How to Travel Well When You’re on a Budget

On January 7, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Travel Tips1 Comment

Today we are featuring a guest blog from Soulful Travel who embraces the benefits of travel.

Travel enriches lives. Travel educates, it expands and deepens perspectives, it allows for rest and rejuvenation, and when traveling with others it strengthens relationships. Perhaps you’re feeling the itch to live in wonder, act outside of your comfort zone, and try new experiences.

While experiencing other places is a cornerstone of a well-lived life, many people feel like they can’t travel due to finances. However, travel is manageable for any budget with a little planning and saving where possible. Let’s discuss ways to travel smartly so that you can have a wonderful experience — even when you’re on a budget.

Rent a Car from Enterprise

If your car is not very reliable or runs high in gas mileage, then it’s worth considering renting a car for road trips and trips to farther destinations. A rental car is also particularly useful if you are traveling with a larger group and want to avoid paying for airline tickets. To save on travel costs when getting to your destination, and to ensure you have a reliable vehicle with adequate space, consider renting a car from companies such as Enterprise. Renting from Enterprise is easy and affordable on any budget, especially when you use promo codes to save more money.

Consider Nearby Travel

While cross-country trips and foreign travel have their appeal, many cannot afford the costs associated with longer voyages. For some, their work schedule does not afford adequate time off to accommodate long-distance travel, and for others, the costs associated with airline tickets may not be in the cards. Whatever the reason may be, short trips or exploring your hometown may be the better option. Many forget to explore the treasures and landmarks nearby home, which can be just as rewarding and fulfilling as traveling afar.

Save on Food

A large part of a travel budget is spent on food. If you can avoid eating out, even for one meal a day, you will save quite a bit of money. Here are some ways to save on food:

Rent an Airbnb or extended-stay hotel that has a kitchen that allows you to prepare a few meals yourself.
Stay at a hotel that serves a free breakfast and monopolize on their free coffee or tea all day. Many hotels even offer a free midday snack.
If traveling by car, pack a cooler full of food and snacks.
Carry snacks with you while traveling around your destination to avoid accumulating little overpriced expenses.
Carry a reusable water bottle with you and fill at water fountains, cafes, and restaurants.
Use discounts, coupons, and promo codes when available.
If eating out, try to choose spots further away from high tourist destinations.

Take Advantage of Free/Low-Cost Activities

Take advantage of all your travel destination has to offer by looking for free events to attend, free/low-cost museums and parks, and so forth. Cities offer a wide variety of entertainment for their citizens and tourists that are full of enriching learning experiences, physical activities, and entertainment. You can even search online for routes and key destinations and host your own self-guided walking tour. Attend local farmer’s markets to get a feel of what local artisans and farmers are offering. Plus, many of the products will be unique to the area.

Traveling is meant to be an enjoyable, life-enriching, and positive experience. You can have a great time and still stay within budget. Use Enterprise rental car services in order to get the perfect-size, reliable car at a great price. Explore all the nearby spots around you that are full of rich sites and events. Finally, by planning ahead of time, save on food, entertainment, and activities by looking for free or low-cost options.

Image via Unsplash

Taking a Cooking Class in Hanoi, Vietnam

On December 11, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes, Vietnam2 Comments

One of our favorite memories of our recent trip to Vietnam was taking a cooking class in Hanoi. This was a true cooking class, not a demonstration, where we purchased the food from a local market, prepped all of the ingredients, and did the cooking ourselves with our chef’s instruction. There were only five of us in the class, making it very intimate and interactive. We created a four course meal, which we enjoyed eating family-style after cooking everything.

Cooking Pork Meatballs and Barbequed Pork

After buying our ingredients, we went to a local house to prepare our meal. Our dinner included Banana Flower Salad (Nộm Hoa Chuối), which we made from banana leaves, a variety of vegetables, and sautéed beef. Our entrée was Vietnamese Grilled Pork With Rice Vermicelli Noodles (Bún Chả), which originated in Hanoi is a famous dish in the region. We made it with both pork meatballs as well as barbequed pork. To accompany the Bún Chả, we made Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls (Nem Rán), which are often served as an appetizer as well. For our dessert, we made Vietnamese Egg Coffee (Café Trứng), which is rich and delicious and is made with egg and condensed milk.

It took about five hours to do our shopping, prepping, and cooking, so we were quite hungry by the time our meal was actually ready. The class is offered in both the morning to create lunch or in the afternoon to create dinner, but we chose to do the dinner class and were glad that we did. Our chef was extremely knowledgeable and shared stories with us while we prepared our meal. It is an experience that we would highly recommend to anyone who visits Hanoi. After completing the class, the chef sent us all of the recipes that we made as well as others, which we are looking forward to cooking and sharing in the near future.

Whisking the Egg and Condensed Milk for the Egg Coffee

Buying Ingredients at a Local Market in Hanoi

On December 4, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Vietnam1 Comment

We decided to take a cooking class during our trip to Hanoi, Vietnam where our chef took us to a local market to buy all of the ingredients needed for our dinner. Obviously we wouldn’t have been able to navigate the market without the help of our chef and there were plenty of ingredients that we can’t necessarily find at home. We were told that the local people of Hanoi, like in a lot of cities, go to the market every day or at least every other day in order to buy fresh ingredients for their meals.

We needed both beef and pork for our recipes, so the butchers trimmed the fat for us as we waited. There were stalls that specialized in vegetables, spices, fruit, as well as different meats. You could find live chickens as well as fresh fish swimming in buckets of water. It was very colorful as well as very busy as people navigated their motorcycles through the stalls picking up items.

Getting fresh ingredients to create local dishes was definitely an incredible experience and we are looking forward to trying our best to create some of the meals in the near future. Picking out all of our vegetables, meats, and other items was as interesting as the experience that we had actually preparing the meals afterwards. Taking a cooking class in a foreign country is definitely an experience that we would recommend and getting to go to the market truly enhances the experience. It was as close as we could get to preparing a meal like a local.