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- Middle class Indians keep telling me overseas travel is too expensive for them.
- yes the foreign prices are the result of the relatively low value of the Rupee. It won't always be that way and in the meantime there is always another country whose money is even lower like Indonesia, Egypt, Laos etc that Indians can enjoy.
- 1. There are cheaper countries to visit.
- 2. Because few Indians travel then it seems packages from Indian agents are very expensive. It's a luxury market rather than big market in Europe where they sell millions of holidays every week. Certain Airlines like Uzbekistan and Aeroflot offer good deals direct, but for others you have to use an agent who usually want a big margin. Shops in the backpacker areas of Delhi might offer good prices especially a day or 2 before the flight, but that is not convenient with workers who only have fixed holiday dates.
- 3. It's actually an advantage that it's expensive as this forces us to travel at a simpler level by being closer to the level of local people i.e. Staying at a local hotel rather than the Hilton we experience the real local culture.
- 4. The second biggest costs are accommodation, that's where organizations like CS, HC annd SERVAS are good, but don't expect
free accommodation in the centre of London or Paris ... smaller towns are easier to find.
- 5. Keep costs down by doing all the free things first like walking and taking advantage of free museums and festivals instead of being lured into expensive tourist traps.
- 5b. You could try volunteer working holidays like BCTV where they often give you free accommodation.
- 6. You could look for cheaper equivalent countries say Eastern Europe instead of Western Europe, Taiwan or Korea instead of Japan.
- 7. Taking one big trip in one year and no holiday the next instead of 2 lots of flights.
- 8. Never travel on a public holiday, if everyone else is on holiday then it's a sellers market.
- not finished
- see my Travel Tips page and the updated UK tips
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