This week my adopted town, Annapolis, Maryland, got a little taste of Greece. It seems the local Greek Orthodox Church threw its annual Greek Festival. I happened to find out about it on Friday, and word was that it draws folks clear from out of state. That sounded like a pretty good recommendation, so Saturday I bopped over to check the place out.

I arrived an hour before the event was due to start. This got me an excellent parking spot, but at this early hour there was nothing to see. All the displays were covered, and food people were bustling about getting ready, but the food was nowhere in sight. I hate to sit idle, so I swiped a spare garbage bag attached to a trash can and canvassed the area picking up litter. People assumed I was supposed to be there, and gave directions where not to miss, and held out things for me to dispose of. I managed to cover the entire grounds and collect maybe two pounds of things like condiment wrappers and other small stuff. Performing several hundred deep knee bends was pretty good exercise, too.

People began to fill the grounds, and I briefly debated whether to just stay on the grounds or go outside and enter like the rest of the public, and pay whatever the entrance fee was. I’m a good boy, so I went to the entrance. It turned out there was no charge, but at least I had a clean conscience. I also got an unexpected treat. Right at the entrance, creating a nice Greek atmosphere, was a young man playing a traditional if slightly Americanized, stringed instrument. He was good, too! Didn’t look like he was out of high school, but the playing was flawless and interesting. Actually, the instrument was entirely traditional. The electronics provided traditional percussion accompaniment. If he reads this, I hope he submits a comment and introduces himself.

I forgot to ask what the instrument is called

Greeks must like jewelry (my wife says they do), because all but three of the vendors sold at least some jewelry, apparently all handmade in Greece. And they were always busy. I had many hundreds of pieces to choose from. The dining tent had a dance floor set up. Greece is old enough to have traditional dances that are rather more sophisticated then the Watusi, and people learn the dances young.

It's pretty hard to capture the motions of a dance in a still photo

So what good is a festival without food? The dishware was ordinary fast-food-restaurant foam boxes, but the menu was definitely Greek. The only item not described in English was kalamari, which I happen to know is squid. I saw several plates of it being eagerly devoured. It looks like smallish onion rings. Here is my gyro sandwich, salad, and Greek coffee, twelve bucks.

I walked away full

When I left, the parking lot was jammed and the shuttle bus was full of new arrivals. My wife liked her necklace.

As it happens, I own this blog and the url; I never transferred it to them so I could keep control, partly in case something like this would happen. So it happened, and now I have a nice travel blog. Which, I admit, has been rather fun to write, and maybe I’ll keep posting for the fun of it. Apparently a lot of folks find this site because they’re doing travel-related research. I doubt too many are coming here (any more) to check out Serenity Travel.

The system is set to notify me when someone comments, so drop me a note if you’d like to see something on a particular place.

You know how people are fascinated with the macabre. Horror movies are popular, we all wish the obituaries told what the person died of, and we slow down to look at traffic accidents. We like to see the grim and gruesome.

A lot of places to visit are not rich countries, and tourist dollars are an important part of their economies. Some of these places also experience natural disasters, sometimes on a large scale. Indonesia, for example is an island nation (tsunamis) on the Pacific ring of fire (volcanoes).

A river swamped by volcanic ash, called lahar. Kind of interesting, isn't it?

A big volcanic ash cloud can cut off air transportation, and with it, tourist dollars. Some enterprising tourist agencies are promoting the idea of disaster tourism. Instead of avoiding the area, come see the collapsed villages, the refugee camps, the devastated forests. I know Indonesia and Haiti have these opportunities, maybe other places, too. You can visit, and you don’t have to get dirty or do volunteer work. Bringing your tourist dollars is all the help they’re asking for. That should give some grim satisfaction.

You might think I’m being ironic, but this is for real. Here’s a link:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=indonesia-turn

Something to think about, eh?

http://www.go-panamerican.com/road-tips.php#honduras

And we Americans wouldn’t have to go overseas to take this trip…

Malaysia is the most westernized country in this part of the world. Good if you’re timid about visiting really strange places. Not all of it is fancy hotels and museums, or large metropolitan areas, though you can certainly find all of that. This street is in Melaka, a city that goes back to the early 1400′s.

I've seen a lot of streets that look pretty much like this

Lest I disappoint you with that blue-collar-looking neighborhood, Malaysia has lots of modern, high-tech exotic locales, too. Everybody has seen the Petronas Twin Towers in the capital. Here’s another area, called the sustainable towers. To me, all cities are inherently unsustainable, but there you have it.

Sustainable residential design. See the trees inside?

The toilets are western style and you can drink the water. Transportation is comfortable. Lots of people speak Engrish. Prices are higher.

Get out of town and prices are still a lot cheaper than what you’ll find in the US, but more than elsewhere in this part of the world.

The interior jungle is still pretty good, though it’s disappearing (they’re chopping down the jungle and building sustainable towers. Go figure.), and the beaches and islands are beautiful. Find the right island and you and your spouse can enjoy a nice place with meals and snorkeling gear for maybe $25 a day. If I want a big town, though, I’ll go visit NYC.

Rule of thumb 1: Most drivers are competent, honest, and interesting people. Be friendly and don’t be afraid to carry on a conversation. They are typically good sources of “inside” info about their town. At least that has been my experience.

Rule of thumb 2: You don’t have to be paranoid, but not all of them are, that that’s what makes for this article.

Rule of thumb 3: (And this is a good business practice in general). Make sure everything is agreed on before you get into the vehicle. Once you’re inside, you’re committed to whatever you agreed on, and whatever you didn’t agree on, you’re stuck with whatever the driver decides: Is the fare for you only, or for you and your bags? Is the fare for the whole group or for each of you? Trust, but verify.

Rule of thumb 4: A word about the vehicle. Before you get in, make sure the meter works, and be sure he turns it on. If you put your luggage in the trunk, don’t pay him until everything is unloaded. In some areas taxis without meters are legal. If this is the case (common in the Caribbean, in my experience–not a lot of possible destinations, so they have standard rates for standard destinations), agree on a price for the whole trip before you get in.

Cute taxi in Indonesia

Rule of thumb 5: Unless you want him to take a round-about route, specify that he take the shortest (or fastest) route. This applies mainly to metered rides. When I was young and naive, I got the grand tour on my first visit to Nashville from a fellow who did an excellent job of distracting me by pointing out the sights as he tooled along.

Remember, people enjoy showing off their knowledge. Be an eager student of your teacher, your driver.

I took a side trail on a scooter ride once, and found a spectacular view of a harbor that none of the other tourists got to see.

Nelson's Bay in Barbados

I could give you a million examples. When you have a choice, the more adventuresome one is usually better.

Numbah 8, dahling: Luxury and cheap don’t usually go hand in hand. Some locations, such as Southeast Asia, are known for being inexpensive, and we’ll get into some of that later, but the general rule is that fancy costs money. Luxuriasts make their living creating luxury. They gotta eat, y’know, and you’re the one paying their wages. Luxury is artificial. It’s fantasy. Somebody else does the dishes (okay, maybe that’s a meaningful luxury) but do you really need a chocolate on your pillow? Your spouse could put one on your sleeping bag for maybe 1% of the one in the fancy, sterile bedroom. And a chocolate on the sleeping bag is a surprise and delight. (Spouses, take note.)

What you get for your money is reduced risk. The food at that interesting cafe might be terrible. The small path might lead to a dump (I took one once and it led to a large pile of conch shells. No guarantees. But with the risk are the unexpected delights.

Just don't let something unforeseen happen to your chocolates

Actual cheap places coming up!

http://calabarboy.com/2010/10/11/the-true-size-of-africa-kai-krause/

…and here’s a map of Africa, the US, and a lot of other places to scale.

Click to show at full size

If you plan to visit Africa, better plan for a long trip.

Well, I like to travel cheaply, so I remember some principles without needing my notes. I’m not going to tell you to sleep next to your motorcycle, though I have done that. Part of the adventure, dontcha know.

Principle 1: Get out of town. Especially the town containing the airport you flew in on. These urban centers get a lot of tourists, and the folks there tend to capitalize on the tendency of tourists to spend money. The farther off the beaten track you get, the more you will be offered prices that the locals pay.

A corollary of this is: Stay away from things aimed at tourists—shopping areas, tours, chains, and other tourists. For example, suppose you’re taking a simple trip down the interstate. You can pull off at a truck stop near the highway and get a decent meal (it’s a good idea to pick the place with the most tractor-trailers in the lot), but if you go a couple miles into the local farm community, you can eat at Kitty’s Koffie Kup, that has absolutely no atmosphere, but it’s where all the locals eat, you get a really good meal, and pick up some local color to boot.In fact, you might find out about something nearby that’s worth checking out. The county park, town museum, a nice antique store, some local geological feature.

This isn't the Koffie Kup, but you get the idea

And that leads to

Principle 2: The slower you travel , the cheaper the trip. Most of the best foreign really good deals will be noticed and experienced by the backpackers—people who pack lightly enough that they can carry everything with them. They get off the big commercial tour bus and rent a bike so they can explore the countryside. We’ll cover this in more detail later. The idea is like that visit to the farm community. Sure, you’re not making highway speed, but the trip itself is better. And the local sights are generally free.

Next time: a few more principles for cheap travel.

I’ll still throw in the occasional out-of-series post, and you should remember that (ahem) you can always get a really good deal from your Serenity agent. But these posts will mostly be about places that are cheap all by themselves, at least for someone from the US.

Now, I’m not really giving you advice about how or where to travel. I’ll merely tell you about places where you are likely to be able to really stretch your travel dollar if you go there.

Another caveat: The values of currencies and stability of governments change constantly, sometimes dramatically in a short time. Rule of thumb: places that are good bargains generally stay that way, even though the details might change. New York city will pretty much always be more expensive than Upper coffepot, Montana. (Yes, there is such a place.) You won’t see a Broadway play in Upper Coffeepot, but you won’t be able to go camping or see much wildlife (or peace and quiet) in NYC, either. Don’t expect my info to be as accurate as a surgeon’s scalpel. It should be good enough to chop wood with, though.

So hold onto your seat, and get ready for some adventures!