New Year Travel Resolutions for Champagne Travel on a Beer Budget - No. 1
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…
