Destination: Horror. The art of low planning, low budget travel.

Why must I begin every post with apologies for tardiness? Sorry for the belated post.

Every so often, I try to get away from monotonous living and do something unexpected. My good friend Sarah feels the same. A couple years ago, we went on Operation Bear Shank (we like to give our trips nice titles), which was a camping trip through the Colorado Rockies and part of Utah. This year, we sat down one evening, pulled out a U.S. map and circled three places, promising ourselves we would drive to one of them the following morning.

Key West won; can you ever imagine why. While we did many wonderful things-- befriending ghost hunters, hustling smelly t-shirts, touring Hemingway's house, snorkleboozing, bullriding, carnival hopping, and eating the closest to Cuba Cuban food we've ever had--what I'd really like to talk about is living and traveling on an unemployed or student budget.

We gave ourselves a three hundred dollar cap for week. It sounded fair. The budget was for each of us, so really we had 600 dollars to spend on gas, food, and entertainment. It was a realistic goal, and we made it work.

Here are the things we did that made budget travel a success:

*Never paid for camping/hotels. If you camp at free locations with free parking, then you never pay expensive hotel bills.

*Asked questions. Just by asking questions, often you can find deals on tourist attractions, free swimming pools, or inexpensive or free meals. We also found the only free parking lot in Key West this way.

*Grocery shopped. A jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread is less expensive than a single restaurant meal.

*Came prepared. We knew where we were headed, so we brought swim suits. We knew we'd be eating, so we brought a cooler with veggies and utensils. We knew we'd be sleeping, so we brought bedding.

Anyway.

Today's Meal: Delicious Cuban food. And lots of peanutbutter and hummus.

Today's Deal: Budget travel can include snorkel cruises and touring Hemingway's house when you cut out expensive hotels and meals.

Today's Reel: Hemingway's House