Arj and his g/f Katie from Calgary in India 05/07/2012
 This is Arj saying hello from Mumbai, India. Pete and I are live again to update you on some terrific and cheap fun I just had in Europe, before I flew out to India. So last update, I told you folks about the super cheap one way fare (C$ 281.00) I got on Air Transat from Calgary to Manchester. Well that was just the beginning, read on here ! So after landing at Manchester airport, I had a separate ticket on Ryanair, from Manchester to Budapest, Hungary for C$ 96 one way. My objective was actually to get to Vienna, Austria, but that is a more expensive hub to fly into, so I took the back door route via Budapeset, which is only 196 km from Vienna. The connection was excellent in Manchester from my arrival in Terminal 1 on Air Transat, collecting my bag, and going to Terminal 3 for the new checkin on Ryanair. Only thing, beware, they European discount airlines will KILL you on excess weight. For each kilogram overweight you pay C$20, and the are very sticky about it. I took out 200 Euros from an private label ATM at Manchester airport (you can withdraw US dollars, British Pounds and Euros at many of the ATMs), but that was a bad idea. For 200 euros they charged me an exchange rate of 1.42 dollars per euro as opposed to the official rate of 1.31. That means that I got ripped off by more than C$20, on that transaction, or more than 10 % of my money. I should have waited to find a major bank ATM, rather than use the private label ATM. So I touch down in Budapest at 11:30 PM and fall in love with the city instantly. Instead of paying C$30 for a cab into the city center, I find the night bus from the airport, which costs me a C$1.25 bus fare ! You have to change buses, and it takes about 1 hour to get there, but it is totally worth it. Budapest is cheap and safe and stunningly beautiful. As a salsa dancer I went out dancing three nights, met cool people and had an amazing time. I found people from all over the world there, because they fell in love with the place. The donari stands run mostly by Turkish entrepreneurs are fantastic, you can get the best donair sandwich of your life for under C$2.00, beat that ! The subway is wonderful, cheap and frequent. The nightlife is great, people are friendly and easy going. I was sad to leave Budapest after 3 days, for my meeting in Austria. The plaza in Budapest named after Listz Ferenz, the gifted Hungarian composer from the 19th century, has a wonderful range of restaurants and lounges, don't miss it ! The train from Budapest to Vienna is not cheap ($60 one way), so I went to the Nepliget Bus Station (you get there directly via the subway), and found a bus service Orange ways that gets you one way to Vienna for just C$12, amazing ! It is a 4 hour bus ride with lovely scenery. Once in Vienna, I found a place on Airbnb walking distance to the city center. Accommodation in Vienna is very expensive, so I negotiated a special rate with my Airbnb host in Vienna for C$31/night, a fantastic rate. Vienna stole my heart, shockingly beautiful city, people help you everywhere and take great pride in showing you their city. I was high on classical music the whole trip, with evidence everywhere of the great Austral composers and musicians of the 19th century. I went to the igmund Freud museum, it's a strange feeling looking at the place that he practiced his new theories in psychology for 50 years. My meetings in Vienna were very successful, and I went everywhere by subway and tram. You can buy a pass for 8 days (any 8 days of unlimited use) for C$34 Wiener Linien, not a bad deal as it allows you to pretty much see all of Vienna (interestingly I didn't even see one ticket inspector in the whole 7 days I was in Vienna using public transport). Finally, I left Vienna for a meeting in Austria's third largest city of Linz, also on the Danube river. I unknowingly overpaid by taking the OBB Train (one way from Vienna to Linz), for C$34. When I talked to friends in Linz after getting there, they told me about a new service by a company called Westbahn that offer the same train service at a 50 % discount to OBB's price ! In fact, they offer service all the way to Salzburg from Vienna, and you can then make it to Munich airport. Hence, either Munich or Budapest can serve as cost-effective airport gateways to get you into Vienna, as you are likely to get better fares on the discount airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet when flying in Europe. Well that's it for now. Next update we'll share with you is the trip from Vienna to Mumbai, India, and the continuation of the adventure to Asia ! Stick close, we're delighted to have to travel cheap with Pete (and now Arj !). Add Comment  Texas Ryan, doing his karaoke The Easter long weekend, I ended up in Venice beach California, what a great time and the people I met at the Venice beach hostel we all had a good time. Started off the night I arrived they had a karaoke going on that night it was so much fun and no I did not sing on my own but did join in with everyone else. Saturday after hanging on the beach for the day we ended up having a round table (party) meeting (a few drinks) I chaired with about a dozen travellers from around the world joining in the first topic was our first hostel experience there were three people that Venice hostel was there first time in a hostel and there was a couple there that they met in a hostel in Germany and now married to each other and there were two Swedish girls that were at the same as me our first hostel was Sydney central in Australia not the same time as I was there. Such a small world we had other topics that I can’t bring up due to that fact my two Daughters Crystal and Tiffany do read my Blogs, on Sunday. I did go and see Michael Beckwith from the movie the secret, wow! it was so amazing just as I expected and such happy people, travel day Monday back home. .Thanks to my sister Janet for letting me have her credit with westjet, it paid for more than half of my trip to Los Angeles and I would also say thanks to the people that sent me a message on facebook for my birthday on Sunday, I don’t know how to use facebook so I could not reply to you, I did not tell anyone from the hostel it was my birthday because we did not need another reason to have a party Sunday, the day of rest. First time in eight winters, I did not make it to Mexico, maybe next winter for Christmas my friends, I don’t like to make plans, don’t know my future.  Hey buddy, you listen to me, I have the knives. Now on stage again just like my daughters will say, “Dad you always get picked on the stage. I had to hand the knives to the street performer, wait until I tell my two daughters what do they think of me going on stage and yes I will be the performer either a Travel Cheap With Pete movie or a reality show, stay tuned it’s in the works.  Arj on the left and Pete I would like to introduce you to a friend I met on a flight to Panama about six weeks ago. His name is Arj and he will be travelling lots this summer and sending me the deals I will be posting his deals and putting his blogs on Travel Cheap With Pete. Note from Arj) Six hours in the sky after takeoff from Calgary, with the plane preparing for descent to Panama City, I say hi to the guy sitting across the aisle from me, and the rest is history.That’s how I met Pete, the force behind www.travelcheapwithpete.com ! Once through Panama customs, I was impressed with Peter’s adventurous spirit, that he was going to rent a car and drive around the countryside and beaches of Panama ... during CARNIVAL ! What’s cool about being a traveler is the chance to meet like-minded people. We hung out in the historic (and now trendy) district of Casco Viejo in Panama City, meeting new people and chatting about our travel experiences, and I was intrigued by Pete’s vision about traveling “fun and cheap”! As a businessman in the oil industry, I have traveled the four corners of this world, but I can’t say that I’m that proficient at traveling economically, at which Pete is a wizard. As I listened to Pete’s approach, I was fascinated by the possibilities as to how to merge our thinking and take a tag-team approach on how to travel at fantastic prices, cover the entire globe, and share experiences (both cool and crazy) with our friends through the website, providing current and instant windows into new adventures. Do we aspire to be another full service travel site? Naa, there’s plenty of those. But I think we can electrify you, such that each time you visit us to browse, you’ll have no idea what cheap, fun and spontaneous opportunity we bring to your radar screen, for a fantastic travel opportunity! So let’s get going, already ! I am headed on Friday from Calgary to Budapest, Hungary. To be precise, I have meetings next week in Vienna, Austria, and I wanted to find the cheapest way to get there. From Europe, I head to Asia, and since I don’t have much visibility of when I will be back in North America, I decided to go for a one way ticket. Well listen up. I thought I’d charter it on a one way ticket from Canada into London, then take a low cost Euro carrier into Vienna, but found a couple of problems. One, London is buzzing due to the upcoming summer Olympics. Two, Vienna is a higher cost hub to fly into. So what did I do? I found a one-way on Air Transat http://www.airtransat.ca/en/Home.aspx from Calgary into Manchester, England, (MAN) tax in for C$281.00. If that isn’t cool enough, it seems that you get better fares from MAN to Europe, and I found a Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com/en flight one way from MAN to Budapest for $96.00 tax in, with a 4 hour connect time from landing in MAN from Calgary. I plan to hang out for a couple of days in Budapest, to see the flowers and the charm of Eastern Europe in the spring, and then hop a train from Budapest into Vienna, across the Austrian border. That train trip as best I can tell will cost me about $60.00. So it looks like I will get one way from YYC to VIE, for a grand total of $437.00 ! How I get back to YYC ? Who knows, I’ll deal with that in the summer. Where and how do I get to in Asia? More future unknowns to pique your curiosity and bring you back to visit Pete and me! Here’s to endless cheap, fun and spontaneous travel and adventure with Pete ! t.
I am not a resort guy! 03/28/2012
 On the left Shane, center Pete and Josh on the right in Costa Rica I am not a resort guy! (I will be adding more pictures to every blog soon) I am not a resort guy, but it is nice to just relax at one, every once in a while. I find that I eat too much at the (food) trough and liquid libations are right in front of you at all times. I hate watching those people that get drunk every day and call it a holiday. Not everyone, as most people are there for a break away from their work. The tours cost more and some of the tour guides for some reason want people to be scared of the locals. I find that when I stay in a hostel that I have more freedom to go and see the country I am in even changing locations of where I am laying my head for the night. Whereas when I stay at a resort I feel as though because of the money I have spent and the amenities on hand that I am stuck there and feel almost guilty leaving the grounds. If you want better deals you can stay at a hostel or cheap hotels and bed and breakfasts. They are more personal and willing to help you and yes in most cases they do get the better deals as they are set up for budget travelers. For example a couple of years ago in the Calgary Tower the cost was $12.00 to go up and at the hostel it cost $2.00. Another way I find good deals is on the beach of the resorts as they can’t stop the locals from selling as it is all public or in the city’s or towns where you are staying, they will all be the same tours or places (tickets) and you will all end up in the same place anyhow. Now for my trip to Costa Rica, the resort was great but to me they are all the same with free food, free drinks and entertainment day and night. They also have all sorts of tours you can take. Anyways my nephew Shane and my sister Carols’ nephew Josh and myself had a great time in Costa Rica, the first two nights we stayed at the Resort and then we rented a car and went to Playa (beach) Del CoCo and stayed in a hostel for two nights. I think the guy’s liked it better even though we still had our resort . The hostel had more of what the guys liked because we were able to hang around town and we had a nice hostel for $15.00 a night with a pool as well. The resort was so secluded and far away from everyone and town. I did not see much of Costa Rica but I’m sure I will go back there sometime soon. It is a lot more expensive there than Panama for everything. I did find a good deal for kite surfing though which includes two nights’ accommodations and lessons for $100.00 as long as I have three people to take the course. No problem because for that price I will find people. Now for what I may do this spring and summer, I have some travel through work. I will also try to get away on weekends to Banff, Kelowna, Edmonton and L.A. You may be asking yourself why Edmonton and Kelowna. I have heard the Centre for Spiritual Living in both locations are worth checking out and in L.A I want to see Michael Beckwith from the movie The Secret. Banff is more for a weekend getaway and I will mainly stay in hostels either private or shared rooms. I have been living life to the fullest over this past winter, loving life and a few people have come up to me and asked how can you Iive the way you do? My answer to that is life is so easy just some people make it hard as they worry too much and are afraid to go out of their comfort zone, afraid to take a chance and most of all afraid of change. If you’re like that then just ask yourself? Are you ready to live life to the fullest!! What helped me get to where I am in life is that I thank the Landmark Forum and the magic of Spiritual living Calgary as it just feels so good. Both Landmark Education and The Centre of Spiritual Living are now around the world and for the people that I have met around the world even if you live in Sweden and you do take the landmark course I will try my best to go there for your final Sunday night as it is an open invitation to the person that told you about Landmark and that would be me. I love watching people change from their old ways to their new way of thinking. Just like they say, 95% of the people will get something out of Landmark and yes they will love it and thank me big time. Live your dreams and just do it! Plans for the future, I’m a person that does not like planning, just live life and enjoy the surprises. For some reason I know something big is going to happen soon, I know this stuff as I feel it big time. Good bye everyone, Live Laugh and Love your life, Peter Montgomery from Travel Cheap With Pete
Never anytime to write, always on the go! 03/20/2012
Never anytime to write, always on the go! Panama again and what a great deal through Air Transat. I got it for $2.00 plus $197.00 in taxes for a total of $199.00 round trip, let me say thank you. I met a couple of guys on the plane that got the same deal, Sean from Calgary and Ralph from Edmonton. So we got talking about splitting a cab to Panama City and I told them it´s about $30.00 to down town so that makes it $10.00 each. First we came to my hostel and Ralph ended up staying there too so we split a room for a couple of days. Ralph also ended up renting a car so I ended up having someone to split the cost with again. The second day in Panama I was walking down a tourist area and ran into a friend from Calgary her name is Jill and than about an hour later Sean who I met on the plane walked by too, talk about a small world. A couple of days later Jill was telling me that she had bought a place on the Caribbean side about 20 minutes from Colon. Wow what a beautiful place over looking the beach and forest. Jill is traveling with a couple of her girlfriends and thanks to Ralph renting a car we had a chance to go visit them. The hostel I ended up in was fantastic and I was able to get a private room for $30.00 a night. I was in a rich area of town I think they call it the banking part of the city three blocks from Donald Trumps tower and of course while I was there I had to drop over to Donald’s hotel and try and get a room with my website Travel Cheap With Pete. They did take my card to the manager and they said the best that we can do for you Mr. Montgomery is $169.00 for the night and I said I have to get it for $99.00 and then I will take it. The reason that I wanted to get it for that price was I had a $5.00 bet with the owner of the hostel I was staying at. They came back and said how about we give you a tour of the hotel and I could have the use of the pool area in the morning for free and I said thanks that was greatly appreciated and I did take them up on their offer. Unfortunately I lost the bet but I got to use the pool! Thanks To Dan from the hostel I stayed at the last time I was in Panama City for sending me to this other hostel as his hostel was full and Dan said that since Oswald’s hostel does not have a pool I could come over to his hostel anytime to use his pool. What a trip to Costa Rica! The travel agent my sister Carol booked me on would not allow me to make my own way to Costa Rica and said that if I didn't show up for my out going flight from Calgary that I would be a no show and that they would cancel my whole trip to Costa Rica. So in 20 hours I flew from Panama City to Winnipeg to drop off some people and than to Calgary to go through immigration. I even had time to have a coffee with a friend that I met on my first flight to Panama over a month ago his name is Arg. We hung out a couple of times while we were down there and man he travels more than I do, lucky guy! Arg is now house sitting my place while I am here in Costa Rica. Then on the same plane I took from Panama we went from Calgary to Edmonton to pick up more people and then finally on our way to Liberia, Costa Rica. It made for a real long day. Air Transat was great with this little problem as it had nothing to do with them. They even tried to help me on something that made sense to them too as they did not understand why I had to come all the way back to Calgary since I was already down there. It was the rules of the travel agency, that should be allowed to be broken and use common sense but I digress. I will not mention the agencies name as I don’t want to put any negative stories on my website, I just want the travel people to know what is going on out there. Ralph and I went to a under 20 women’s soccer game, Canada against Panama and our Canadian girls won 6-0 it was great and the people down there have a great time with their families. It only cost $4.00 to get in and $1.00 for a beer and home cooked food (barbeque) outside of the stadium. I have met a lot of real good people that are willing to help everyone out. Thank you everyone I love you all and your Country. Till next time this is Peter Montgomery from TravelCheapWithPete.com Panama for $2.00 tomorrow 03/06/2012
 Go to yycdeals.com for the best deals out of Calgary. I am off to Panama tomorrow for an unbelievable price through Air Transat for $2.00 plus $197.00 in taxes for a total of $199.00. The funny thing is that the flight I come back to Calgary on is the same flight I go to Costa Rica on. I fly back here at 3:00 am on the 15th and my flight leaves to go to Costa Rica at 6:00 am. I will see if I can figure it so I don’t have to come back and I will just make my way to Liberia and Costa Rica on my own. Next trip Costa Rica, March 15th 2012 03/01/2012
My Sister Carol bought me an all-inclusive trip to Costa Rica for my birthday in April with her air mile points she had to use up and I get to hang out with her son Shane and her Nephew Josh, hope those two guys can keep up to me. I took Carol, her daughter Shelby and son Shane to Cuba last November while they were going through some hard times after the loss of her husband, you did not have to pay it back girl. Thank You for the gift, I will look over the boy’s we will all get into trouble together and have some fun too, lol… Peter Montgomery, TravelCheapWithPete.com  This is just one of the amazing modern office towers you will see downtown Panama City My friend Nathan from Panama has corrected me, I was in Pedasi for Carnaval not Pocri. I drove through Pocri on the way to Pedasi. Thanks buddy. Panama was great and I had no idea that Carnival was going on the week I was there. Talk about perfect timing: the first two nights I ended up staying in Panama City at Hostel Villa Surf. Great hostel. Dan the owner and Carlos from the rent-a-car company had both recommended for me to go to the northwest of the country to experience the real Carnival, so I did, and all the people I talked to said I’d never find accommodations where I was headed, so that made it the kind of challenge I love to take on. Well guys, no problem. The first night I stopped in a town called Las Tablas and saw a small hotel just outside of town and dropped in. Of course they had no rooms but the girl said that I should try this nice bed and breakfast for $40.00 a night, on the beach. Panama Casa Del Puerto. When I got there Bonnie the owner said they were also filled to capacity but she also said that she could talk with the people who were renting the guest house and see if they were willing to share with a stranger. The couple, Peter and Laurna, agreed and said no problem as they had a three bedroom house. Nice place and all, but they had it booked for Carnival the next day so it was time to move on the following morning. Another tip I will give to travellers is that when you’re looking for a place to stay during their busy season, the best time to look is first thing in the morning between 9:00 am to noon. Reason being is people change their minds if it’s not a place for them. Now on my way to the next town, not thinking about what all those people were telling me—that I’ll never find a place to stay, I traveled northwest to the next town, Pedasi. I went to a brand new Hostel that had just opened up and the guy at the front desk told me that they were full but the hotel on the corner called Residencial Moscoso may have a room for me, so I walked over and saw this nice old lady and asked if she had a room. It was so funny because she could not understand English and my Spanish is not the best, but the sense that I got from her was that there was a room in her hotel so I stuck around for a while. Then someone who spoke a bit of English to me came around to show me a room for $40.00 a night. After a couple of nights there, I had no idea where I wanted to go so I ended up heading towards Panama City. On the way I stopped in a few places like Playa Juan Hombron (big resort area), Playa Santa Clara and San Carlos. It was still early and I wanted to see more places so the funny thing is that they have real bad signage in that country, if they have any signs at all. Anyways while driving back I noticed that Panama City was on my right and as I was passing it I laughed to myself, saying in my mind I guess it was not meant to be. I always wanted to go to the Caribbean side of the country so I ended up going to a city called Colon. It looked a bit sketchy (port town) and it was getting (dark) so I was thinking to myself, wow, they have this nice hotel in the middle of this sketchy town. I went in to see what a room would cost, not thinking that I may stay there but checked it out anyways it was a Four Points by Sheraton. Walking in with confidence and not looking like a backpacker, I went up the the counter and asked the guy the price for a night and handed him my card and looking like I am a travel agent so he went to the back maybe to see his manager or to look at my site and came back to me a few minutes later and said yes Mr. Montgomery, we have a deal for you, how does $50.00 a night plus 10% sound to you, I was floored. Okay, that adds up to $55.00 and does that include breakfast? I know it does because I do stay at Sheratons on business as well. This is why I don't make plans during my trips because sometimes things work out better in the long run. Now I’d like to chat about the country, the people and the Carnival of Panama. I found it very friendly, helpful and loads of people speak English. I found it to be very safe in most of the country. For that week they had extra security from the army because of Carnival, so I never felt threatened at all. Wow! Do they ever put on a great Carnival! I have been to Rio, Brazil for their Carnival where I witnessed three robberies in six days. Yes I was a victim in one of the three. Anyways, that is a story for another time. In the smaller towns there were mostly locals and they knew how to celebrate! The entire country shuts down for four days. Everyone is having fun, even the children. They walk around with their big water soaker guns and yes they even have a big water truck come in and soak you to help you cool down because it is so hot there. They start in the afternoon and take over the streets and shut them down whenever they want to in good fun. Sometimes a street band will just show up and start playing for the people and then everyone just joins in and starts dancing and singing even in front of peoples homes and they say come on in. The floats come down the street, fireworks and crackers go off all day and night. They seem to go for a siesta (nap) between 6 pm and 9 pm which allows the party to start up big time around 10 or 11 at night. Thank God the soakers are not out at night, the floats are all amazing. They are all lit up and very colorfull and people dance behind them and in between. The amount of fireworks and cases of fire crackers is amazing, I have never seen anything like it. Thank God the houses are fireproof. I saw lots things that would have caused a fire at home. Just when you think it’s over for the night, I’d go back to my room at 2:00 am and the fireworks would start up again. They put on an excellent show and it is so much fun to watch. I could not believe how close I was to the fire show. They would not allow that here in Canada. I caught the last day in Panama City and it was not at all the same. During the day was the only time I could get into the place. They have a great live band onstage and instead of the children having water guns they had spray strings to shoot at people. When I came back after a few hours I could not get back into see the celebration because the line looked about three hours long to get in, so I went back to the hostel to watch it on tv. Thank you Panama you made my trip worth while and I will pass it on to other travelers. Peter Montgomery TravelCheapWithPete.com  So what an advenure already today. I have my rental car and decided to go for a drive. Surprisingly enough I took a worng turn and ended up in a some people would call it a bad area of Panama City, I found it not too bad, not very many tourist there though. While trying to find my way out, I ended up driving into a Federal police, City Police station and the Army they where all there and they where all roaming around with guns out. It took me a couple of minutes to find an english speaking officer to give me a helping hand. They told me that they would help me get out of the area and I was to follow them. That was absolutely fantastic as I got to run stop signs and just wave at the people as I went through. No worries I am on the road again to explore the noth west of the country. Ciao, Peter Beautiful Panama City 02/16/2012
I had no idea that it's Carnival in Panama starting on Friday. This is going to be so much fun as I was at Carnival in Rio a few years ago and loved it. Panama city is so beautiful and modern, absolutely amazing. I took the new Tour bus today citysightseeingpty.com, they just started two weeks ago and for $29.00 for a 24 hour pass. Another cheap cell for me down here it is only costing $0.10 per minute to call Canada. My phone number is 6265 7762 Till next time Peter Montgomery now in beautiful Panama city. Hard to believe how warm it has been here in Calgary although I did miss the last cold snap. 02/08/2012
 Wow! It has been so warm here in Calgary this winter it is unbelievable. The weather gods lied to us in a good way as they called for the coldest weather in decades and it has been the exact opposite so far. It has been warmer than what was predicted, but I hear my friends over in Europe and Russia are getting the winter we were supposed to get with record cold temperatures as well. Getting ready for my next trip! I am booked to go to Panama on February 15th. Maybe while I am down there I will go to Costa Rica but that may depend if I stay two weeks. I predict it will be cold here by then and I picked up the trip for $199.00 plus $309.00 in taxes. I am also going to rent a car for a week for $175.00 so I had to pick up an international license at the cost of $25.00 for a year. For the people that are interested in going to Cuba. I am looking at going either February 27th or March 5th for a week maybe two depending on the weather in Calgary. I like to see more of where I am at the time and I will always find a cheap flight back home if I miss my original flight. I just hate making plans (dates) where I am supposed to be. Two more trips that I am looking at is one to Los Angeles this spring to see Michael Beckwith for a weekend and I need a summer holiday too. I have no idea where yet but I will keep everyone posted. I have a friend coming to Calgary this weekend from British Columbia so maybe we will head out to Banff for the weekend. Another thing while I was home in Calgary last week I attended a gala for the Calgary Education Partnership Foundation. The picture on the top left is of the Mayor of Calgary and me enjoying the event. The Mayors’ Excellence Awards Gala Dinner, presented by the Calgary Education Partnership Foundation recognizes and celebrates the efforts of business, community and education working together to improve the quality of public education in our community. The Mayors’ Excellence Awards are symbols of achievement, which are presented to partnerships that stand as benchmarks by continuing to positively impact the education of our children. |
About Me
I took an around the world trip on my own about 8 years ago. I started in Tahiti and then went to Cook Island, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil for carnival. It was too fast as I did all of that in three months. This time I am wide open with no plans except just wake up in the morning and end up somewhere else. The past few years I have been hanging out in Australia, Cuba, Mexico and Central America lots and it all has been amazing. I love it all and all the places I get to see and all people I get to meet. ArchivesMay 2012 Categories |
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