julies

Zeus made this suggestion in a posting on a thread about saving money while traveling in Europe. This is the most active forum on this site, and I know I have gotten tons of help here in the past. From past experience here, I also know that there are lots of people posting here who would use a forum devoted to people who want to travel more cheaply than many who post here. Is it possible to have another forum?

Budget oriented travelers often participate in Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, but not all of us fit Lonely Planet's typical demographic. I'm interested in communicating with like-minded travelers who are past the backpacking and hostel-staying age but still want to travel economically. Many of us, for varying reasons, prefer not to partake in high end travel to Europe. It would be nice to have a forum where fellow travelers who want to travel more cheaply in Europe could communicate here. I'd guess a new forum here would get lots of use. Just a suggestion on my part.

WillTravel

I would have to disagree. I get lots of help from people who aren't budget travelers. So why would I want to isolate myself to another forum where these helpful people probably would not post?

LoveItaly

I think it is not a good idea julies for the very reasons that WillTravel stated.

I often see posts from people looking for budget accomodations and cafes etc., and it seems to me even Fodorites that are not on strict travel budgets often make recommendations.

scotlib

So frequently a thread will ask for clarification of the OP's idea of "budget."

Budget to one traveler is not budget to another.

I think I gain more by sifting the board for what helps me.

Plus one more thought: the change of the categories last winter shook me up. One shake up like that is enough to last the whole year

flanneruk

Is there really such a thing as a budget traveller?

Depending on our inclinations at any given moment and the state of the bank account, we might want to scrimp on one thing and splurge on another. Or splurge on a weekend in Venice, but scrimp over an eight week house rental on Skyros. Or viccy versie.

I'd have thought a forum for people who are ALWAYS scrimping over EVERYTHING would be pretty unintersting to most people.

But almost everyone's interested in SOME suggestions about saving money on SOME things SOME of the time.

You should keep the cheapskate questions alongside the "How many 3* Michelin places can you pack into a week?" fantasies. For many of us they're both just as interesting.

Zeus

Julies - maybe we should just e-mail each other since nobody seems to like our idea.



Could we at least exclude the snobbier and snottier posters by using "Super duper cheapo budget" in our thread titles?

JulieVikmanis

My first reaction was that this would be a good idea, then I read the responses and find myself in agreement that it might not work as well as I first thought. Sort of the law of unintended consequences.

norrisken

I like the idea. If not a forum, then maybe a place where we can post our budget tips, ideas, and experiences. Not a discussion forum though. Budget minded folks could check the budget tip area first and if they need more info they could take it to the discussion forum for that particular country so all can see and discuss. That way we can get the best of both. A place to post our budget travel helps and a place to discuss them and no one is isolated. But we may be opening a can of worms. Next will be Affordable Travel, Comfortable yet not too Expensive Travel, More Money then Sense Travel, etc.

MomDDTravel

I do not think of myself as a snob traveler at all. I read RickSteves to look for less expensive ways to travel, this site, and others. I like to take it all in and then make choices based on what is important to us.

I would miss out on a lot if there was a seperate forum.

Dukey

It would actually work IMO IF everyone agreed on the meaning of "budget" and since we know THAT isn't going to happen, nor does it NEED to happen, what is the point?

Julies, if you want "budget" information i am certain you will get it if you are specific about your requirements and your own definitions of what the "budget" is.

A lot of people, like ME, post here and we will probably NEVER travel at the level of some other people but that doesn't keep me from posting and it hasn't stopped you, either.

I am beginning to wonder if there is some sort of "shame' with coming out and SAYING, "I don't want to spend that much money on....is there an alternative?"

Face it, there are plenty of people on here who LIE about what they spend and where they stay, too.

scotlib

<i> If not a forum, then maybe a place where we can post our budget tips, ideas, and experiences. </i>

Smart Travel Tips is a forum that came out of the shake up. It's getting more use now, than at first, but plenty of room for more thread ideas.

For topic searching (if anyone applied the topic highlight when posting), it has Educational Travel, Green Travel, and Family Travel ..

... add Budget Travel?

Robespierre

<i>Face it, there are plenty of people on here who LIE about what they spend and where they stay, too.</i>

And you know this how, exactly?

norrisken

So we could have a listing for Budget Travel under the Europe Forum and when posting (hopefully) post to &quot;country&quot; and &quot;Budget Travel&quot;?

MomDDTravel

Dukey do you really think so? I have to be honest - I feel like the reverse is true here... I feel more embarrassed to say &quot;I stayed at the Hotel De Russie&quot; - than I got a great room for 100 Euros. (I did not stay there btw).

I stayed at a place in Paris and when I shared it got some comments about cost etc and it has made me slightly reluctant to share it with folks in the future. jmo - seems more like the reverse.

bratsandbeer

For some travelers budget means the difference between being able to travel or staying home.
To me, budget travel means having good or best at the lowest price I can find.
It doesn't mean cheap just to be cheap or on the other hand to spend money needlessly.
For instance if you travel on a budget, why pay a lot of money on a fancy hotel when you can stay at a welcoming b&amp;b where the host/hostess will help you and treat you like a guest in their home - which you usually are.
Asking for budget ideas for a specific location when you are planning a trip makes more sense than gathering hundreds of budget ideas to go through looking for what you need.

norrisken

I'm more than happy to admit what I spend and how I travel in Europe. We stay with family when its ok with them and us. We eat at the local B&auml;ckerei early in the morning and buy rolls, meats, cheese, wurst for our breakfast and for a lunch we will eat on the road later. We shop for souvenirs at Flohmarkts and don't feel bad about asking for a lower price. I don't consider myself cheap, but making efficient use of my money. I find that the less I spend on something the better chance I have of experiencing living like a local. Getting a true flavor of the region you're in that you can't get from a large hotel. My thoughts.
To each his own.

MomDDTravel

For me - as I have shared before it is about choices. I will go out and grab breakfast and bring it back - even when in a hotel - rather then spend a fortune on hotel breakfast... I will take a cab if I am tired but will look for the best price as well or buy goodies to bring home in a market (I loved going to Walmart in Kaui and buying things to bring home rather then in an expensive shop or hotel). Stuff like that...

PalenQ

ditto to OP

Katie_H

Thanks for the suggestions and opinions as always.

Some ideas that are currently being kicked around and developed on our end I think might work as a nice comprise.

One idea is the inclusion of tagging options (similar to what is mentioned above)like &quot;budget&quot; that would make it easier for users to browse or search the Europe forum based on that criteria. This is a part of a much larger project involving moving the forums to a new operating platform. We've begun work on this and you should see developments from the late summer through the fall.

(On a side note, we are currently exploring ways to at least show the country/state for now that the original poster tagged their thread with.)

My concern with starting a separate forum is that it would then imply that the regular Europe forum was for travelers with limitless budgets, when in actuality I think the range of travel budgets is actually quite diverse. This diversity is a real strength. Members of all travel budgets should feel welcomed and encouraged to post here. If you notice someone not being welcomed please drop me a line at [email protected].

There's currently some good budget threads for more general tips posted in the Smart Travel Tips forum as mentioned above. The closest topic currently is &quot;Money Matters&quot;, which I understand isn't exactly the same thing as &quot;Budget Travel.&quot; This forum is (like all of the site really) a work in progress and it's been very helpful for me to receive feedback from the regular posters there. Your input is welcomed as well.

Finally, we are reluctant to break up existing forums in general because a part of what makes Fodor's Forums unique is our &quot;big bucket&quot; approach. It is our belief that the further that topics are broken down and compartmentalized the fewer the possibility for spontaneous interaction and advice sharing between members. For instance, while it might make sense for the OP to place a question regarding Italy in an Italy specific forum, the potential respondents are then limited to those that happen to look into the Italy forum to see if they can help. Of course, there are improvements that we can make on our end to make it easier for posters, especially first time posters, to navigate the Forums.

Finally, based on stats I have seen for various popular threads in this forum over the last year, the budget threads are some of the most popular. This leads me to believe that posts devoted to traveling further more cheaply are of interest to a majority of the travelers in this forum.

Thank you bringing this up julies and thanks to everyone for posting their thoughts. The idea raised of having a place separate from the forums devoted to tips for budget travel sounds great too.

julies

What I had in mind was a forum just like this one with all the country listings etc. BUT, it would be a place where when, for example, one looks up restaurant recommendations for city XYZ, then one wouldn't have to sort through all the places people have recommended that will cost E35 (or more) per person. Or, one wouldn't find hotel recommendations for say E120 (and up) a night. (And, please don't jump on me for the figures I just quoted; I was only trying to provide examples). Or, when someone asks about the best way to get to the hotel from the airport, people would't automatically just say take a taxi. Taxis can be prohibitively priced for someone who is trying to travel economically.

To me, it seems this new forum format would be beneficial both when originally posing a question and also when people go back to search the archives.