Traveling on a Dime

One of the most common lies young people tell themselves (right behind "we're just taking some time apart") is, "I don't have the money to travel abroad." They look at the standard airfares to someplace like Rome, add on the cost of hotel and food, and then stagger backward in search of an aspirin.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Nine days in Europe or Latin America, including airfare, can be easily done for a three-digit sum; Africa and Asia can be experienced for $1,500 or less. And "budget travel" can still mean a high-quality, comfortable trip- it's no longer the commonly held stereotype of eating nothing but stale baguettes and sharing a filthy hostel bunk with a drunken sailor named Hans.

There are many tricks and strategies for traveling on a budget, which you can find in any Let's Go guidebook. But here are some basic pieces of advice for those of you who are feeling an urge to get away.

Do it yourself. Package-tour groups may not be the root of all evil, but they come pretty close. Besides the withering humiliation of being herded from air-conditioned bus to tourist attraction like a gaggle of camera-laden geese, tour groups are usually an inefficient use of your money. You wind up paying for sights that you would have bypassed had you been on your own, luxuries that you would have chosen to do without, and an awful lot of overhead for the company that put together that pretty brochure for you.

Do your own research, spread out the maps, put together an itinerary you love, and make it happen. At the end of the trip, you'll feel like you've actually accomplished something.

Be flexible. It's okay to approach your vacation with a specific destination in mind, but realize that you may miss out on some big savings. Better to consider four or five places in the world that capture your imagination, and explore the possibilities for all of them.