Budget-friendly travel: possible or not?

 As a travel photographer, especially if you are a freelancer or even if you are travelling just for your own happiness, travelling has its own expenses. It is not necessary to take flights every time you are on the go, your hotel room does not need a private pool, Five-star hotels does not guarantee astounding photographs. Yes, all these might enhance our experience but when our main goal is to reach the destination and capture it in its own raw and pure form, these luxuries are often redundant.

Source: Pinterest.

Source: Pinterest.

For starters, let me introduce you to a lesser known and practiced form of travelling. Hitch-hiking!
Yeah, I know! It is dangerous, you don’t know who the other person is and so on. This might be true. I am not against any of those statements but let me try and give you a new dimension for that subject. Basically, Hitch Hiking is a form of transportation where you get a ride by asking individuals, usually strangers by standing on the edge of the road with a thumb facing upwards. When you look at its pros, it is definitely one of the cheapest way to travel yet the best way to have a rich travelling experience is what I feel. Usually people who offer rides are really friendly and thus it may lead to long lasting friendships. Also, natives have a lot of knowledge about the tourist attractions nearby and hidden gems that might not always be seen on Google maps. Of course, it is quite risky and takes time to get adjusted to, but if you are up for adventures, it is definitely something that you should try at least once in your life. It will certainly open up new horizons to your attitude towards travelling in general. When it comes to photography, we are open to visiting more places when compared to flights, because we are closer to the place, people and its culture. We capture what we experience and so there are chances that we have a set of vivid and exciting encounters when we choose this method to travel and thus affecting our photographs in a good way.

Source: Pinterest

When it comes to exploring different cuisines, we might often go for posh restaurants, but what we forget over here is that a majority of the tourist’s spots offer amazing street food that we might find appealing more than the expensive dishes offered at fancy restaurants. Moreover, street-food of that particular locale helps us to understand their culture without a doubt. It is an opportunity to have the best of what the place has to offer in an affordable manner. Mostly, five-star restaurants offer food in a way that is designed to make it look good, so as beginners there is not much left for us to do but when you go for Street food photography, it is served in a normal manner and it takes our creativity to make it look good in our frame. There is comparatively more space for us to be creative when you are just starting out as a photographer.

Source: Pinterest

If you are just a novice, you can try travelling as a group rather than going for a solo-trip. This helps us
to share the expenses, and plus it helps you to adjust with travelling long distances if you are homesick. Also, if you are a person with large equipment’s or a number of gadgets, your gang can help you set them up thus helping you to do it better.

It is not necessary that you will get a better experience if you travel by flight. In fact, I feel it helps you connect with the world when you choose to travel by your own bike, by a train or even by hitch-hiking. Meeting new people, trying out all the amazing food varieties, understanding different cultures and traditions can all be done in an exceptional way even if you practicing budget-friendly travel plans.

So, my dear friends, always remember, Trust the process until you get that one “perfect shot”.

Stay tuned for more content.