How to Travel on a Budget

Strapped for cash but still need a vacation? If your goal is to travel somewhere different and gain new experiences, good news: you can definitely travel on a budget. Traveling on a budget may be tricky but it's still possible. Here are a few tips on how to travel frugally:

Off season = more savings

Skip popular summer vacation destinations in favor of somewhere off the beaten path - you'll avoid skyrocket prices, scams and long lines at tourist attractions while profiting from a more enriched experience. Bonus: traveling off season means less coworker competition for time off, making it more likely you'll get approved.

If you prefer cold weather over hot, visit Barcelona or Paris in winter - what could be more romantic than sneaking into a warm cafe to watch rain or snow fall on rustic streets?

Consider alternative lodging
AirBnB is a game-changer. You can have exclusive access to an entire house or apartment with all the modern conveniences not typically afforded by hotels e.g. full size fridge, washer/dryer, stovetop kitchen and other home comforts. Bonus: in some cities AirBnB can be even cheaper than a hotel.

Depending on your budget, you can also rent a private or shared room in a house or apartment. Travel with a friend and split the cost to further drive down prices. Increase your odds of a good time by seeking out hosts with 50+ positive reviews and connecting with them in advance.

Note: plan out which attractions you'd like to visit then choose a place based on its proximity to those attractions - there's no point saving money on location if you'll be spending more on transportation instead. A hotel might be more expensive up-front but can save you on taxi costs whereas a remote AirBnB stay might drive up transportation costs, so do your research.

Go local
Los Angelenos! You have a wealth of travel options available at your toes! Make a day trip out of visiting MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), Huntington Library or the Griffith Laboratory. Got a weekend? Spend it in San Diego, Newport Beach or Claremont.

There is so much to do in LA, it's a waste to spend all your time on Beverly Drive, Westwood or Century City. There is a huge world around you - open your eyes to expand your possibilities.

3 Travel Apps You Need This Summer

My fiance and I will be visiting Istanbul in two weeks! While it's a short flight for us, others might be trekking transcontinentally for vacation. Here are the top 3 travel apps you need this summer:

1. TripDeck
By arranging all travel, lodging and planned activities in one place, TripDeck makes it easy to stay organized. The bonus Note section is a great place to jot down what still needs to be packed.

2. TravelSmart
Provides emergency numbers, first aid terms (with local translations!), hospital lists and a drug dictionary for any country in the world. Any country in the world - let that sink in. Hopefully you won't need this app but it is invaluable if you do.

3. XE Currency
Whether you're making one stop or several, XE currency converts any currency into one you're familiar with. You can simultaneously convert between several currencies (e.g. USD, Euro, British Pound) and receive literally up-to-the-minute conversion updates.

While more well-known apps like Viber and Wifi Finder are definitely valuable as well, these ones make vacation planning super easy. Bonus - they're all free! Happy traveling :)

ABC: The Turkish Alphabet

I'm happy to be able to write this post as it means I've successfully mastered all the sounds in the Turkish alphabet! This post may be dull for non-linguistically-inclined people, so feel free to check out 5 Reasons You'll Love Ankara or Turkish Vices instead.

The Turkish alphabet consists of 29 letters: 22 consonants & 7 vowels. It uses all the same characters as the English alphabet but excludes Q, W & X. Since the two alphabets are so similar, I've only included special characters and pronunciations: 

• Cc - "j" like "joy"
• Çç - "ch" like "change"
• Ğğ - silent letter
• Iı - pronounced as "euh" like the "e" in "open"
• İi - same as "i" in English but worth mentioning for how the uppercase character is displayed
• Öö - "oa" like "goat"
• Şş - "sh" like "sheer"
• Üü - pronounced as "ouh" like the "e" in "new" 

In Turkish there is a general rule that each vowel must be separated by a consonant (e.g. s-e-l-a-m, v-o-w-e-l) but there are some exceptions (e.g. s-a-a-t, b-o-o-k). Turkish is an agglutinative language, meaning that stem words remain the same while suffixes change to indicate possession. Here's a couple examples:

• English: "I have a cat" is structured as pronoun-verb-object
• Turkish: "I have a cat" is "Kedim var" and structured as subject-noun-verb. "Kedi" means "cat", the "-im" suffix makes it 1st person possessive, and "var" means "have"
• English: "You have a cat" is again structured as pronoun-verb-object
• Turkish: "You have a cat" is "Kedin var" with the "-in" suffix making it 2nd person possessive

If you already speak an agglutinative language (e.g. Korean, Japanese, Farsi) then learning Turkish will be easier as you're already familiar with the sentence structure. Turkish may be a challenging language but it's well worth the investment of learning!