Affordable destinations

...five holidays you can afford:

With the end of the financial year looming it's time to take stock and maybe plan some budgeting! But you still need holidays, so here are some ways you can enjoy a break - for less.

Although there are many factors to consider, part of the trick is to visit a country that has a lower cost of living index than your own. Of course you want to choose somewhere that is also safe, fun and interesting. Try these........

India

To travel in India, you need to loosen up on a number of things. Be ready for a whole bunch of surprises. Especially when a lurching bus, rusted to within an inch of disintegration and packed to the roof - and beyond - hurtles head-on towards you.

If you have any sense, you will not be driving. Only someone with a death-wish would get behind the wheel in India. Your driver, however, will never flinch. He is probably talking to you, or tuning the radio, and is only momentarily interested in the impending collision. After all, he is negotiating a pothole big enough to bath a baby in, and watching a spindly cow that is considering a death-defying amble across the road, as to hit such a sacred beast would be worse than death.

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And there's no need to factor in a big budget for entertainment. Daily life itself is entertaining enough and thre is always something happening on the streets and footpaths.

The currency: Indian rupee (INR)

Your own currency exchange rate: (approx. 57 to the Australian dollar)

More information about travel in India

China

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You won't need to break the budget dining in China. All sorts of foods - breads, dumplings, skewered tofu, fish, fruit, (even snake, scorpion and silkworm larvae) - can be bought at stalls and markets throughout the country.

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Bowls of rice and noodles are always available, and you can squat on the footpath to eat them, like the locals, or pull up a plastic chair at an outdoor eatery.

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The currency: Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY)

Your own currency exchange rate: (approx. 6.3 to the Australian dollar)

More information about travel in China

Vietnam

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Shopping is hardly better anywhere than in Vietnam. Not only are the Vietnamese people skilled and artistic, but there is a great fashion sense here, probably from the era of French rule. You can have a suit or a ball gown or a dress made from elegant silks and fabrics in many cities in a day. After a day of shopping a foot massage comes high on the list. There are many small parlours in either Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, offering to knead away your tourist foot-soreness.

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Best of all the people are friendly and eager to welcome visitors. Some even dress beautifully in their traditional costumes like these ladies from the far north.

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And then there's the food - fragrant, filling, and affordable. A large meal in a restaurant may cost just a few dollars.

The currency: Vietnamese dong (VND)

Your own currency exchange rate: (approximately 21,000 to the Australian dollar)

More information about travel in Vietnam

House sitting

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But perhaps you want to visit Europe or the US or Australia - is that still possible on a budget?

House sitting is fast becoming the way to travel and holiday, staying in often luxurious homes around the world, free of charge. Far more flexible than house swapping it makes a budget-conscious way to travel. You could be enjoying a week staying in a beautiful villa in Tuscany, a long weekend in Sydney, or a fortnight in a thatched cottage in a quaint English village.

Here are some of the advantages:

1. Luxury retreats for free - house sitting provides you with free accommodation from beach homes in Thailand to chateaux in France, saving you thousands of dollars in hotel costs.

2. A unique adventure - Enjoy living like a local. House sitting can take you to many beautiful places that you may never have considered visiting previously and adventures you'd never find in any guide book.

3. Visiting friends and family - With loved ones often living further away you can combine a visit with house sitting, offering a convenient place to stay particularly if they don't have the space to accommodate you or you wish to stay for an extended period.

Lindsay & Ros Maplestone from Victoria recently enjoyed an extended visit to meet their grandchildren near Bath, England, after securing a house sit via Trustedhousesitters.com

4. Enjoying a local kitchen - Eating out can be costly but with your own kitchen you can enjoy cooking local cuisine, visit the local food markets and cook with the region's produce.

Kristine and Geoff McCarroll from Sydney enjoyed a holiday in a beautiful large Spanish villa in Mallorca, secured within a couple of weeks of joining Trustedhousesitters.com/. They took part in local festivals and discovered local food markets too.

5. The perfect staycation - With so many beautiful places to visit in Australia, you could find a house sitting opportunity locally or in another state and save on accommodation costs while experiencing your own backyard in a different way.

More information about house sitting...

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Holiday at home

And finally a radical idea. DON'T go away at all. Here are some tips to set you planning:

l. Decide what you want to do. Make a list of all the places you want to go/jobs you want to carry out/ people you want to have over or visit. Unless you like to plan minutely, leave it at that and pick something new each day, as weather and inclination allows.

2. Agree as to who does what. If there are children, include them. Plan to share the chores - and the major assignments, if there are any. It is only fair that everyone does an hour in the garden or painting the fence one day so that all can then go out to the beach later. Or each person can help get the food for the barbecue ready so that everyone can relax when friends arrive.

3. Simplify. Cut down on extras. Buy convenience foods, send out for pizza, have takeaway. You would do that if you were away from home. Use paper plates and plastic cutlery. Forget ironing, and washing windows and cleaning the oven. You wouldn't do that in a motel! Employ a cleaner for a few hours a week. Even if you don't have one regularly during the year, the fact that you are at home doesn't mean you are automatically on cleaning duty.

4. Pretend that you're not there. Turn on the phone-answerer if your work is following you home. Treat the house as a hotel - do a minimum of tidying up each morning, then take off for the day - the beach, the mountains, shopping, sightseeing - whatever you would do if you were visiting the area. Bring food home for tea, kick your shoes off and watch a video. Then go to bed in your own comfortable bed - no worries that you won't sleep as well as you might if you were away from home.

5. Send the family away and stay home - just you and your partner. Depending on the age of the children this is far preferable to going away and leaving the children home - as any parent of teenagers, who has done it can tell you! Your house stays intact and you can enjoy all the romance you need without interference. Moonlight walks, intimate dinners, dancing till dawn - and then return to your own bed.