Sleeping in Parks/Saving Money - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

olabueno · 05-08-2005, 06:05 AM

So what's the deal with sleeping in parks and such? I've been to Spain once but I had a sweet place to stay in Madrid (Goya St.) thanks to a friend. This time around I have no such friend and about half the money.

What are some other good ways to save?

Anyone picked up day jobs/weekend jobs while on vacation? If so, How and What kind of work did you find?

I'm new so thanks to anyone who responds...trust me every tidbit will help.

Mike

**Tadpole** · 05-08-2005, 06:40 AM

Camping is always an option.

**Tadpole** · 05-08-2005, 06:41 AM

O Yeh

WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!!!!!

jayjay1384 · 05-08-2005, 07:35 AM

Camping is a good option, I dont think I would sleep in parks. Kinda risky. I know there is a website that i found once where people post if they have a couch you can sleep on for the night i dont remember the name of the site if anyone knows please post it.

**juliagulia** · 05-08-2005, 11:54 AM

im answering not from experience but from what others have said and from research.

hostelling is always a good option since you get a bed and sheets (sheets actually depend.. some hostels you have to rent sheets). its not always safe though. theres a lot of safety measures you should go through to not get robbed and all, but thats all in the front page of travelpunk.

travelpunk also has a few links on where you can find hostels in the area youre planning to go to and you can pick between a good number of them depending on price, accomodations, etc.

its actually pretty easy to do. i found a hostel for my cousin who was going to brazil and she said that it was really good and it was the exact way described on the site.

welcome to tpunk!!

**TimmyJames1976** · 05-08-2005, 12:11 PM

Welcome...those sites are

Couch Surfing

and

Hospitality Club

**TimmyJames1976** · 05-08-2005, 12:12 PM

ok, i screwed that first one up

CS

**kingcrazylegs** · 05-09-2005, 12:18 AM

hostels or camping

I got run off by the police once for sleeping in a public park in Sicily...

I'd say that would be last resort type stuff.

**bluepea** · 05-09-2005, 12:05 PM

Quote:

I'd say that would be last resort type stuff.

Ahh, but still an option.

As long as we're on this discussion - do you guys know how easy it would be to just throw up a tent somewhere (perhaps open land or beaches) or did the campers here pretty much stick to campgrounds?

**kingcrazylegs** · 05-09-2005, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jamiepeaski@May 9 2005, 02:04 PM
Ahh, but still an option.*

As long as we're on this discussion - do you guys know how easy it would be to just throw up a tent somewhere (perhaps open land or beaches) or did the campers here pretty much stick to campgrounds?

I've pitched a lot of places that were not camp grounds....mostly just try to stay out of view.

As an FYI though....when camping on a beach, don't camp "on the beach". Two reasons...tide, and rodents come out at night to get anything that washes up

So go to higher ground!

**bluepea** · 05-09-2005, 08:26 PM

Quote:

As an FYI though....when camping on a beach, don't camp \"on the beach\". Two reasons...tide, and rodents come out at night to get anything that washes up no.gif So go to higher ground!

Thank you so much for that tidbit. I'm sure I would have discovered it quickly enough, but this way was much easier.

caspuhlter · 05-09-2005, 08:37 PM

At eighteen this poor boy from Chicago took off on a cross country trip. I saw the ocean for the first time in Eureka, CA. I figured the best way to celebrate was to grab my sleeping bag and sleep out under the stars.

About 4AM I saw tide for the first time.

**bluepea** · 05-09-2005, 11:12 PM

Quote:

At eighteen this poor boy from Chicago took off on a cross country trip. I saw the ocean for the first time in Eureka, CA. I figured the best way to celebrate was to grab my sleeping bag and sleep out under the stars.

About 4AM I saw tide for the first time.

I am so sorry, but I actually laughed out loud.

Too funny, too funny. I'm just guessing that you probably didn't do that again?

olabueno · 05-11-2005, 05:20 PM

Thanks for the info. everyone.

13 days until vacation....wooohooo!!!!!

foofiter · 05-11-2005, 07:00 PM

There is always bus stations, train stations, and airports too. It is a little more comfortable than a park and probably a little safer (but not much). You will have to sleep clutching your bag and it wont be good sleep. If you use the trains at all sleep on them too.

foofiter

**Esterina** · 05-11-2005, 08:14 PM

Actually, many bus and train stations close at night. I tried twice spending the night in there, hoping for a safe refuge, in Budapest and Vienna, but they both closed down around midnight, until the first train next morning. So I spent the night out in Budapest, and it was the night from hell, TRYING to sleep on the cold concrete entrance floor among homeless who either made a pass at me, or kick me.

Being a woman, sometimes...

But in Vienna, different story. The police officers and train station security offered me to sleep inside, because they feared for my safety. Junkies and homeless were my mates for the night... but they seemed harmless to me... Anyway, so they unlocked the station so I could get in, found me a place to sleep where noone outside could see me (it was illegal to be in at that time) and an employee woke me up at 5 am for my train !

Being a woman, sometimes...

**d_fresh** · 05-12-2005, 02:15 AM

I slept in the train station in Vienna. In the one I was at they had a separate room for travellers getting early morning trains....there were a lot of people sleeping there.

foofiter · 05-12-2005, 07:24 AM

I have only done the airport thing myself. Atlanta Hartsfield to be exact. I stayed at the bar until it closed at midnight and went to the farthest concourse with no flights coming and slept for 4 hours. It was a rough night be beats the streets of Atlanta...By the way Popeyes can be a really good breakfast!

foofiter