El Cheapo-Lah

I, along with my friend Quinn, have officially been dubbed "the quintessential cheap travelers" by some of the exchange students. And what a fabulous title it is! Quinn and I have really only traveled together on our very first trip while in Southeast Asia when we went to Kuala Lumpur with a bunch of others. We saw to it that we stayed in the cheapest place possible -- we tried to convince the hostel to let five of us stay in a double bedroom (to no avail, however). And it's not like we don't have money to travel, we just don't want to spend it. Plus it's more fun! How could shoving five people into a tiny bedroom not be a good time? Sleepover!!!

Cheap travel is a fabulous idea for a number of really good reasons. First of all, we are in Southeast Asia, a relatively not-so-rich region when compared to America. Exchange rates are low, food is cheap, accommodation and travel are priced for "what you get." What I want is an authentic experience here, not some first-class airplane that will give me a warm towel, a hotel that will make my bedsheets everyday, or a huge gourmet meal that I can't even finish. I can get that stuff anywhere. That's not Southeast Asia, that's tourist, and that's not me.

I want to stay in a cheap hostel that reeks of the pad thai stand outside. Or that has a squatter just like every other facility in the area. Or that has the same rickety floors and hard bed like every neighborhood home. If I can't stay with a real family, I at least want to try to live like one, or as close to that as I can come. I know that staying in a hostel is world away from what real life is like in these areas, but I take what I can get.

Anyways Kuala Lumpur is really the only time Quinn and I have actually been really cheap together, the rest has all been talk. But I welcome the title with open arms. Laos and Cambodia cultural excursion here we come!!!