Champagne Travel on a Beer Budget

Many a stylish budget traveller can not justify the added expense of flying business or first class, but that doesn’t mean you just have to accept your fate back in economy either. There are a few simple ways you can add style to your back of the plane experience.

If you have some extra flying tips to share, please add your pearls of wisdom to the comments.

1) Food

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If you are travelling on a beer budget, eating the meals provided on planes can seem like a great money-saving idea (as in, why pay for food when I can get it for free). That is, until you eat airplane food and realise it is not a stylish or enjoyable experience in any way (I will admit I have had the odd OK meal on a plane but they have been few and far between).

My tip is to pack your own little gourmet picnic in preparation for your trip. Antipasto, cheese & crackers, vegetable crudites & dips all pack and travel well and, when combined with a glass of bubbly provided by the airline, can give your economy flight an indulgent feel.

I will even order a fruit only meal from the airline to make sure I get my fix of fresh fruit throughout the flight (and can let the airline deal with the messy cutting and peeling part) and find that eating an abundance of fresh fruit on board can do wonders for how you feel when you land. Then I supplement my provided fruit and champagne with my little picnic hamper of goodies. Simple, but makes a world of difference.

2) Comfort

If it is true that luxury is comfort, then there are a few simples measures you can take to add some luxury to your economy trip.

As I have mentioned in a previous post I have a beautiful soft sarong that travels everywhere with me which is a great alternative to the dodgy, scratchy blankets provided by the airline.

Super soft socks also work a treat, if you want to indulge a little, why not go for cashmere?

3) Pamper

Perhaps they have a massage & beauty therapist in first class, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the fun.

I find plane trips a great time to indulge in a little bit of pampering. It helps kill them time, is a great distraction and means you look better when you get off the plane than when you hopped on (unlike most other people!).

So bring along some scented moisturiser and give your hands and arms a mini massage, and for the girls - a clear face mask can be applied 10 minutes before you know the hot towels will be being brought around (it just looks like you’re applying moisturiser and the hot towel takes the mask off beautifully). You’ll be ready to strut your stuff as soon as you touch down.

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Have you ever day dreamed about escaping to your own private island for an indulgent holiday with friends? (if your answer is no.. c’mon, really, what are you daydreaming about?).

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a week or two and so I have been researching the options. And of course, as my beer budget doesn’t quite stretch to accommodate all my champagne travel tastes, I’ve been looking to take this rock star holiday, without the rock star price tag.

And I think I have found my answer. Found through Private Islands Online, here are a couple of fabulous islands that are yours to rent for less than the cost of a good night out.

1) Pandan Island, Phillipines

from US $84 /wk

2) Leleuvia Island, Fiji

from US $113/wk

3) Ploccia Island, Croatia

from US $159/wk

If you know of other great champagne accommodation options that suit beer budgets, please leave your pearls of wisdom in the comments.

Now that the New Year is beginning to feel not so new, its time for a final New Years travel resolution.

Resolution number 3 is:

3) Meet more people when travelling.

When I went to my post office box the other day and collected a very uninspiring pile of business related letters and bills, I had the lovely surprise of finding a gorgeous bealted Christmas postcard sent by a friend from Germany who I met travelling a couple of years ago. Thanks to the world of facebook (or wastebook or freakbook as I have heard it referred to this week) I am able to keep in touch with this friend regularly and hope to catch up again one day. The postcard reminded me of all the other wonderful friends whom I have met travelling whjo have really expanded my world (and been fabulous to share a champers with).

But the last few trips I have done, I haven’t exchanged a single e-mail address. Thats right, not one new friend to be had. What happened?

While admittedly on my last trip I was really just looking for some time out, travelling without making new friends just isn’t the same experience. Perhaps I became a bit jaded, turned off by a few negative experiences (warning: beware of people that are just way too friendly) who knows?

But not anymore for this champagne traveller. I have remembered that great travel is all about the people you meet and the culture you experience with them (and might I add, it is far more fun to drink champagne with a friend).

So there you have my new years travel resolutions… now its time for you to share.

What are yours?

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2) Keep a journal

Continuing with the resolution theme, one thing I am aspiring to do more of when I travel is to keep a journal.

As air travel becomes cheaper and travel increasingly accessible, I believe it is so important to remain mindful of the privilege that it is to be able to travel to far flung places and of the life-changing qualities that travel can hold. Travel can allow us to re-assess our lives, broaden our perspective and need I say, have an absolutely fabulous time.

Keeping a journal allows new ideas, concepts, amazing memories & grandchildren-worthy stories to be kept forever. And really, who knows how famous your memoirs could become long after your gone (or at least be a good read for someone).

But if you’re like me, you have all the intentions of keeping a journal when you travel, but the intentions can fly out the window when you’re in a sun-kissed location, champagne in hand.

So here are some simple ideas I have found helpful in the past that I am planning on employing this year as I resolve to keep a travel journal:

a) Buy a small journal

If your journal is a smaller, convenient size, you can pop it in your day bag and use little opportunities throughout the day to pop in a few ideas - when sitting in a cafe, waiting for a train, flying in a plane etc. The larger your journal, the less likely you are to have it on you at all times.

b) Develop a routine

One of the reasons that some of us travel is to escape our daily routines, but sometimes it can be comforting during your journeys to have a a few small rituals that give some structure to your travelling day. One great rituals to add to your day is to set aside 15 minutes or so to write in your journal. You can make it the last thing you do before you call it a night, write in your journal as you have your morning coffee etc.

c) Get inspired

One of my biggest motivations for setting this travel resolution is reading inspiring travel writing and vowing to keep a record of my own adventures.

Great travel, great food & great writing are the three things that make this champagne traveller a happy girl. So I knew I was onto a winner when a wonderful friend gave me the book ‘Endless Feasts’. This compilation of food & travel writing from the last 60 years from a plethora of writers is edited by Ruth Reichl and has some absolute gems within its covers.

My favourite piece of writing in the book is Pat Conroy’s memories of one of his trips to Italy titled ‘The Romance of Umbria’. I’ll leave you with a beautiful passage from this piece and see if it doesn’t inspire you to keep record of your champagne travels too:

Umbria. The shuttered beauty of the very name strikes me as luscious as a pear, as dark as the boars that roam her mountains, gorging themselves on wild chestnuts. This is a place where the centuries give up their stories at their own pace.

You go to Tuscany because you must; you go to Umbria because you can. It is the province in Italy you travel to when you want the country itself to enter the pores of your skin after you have grown weary with sites and endless churches and surly crowds moving through the taut, sovereign air of the museums. Umbria is Italy turned inward, its prayer to itself.

Endless Feasts, pp. 84-85

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Forget resolutions about losing weight, saving more money or keeping organised - you have to agree that travel resolutions are far more exciting.

Happy New Year champagne travellers!

Budget Travel are asking readers what their New Year Travel Resolutions are, which is something I’ve been pondering.

My travel resolutions concern how to enjoy more champagne travel on a beer budget.

Destinations planned for 2008? Mexico is the priority as friends of mine are getting married there this year. For this blog’s US readers (and the majority of you reside in the States), Mexico mightn’t seem like much of a mission… but it is when you live Down Under like yours truly!

Over the next few days I will be sharing some 2008 resolutions for more champagne travel on a beer budget:

Let’s begin:

1) Throw away your Lonely Planet

OK, calm down. For many of us travel junkies, the Lonely Planet (or alternate guide book, Rough Guide etc.) has been a lifeline during our journeys, helping us find great value digs to spend the night as well as timely warnings about scams that have saved us stacks of money or at least our pride.

But although I advocate researching your destination before you leave, travelling with style can mean escaping the masses and getting your inspiration elsewhere. For as Alex Garlands laments in his novel The Beach (the dodgy movie adaption with Leonardo Dicaprio shan’t be mentioned):
“…there’s no way you can keep it out of Lonely Planet, and once that happens it’s countdown to doomsday.”

Rather than following the well-worn path of the itinerary laid out in your Lonely Planet, get your inspiration elsewhere, read travel novels of old, follow the famous journey of a historical figure or (if time allows) just let yourself get lost.

This will mean you won’t be running into the ‘Lonely Planet crowd’ who are visiting the same towns as you in the same order as you.

Sometimes champagne travel is about unique experiences - so ditch the guide book and write your own story.

Feel free to share your champagne travel resolutions in the comments…