email telling us where and when you want to go and we’ll do some investigatory work!
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
How to See the World for Free: SLEEPING
Couchsurfing is one way to find a bed or couch to sleep on for a night or two and best of all its totally free. Yes there really are people in almost every town and city in the world who will let you sleep on their couch for free. Check out www.couchsurfing.org which has nearly 2 million members in over 70,000 cities across the world. Most of them will be reluctant to let you stay until you've got a few positive references that state you're not a total freak, but once off and running many people get completely hooked on the couchsurfing phenomenon. A good way to get positive references is to start by meeting people for a 'coffee or drink' which is an option on the site. This is safer for both parties and should get you a reference. You can even consider offering your couch or showing travellers around your home town before you set off on your travels. There are also many couchsurfing events and meet-ups that take place where lot's of members get together.
Camping is one option to sleep for free or very little if you opt for the added security of a campsite. Pack a small tent into your backpack and hit the road, in most parts of the world no-one is likely to seriously object if you find somewhere discreet to camp out for the night. Probably not a good idea if your a solo girl traveller and you might want to make sure there's no wild animals in the area that might eat you. Dangers obviously vary greatly depending on where in the world you are. Risks vary from totally safe to do in some countries to totally not a good idea in others so it's worth doing some research before you head off.
If you don't fancy either of the above then hostels are you're next best bet. A bed for a night can cost as little as $2 in parts of the backpacker mecca of South East Asia. However is some parts of the world such as Scandinavia even a bed in a large dorm can set you back $30+, hardly budget travel. One way around this is trying to find a job in a hostel. The turnover of staff is high so there's often vacancies for night reception staff for example, you will get paid in cash and best of all you will get to stay for free. You're unlikely to actually save up money working in a hostel but you should cover the costs of a backpacker lifestyle and you'll meet loads of other travellers.
Other options include volunteering, which will often get you a bed and sometimes food. Beware of the volunteering schemes that charge you huge amounts to work. Many are exploiting people who simply want to help those less fortunate. It is probably better to wait till you arrive in a country and then look for volunteering opportunities. You may need to commit to a few months though if you want to get a place to sleep for free. If everything else fails airports and many train stations are normally open 24-7 and are okay to get a few hours kip in, some even have showers.
One word of caution would be although it is possible to sleep for free almost anywhere in the world, if you're doing a world trip or long period of travel, you will almost certainly have to fork out for somewhere to stay at times in your trip. Couchsurfing members can occasionally let you down despite all the positive stories on the website, leaving you in the lurch looking for somewhere to stay. Many big cities especially aren't places where it is safe to camp. Camping in extreme weather conditions isn't much fun. Volunteering projects and other jobs can take a while to sort out. So if you're planning a world trip and you do need some sort of funds behind you but by following some of these tips you can drastically cut down your accommodation costs to the bare minimum.
Camping is one option to sleep for free or very little if you opt for the added security of a campsite. Pack a small tent into your backpack and hit the road, in most parts of the world no-one is likely to seriously object if you find somewhere discreet to camp out for the night. Probably not a good idea if your a solo girl traveller and you might want to make sure there's no wild animals in the area that might eat you. Dangers obviously vary greatly depending on where in the world you are. Risks vary from totally safe to do in some countries to totally not a good idea in others so it's worth doing some research before you head off.
If you don't fancy either of the above then hostels are you're next best bet. A bed for a night can cost as little as $2 in parts of the backpacker mecca of South East Asia. However is some parts of the world such as Scandinavia even a bed in a large dorm can set you back $30+, hardly budget travel. One way around this is trying to find a job in a hostel. The turnover of staff is high so there's often vacancies for night reception staff for example, you will get paid in cash and best of all you will get to stay for free. You're unlikely to actually save up money working in a hostel but you should cover the costs of a backpacker lifestyle and you'll meet loads of other travellers.
Other options include volunteering, which will often get you a bed and sometimes food. Beware of the volunteering schemes that charge you huge amounts to work. Many are exploiting people who simply want to help those less fortunate. It is probably better to wait till you arrive in a country and then look for volunteering opportunities. You may need to commit to a few months though if you want to get a place to sleep for free. If everything else fails airports and many train stations are normally open 24-7 and are okay to get a few hours kip in, some even have showers.
One word of caution would be although it is possible to sleep for free almost anywhere in the world, if you're doing a world trip or long period of travel, you will almost certainly have to fork out for somewhere to stay at times in your trip. Couchsurfing members can occasionally let you down despite all the positive stories on the website, leaving you in the lurch looking for somewhere to stay. Many big cities especially aren't places where it is safe to camp. Camping in extreme weather conditions isn't much fun. Volunteering projects and other jobs can take a while to sort out. So if you're planning a world trip and you do need some sort of funds behind you but by following some of these tips you can drastically cut down your accommodation costs to the bare minimum.
Friday, 14 May 2010
World Cup Guide Out Now!
FunkyTravel Guide for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is now out!!
TRAVEL GUIDE
Page 1 Cover Page
Page 2 Contents
Page 3 Introducing South Africa
Page 4-6 Jo'burg
Page 7 Pretoria
Page 8 Rustenburg
Page 9 Polokwane & Nelspruit
Page 10 Bloemfontein
Page 11-12 Durban
Page 13-14 Port Elizabeth
Page 15-16 Cape Town
Page 17 Air Travel
Page 18 Rail Routes in South Africa
Page 19 Travelling by Road
WORLD CUP TEAM GUIDE
Page 2o Groups A & B
Page 21 Groups C & D
Page 22-23 Fixtures
Page 24 Groups E & F
Page 25 Groups G & H
TRAVEL GUIDE
Page 1 Cover Page
Page 2 Contents
Page 3 Introducing South Africa
Page 4-6 Jo'burg
Page 7 Pretoria
Page 8 Rustenburg
Page 9 Polokwane & Nelspruit
Page 10 Bloemfontein
Page 11-12 Durban
Page 13-14 Port Elizabeth
Page 15-16 Cape Town
Page 17 Air Travel
Page 18 Rail Routes in South Africa
Page 19 Travelling by Road
WORLD CUP TEAM GUIDE
Page 2o Groups A & B
Page 21 Groups C & D
Page 22-23 Fixtures
Page 24 Groups E & F
Page 25 Groups G & H
It cost's just £5 but if you're looking to leave South Africa with any cash left, we're confident you will easily make savings by checking out some of our budget places to eat, sleep and drink.
View a free 7 page preview and purchase your downloadble guide here: http://www.payloadz.com/go/sip?id=1248017
View a free 7 page preview and purchase your downloadble guide here: http://www.payloadz.com/go/sip?id=1248017
Thursday, 13 May 2010
The FunkyTravel Blog is Born!!!
FunkyTravel is an exciting new venture which aims to provide travel guides and advice to backpackers and budget travellers across the world. All guides are downloadable and easy to print out. All country guides are by young people who have been travelling on a budget there within the last year so information is as upto date as possible and hopefully more relevent to you than traditional travel guides.
Coming Soon....FunkyTravel guides to Cambodia and Vietnam with many more country guides on their way in the coming months. Out this week is a special World Cup 2010 guide which provides info on the tournament as well as sleeping, eating and drinking options in each of the host cities. It will also include travel options for getting between the cities and loads of exciting stuff to do while not watching the football.
Coming Soon....FunkyTravel guides to Cambodia and Vietnam with many more country guides on their way in the coming months. Out this week is a special World Cup 2010 guide which provides info on the tournament as well as sleeping, eating and drinking options in each of the host cities. It will also include travel options for getting between the cities and loads of exciting stuff to do while not watching the football.
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