Useful tips for budget-conscious travelers

Traveling can be an experience of a lifetime. Being in the center of another culture is both exciting and eye-opening. 【小题1】. Still, here are four useful tips for the budget-conscious traveler.

Don’t Travel During the Peak Season

【小题2】. In Manhattan, New York, it’s during the winter holidays. In Cebu, Philippines, it’s the summer months. Traveling during these peak times certainly means higher prices and large crowds. A great way to avoid all of these is to simply go when it’s not high season.

【小题3】

Within most regions there are local airlines that provide inexpensive solutions to getting around. This is especially handy when you have multiple destinations in mind for your trip. All you have to do is look up Mango flight bookings and you’re on your way. Once you’re in a region, getting around gets much simpler and a whole lot cheaper.

Choose Economical Accommodations

Hotel chains and expensive options may be nice, but they’re the opposite of a budget-friendly experience. 【小题4】. If you’re an app expert, you can also check out room rental apps like Airbnb. They have an extensive network of apartments and units in wonderful neighborhoods for those who prefer a more local feel.

Don’t Spend All Your Money on Food

One of the best things about travel is to enjoy all the wonderful food. Tasting the authentic versions of your favorite dishes is an absolute delight. But be careful. Having a few good meals out is to be expected, but having every meal at an expensive restaurant is a very quick way to drain your money. 【小题5】.

Missing their daughter, my parents came to visit me in the South West of France over my February break. As a little surprise for them I planned a trip to a small village called Niaux to see the famous ancient cave paintings.

These cave paintings, drawn between 30,000 to 12,000 years ago, were made by some of the first modern human beings! Advances in science and technology have enabled scientists and historians to carbon date (碳定年代) the paintings accurately, and to discover the tools they used to draw the paintings, as well as the materials they used. My dad had studied these caves at university as a student of history but he had never had the chance to see one himself. So, I decided this had to change!

We travelled there by train. Many caves which contain prehistoric paintings are no longer open to the public. As the carbon dioxide that we breathe out and the bright light will do damage to the paintings, so for many caves now, visitors can only see reconstructions (复原) of the original paintings. However, Niaux is an exception. By limiting the number of people allowed in the cave at a time and limiting the light used to light up the paintings, the paintings in Niaux have been preserved so that visitors can see the originals. They were incredible! We saw paintings of bison and mountain goats and deer painted on the walls as clearly as though they had been done yesterday. They were actually drawn around 14,000 years ago!

Many people believe that these paintings were drawn as part of an almost religious activity, while others believe they show the daily life experiences of the men and women who lived in these caves all those years ago. Maybe we will never know for sure…but one thing is for certain…those cavemen were far better at drawing than I am!