The World's Cheapest Destinations

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Here's what others in the know have said about The World's Cheapest Destinations - 21 Countries Where Your Dollars are Worth a Fortune.

Instead of cutting corners on food, lodging, and transportation to ease the cost of visiting an expensive destination like Europe, the Caribbean, or Florida, Leffel urges adventurous travelers to go to those parts of the world where their dollars go further.

Leffel's book is not a conventional travel guide. There are no lists of must-see tourist sites, no recommended travel itineraries, and few suggestions about where to stay. Instead, Leffel uses colorful and sometimes blunt language to describe 21 countries worth visiting where travel is cheap. Read more...

Bruce Mohl, The Boston Globe

 

Nashville author Tim Leffel believes you can see the world without spending a fortune, and to prove it he's written a guide to cheap travel: The World's Cheapest Destinations: 21 Countries Where Your Dollars are Worth a Fortune.  The book focuses on countries in which even a small budget will take you far, and in style.

The Tennessean

The global travel industry is in many ways driven by myth and prejudice and it is good to see someone tackling those prejudices head on (without ignoring the greatest hits of world travel like the Taj Mahal and Macchu Picchu). I think it strikes a good balance between a starry-eyed romantic view of spontaneous travel and suspicious attitude that can be crippling to travel in developing countries. In short its advice is sensible as well as inspiring. It should succeed in persuading its readers to look again at their bank balance and seriously consider visiting or re-visiting one of the 21 countries covered. Even just skimming the excellent "What you can get for a buck or less" sections makes you instantly want to book a flight somewhere exotic.

Susan Griffith

Author of Work Your Way Around the World

Tim Leffel, author of the short volume, The World's Cheapest Destinations, offers helpful savings hints to many nations that he considers rock bargains. He focuses on 21 countries where your dollar goes far! Some destinations are exotic, but the book can be an entertaining choice for your favorite frequent traveler. Read more...

Clark Howard's Consumer Action Center 

Most of us pick a spot on the globe, and then begin finding low airfares, cheap food, or inexpensive rooms. Tim Leffel says we've got it backwards.

This book proposes choosing destinations that are known money-savers.

For example, Leffel says Malaysia boasts some of the world's most beautiful beaches, and at a fraction of price for more frequently visited coastlines. Antiquities in Turkey and Egypt will cost less to visit than those in Greece. The castles of Hungary are cheaper to see than those of France. Read more...

Mark Kahler, Budget Travel Editor, About.com

 

For the traveler who enjoys adventure traveling to some of the most exotic places in the world, trying new food and customs, learning about other religions and traditions, this slim book will prove to be a great tool. Read more...

Norman P. Goldman, BookPleasures.com

A succint, useful guide to the less expensive countries of the world.

Rolf Potts, Author, Vagabonding

"One of the smartest investments the adventurous, budget conscious traveler can make—the book will pay for itself many times over in money saved while traveling to some of the world's most fascinating destinations. It's obvious the author knows his subject intimately well and he holds nothing back. Highly recommended!"

Cheri Sicard
Editor, FabulousTravel.com and FabulousFoods.com

"Subtitled 21 Countries Where Your Dollars Are Worth a Fortune, this book purports to give the lowdown on the planet's most affordable places, and generally delivers.

If you want a cheap bed, a tasty-though-not-fancy meal and transportation that won't deplete your wallet, Leffel is a reliable guide."

David Armstrong
San Francisco Chronicle

"Dividing up travel destinations into four sections, Asia, Africa & Middle East, Europe and the Americas, Leffel points out how in each of these geographical locations you can stretch your dollar to the maximum. You may compare this to the old adage, 'it is not how much one earns, but how your money is managed, that is important.'" Read more...

- BootsnAll

"After giving a short, yet detailed geographical breakdown of each nation, Leffel gives readers practical information on everything from favorite foods to accommodations, various means of transportation and special sites."

Ron Wynn, Nashville City Paper

Tim Leffel has written a little book that every adventurous traveler will want to buy and read at one sitting, then go back over the chapters on the countries that most interest them, then start booking their flights to the world's cheapest destinations. Leffel, a long-time contributor to Transitions Abroad, is a veteran international traveler with at least three around-the-world trips and four consecutive years of travel and living abroad behind him. He is a reliable authority on how to get the most for your travel dollar. If you've been to one of the countries he writes about, reading what he has to say about it is like a conversation with an old traveling buddy. If you haven't been there, Tim will tell you why you should go, how much you can expect to spend on accommodations, food, and transportation, what to avoid, what not to miss, what to buy, and things you can get for a buck or less. (In Bangkok, for example, that would include two whole pineapples chopped up for you at a street stall or a coconut with a straw in it or breakfast or five bus or ferry rides).

Of Leffel's 21 destinations seven are in Asia, seven are in the Americas, four are in Europe, and only three are in Africa and the Middle East (Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan). Why has he written off African south of the Sahara? His response: "Trying to navigate through a region of famine, civil war, disease, dictators, and a pitiful infrastructure is not my idea of fun." You might not agree with the reasons for his omissionslike Burma, Cambodia, and the Philippinesbut you know where he's coming from. (Burma's a police state; Cambodia is "a poor and bedraggled country that happens to hold Ankor Wat"; and as for the Philippines "the word 'trashed' doesn't begin to describe the littered towns and beaches [where] you could almost have a countrywide scavenger hunt to find a building that's not ugly."

Leffel's book is short on practical details (addresses, phone numbers, etc.). For those he refers you to his web site, www.worldscheapestdestinations.com, and the other well-chosen web sites and printed resources he recommends. As he says, looking up the details that used to fill whole chapters of books like his is now easier to do on the Web. We think that's a wise decision. The specific information he does give you is based on his own experience and the good judgment of a wise and seasoned traveler. Buy this book.

Clay Hubbs

Publisher, Transitions Abroad magazine

"Nowhere else can budget-conscious travelers find so much concise and well organized information about traveling costs in foreign lands. This book will also help the frugal traveler determine the best place for their next adventure."

 Big Blue Marble

Have you seen a local review, or just want to tell the world what you thought about the book? Send your comments to info@worldscheapestdestinations.com
 
 

 
The World's Cheapest Destinations:
21 Countries Where Your Dollars are Worth a Fortune

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