If your yearly vacation’s hanging in the balance and the recession’s robbed you of any ounce of travel adventure – check out these budget travel destinations, all for under $100 a day!

I’m constantly dreaming of escaping to an exotic island paradise but my dreams are cruelly cut short when I consider the price tag.

From India to Peru; Malaysia to Russia – these exciting, recession-friendly vacations won’t break the bank.

You might even get away with spending as little as $12 a day!

Costs quoted are average daily costs for food and lodging only, based on a budget trip.*

1.    Jaipur, India $12

2.    Langkawi, Malaysia, $21

3.    Puno, Peru $25

4.    Krabi, Thailand $34

5.    Quito, Ecuador $34

6.    Dahab, Egypt $39

7.    Monastir, Tunisia $35

8.    Monte Gordo, Portugal $44

9.    Polis, Cyprus $57

10.  Budapest, Hungary $70

Been to any of these places? Got more recommendations for super-cheap vacations?? Post up your comments below, we want to hear from you!

Got your traveling juices flowing? Try out our Destination Finder for loads more budget vacation ideas.

Coming up…. the world’s most over-priced cities! Don’t miss out, SIGN UP for free updates via RSS or email below.

Want to calculate daily travel costs in seconds? Check out our travel costs widget.

*Cost per day quote is an estimate based on the best information we have, actual costs may vary.

Photo: Langkawi, Malaysia by dmytrok.

We’re pleased to introduce Tripbase’s brand new travel widgets.

These widgets aren’t just cute, they’re really useful and completely FREE.

You get a cool widget for your site and we get to spread the word about Tripbase.

Choose from three great widgets enabling users to: calculate daily travel costs and weather conditions and receive a stunning travel picture every day.

Check out the screen-shots below and get the widget codes here.

Why should you use our widgets? Here are four good reasons:

· They add value by providing users with a handy travel tool

· They attract visitors

· They enrich your website content

· They’re easy to add and 100% FREE

Simply embed the code provided in the link above and your Tripbase travel widgets are good to go!

These are Tripbase’s first travel widgets so if you have ideas for others, please let us know. We’re always happy to receive feedback from our users.

Want our widgets on your site? Get the the codes here.

Happy Travels!

Let down your guard once in awhile. On a recent trip to Lebanon, a Tripbase member found herself lost in Tripoli, an area that had recently been rocked by internal strife. Frightened, she searched for a hotel. She stopped in front of a storefront, and puzzled over a map in her guide book. The proprietor came out and offered his help. “Usually, I don’t talk to men who approach me,” this pro of third world travel told Tripbase, “but I’m glad I did. He knew exactly where the hotel I was looking for was.” What your mom told you about not talking to strangers is not always applicable. Yes, there are a lot of bad guys out there—but there are a lot of good people, too.

Landmarks! Use them! You might find that some taxi drivers don’t know street names. It could be that they don’t understand your pronunciation. Or maybe they know the street by some older moniker that is still familiar to locals, but that no longer appears on tourist maps. No matter, if you give a taxi driver a prominent landmark they should be able to get you there. (Learning the local name and correct pronunciation of the landmark will prove to be helpful, as well. In Damascus, for example, what is labeled as Martyr’s Square on tourist maps is known as Al-Merjeh to locals).

Plan on getting lost. Have your hotel or hostel write down the name and street of your lodgings—in the local language, of course—on a business card. One Tripbase traveler found this indispensable in Shanghai. On several occasions, when he couldn’t find his way back to his hotel, he hailed a taxi and handed the card to the driver who had no problem ferrying him safely to his destination.

Traveling to uncommon destinations can be a rewarding, and challenging, experience. But you’ve got to be prepared for some bumps in the road—both literally as well as figuratively. Here is a list we at Tripbase wish we’d had before we set off for exotic destinations such as The Philippines, Thailand, India, South America, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan, amongst others.

Learn at least a few words of the local language. If you can say excuse me, where, street, there, left, right, straight, and other directional basics, you will be in better shape than you would be without them. Even if the person you ask speaks English (or your mother tongue), they will appreciate your attempt to speak with them in their language and will be more inclined to help.

Don’t ask just one person—ask two. (Or three, or four…). Remember that you are immersed in a different culture. In some places, maintaining face is very important. What does this mean for the lost traveler? If you ask someone for directions, even if they don’t know, they mustn’t admit that they don’t—they will still offer you directions. So ask a few people. If you’ve gotten three “straight and then right” s, chances are your destination is indeed straight and then right. But if you’ve gotten three different answers, maintain your composure and…

Have patience. Try and try again. Keep things in perspective. And remember to smile.

Looking for a road trip planner or ideas for your driving trip? By popular demand, Tripbase is pleased to announce the arrival of our brand new road trip planner that will help you find the best driving trips for your next vacation.
You can set your parameters either by driving mileage (how many miles you want to go) or by time in hours and then get driving trip ideas based on the things you like, where you want to go and your budget.

So why take a road trip?
We’ll give you 3 good reasons.

1. Road trips are better for the environment than flying

Road trip vacation planning, thanks to greater environmental awareness, is becoming more and more popular. People are choosing to go on greener vacations by staying closer to home and taking road trips instead of flying. According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, even a road trip from coast to coast (around 3,000 miles) releases fewer greenhouse gases than flying. This is because the greenhouse gases released by airplanes do more damage than those released by vehicles lower to the ground and contain additional harmful gases, like methane and nitrous oxide.

Let’s take a look at one example. If a family of four drove from Atlanta to Los Angeles, the emissions would be about 300 grams per mile, around 900 kilograms for the round-trip road trip.
This translates into about 225 kg of carbon emissions per person. For a long-haul flight, the emissions released are calculated at about 180 grams per mile per passenger.

So if you took a round-trip flight across the country (about 2,700 miles), your emissions would be close to one ton per person! That’s almost four times as much as driving provided you are sharing the car. Shorter flights are even less efficient so you release even more carbon emissions on flights with lower mileage. Planning to visit family in Ohio? Don’t pollute the environment with flights to Cleveland, take a road trip!

2. Road trips are cheaper than flying

Beyond being better for the environment, road trips are often cheaper than flying — especially
if you’re in a group. Even with gas at all-time highs, road trips for more than one person are
still more economical than flying because higher fuel costs have also affected airline ticket prices.

For a round-trip road trip across the country, you will spend about $850 (gas is calculated at $4 a gallon).
Now, if it’s just one person, it’s cheaper to fly since you can buy round-trip airline tickets for
about $450. But if at least two people are on the road trip, it’s cheaper to drive. If you’re driving somewhere within a short flight from home, it’s almost always cheaper to drive.
For families and those traveling in groups, the savings are even greater.

3. Road Trips and driving trips are fun

This may be the best reason of all. If you’ve never been on a road trip or a driving trip, you’ve missed out. All those hours in the car along the open road give you a chance to stop in stunning national parks and cool cities across the country. Or, if you’re going somewhere close to home, it’s a chance to discover a new place in a completely different way than just flying in and out. Just imagine all the streets and highways waiting to be discovered!

A road trip is also a great way to spend quality time with the whole family or go on a romantic adventure with your partner. And with so many different driving trip possibilities, the options are practically endless. As an added bonus, you won’t have to wait in long lines at the airport, deal with extra charges for every ounce of luggage or get frustrated by hours going through security.

So for your next vacation, why not consider taking your time and driving to your destination?
Visit Tripbase’s road trip planner to find driving trip ideas that cater to you.

In our upcoming blogs, we’re going to be writing about specific driving trip ideas — including
the best California road trips and cross country road trips as well as great motorcycle and rv driving trips.

To read a detailed scientific study commissioned by the climate care organization that
provides a great explanation about how aviation greenhouse gas emissions are calculated visit:

http://www.climatecare.org/media/documents/pdf/Aviation_Emissions_&_Offsets.pdf