July 20, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Vientiane, Laos
This woman is selling ice cream from her tricycle during Songkran, Laos’ New Years celebration. I was avoiding the chaos and trying to stay dry when I took this photo from the second floor balcony at the hotel we were staying at. Usually the locals drench any passersby, but the ice cream lady got a free pass.
For a sample of Songkran have a look at our three part video about the Laos New Year
Category Asia, Laos, Photo of the Week, Ryan | Tags: , Laos, laos new year, photography, postaday, Vientiane | No Comments
July 13, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The Pinball Cafe was located on Queen Street West, close to Roncesvalles. Sara and I enjoyed an hour there playing some real classics and some 90s classics (like X-men!), while humming Pinball Wizard and sipping coffee. Places like this are too rare.
For more Toronto on the cheap.
Category Canada, North America, Ontario, Photo of the Week, Ryan, Toronto | Tags: , cafe, Canada, photography, pinball, postaday, toronto | 1 Comment
July 7, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
This week’s travel photo of the week is late because we are getting ready to move to Vietnam, so I thought it’d be appropriate to post a photo from Saigon. This was taken by Ben Thanh market. The statue is of Tran Nguyen Han. The photo has a tilt-shift blur on it. We are very excited to be moving to Vietnam. We leave on the 3rd of August, so stay tuned for more blog posts on the country. If you can’t wait, check out the past posts we’ve done on Vietnam.
Category Asia, Photo of the Week, Ryan, Vietnam | Tags: , Ho Chi Minh City, photography, Saigon, tilt shift blur, Vietnam | No Comments
June 30, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Packing light is an art form that’s been studied by many a travel guru. You don’t want something like, say, raging diarhea to ruin your trip, but loading up your bathroom travel kit with everything behind the mirror seems a little much. Instead, while you’re abroad you could head to a local pharmacy to get what you need, and a little adventure while you’re there. I’ve been to pharmacies in four different continents and I’ve never had a problem communicating what I want. In fact, the pharmacist usually speaks enough English to provide me with more customer service than I expected or needed. If you’re worried about matching up your medication with the same dosage as your original, try this site out igenericdrugs.com.
It allows you to search for your brand of drug and see what the alternatives are for various countries. For example, if on my trip to India I wanted to leave my jumbo pack of Viagra at home, I can do a quick search for Viagara on the site and see that in India the equivalent to it is called WAVEGRA… and it’s only $0.13 a pill?! I might as well stock up while I’m there. Anything to claim, sir? (Insert boner joke here)
This can be really useful if you are traveling for a long time and your pharmacy has a limit on how much medication you can get. In some countries, the meds you usually need a prescription for, can be bought over-the-counter (does anyone else think that the term ‘over-the-counter’ should refer to meds you get from the pharmacist who’s working on the OTHER SIDE OF A COUNTER?!). Birth control is a great example of this. The majority of countries in the world allow you to buy birth control over-the-counter. After a quick Google search you can confirm that the place you are traveling to does. Then head to igenericdrugs.com and type in your brand — that way you can get a product with a similar dose and not risk conceiving a baby in Middelfart, Denmark (in which case you’d be obliged to name your baby Middelfart).
Category Articles, Ryan, Travel Tips | Tags: , birth control, medicine, pharmacy, tips, travel | No Comments
June 29, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Melaka, Malaysia
In Southeast Asia, the sun is your enemy. The first time we tried to walk around in the middle of a cloudless day, we lasted about 15 minutes before the sweat and the scorching were too much. We quickly learned to go out first thing in the morning, come inside midday, and go back out in the early evening.
This photo shows how intense the sunlight can be… and shows how effective sunglasses can be.
Category Asia, Malaysia, Photo of the Week, Ryan | Tags: , bright, contrast, Malaysia, photography, postaday, travel, Travel Photo of the Week | No Comments
June 22, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Vientiane, Laos
Wat Si Saket is a Buddhist wat in Laos’ capital. It’s thought to be the oldest temple in the city. Before entering the wat there is a garden filled with various plants. As I was admiring the flora, I spotted this monk playing a little peak-a-boo between some fern leaves.
For more on Vientiane, Laos on a budget.
Category Asia, Laos, Photo of the Week, Ryan | Tags: , Laos, monk, photography, postaday, Travel Photo of the Week, Vientiane | No Comments
June 15, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Kanchanaburi, Thailand
The Kwai river is best known for its starring role in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai,
although the film wasn’t actually shot on the river and the story told is more fiction than reality. Nevertheless, a lot of tourists come to Kanchanaburi because of it’s links to the film and novel. I don’t know if I would have even heard of Kanchanaburi if the novel was never written, so I have to give some credit to it even though the town itself was a little too touristy for my liking. The best thing to do in Kanchanaburi is to stay in a place on the river and simply relax. It’s peaceful and tranquil and all those other terms that describe a yoga class. The sunsets are epic and the bridge… well, we didn’t actually make it to the bridge.
For more information about Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
Category Asia, Photo of the Week, Ryan, Thailand | Tags: , Kanchanaburi, photography, postaday, river kwai, sunset, Thailand, Travel Photo of the Week | 1 Comment
June 8, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Spišské Podhradie, Slovakia
A small town in eastern Slovakia is the home to Spiš castle, one of the largest castles in Europe. The ruins of the 12th century castle cover over 40,000 metres squared. It’s large and beautiful. This photo doesn’t quite capture the beauty but, despite its lack of subjects, it does capture the largeness. The darkness surrounds everything, and the window, the only light source for the room, feels small and insignificant.
For more on Slovakia, our former home, check out this great travel tip filled post.
Category Europe, Photo of the Week, Ryan, Slovakia | Tags: , castle, photography, postaday, Slovakia, spis castle, travel, Travel Photo of the Week | No Comments
June 3, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
The most expensive part of traveling is often the flight. You can save money on accommodations by sleeping in a hostel. Food is made cheaper by subsisting on bread and squeeze cheese for a few days (trust me). Expensive tourist attractions can often be avoided and traded in for a much cheaper beer-and-people-watching session, but unfortunately there is no way around the cost of a flight. Sure you can fly with a budget airline, but you are still paying a pretty penny and finding deals isn’t an easy task. Until now! Da da dunnnn. GeniusFlight allows you to put in your starting airport, your budget, and your travel dates and they will tell you where you can afford to fly. Of course, living in Canada means my options are limited, but for someone in London, England this is laughing manically and rubbing your hands together worthy.
I put my budget in: €150, my departure date: 54 days from now usually gets you the best deals, my return date, and finally “London, England”. Send.
On the right they list the countries. Click on a country and it zooms into the map and shows you the country’s options. Latvia for €61? Sounds good to me. FlightGenius is powered by Skyscanner so it’ll show you an iframe of their site and then, when you select your flight, you’ll be redirected to the site where they found the deal. It’s not always 100% accurate, but it sure beats manually searching every potential city.
Let us know in the comments if you used it or if you have any other tips for seeking out cheap flights.
Category Articles, Ryan, Travel Tips | Tags: , budget travel, cheap flights, flightgenius, review | No Comments
June 1, 2014 by Itchy Feet on the Cheap
Cusco, Peru
While in Cusco be sure to enjoy the many squares and their opportunity for people watching. We sat by a group of shoe shiners that were busy with customers. This older man’s hands worked their magic on a pair of leather shoes. Despite having a severely bent finger, he did his work gracefully and without lament.
Category Peru, Photo of the Week, Ryan, South America | Tags: , Cusco, Cuzco, hand deformity, peru, photography, postaday, shoeshine, Travel Photo of the Week | No Comments
