The joy of budget travel

In 2000, I spent two weeks touring England and Scotland and fell in love with the adventure travel creates. I'd always wanted to go back to Europe and see more. The opportunity to travel to Europe came alive my sophomore year at IU. I'd researched the variety of programs the Office of Overseas Study had to offer where you could study in the land by which you've always been fascinated and get college credit at the same time. \nOn two different occasions, I made it through the application process for programs in England. On two different occasions, for one reason or another, I wound up not going. In mid-March of 2004, I had a very interesting conversation with myself. \n"You know Brandon, you'd really like to get abroad again, wouldn't you?"\n"Yes, I would. But what does traveling have to do with getting broads?"\n"It doesn't, stupid, now pay attention."\n"This whole thing with you wanting to study overseas."\n"Yeah."\n"You don't like studying much, do you?"\n"No, not so you'd notice."\n"And you don't really even much like school, either."\n"You know, I think you might be on to something there."\n"Instead of trying this study abroad thing, why don't you just go?"\n"Wait … you mean just get up and go. Like … I know … like go on a tour of Europe?"\n"Exactly."\n"Why didn't I think of that?"\n"You did, that's why we had this conversation, isn't it?"\n"Good point."\nI picked up the phone and called Edwynna Nolan at Sunshine Travel on East Third Street, and that's all it took. Before the phone call was over, I was booked on a 30-day tour of Western Europe that covered every country that didn't speak Spanish or was never Communist Bloc.\nThe tour company is a little gem from New Zealand called Contiki that specializes in budget travel for people between the ages of 18 to 35. The whole concept is designed to give people who want to drink Peroni, but can only afford PBR. This is the deal I got, and I want you to pay really close attention to it: all meals, all accommodations and all ground transportation for 30 days for -- drum roll please -- $2,300. That's right. It's a chance to see the world, experience it in a way you'd never thought possible, and all for a really good price that someone in the 18 to 35 age range can afford to pay for. \nThe whole set-up is designed to give people the ultimate sampler platter of travel where you get a little of everything and then decide what you might like on the main course. \nFor instance, I loved the time I had in Lucerne, Switzerland, and Vienna, Austria. But I wasn't so crazy about the smelly, fetid, humid canals of Venice, Italy, nor the laid-backish time the Greek Islands work on. \nBy the way, Red Lobster, it ain't the only place you can get crabs.\nIt's a budget travel though, so you have to really weigh the good and the bad. Maybe I had to leave my underwear in the hot washer a little longer than I'd liked, but how many people can say they've walked the streets Hitler walked in Munich, see the chapel Michelangelo made famous, the town the Ponzi's ruled, the Arc d' Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower? And all for $2,300?\nMany of the trips Contiki runs through Europe depart from London, so as a U.S. college student, one really only needs to pay for the plane ticket to get to the departure point. But airfare isn't as tremendously expensive as you might think. Also through Edwynna, I got a really good deal on my airfare.\nI bought a direct ticket for round-trip from O'Hare to Heathrow for $300. But I'll admit, riding with all the chickens and elephants on Air-India flight 120 wasn't as cool as I thought.\nI'm still trying to figure out which one of the Wright Brothers they bought the plane off of.\nBut once I made it to London, the fun began as soon as we headed for Dover, England, and the English Channel. During the 90-minute ferry crossing to the sandy shores of the Pas-de-Calais, France, beginning at the white, chalky cliffs of Dover, I sat in the saloon getting to know several of my fellow travelers. This was the first leg of a 29-day blitzkrieg across Western Europe with a hodgepodge of fellow adventurers. It seemed I was the only American. The Australians, by the way, said they had never met an American before. They said I wasn't what they expected. The others consisted of one Canadian and four Indians -- as in the former British colony and everyone else was either English or Australian, aside from a South African who smoked an endless stream of Marlboro Reds. I prefer Pall Malls, myself.