E-book review: Travel the world on 50 dollars a day, by Nomadic Matt

$19.97. You’re probably wondering how much this e-book costs, so I’ll come out and get the big mystery out of the way. If you’re of the opinion that information should be free, check the price tag on that college diploma filed away somewhere (you have HOW MUCH in student loans?), or on any paper book. Considering the book offers to save you a potential of $1,000 by doing stuff you’re already planning on doing, it doesn’t take much to save the cost of the book and then some.

Written by Matt Kepnes (AKA Nomadic Matt), “Travel the World on 50 Dollars a Day” has been updated and upgraded, along with a version now available for the Kindle and other e-book devices. What you get is a nicely-designed e-book that holds the words in an entertaining frame and keeps your attention flowing with the pages.

The book begins by exploding the myth that travel is expensive. Compared to the life you lead day in and day out, travel may actually be cheaper than living at home. Have you ever stopped to consider your typical expenses, then figured out what that breaks down to per day? If you’re reading this from outside of Korea, there’s your apartment. Your car. Going out. I’d bet those three alone comprise most of your expenses over the course of a month. Get traveling, and those first two expenses likely go bye-bye.

Matt acknowledges one element of traveling and costs:

Note that it’s not possible to travel on $50 dollars a day at every destination in the world. You’ll be hard pressed to live on $50 USD a day in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. [However,] Southeast Asia, China, India, Central America can all be easily done for less than $50 per day. Don’t get discouraged if you keep seeing prices higher than $50 dollars a day for a few countries. Trust me, it all averages out!

The assumption is that you’re traveling around the world, which would make it all average out. Even if you’re not traveling around the world, however, there are still plenty of tips and reminders on traveling cheaper than you think.

The book then goes into specific prices for things across the world – complete with dozens of links to the pages you’d need to do quite a bit of Googling to find. Also, his personal numbers are a reminder of how much – and how little – things often cost across the world. He’s quick to point out that taking advantage of cheaper deals, frequent-flier miles, weaker currencies, cooking for yourself, and other things like Couchsurfing are part of the game. Not thinking like a tourist is also important.

While Matt’s reviews on travel are relatively general (no “you’ve-gotta-check-out-this-place” type of tips here), he spans the world – everything from Europe to southeast Asia to Canada is mentioned – but sadly, Korea doesn’t make the cut. Traveling is something that requires simple, plain talk, and I’m glad that Matt provides that.

The highlight of the book is the section of coupons in the book. The marketing claims a lofty $1,000 can be saved, which ends up holding true. Anything from free nights in hostels to 2 free fun dives make up the bigger savings; other ways to save are more basic % off coupons for hostels around the world and a $75 off coupon for a RTW (round-the-world) airplane ticket.

If the whole concept of saving money while traveling sounds appealing, this’ll save you some time in figuring out where to get started – and the coupons are certainly a good way of saving some way while learning about some quality places before you even arrive.

Travel the World on 50 Dollars a Day” is available for your Kindle, your Nook, or in PDF format for any device that can read them. Recommended.

Author’s note: I received a review copy of the e-book, and there are affiliate links in this review. This means I might make some beer money if you decide to buy it, but I wouldn’t recommend it if I didn’t think it were a good resource.

 

Creative Commons License © Chris Backe – 2011
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