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Nov 8, 1998

"I could Have danced all night"

Well, if you can---or if you are a vampire who can roam the streets until dawn and slip into a comfortable coffin-lodging costs aren't much of a concern for you as you wander the world. However, the rest of us regrettably figure in the cost of bed (if not breakfast) as we compute our travel budgets.

On a lengthy trip that involves multiple destinations, many budget travelers alternate pricey (if not posh) stays in expensive city centers with time spent in less expensive environs. On a several week journey sometimes one has to bite the bullet and think of the average cost per night.

On a recent stop-over in London, we gratefully paid 45 pounds per night for an en suite double at the Elysee in Lancaster Gate (the hotel is on Craven Terrace, just off Bayswater Road) and considered ourselves fortunate. After a series of misadventures I'd arrived in London without a bed and breakfast booking and wandered the streets, luggage in tow, looking for a bed. For a clean, convenient room at the last minute, forty-five quid seemed like a bargain. Would I ever spend that much in York or Chester? Not on your life.

For folks whose planning skills don't short circuit, the 'net offers a lot of resources to book a budget bed. Go to http://www.eurotrip.com/hostels_countrie... to read reviews of youth hostels round the planet---and obtain booking information. If you can't handle a hostel and are Britain bound, use the adjacent link to the smooth hound system to research B & B in the UK.

With 20/20 Foresight . . .

If you are the sort of traveler that enjoys having a stable lodging base and you make plans well in advance, a home-swap program may be your ticket to a thatched cottage in England, a beach house in California, a farmhouse in the south of France or a mountain retreat in the Rockys.

Home swap programs are commercial enterprises. For a fee, your home is listed in the agency's directory and you have access to other listed homes. It is analogous to time-share schemes without buying a piece of a property---you use your home as the "vacation week" investment. The FREE Newsletter "Trading Places" is the product of a company called Holi-swap. Check it out for more information on home- swapping. http://www.holi-swaps.com/joinnews.htm

http://www.global.org.uk/homebase/homex.... or http://www.sunswap.com/ will get you to the home pages of companies that for a fee will aid you in the home swap process.

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The copyright of the article Home Sweet [Strange] Home in Traveling on a Budget is owned by Dr. Tami Brady. Permission to republish Home Sweet [Strange] Home in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.