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| Pick two. Which would you pick? |
Let's take a look at each case.
1) Pick time and money: This choice seems the most logical. What's more important than time and money? However, when you're traveling, picking time and money over flexibility can leave you feel a bit constrained. If you decide you want to stay at a city for longer than you originally planned, too bad. It's going to cost you not only in money, but it will also cost you in time (rearranging any travel plans and lodging reservations). You simply can't afford to change plans along the way if you wish to save money and leave time for sight seeing. Planning can take several hours -- you might even need to devote a whole day out of your precious schedule while you're on the road.
2) Pick time and flexibility: This is the choice for ballers. You have all the money in the world. You can change plans on the fly, or don't even make any plans. Just go wherever you want and stay for as long as you like. Money works as a lubricant here, greasing the various parts well enough for the machinery to function properly and efficiently.
3) Pick money and flexibility: Ah, the frugal traveler with all the time in the world. The recent college grad with no job lined up. Or just a bum. If you have all the time in the world, you can optimize your trip to death, squeezing every last bit of penny from your budget. Remember the Traveling Salesman problem? Given N cities, with varying cost of travel between each city, what is the most cost effective and and most efficient route to take? How long should you stay in each city? What sites should you see, and in what order, and for how long, given the constraints of n dollars and m days.? Where should you eat for the most bang for the buck? The optimizations are endless, and it's all for the taking, as long as you put in the time to crunch the numbers.
With my trip, I was probably going back and forth among all three types. I did have a finite number of days as my constraint, and I had already booked my return flight from Istanbul. However, I also paid a premium for changing plans along the way. That puts me in the time and flexibility camp (aka, baller), but I still tried to optimize it a bit here and there (the money and flexibility camp, aka, the bum). In doing so, I had to sacrifice my trip time, whereas some days I spent half the day planning for the next steps.
For my next trip, I would do the following:
1) Limit the number of destinations. What I did, traveling to 8 countries and 26 cities in 30 days, was a bit insane. I liken it to taking a sampler platter -- a little bit of everything in one meal. You can get a taste for a lot of things, but you can't really appreciate the depth and the essence of each dish. For my next trip, I will take it easy - maybe a decent sized appetizer, a main course, and a light dessert. I will spend a lot of time to research a few places and focus on those few.
2) Join a tour group. Although the flexibility of going around on your own has its benefits, joining a tour group is more efficient, and you get more out of it. It just makes sense.
Sung had asked whether it was worth it, and whether I would pay 2x to bring a significant other. Yes, yes. He also asked how much I'd pay for a similar experience. I think I could pay up to 2x what I paid for my experience, if my memories of the trip were erased. But if I were to do a similar trip (a lot of cities in a short amount of time) for a similar amount of money, I would pass, and plan the simple trip as I had outlined above.
Similarly, Ziggy asked, if my memories were erased, which part of the trip I would like to do over. Hands down, it would be Marrakesh. Not only because how different the place is compared to most Western countries, but also, and mainly, because of the scam experiences I've had there. It taught me about my own vulnerabilities and weaknesses, so that I can better prepare myself for similar situations in the future. I feel that such experiences are so valuable because they don't happen so often in our daily lives.
With my trip, I was probably going back and forth among all three types. I did have a finite number of days as my constraint, and I had already booked my return flight from Istanbul. However, I also paid a premium for changing plans along the way. That puts me in the time and flexibility camp (aka, baller), but I still tried to optimize it a bit here and there (the money and flexibility camp, aka, the bum). In doing so, I had to sacrifice my trip time, whereas some days I spent half the day planning for the next steps.
For my next trip, I would do the following:
1) Limit the number of destinations. What I did, traveling to 8 countries and 26 cities in 30 days, was a bit insane. I liken it to taking a sampler platter -- a little bit of everything in one meal. You can get a taste for a lot of things, but you can't really appreciate the depth and the essence of each dish. For my next trip, I will take it easy - maybe a decent sized appetizer, a main course, and a light dessert. I will spend a lot of time to research a few places and focus on those few.
2) Join a tour group. Although the flexibility of going around on your own has its benefits, joining a tour group is more efficient, and you get more out of it. It just makes sense.
Sung had asked whether it was worth it, and whether I would pay 2x to bring a significant other. Yes, yes. He also asked how much I'd pay for a similar experience. I think I could pay up to 2x what I paid for my experience, if my memories of the trip were erased. But if I were to do a similar trip (a lot of cities in a short amount of time) for a similar amount of money, I would pass, and plan the simple trip as I had outlined above.
Similarly, Ziggy asked, if my memories were erased, which part of the trip I would like to do over. Hands down, it would be Marrakesh. Not only because how different the place is compared to most Western countries, but also, and mainly, because of the scam experiences I've had there. It taught me about my own vulnerabilities and weaknesses, so that I can better prepare myself for similar situations in the future. I feel that such experiences are so valuable because they don't happen so often in our daily lives.
