| This travel secret isn't a secret, but do you know | | | | and heard about a hotel above a pub. The rest of |
| why going slow can mean saving money and having | | | | the hotel rooms in town were generally $60 per night |
| more fun? | | | | and up, but we got a room above the pub for $120 - |
| Our top travel secret isn't really a secret at all, but it | | | | for an entire week. It had a stove and refrigerator, |
| takes a while for some of us to learn and apply it. | | | | so we could cook our own meals if we wanted to |
| Here it is: Slow down. Slowing down and spending | | | | save more. |
| more time in each location is not only a secret of | | | | Slowing Down Means Better Travel Experiences |
| cheap travel, but in our experience, it means more | | | | More important than the fact that slowing down |
| fun. | | | | means cheap travel is the fact that when you go |
| Slowing Down For Cheap Travel | | | | slower you discover things you would have missed. |
| We returned yesterday (August 13, 2007) from a | | | | While at the hot springs mentioned above, for |
| ten-day road trip, and I can report that going slower | | | | example, we befriended a Mayan Indian who brought |
| saved us money, as it usually does. This isn't just | | | | us to an old Pony Express station in the desert hills. It |
| about driving less, though when we started driving | | | | still had parts of the old walls remaining. |
| 200 miles in a day instead of 600 we certainly saved | | | | He showed us areas where we could find old |
| on gas. However, we also found that with time on | | | | arrowheads, and we found some. Out in the middle |
| our hands, we could do a better job shopping for a | | | | of the desert, he showed us perfectly round holes |
| place to stay or to eat. | | | | that had been drilled into the rocks hundreds of |
| Make the big mile days the ones that pass through | | | | years earlier. They were used for water storage. In |
| the boring stretches. Then when you come to an | | | | our van, we followed him to an area where ancient |
| interesting place, find nice, affordable lodging and | | | | pottery littered the desert, and where gemstones |
| stick around a while. Once, while driving around the | | | | could be found as well. |
| country camping in our van, we discovered hot | | | | We wouldn't have found these things on our own. |
| springs in a wild part of Arizona, with picnic tables and | | | | The experiences were also only possible because we |
| bathrooms and desert hills to explore - everything | | | | didn't rush from one park to another, trying to fit as |
| we needed at the time. It cost just $3 per night, so | | | | many "sights" into a trip as possible. It may not be a |
| it was easy to stay a while. | | | | secret that a slow trip can be more interesting, but |
| In fact, we stayed for eight days, enjoying the hot | | | | not many people seem to want to try this more |
| pools even during an unusual snowy day in the | | | | relaxing, slower pace. |
| desert. We took daily hikes and hunted for antiquities | | | | Where we stayed a week for $120 in that mountain |
| and rocks in the surrounding hills, but more on that in | | | | town, we discovered area waterfalls and secret |
| a moment. Just once, we drove into the nearest | | | | mountain lakes that only the locals knew about. The |
| town for groceries and water, so the entire eight | | | | town was our base as we made trips into the |
| days might have cost us $80 or so. That's cheap | | | | surrounding area. Talking to people in local bars lead |
| travel. | | | | us to a well-preserved ghost town that wasn't on |
| Five years back we stumbled into a great mountain | | | | our map. Its streets were still full of buildings and |
| town where we wanted to stay a while. We were in | | | | foundations, but no tourists - one other car pulled in |
| town early, instead of our usual driving until evening | | | | while we were there. |
| and scrambling to find a hotel, so we had time to | | | | Our travel secret number one: slow down to save |
| check things out without rushing. We asked around | | | | money and enjoy the trip more. |