Why budget travel can be hot and cold

Hot and cold

Traveling on a budget can be hot or cold. 

Some of the people we have travelled with in the past know that when we travel we usually are on a pretty tight budget. Most trip we aim for about $100/day for our family. This covers our food, lodging, travel within the country, visas, country entry fees, tours, fun stuff and souvenirs. So every move we make has to be thought out.  This can be tough, but we find that if we are willing to give up stuff, we can make it happen! 

While we were in NZ, I was COLD! The homes in NZ are mostly not heated. So while we traveled later in the year it became their fall and the nights became much cooler. Most people on the north island don't have heat in their homes. This may be hard to understand coming from manitoba where we all have to have a way to heat our homes in winter or we will freeze. But it usually doesn't freeze much on the north island. So they can do without heat. This doesn't mean that it's not cold in their homes though. Some mornings when we got out of bed it was 14 degrees in the house. I was so cold. 

Now that we are in Indonesia, I am hot. Don't get me wrong, I love hot! My favourite temp is 28-30 degrees. But that's during the day. during the night it feels best to be a bit cooler. So far during the days here it has gotten up to 34 degrees with 100% + humidity. I didn't know that it can get above 100% humidity, but our thermometer/humidex reader said the humidity was high once it became higher than 100%.  During the night the temp goes down to about 27-28 degrees. Not to worry though, because we have the ocean right out our doorstep. Which is perfect to cool down during the days. The hard part is during the night. The fan helps. But oh we all dream of A/C. We even stayed a bit longer in the interact machine building the other day because I think it's the only public building with A/C. 

That's where being on a budget plays into being hot. Because we are on a budget, we sometimes have to choose the more inexpensive hotels (that don't have A/C), cheaper meals and not get a regular massage ( even if the massage is only $8). Because we have to always be aware of our budget. It's not a big deal to go over a budget a bit if the trip is short, but in the case of a 4 month trip, consistently going over the budget may mean running out of money early. Then what?.

So as perfect as Gili Air is, and it is amazing! I am still hot from the lack of A/C at night and sometimes cold, brrr, because of the lack of hot water in the shower. 

You got it, the shower is only cold sea water!     

Looking forward to Cambodia with its fancy A/C rooms with pool for $30/ night!