Having such a change to your lifestyle certainly allowed you to see where your self-identity lay – to see what was important. While people contracted the virus and died in their thousands, and others furloughed or got laid off and joined the ranks of the millions unemployed, I, a travel blogger, waited for word on when we could travel again.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m grateful that I have my job, if a little jealous of furloughed people publishing accounts of all the skills and projects they were undertaking. I’m also incredibly grateful to have my health, and doing my bit to make sure I’m not an inadvertent vector of transmission (mask? no problem! social distancing? I’m your man).

The tatters of the plans for travel in 2020 look at me accusationally. Will we just slide them all to 2021, or will a year make a difference to the things we want to go and see and do? Will we get all the refunds for everything or will certain airlines need the threat of civil proceedings before they release undeserved cash from their grasping little hands?

Pre-Corona I added a widget to the site to show the upcoming locations we’d planned on visiting. Something to allow others to share the anticipation of the trips, but life, it laughs at the planning of mortals, so I’ve removed that widget.

The plans are dead, so here are their eulogies…

The Baltics

In April we were going to head to the Baltics, taking in the current capitals of Finland (Helsinki), Estonia (Tallinn) and Latvia (Riga), plus the old capital of Russia (St Petersburg).

The medieval old towns and diverse backgrounds would have made a fascinating opportunity to contrast the different cities – especially given their connection to the Hanseatic League.

Normandy

Early May was going to be spent visiting the Normandy beaches, away from the bustle accompanying the D-Day celebrations in June, and accompanied by a trip to the abbey at Mont Saint Michel.

Cornwall

In late May we were to walk the Cornish coast from St Ives to Penzance. Just a snippet of the walk described in The Salt Path _{(not an affiliate link)}, it would have taken a little over a week of between 5 and 10 mile daily hikes.

Staying in AirBnBs, and featuring Lands End, the Wizard of Oz performed in the open air Minack Theatre and ending with a trip to St Michael’s Mount, it was going to require a level of fitness we were well on the way to achieving before the ‘Rona.

Český Krumlov

In June we were going to go to the Five Petalled Rose Celebrations in Český Krumlov. This sleepy bohemian Czech Republic town comes alive as everyone wears period costumes and celebrates their history with a weekend of medieval feasting and fireworks.

The heat of June was going to be alleviated by a leisurely river rafting experience. This is getting taken an hour upriver of town and placed in an inner tube with a box of beer and letting the current take you home as inebriation intensifies.

Manchester & Liverpool

In July we were going to go for a quick trip to Manchester and Liverpool to take in the homes of the Industrial Revolution and the Beatles respectively. Oh and attend a Crowded House concert, as you do!

Africa

In August and September we were planning to go on our first African safari to see the wildlife in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, ending up at Victoria Falls.

Trying to pack in the Dali-esque Namib Dessert, the Diamond coast, as well as the National Parks and Game Reserves was going to be a challenge, but the prospect of seeing lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes and other wildlife would have made for a once in a lifetime experience. And at those prices they would be once in a lifetime!

New Zealand

And then we would have been heading home to New Zealand for Christmas. We’re still hopeful for that to come off, but nothing is guaranteed. We are, after all, living in unprecedented times.

The post Unprecedented: 2020 Travel Plans Dashed! appeared first on etrip.tips.

The Plan

We planned and booked our trip to the USA a good nine months before we headed over and were comfortable that we’d done our research and had everything locked and loaded.

Imagine our surprise when, four days before we were supposed to be getting a bus from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon Village we got an email stating that the route was being discontinued.

I was understandably was a bit miffed so asked when they decided that the route wouldn’t be run anymore and they came back that they had stopped running it for about a month. And of course then I got another email stating that the Grand Canyon to Page service was also unavailable.

We jumped onto the internet and soon found that a different firm ran a service from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon Village (and was cheaper as well), so that wasn’t the end of the world. Booked, paid for, done!

What we couldn’t find was a service from Grand Canyon Village to Page. We’re talking October, so shoulder season where the Summer rush has died down but before the possible closures due to snow and ice that comes with Winter.

Options

Let’s talk about our options.

Rental

Renting a car wasn’t a solution as we couldn’t drive in the US. Plus we’d need the car for three hours – not even a whole day, and a one way trip, so it would cost more.

Train

No trains go into or near Page, so that wasn’t a solution. While there is a train line into GC, it goes south to Williams, so it isn’t going to feature in the solution.

Plane/Helicopter

The distance between GC and Page is too small for any commercial flights to go there, but too far for one of the sight seeing helicopters to take us there from GC Airport. Looking at the organised helicopter sightseeing tours, the cost of a charter flight would be a little on the high side.

The cheapest flight I could find was $170 per person for 25 mins. It’s 75 miles from Grand Canyon Airport to Page Airport, and if you had to pay for the helicopter to get there and back, that would probably take an hour, so let’s say double the sightseeing duration and therefore double the rate.

So maybe $680 if you could actually get someone to agree to take you. There might be insurance issues. Who knows? $700 was a little steep (even if it did come with aerial views of the Canyon!). So steep that I didn’t even ring any of the tour companies to see how far off my estimates were.

Boat

There’s no commercial boat service from GC to Page, and we would have to find our way with luggage to the Colorado River – while it is down hill all the way, it’s not really an option.

Bus

What about a bus part of the way? We did find a bus that would take us to Marble Canyon for $80 each, leaving at 1:30pm and arriving at 4:00pm. But how to get from Marble Canyon to Page?

It didn’t seem that far on the map, and if you took away the road part it was a straight line to Page via the river. Surely you’d be able to get a boat to take you down river? It turns out there is a giant dam blocking the river at Page, and sheer cliffs to scale in order to get to the city.

They do have a taxi service in Page though, so I thought as a backup plan we could get two tickets on the bus and ring in advance for a cab to be waiting at Marble Canyon. So maybe $200 all up. Better than $700.

With that in mind we knew that the only way of checking alternatives would be while we were at GC, so we stopped worrying about it and resolved to have a look at alternatives when we were in country.

Other

The only three other options we hadn’t considered thus far were hitchhiking, Uber and taxi.

Hitchhiking we ruled out immediately becuase of safety concerns.

Uber turned out to be a waste of time as there were no drivers anywhere near the village when we turned it on, which left taxi.

We grabbed a taxi to our Lodge when we arrived at GC and got talking to the driver. He was up for it if he could borrow his flatmate’s car. He would check when he got back after his shift and let us know that night (we were looking at travelling to Page the following day). If not though, he’d ask at work and see if any of the other drivers wanted to do it.

It put my mind at ease that someone would want the fare, which made it possible to enjoy the day. When we got back in the evening, Taliesin (the driver) rang and let us know that he’d managed to secure his flatmate’s car, and we were all set for tomorrow. We arranged a pick up time and then I asked him how much he was thinking for the trip.

He said that he would leave it up to me to pay what I thought was right. He’d need a minimum for gas but that after that he’d leave it to me. I thanked him and did some research.

Price

As a benchmark I checked a taxifare finder site on the web and plugged in the destination and origin addresses. It came up with an Uber price of $220 and Lyft of $230.

I then checked how long the trip was going to be, and how long we’d need his services. Turns out it’s 130 miles and should take about 2.5 hours to drive. Doubling both meant that we’d be using gas for 260 miles and using up 5 hours of Tamiesin’s time. Gas prices were about $4 per gallon and at 30 miles per gallon means that we’d be using about 9 gallons of gas costing about $36. Let’s call it $40.

Then I checked for hourly rates for taxi drivers. Apparently they fell into a range from $12 to $17 per hour. Rounding that up to $20 per hour, it looked like the 5 hours should cost us $100. Adding a 20% tip, meant that we’d be looking at $120 plus $40 for the gas or $160 in total. That felt about right against the backup plans we had and the hypothetical Uber costs.

We discussed whether we should be concerned from a safety point of view with getting into what was effectively a stranger’s car. I was ok with it for a number of reasons: Tamiesin had said that he’d discussed the situation with the people at work (who of course all had an opinion on what he should charge!), so therefore if two tourists bodies showed up, or two tourists were reported missing, then he’d surely be the prime candidate. Also the Yavapai had security cameras, so there’d be a record of us getting into his car. But I agreed that you couldn’t be too careful, so we sent a friend of ours the details of the trip.

The Trip

Tamiesin managed to get off work a little earlier than expected and tracked us down lounging in the sun out the front of the Lodge. We grabbed our luggage and carefully placed it into the boot of the car.

Desert View Tower

I fully expected Tamiesin to head south, through the Tusayan (pronounced the same way as Tucson, confusingly) township where the airport was, but he instead headed east. He explained that this way we wouldn’t have to go south only to go north – we wouldn’t be doubling back on ourselves.

He asked if we’d been able to get to this end of the south rim, to which we said that no – we’d only really done the west part. He then suggested that maybe we’d like a brief stop at the Desert View Tower. I looked at Ange and she said sure, so we said why not?

Tamiesin gave us a hint to have a look at the special mirrors for a unique look out over the Canyon. Thanking him for the insight we set off at a lope to cover the short distance from the car park to the Tower. It was free entry and we checked it all out, making the sprint up to the top of the tower in long strides, thankful that we hadn’t gone any further down into the Canyon!

A smattering of photos later we were heading back to the car park to be picked up. While we queued in the car at the exit a bunch of deer lurched out of the underbrush from one side of the road to the other. Cool.

Cameron

On the way to Cameron, Tamiesin apologised. We were passing very picturesque sights north across the Canyon, but as this was reservation land, so stopping would invite attention from the locals and maybe the reservation police. Not something he was interested in, especially with a borrowed car.

We were fine with that and confined ourselves to looking in wonder over the Canyon. The local tribes had set up stalls at the best viewing positions and there were frequently cars parked there with tourists buying some of the locally produced goods and taking photos.

Before long we were in Cameron, a collection of gas stations, fast food joints and truck stops where we paused for Tamiesin to get a taco and what looked like a bucket of soda from McDonalds. And then we were out on the highway.

Conversation

We had a good chat in the hours of the trip – we found out about Tamiesin’s background and hopes for the future and while we didn’t agree on everything, conversation never got heated and we were all respectful of each other’s point of view.

The road north to Page passed through the start of the Painted Desert. This was our first exposure to the sort of landscape we could expect in the Antelope Canyon. We’d later see it featured in the Breaking Bad movie El Camino, where Jesse helps bury Todd’s housekeeper.

Right on schedule we found ourselves pulling into the Clarion Inn in Page, dusk just falling. We’d made good time and as we paid Tamiesin I looked closely to make sure he was OK with how much I was paying him. He looked happy enough, so I figured I’d done well with my estimations.

As we shook hands I joked and said thanks for not killing us and leaving us in a shallow grave. He smiled and said the same. I guess there were two of us! If you ever need a taxi in the Grand Canyon Village, look him up (there aren’t that many people with his name!) – and if you pay him enough he might show you a side of the Grand Canyon that only a local would know.

The post Roadtrip: Grand Canyon to Page appeared first on etrip.tips.

So what’s the best option to get to the airport?

As usual, it’s a trade off between time and cost.

Private Transport

Taxi

According to Taxifarefinder.com, a taxi to the airport from downtown will cost about $63 and take around 30mins. With traffic those numbers could easily double, so if you’re in a hurry to make your flight and are travelling around rush hour, it may be beneficial to leave earlier.

Uber

The Uber app agrees that best case it will take a half an hour to get to the airport and gives a generous range of $45-60 for the cost.

SuperShuttle

SuperShuttle have a shared option of $25 per person and an exclusive use for $125.

Public Transport

Skybus

The Skybus actually stops at a few places between the CBD and the Airport, takes about an hour and costs $18. It leaves every ten minutes during peak times and every thirty minutes off peak. Tickets are purchased online or you can use the HOP card. They’ll also let you jump on without a ticket and buy one using a credit card when it reaches the transfer stop in Queen Street.

Buses and Trains

Buses and trains are run by AT and they have an AT Hopcard (costs $10) which allows you to preload funds in exchange for a lower fare. Fares given below are listed as $hop card fare/$cash fare

Via Papatoetoe

Catching the train to Papatoetoe and then switching to the bus represents the most cost effective way to get to the Airport, and as long as the arrival time of the train comes close to the departure time of the bus, you’ll get there in about an hour.

• Either the Southern or Eastern line $4.80/$7.00 train 35min
• 380 bus $1.90/$3.50 bus 25mins

Via Manukau

The Mana Bus is a regional bus service from Auckland to other towns and cities, departing from Auckland CBD and with a stop at Manukau. The 380 bus mentioned above departs from Manukau before heading to Papatoetoe and then on to the Airport, so connecting the two makes a lot of sense. Now the normal trip from CBD to Manukau is priced at $26, but occasionally Mana have a sale (Ange got a ticket from Auckland to Te Puke for $1) which makes the Mana to Manukau/380 to Airport a great option. Being a regional service, there are limited buses per day, so the schedule may not work for you either. Do not buy the Skybus tickets from the Mana Bus website – they sell the $18 ticket for $20!

• Mana to Manukau $1 bus 25 mins (according to their website)
• 380 bus $1.90/$3.50 bus 25mins

Conclusion

1. So the best price would be the bus/bus combo if you found a Mana special which matched your schedule: $2.90 and about an hour via Manukau
2. Then $6.70/$10.50 and an hour for the train/bus combo from Papatoetoe
3. If you don’t want to change modes of transport, take the Skybus for $18
4. If you’re not in the CBD and are ok with sharing but want to travel with fewer people, take the SuperShuttle for $25
5. Otherwise if there’s just you or a party of up to four, take an Uber or a taxi for half the time but three times the cost.
6. Lastly if there are more than four of you, you can book out the SuperShuttle, though a taxi van will probably end up cheaper than $125.

Auckland traffic, especially during rush hours can be congested, so if you need to minimise your exposure to delays, it may pay to take the train, then bus. Likewise maintenance on the rails may disrupt your journey, so definitely do some research to make sure you’ll be able to make your flight.

The post Auckland CBD to Auckland Airport: Private & Public Transport Options appeared first on etrip.tips.

Laptop/NUC & eGPU/SFF?

Laptop

I had previously bought a laptop with a good video card for any games that I might want to play and now that VR was out I realised that I couldn’t use my laptop for VR (because the graphics card wasn’t good enough).

But I also couldn’t upgrade the video card on the laptop. Due to this my search for a portable VR rig would steer clear of laptops. The premium for mobile gaming on a laptop was too high also – the difference in price between the same spec machines laptop vs desktop was significant.

Old laptop with a GTX850 video card. Pretty good when it first came out, not good enough to do VR

So if laptops were out, what were my options?

A normal computer case would not fit into a backpack and would not fit into “carry-on dimension-ed” luggage.

But there were two other options: a SFF (small form factor) case, or else the combination of a NUC (Next Unit of Computing) and an eGPU (external Graphics Processing Unit). Lets start with the combo.

NUC & eGPU

By shrinking the computer down to the smallest size possible and removing any high end graphics card, a NUC can get all the components into a 4.53 x 4.37 x 1.38 in (115 x 111 x 36 mm) box. You can then hook that up to an external enclosure with a high end video card – for reference there’s one that measures 3.78 x 6.38 x 8.35 in (96 x 162 x 212 mm).

The two boxes are connected using a Thunderbolt cable, but apparently there’s a 30% performance hit from using the eGPU, which ruled it out for me. Amazing ability to upgrade though.

A nuc – tiny!

An eGPU showing the video card inside

A nuc attached to a eGPU

Another nuc/eGPU combo

SFF

So that left me with a SFF. That’s a case that more closely resembles a DVD/VCR in size and thus is more likely to fit into cabin baggage.

I ended up selecting a Fractal Node 202, merely because I could get one before Christmas, whereas my other choices wouldn’t be available. By changing the proportions of the case, there is only just enough room for the components, so no wasted space. There are certainly other SFF cases which would do the job, and some are even funded with Kickstarter campaigns.

Getting a SFF case also meant total control over the components that go into it which is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because you can mix and match where you want to put your money in terms of better components. It’s a curse because you have to put the thing together yourself. It is a bit like adult lego with straight forward instructions and components which click together.

Node 202

VR Head Set

There’s pretty much the same religious arguments of which is better between VR Headsets as there are between CPU manufacturer (Intel vs AMD), graphics card manufacturer (NVidia vs AMD), operating systems (Windows vs *nix) and computer manufacturer (Apple vs PC).

I’d love to be able to tell you I weighed up all the pros and cons between the two main headsets (HTC Vive and Oculus Rift) and decided which one to get based on a scientific weighing up of the pros and cons, but to tell the truth after I did all the research and asked a lot of questions of people in the trade, I just decided to buy the cheaper one.

The Oculus Rift comes in a very well made sturdy box which is totally inappropriate for carry on luggage. Don’t get me wrong you could take it onboard, but it would use up your one piece allowance on budget airlines.

This is especially galling when the components within take up much less room when unpacked. So I elected to get a hard case for just the headset and then stash the other components into my backpack instead.

Unboxed – the Oculus Rift headset, controllers, sensors, sensor stands and cables

The box ready to go

A four sensor set up

Only just big enough to fit the Rift headset, this case gives basic protection for transport. Be sure to pack the headset with the plugs outside the headbands to ensure they don’t scratch the lenses!

VR Backpack

Speaking of backpacks, my original attempt at getting the Node case and VR headset into my existing backpack came up short.

Victorinox backpack. Enough room for the Node 202 but too much of a stretch to get the Rift headset in as well. And no more room after than for anything else

The issue was not the length, but the depth. The backpack measured 18 x 34 x 50 cm (7.10 in x 13.39 in x 19.69 in) for a total of 30 litres, but the Node measured 8.2 × 37.7 × 33 cm (3.23 in × 14.84 in × 12.99 in) and the hard shell for the headset measured 25 x 25 x 11 cm (9.84 in x 9.84 in x 4.33 in) so the combined width of the Node (8.2 cm / 3.23 in) plus the headset in its case (11 cm / 4.33 in) would be deeper (19.2 cm / 7.56 in) than the backpack (18 cm / 7.09 in).

So what I needed was a backpack which could fit within the budget airline’s carry on size restrictions as well as have a cavity which was deep enough to take both the Node 202 as well as the Rift’s hard case.

I found two solutions to the problem: both DJ backpacks. The first was the Riot DJ but I couldn’t find any that would deliver before my flight left. My local DJ shop did have this UDG Ultimate Backpack though.

Using this site I figured that the UDG backpack would be a good enough fit for the airlines I would be flying with and I’m glad I got it. Discounting the lurid orange interior, it has enough room for the Node 202, the complete Rift rig, my laptop, tablet and assorted additional cables and adaptors.

This UDG backpack swallows the Node 202, the Rift headset, the controllers and sensors, my laptop, my tablet, a toolbox, and more.

But……

But here’s the thing: computer gear is dense. Very dense. So the fact that the backpack can accommodate all that computer and VR gear isn’t necessarily such a good thing. I will always remember the look in the eyes of the woman behind the counter at check in when she discovered my check in bag was 16kg (35lbs) when the allowance was 7kg (15lbs).

It’s also a ball ache going through security checks because the PC isn’t light and having to have one tray for your PC, one for your laptop and tablet and one for your jacket and toiletries gets a bit cumbersome. Especially when you find cheap flights with multiple transfers and have to go through security every single time…

It’s also been my experience that budget airlines are more likely to weigh carry on luggage and therefore penalise you for going over your allowance, so my point of writing this post is not to let you know which PC/VR/backpack to buy, but more of a warning. I wanted to have a carry on VR rig, but now I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to have one.

VR Costs

So it’s very possible to buy a carry on set up for cheaper than this, but for the sake of full disclosure, this is the costs for one solution. Likewise, people more clued up than me will exhibit shock and horror at my choices. Not interested in debate. Purchased just before Christmas 2017 and some choices driven by what was in stock.

The drawstring bags which hold the cables with the Corsair power unit are the perfect size. One fits the two controllers for the Oculus Rift and the other holds the two unscrewed sensors with cables.

Support

So rather than email me about detailed questions, where can you go for more help? I’m indebted to the folk at the SFF, Oculus and Build a PC subreddits. You can also do various google searches (“best itx motherboard for VR”) and then try to pick out the nuggets of helpful information amongst all the drek. Best of luck!

*None of the links on this page are affiliate links. I do not make any money off your purchases.

The post VR Tips: How to Travel With Your Oculus Rift appeared first on etrip.tips.

Although we’re great fans of the excel spreadsheet, I figured a spreadsheet might fall by the wayside as the receipts start mounting up. A free travel expense app that is simple and intuitive is called for!

After some discussion, we devised a win-win situation for paying for items as a couple (out of my comfort zone totally as I’ve been a solo traveller up until now), i.e he pays by credit card to get the points and I transfer my portion to his NZ bank account. I thereby avoid the ATM fees for taking out cash withdrawals and the 2.5% offshore margin fee using my Master Debit card.

Paying by his credit card also solves the problem of shared dinners whereby it’s easier to pay one bill rather than try and divvy up who had what at the restaurant. I envisioned we’d do that back at the hotel and enter the amount, plus what I owed into the app. Capturing the receipt into the app would also be a handy feature to have a record for each expense, as well as being able to categorise each expense into food, activities, accommodation etc.

Before I started my search I listed a few requirements that I wanted the app to be able to do, from recording the expense as the most basic requirement, to being able to export data, a good feature if you want to manipulate it afterwards into reports. If it could export a pretty graph report without us having to do anything even better!

There are lots of free travel expense apps out there but the following are the 5 apps I trialled to see what boxes they ticked in terms of our requirements and the pros and cons of each.

Trail Wallet

Pros

• Can add multiple trips with custom start & end dates
• Can organise spending by category
• Customisable icons and themes

Cons

• Free for first 25 items, In App Purchase to unlock unlimited amounts

iTravel Budget

Pros

• Simple interface
• Can send email with a breakdown of expenses for trip
• Create detailed budget, i.e what things will cost

Cons

• More for budgeting rather than keeping track of expenses

Trip Wallet

Pros

• Can tag expenses to categorise them and see breakdown of totals
• Easy to use interface
• Refresh button for latest currency rates
• Add expense in overseas currency and it calculates it into home currency

Cons

• Can’t add other users or split costs

Trip Splitter Lite

Pros

• Personalise accounts with photos
• Attach photos of receipts
• Geo-locate spendings on a map

Cons

• Two people are free, must upgrade to add more
• Only creates even or uneven splits

Tripcoin

Pros

• Works offline
• Stores historical currency exchange rates
• Breakdown of total per category
• Currency converter
• Stores historical currency exchange rates
• Exports reports as csv file
• Exports receipts in a zip file
• Can back up on drop box

Cons

• Can’t add multiple users

Summary

So in conclusion, the app that ticked the most boxes for our purposes is Tripcoin. It offers the most in terms of recording expenses, supporting multiple currencies, at a glance graphs, exporting data, backing up data and capturing receipts. The interface is also easy to use, after a few hours of creating trips, adding expenses and exporting data, I feel I have it sorted.

Although it doesn’t let me itemise the portion of the expense that I owe, I got around that by adding the amount to the comments section of the expense, which appears in a separate column when you export the data, and is easily totalled.

The proof will be in the pudding as we see how Tripcoin performs on the trip! I’m also trialling Trip Wallet to keep track of my personal expenses for my independent travel for the three days out of each week.

Review

After using Tripcoin since early April 2017, I can safely say that it has exceeded expectations. It was a godsend on the Summer 2017 UNESCO trip. In fact it’s become an integral tool for my daily budgeting even when not travelling to keep track of who owes who what.

The post Searching for the Best Free Travel Expense App appeared first on etrip.tips.

But that’s not all: often there’ll be a stop or two that really doesn’t interest me. Why should I waste my holiday, I figure, paying to visit somewhere I have no desire to see?

Third, organised tours are expensive. Even without the whole single supplement issue, you’re effectively paying someone else to do the legwork for you, making the bookings and organising a programme that works logistically.

And finally, I’m a control freak. I don’t like being told where to go or what to do, and certainly not while I’m on vacation. Be grateful; I’d be a nightmare to have on your tour bus.

It’s not that I haven’t tried organised tours. A few years ago I won a ten day coach trip to America’s Deep South. Not unexpectedly, I locked horns with the tour guide on Day 2.

On arrival in New Orleans, I let her know that I was off to explore the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and she spat the proverbial dummy. She argued that New Orleans was one of the most dangerous places in the US. I countered that my last trip had been to San Pedro Sula, the Honduran city that often gains the epithet “notorious” shortly followed by “murder capital of the world”. She conceded, but still looked relieved when I joined the group for dinner.

So independent travel is my modus operandi and with that come the processes involved with creating a trip to a budget. Last summer, I decided to visit Extremadura, a little-visited region in central Spain.

Here’s how I worked out a trip plan and a budget.

How to get there

The Extremadura region has no international airport, so catching a flight from the UK was going to involve going to either Sevilla, to the south, or Madrid, to the north east. I decided I wanted to cover a lot of ground, so plumped for an open jaw option, flying into one airport, travelling overland and then flying out of another.

Both British Airways and their codeshare partner Iberia offer a good range of departures from London Heathrow and Gatwick. However, budget airlines work best for me in terms of geography; my nearest airport is Ryanair’s hub Stansted. Luckily, Ryanair operates flights from both Sevilla and Madrid to Stansted.

When to go

Trip planning in our household involves juggling business trips to ensure someone is home for the dogs. I ended up with a window of opportunity that spanned the first two weeks of July.

An Extremaduran native colleague of mine was horrified, exclaiming that her home region was so hot in the summer months that I’d melt. She wasn’t entirely wrong. However, travelling in July had two advantages: it was outside the school holidays and no sane person would consider heading into what’s often called the frying pan of Spain during the height of summer so flights would most likely be cheap.

Booking flights

The Ryanair website makes it simple to search for flights a week at a time, so I had a look to see how prices compared. It didn’t matter whether I began in Madrid or Sevilla. In the event, flying out to Sevilla and back from Madrid worked out about £10 cheaper for the dates I’d chosen. In the end, I paid £40.79 for the outbound leg and €32.63 for the return.

In total, that worked out at under £70 in total. As a bonus, my husband said the flight times were “sociable for a change” so he’d drop me off and pick me up, saving me the cost of airport parking.

As is my habit, I only take carry-on; it saves money and also there’s no wasting precious holiday time at the baggage carousel. Choosing a small backpack meant I would be able to sightsee on the move without being forced to find a safe place to store luggage.

Sevilla

I’ve been to Sevilla several times before, so I knew that on this occasion I would only stay one night. I planned to take the airport bus into the city, which was a factor in where I chose to stay, to avoid having to carry my bag in the heat of the afternoon.

I also wanted somewhere near to good bars and restaurants, which meant the Santa Cruz neighbourhood was a good fit. I’d stayed there previously on a very tight budget, spending just £18 on a basic room with a shared bathroom; this time I decided to up the budget a little.

There are lots of excellent websites out there offering accommodation, but my go-to site is www.booking.com which has always proved reliable and accurate. What I found was a gem: a suite so spacious I could pirouette across its hardwood floors without stubbing my toes, for the amazingly cheap price of just €57.

Situated in the annex of Hostal Plaza Santa Cruz in a delightful historic townhouse, it was just a stone’s throw from my favourite jamon ibérico joint. Around the corner I watched flamenco in Casa de la Guitarra, a venue so intimate I watched beads of sweat fall to the floor of the stage alongside loosened hairpins.

Mérida

I’d decided to aim for the ancient Roman settlement of Mérida the next day. It was easiest to go by bus; the most convenient departure, given that I knew I’d be up late in Sevilla, was the 9.45am bus. On a whim, I decided to break my journey for lunch in Zafra, Extremaduran but with the appearance of one of Andalusia’s famous pueblos blancos.

It cost me a few extra euros but the ticket hadn’t cost much anyway. I picked a restaurant that seemed to contain half of Zafra’s elderly male population which meant the food was as cheap as it was tasty. In Mérida, though the bus station was a few kilometres out of town, my hotel was not.

A single in the very modern Hostal Emeritae cost €36, leaving me a little spare cash to fund a taxi to and from the bus station, a bonus in the heat. I spent a fruitful afternoon exploring the many Roman ruins scattered about the place, purchasing a combo ticket at the first to get a discount on admission.

Cáceres

On the move again my next stop was just an hour away but in fact, I changed buses, leaving my bag in a left luggage locker and hopping on another bus for the short journey to Trujillo.

I’d double checked the LEDA bus company’s website before setting off so I knew which departures connected the best and arrived back in Cáceres by late afternoon. I’d chosen another central hotel, this time the Hostal Alameda Plaza Mayor; not the warmest of welcomes from the surly receptionist but good value at €40. I’d read on an online forum that though the restaurants on the main Plaza Mayor were good, the prices were higher than elsewhere; a ten minute walk got me a huge plate of suckling pig for a much more reasonable price.

The next day, I wanted to see some of the surrounding countryside, so I’d hired a car. Keen to be able to manoeuvre in the tightest of village alleys, I’d opted for a tiny Smart car. It wasn’t cheap at about £60 for the day but it was the only way to visit stunning Monfragüe National Park and the charming villages of the Vera valley. Feasting on creamy local cheese and crusty bread with not a tourist in sight, I was pleased I’d splurged on a car, despite the cost.

Home via Madrid

Given the choice, I always choose train over bus (more legroom and less chance of being travel sick) and finally the schedules worked in my favour for the final leg towards the Spanish capital. The three and a half hour ride across the starkly beautiful central plains cost me €32.95.

I could have saved about 10 euros by taking the bus but the extra money was worth it not to sit in traffic all the way into Madrid. There was plenty of time for lunch and a stroll through Retiro Park before catching the metro to the airport. Even with the airport supplement that was less than €5.

Total budget

In total, including food, petrol, transfers and everything detailed above including the flamenco show, I spent somewhere in the region of £550 for my five-day visit. The hotels I chose were all what you describe as mid-range and all en-suite; hostal in Spanish means “hotel” not “hostel”. A similar tour if bought as a package is likely to set you back somewhere in the region of £1100 to £1200. It pays to be independent!

Plus food approx £20 per day for five days

And if you wanted to categorise the spend

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Flight costs

I’m quite happy to hole up in budget accommodation, so the cost of transport is often my biggest outlay. Although there are times when I’m fixated on a particular destination, often I’ll browse the internet for flight deals and see what looks to be good value for the time I wish to travel. As a freelance writer, it helps that I’m not in the position where I have to ask an employer for time off, so I can act fast if I need to.

Most airlines offer flash sales, so I’m signed up to my favourites to make sure I never miss the chance of a bargain. In the past twelve months, my best deal has been a return flight from London to Nuremberg in Germany for £4.08 all in. I had a vague plan to visit a European Christmas market and was open to any destination; Ryanair helped me decide that the Christmas market in question was going to be in nearby Regensburg.

I also track potential error fares via websites like www.secretflying.com and www.flynous.com; these are mistakes caused by computer glitches or good old-fashioned human error. I already knew at some point in 2016 I wanted to return to New York, and when I stumbled on a business class error fare for £342 with British Airways, my dates were firmed up. The fact that the aforementioned error fare departed from Scandinavia wasn’t a deal breaker; it provided the opportunity to visit Stockholm as well, a city that had been on my wish list for some time.

Weather

Once I’ve stumbled across a deal, I always check the seasonal weather conditions for a potential destination before I hit the book now button. There’s little point securing an amazingly cheap flight to a beautiful tropical beach if it’s going to pour with rain all week. Likewise, it’s risky to book an indirect flight with a tight connection if you’re going to be hubbing through a northerly airport in the depths of winter, unless you’re happy to be stuck in the snow for part of your vacation with little more than flip flops and sun cream in your bag. Try BBC Weather to see the average climate for most mainstream destinations or, if it’s not shown, do a Google search instead.

Safety

My final port of call before booking that flight bargain is the Foreign and Commonwealth’s travel advice portal. I often travel as a solo female so it’s reassuring to know if a destination is considered safe. I’m cautious but not paranoid; trusting my instincts and using common sense have so far kept me out of trouble even in some potentially dodgy places like Honduras and South Africa.

Special events

Sometimes, a particular event is just so good that no matter what the cost, I just really want to go there. Subscribing to travel magazines such as Wanderlust, Sunday Times Travel and Lonely Planet keeps me abreast of interesting festivals and celebrations, natural phenomena and off the beaten track destinations.

Over the last few years I’ve enjoyed the Day of the Dead in Mexico, Inti Raymi in Peru and Carnaval in Haiti. Similarly, watching travel documentaries on television can lead to an overwhelming desire to visit a place; seeing the Northern Lights in Norway on the small screen is a case in point, as is riding the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Ulan Bator. Both were even better in real life.

By booking early, I’ve kept my flight and accommodation costs as low as possible; expect to book up to 11 months ahead for scheduled flights to some long haul destinations and sometimes equally ahead for somewhere to stay. An annual travel insurance policy means I’m covered if the airline goes bust or I’m not fit to travel; shop around and this doesn’t have to be expensive.

Stopovers

If I’m not sure I’ll like a destination but wish to try it out, then a stopover can be a good option too. I spent a few days in Doha, Qatar’s capital, en route to Tanzania, somewhere that proved interesting but wouldn’t necessarily have been worth a trip in its own right. Last year, when planning a trip to the Seychelles, the cheapest flights just happened to route through Colombo, so for a difference in flight costs of only £100 or thereabouts, I added a week in Sri Lanka onto my trip. I loved the place, and will make a return trip there one day to explore more thoroughly.

Do you have a travel planning routine? If so, it would be great if you were to leave a comment on our Facebook page.

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Take as much holiday in one chunk as you’re allowed

On a long haul trip, the airfare is likely to represent a large slice of the budget, so it makes sense to take one longer trip rather than several shorter ones. If you’re lucky enough to have a boss that will let you save up your holidays and take them in one lump, go for it.

If not, you can win some extra days by incorporating public holidays, such as at Easter or Christmas, though you’ll need to book early to avoid peak season fare hikes. Some jobs offer longer holidays as standard; you don’t have to be a teacher to benefit from school holidays as ancillary staff often get longer than average holidays too.

And if none of these options work for you, you can fund your habit by taking temporary jobs in between trips.

Consider your destination

You can end up spending more on a holiday despite securing a bargain fare with a budget airline if that destination is characterised by high living costs. Accommodation costs in cities such as New York and London can be a challenge for those travelling on a low budget, particularly if you’re hoping to be right at the heart of the action.

Conversely, it might cost a lot to fly long haul, but if your destination is backpacker-friendly like South East Asia, then your day to day costs are going to be a lot kinder to your wallet. If you stay on-the-beaten track, competition amongst providers will ensure that costs are kept low, with things like group tours and mass transit a boon for those trying to save money.

To get an idea of what the cost of living is like for your proposed destination, try a website such as Budget Your Trip. Their figures should only be considered a rough guide, as all trips and travellers will be different, but it’s a good place to start.

Think about your accommodation needs

Before you budget for a trip, I’d advise you to sit down and think about what you hope to get out of it and what’s going to be important to you. When you picture your ideal holiday, do you envisage five star luxury and lots of pampering or would you be as content with a dormitory bed in a backpackers?

Over the years, I’ve learnt what keeps me happy when I’m away: hot water, a clean and quiet room and free WiFi. The rest I can do without. I’m over noisy snorers in shared dorms. That impacts on my budget as I need to factor in a private room, though I’m still OK with padding down the corridor to use a shared bathroom.

Once you’ve identified what you can and can’t cope with, try putting a few dates into a site like www.booking.com, www.hostelbookers.com or www.trivago.co.uk to see what costs are like. You don’t need to book everything in advance, especially for a longer trip. It will, however, give you an idea about how much to allocate for each day’s accommodation, whether you choose to blow the budget on a few mind blowingly extravagant days or make that same amount of cash stretch for several months.

If you do head down the budget route but need a dose of luxury along the way, some smart hotels offer day passes so you can pay to use their facilities.

Allow for treats

While it can be tempting to pare back the budget to within an inch of its life, once you’re on the road there’ll be days when you’ll want to splurge. Building in the cost of a few incredible activities will give you memories which will last a lifetime.

It’s over 20 years since I flew over Niagara Falls in my first ever helicopter ride and I still remember the excitement I felt like it was yesterday. Since then, I’ve walked with lions in Zambia, stood at the crater of an active volcano in Vanuatu while it erupted in front of me and taken a hot air balloon ride over the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia.

None of those experiences came cheap, but I know I’ll never forget them, which makes it money well spent in my opinion. Make sure the budget’s flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities that you didn’t plan for.

Don’t forget the boring stuff

It might pain you to think about, but as well as funding the fun stuff you’re probably going to need to consider visas and immunisations for some destinations. So a multi-centre trip crossing national borders might sound exciting, but could work out expensive if you need a visa for each. Do your homework.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s travel advice by country will get you started and for the most part, point you in the direction of the correct embassy website. Ask at your local GP surgery if they offer certain vaccinations free of charge and book an appointment well in advance if that’s the case to give them time to order in the right stuff.

Decent insurance is also a must but shop around. If your home insurance covers your possessions whilst away, you can skimp on that aspect of cover but never cut back on medical cover and repatriation.

Watch the trip fund grow

Once you’ve settled on a place and a target budget, it’s time to make it a reality. Open a dedicated savings account, make a wall chart for the kitchen, pin the magic number to your computer screen – there are a whole host of ways to track how close you’re getting to your goal. Once the trip is underway, keep an eye on how you’re doing each day. If you overspend one day, cut back for a few days until your budget’s back on track. You’ll be amazed at how much there is to do that’s free. Have a great trip!

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