Tour and Travel

About las vegas, well who doesn’t know this city. It’s one of the notorious city at Nevada. Some call it city of sin, but hey, it’s much fun there!.

The history began when Raphael Rivera, first European visit Las Vegas Area in 1829. In that time, areas of the valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas (Vegas mean green areas).

In 1844, Las Vegas was still part of Mexico. But on 1855, Las Vegas was annexed by the United States, after that day, United States assigned 30 missionaries to convert the Paiute Indian population to Mormonism. Later, Mormons abandoned Las Vegas in 1857, during the Utah War.

Las Vegas was re-established as a railroad town on 1905, when 110 acres owned by the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was auctioned off in what is now downtown Las Vegas. Then Las Vegas became an city on March 16, 1911 and Peter Buol was assigned as the first mayor.

Enough for history lesson, now it’s the fun news. According to my friend, there’s a lot of Las Vegas Club and Casino at that city. All of that club and casino have unique landscape and design. And my lucky friend even go to strip club just for fun and prove to me that’s Vegas really had strip club, ha ha. When I ask him, why he didn’t go to Casino, he told me that it’s already seen on film so it’s no fun to go to casino.

One person’s budget for a fortnight in Egypt might well run to a couple of thousand dollars, for others it would be a few hundred.

Generally, budget travel is considered shoestring. Lonely Planet almost made the name their own with their original travel guide to Southeast Asia; for travelers on a tight budget. I even used the yellow book myself in the eighties.

Now LP have guides to just about everywhere, and have included mid-range and top end hotels in their places to stay; to cast the net wider. We’ll be looking at the guidebooks next week.

If you’re traveling on the cheap, there’s nothing to stop you entering the five star hotels. Some of them have good value, all you can eat buffets; at a price travelers can afford — occasionally.

If you’re starting out on a lengthy 3 to 6 month overland journey, you will indeed need to budget for three to seven thousand dollars.

Your budget will vary depending on where you travel. Europe is not as cheap anymore, and the gendarmes aren’t so tolerant of back-packers sleeping on the beach.

When the Summer is over you wouldn’t want to anyway, but it’s still a good time to travel in Europe. The queues for museums have gone, you’ll have less tourists in your photographs, and you will get to meet the locals; in the high season they’re all on holiday too. And guess what? The accommodation prices are coming down as well; almost half the price in some heavily tourist areas.

Amsterdam and Prague are great budget places in September and October, and Paris is coming back to life — the Parisians desert the French capital in August, and that’s not a lot of fun if you like to sit at a brasserie table and watch the world go by.

Good value travel can still be had in Asia, South America, and parts of Africa. In West Africa, for example, the Francophone countries are more expensive than the former English colonies, with Abidjan and Dakar the two most expensive cities. Ghana is a treasure. Now’s the time to start planning for the Southern Hemisphere

The most expensive part of the trip is usually the flight ticket. In this article, we are talking about the budget travel after the the ticket is bought. Getting a good price on airline tickets is quite an art in itself.

You can even make reservations online.

Your budget for traveling, once the ticket is bought, will of course depend on your comfort requirements in both accommodation and transportation.

Dormitory beds, or a room with your own shower; hard seats on 36-hour Chinese trains, or a sleeper in a closed compartment. These are the extremes and there is always somewhere in between.

I have stayed in some very nice hotels in South America for $5, and some dives in the United States for five to ten times that.

There are old colonial mansions in West Africa that you never want to leave and water palaces, surrounded by rice paddies, in Indonesia that offer an outdoor swim before breakfast. Once travelers tell Lonely Planet about these places, they loose the atmosphere. So I’m not going to tell you where they are either.

There are always gems on the route less travelled, and that is the beauty of traveling without knowing where you’ll be staying.

That’s budget travel to me. You have a wad of money when you start out, and you really don’t know how far you’ll get with it. If you want to know how much it’s all going to cost and where you’ll stay, then book through a travel agent.

Before you get your head down for the night you’ll have to get there. Some people do hitch-hike in Asia and South America, but transportation is reasonably cheap and frequent.

The greatest luxury is time, budgeting your time is also a part of independent travel. Again if you don’t have enough of it, you’ll be forced to take the tours.

In countries like India and China you will need to book the long-distance trains at least a day in advance, sometimes three days or more.

Many a traveler has come unstuck by looking around Beijing for three or five days, and then being forced to stay another three or five because they can’t get a ticket out.

On the popular routes, you sometimes need to book your tickets out, before you settle in. Unwanted tickets are easier to sell than trying to buy one for a train that leaves in half an hour.

In West Africa you simply turn up at the autogare and wait for the Peugeot to fill up — early mornings are always best. While other countries have bus stations with many companies competing to get you on theirs that is leaving right away.

So whatever your budget, there’s always something for you — you pay the money, you take the choice. Don’t forget that some countries require you to pay for a visa, and when your budgeted time is out you may well have to pay a departure tax.

There are lots and lots of ways that you can save a truck load of cash on your air tickets regardless of whether you fly once a year or regularly. Like anything else, its knowing important information, often inside information, that gets you results. Simple things like cutting out travel agents are a good tip. When you take out agents’ fees and buy tickets direct then there can be a dramatic difference in price. Taking this into account why don’t you fly at night? This is not everyone’s cup of tea but its also why tickets are often cheaper when flying at night. Buying your tickets from midnight often get great results. Midnight is generally the time when tickets first become available and also discounts and vouchers are released. And don’t worry about calling so late. You won’t be getting anyone out of bed or be calling them at home!! These companies take sales 24 hours a day.

I know someone in the insurance business and they kindly got me some amazing policies with low premiums. If you are wondering what this has got to do with air tickets then read on! If you know someone who works for a carrier or airline then ask them if they have any unused discounts for that month or season? You could be traveling on staff rates which are infinitely better than normal prices.

Budget airlines have superb discounts and offers if you can book early. They want their planes full and as early as possible. Its how they work as companies. But, by the same token, because airlines want their planes full they will inevitably offer low ticket prices for very last minute flights. Beware though, you must be geared up for that type of trip. If you like to book off a certain amount of time to travel but actually choose your destination at the last minute. Then this type of discount is for you.

Finally, I have some airport tips for you, just to help make life a bit easier! These are difficult times, sometimes dangerous, depending where you are in the world. Give yourself plenty of time to check in and be aware of any security measures at check-in. If you are flying somewhere you haven’t been to before then consider taking some currency with you. Never assume that arrivals will have somewhere to get some foreign currency. Not all airports have them. You don’t want to be stuck without any cash in case you need a cab or just to eat something.