Everyone loves to travel (almost everyone). I certainly do. Believe it or not, doing it right and doing it on a budget takes a little skill, knowledge and practice. But the required skills are not difficult, the knowledge required is easy to obtain, and the fun is in the practice!
This past spring my wife and I were lucky enough to be able to
spend 10 days in Italy. We didn’t spend a fortune, we scrimped on a few things and spent on others, and the net result was a very pleasing travel experience. Planning, of course, is key. We had agreed to our general itinerary and had a limited amount of time to spend, so the general outline of the trip was pretty clear from the start. We flew to Rome, spent a few days taking care of the biggies like St. Peter’s, and the Vatican Museum, and did lots of strolling around the city.
Where did we stay? At a “budget” hotel. How did we find it?
The Internet. There are so many choices of reasonably-priced hotels, that the biggest problem is narrowing down the list. If you have even minimal Web-surfing skills, finding your accomodations this way is really pretty easy to do. Many establishments even offer a discount for reservations made online. Oh, by the way, when we paid the bill on the way out, we paid in cash - another discount!
How did we get from the airport in Rome to the hotel? (Hint: not by taxi.) We took the train! Much cheaper, more fun, and in fact, easier. Even if you can’t actually read the signs in the airport, finding the station is very easy. How did we really know it was so easy to get to the city from the airport on the train? We cheated. We read a travel guide before we left! I’m not pitching a travel book here, and I honestly
don’t remember which one it was, but the point is, a little research in advance can save you a lot of money, time, aggravation, fear, uncertainty and all those other negative emotions brought on by arriving in a foreign place and
suddenly realizing you have no idea what to do next. And finally, from the train station in the city to our hotel was a short walk because we planned it that way - no taxi fare. The walk to the hotel was made even more pleasant by the fact that we were not over-burdened with luggage, which brings us to the next practical tip - packing.
Ten days in Europe (or anywhere else) doesn’t require a mountain of baggage - at least not for two adults. Bags with handles and wheels are essential. Walking to the hotel with our luggage was a breeze. Packing, like the other parts of a trip, requires a little planning. If you’re careful, and are clear about your plans for touring and socializing, you can get by with less than you think.
Keeping your travel documents and money secure is always a concern. I learned an important lesson a few years ago during a trip to Europe. Having done a lot of business travel all over the world, I made the mistake of thinking I was immune from pick pockets. I won’t mention the city the event took place in, but afterwards I was stunned at the skill demonstrated by the “team” that got my wallet - out of a jacket pocket that was zipped closed! It happened in a revolving door - and
thinking back on the episode, I realize that I was expertly sized up for the “hit” beforehand. In short, realize that anyone can be “fooled” even if you think you’re an expert. Lesson - I NEVER travel now without a money belt. On our last trip to Italy, all valuables were in the money belt at all times, and there were no incidents. Even the “gypsy kids” at
the Coliseum were not a threat (if you go to Rome, be sure to read about the area around the Coliseum - you must see it, but it’s prime territory for expert young thieves).
In summary, a little thought and some careful planning can make a huge difference in the level of pleasure you derive from your next trip - whether it’s a European jaunt or a car trip with your whole family to mountains. I think letting someone else do it all and spending your days sealed up in a tour bus or following someone else around all day deprives you of half the fun. So plan your next trip carefully and you’ll enjoy it a lot more.
Pete Cullen runs a budget travel tips website. To get more great travel tips, please visit
http://easy-budget-travel-tips.com
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Having a baby is one of the most exciting times of your life. It is also one of the most stressful. So many decisions have to be made about nearly every aspect of your baby’s comfort, safety, and happiness. You spend hours pouring over pregnancy and child rearing books, picking out the perfect crib, finding the most adorable and comfortable clothing, and envisioning the safest and most peaceful birth for your baby as possible. No doubt somewhere in your planning you have thought about how many diapers you will need for your new little one and perhaps you have even purchased some in advance. If you are like the majority of parents out there, then you have automatically decided upon disposable diapers without ever giving it a second thought. Stop right there! There is an alternative; consider using cloth diapers.
Cloth diapering today is not what it used to be. When many parents think of cloth diapers they think of flat diapers that need to be folded in several, origami-like folds and fastened with diaper pins before they are covered with plastic pull on pants. Generally they also think that the clean-up involved with using cloth diapers would be tedious and messy. Cloth diapers have been stereotyped and it seems as though many parents have missed the total evolution of the cloth diaper that has occurred over the past decade or so. I know, because I was one of them.
My own personal decision to use cloth actually came with my second child. With my first child I used disposable diapers, as most do, and thought nothing of it. When I became pregnant a second time I joined a pregnancy discussion group online and in one particular discussion I saw a signature line that contained a link to a work at home mother that sold handcrafted cloth diapers. It was an “Ahaaa” moment for me. I had no idea how far cloth diapers had come. I had dismissed all previous thoughts about using cloth diapers with an exaggerated “Ewwww!” I didn’t want to clean messy diapers and I didn’t want to stick my baby with safety pins. But these diapers were fitted, they had Velcro-like closures, and they were CUTE. I search far and wide for adorable clothing for my babies so how could I resist adorable diapers?
New choices in materials and high tech fabrics are causing an increasing number of parents to reconsider whether disposable diapers are the best choice. We have options now that provide us with cloth diapers that are elasticized so that they are fitted and snug, waterproof many instances, and manageable with Velcro-like closures or snaps, making them just as easy and convenient to use as disposables. It is not just their functionality and convenience that has been affected by this evolution either. Cloth diapers available today are infinitely more attractive. They are available in a variety of different colors, prints, and textures. Cloth diapers made from silk and cashmere are not uncommon. This is a big selling point for many parents because there is nothing cute about a disposable diaper. Quite simply, cloth diapers are convenient, cost effective, healthier for our children, and better for the environment. I feel as though the real question parents should be asking themselves is why use disposables?
As a general rule, it is almost always cheaper to reuse than to buy new every time. This is no different with cloth diapers. Most parents go through 6 to 8 thousand diapers per child, from birth to about age three. If we take an average of what those diapers cost, that equates to between 2000 and 3000 dollars per baby. Once those children are potty trained those diapers are gone. They can’t be re-used. So a significant chunk of our hard earned money has gone to buying, what is essentially, garbage. In comparison, enough cloth diapers to last for three years will usually cost between 3 to 8 hundred dollars. At minimum that is about a 1200 dollar savings. But wait, consider too, that those cloth diapers may last for one or more successive children and your savings doubles and even triples.
What should also be of serious concern to all parents are the toxic chemicals present in disposable diapers. Dioxin, which in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, skin diseases, and genetic damage, is a by-product of the paper-bleaching process used in manufacturing disposable diapers, and trace quantities may exist in the diapers themselves. Dioxin is listed by the EPA as the most toxic of cancer related chemicals. Disposable diapers also contain sodium polyacrylate. If you have ever seen the gel-like, super absorbent crystals in a disposable diaper then you have seen this substance first hand. Sodium polyacrylate is the same substance that was removed from tampons because of its link to toxic shock syndrome. No studies have been done on the long-term effects of this chemical being in contact with a baby’s reproductive organs 24 hours a day for upwards of two years. Cloth diapers, on the other hand, are free of the many chemicals contained in disposable diapers.
Then there are the environmental reasons for using cloth. According to the Sustainability Institute eighty percent of the diaperings in this nation are done with disposables. That comes to 18 BILLION diapers a year, just in the US. They require thousands of tons of plastic and hundreds of thousands of trees to manufacture. After a few hours of active service these materials are trucked away, primarily to landfills, where they sit, entombed or mummified, undegraded for several hundred years. The idea of a “disposable” diaper is a myth. The ramifications of that myth will stay with us for centuries to come. They are the 3rd largest single product in the waste stream behind newspapers and beverage containers. The urine and feces in disposable diapers enter landfills untreated, possibly contaminating the ground water supply.
When you consider the unnecessary depletion of our valuable forests, the huge volume of garbage created, the toxic air and water pollution and the potential health risks to children, it is very difficult to comprehend how washing and reusing cloth diapers could ever be considered an inconvenience. No, they are a rewarding investment all around; a financial investment, an investment in our children’s health, and an investment in our planet.
Tiffany Washko is president of Jelly Bean Diapers a cloth diaper manufacturing company. She also owns and maintains two other web sites, Diaper Jungle, http://www.diaperjungle.com and Nature Moms, http://www.naturemoms.com
After working several years in corporate healthcare marketing and public relations, she took time away to be a mother. This new pursuit lead her to a new passion, helping new moms make the decision to return to the basics and use cloth diapers.
