europe travel

Cost of Living London vs. New York budget

Greetings guys and gals! I just moved to London 7 days ago. I am an American from New York city. I spent a lot of time living on the Upper East Side on 91st Street, in Brooklyn in Park Slope and Bay Ridge so i really know my way around the city. over here in London, I have to say i am quite pleased that the price of life compares favorably to the cost of living in New York City and other places in the United States. Here is my analysis of the Cost of living London vs. New York….

Wilessden, London, UK

I am a budget traveler. So just to tell you a bit more about my goals, I am actually just doing a 3 week layover in London. I want to see a few sites here and there my first time, with a plan to come back later to live in the country awhile as a tourist. Additionally I am going to tell you a few secrets for saving a few bucks in London if you don’t mind roughing it a bit on basic living expenses. Of course, London has a lot of high end expensive places to spend money and it has its share of billionaires and mansions that we see on TV.

Cost of Food London vs. New York … In London you will find that grocery stores tend to be much cheaper than restaurants with the starting prices for 1 meal about 5 GBP ($6.27), in the USA its probably $7 to $10 even for fast food, and just to compare with my previous experience in southeast Asia living in the countries of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, over there you may find 1 meal for sale for $1 to $1.40, meaning a plate of food, with rice, meat and vegetables. The quality is hit or miss but I have to get the nod to Thai food as being the tastiest, most affordable and easiest to obtain in the world I’ve seen so far.

London vs New York, discount food stores

Now here is the good news on London if you are on a seriously tight budget you can use this as your baseline. I did see meals in food stores for less than 1 GBP, or about $1.28 at todays exchange rates. A few examples, a carton of prepared noodles, packet of hot dogs, or 1 can of beans for even as low as 50 pence or 1/1 of a GBP. Sometimes you will find that the local grocery stores at the end of the day will mark down sandwiches and other prepared meals to much below there original prices. Now just to compare with NYC, prices can be much steeper for individual items, such as $3.99 or even $5.99 and its hard to find items for less than $1 or 1 GBP in the States.

Grocery stores in London.. Here are a few of the major chains and they all seem to be of the discount variety… Sainsburys, Tesco Express. Another one is Morrisons, this one is cheaper. A few others are Iceland and Pound Stretcher, as well as B & M home store. The last two are of the serious discount variety with some canned items like sardines, and beans costing as little as 30 pence. Tesco and Sainsburys, of which there are many do have discounted items below 1 GBP. Over in NYC we have places like Whole Foods (aka whole paycheck) and D’agostino, which are definitely not of the budget variety.

London discount store

Rent, hotels & hostels… I personally am not doing a long term stay at present in London, but I did take a look at rooms that were available for rental on Airbnb and Facebook. Of course, the further from the city that you go, the lower the price, and most of all London is safe. One neighborhood I took a look at is Willesden in north London, its more of a working class hood, that is not too far away from Notting Hill, about 2 miles, its also pretty rustic and cool looking with some nice bars. Around here you may be able to find a room for rent for about 400 to 600 GBP and a full studio for perhaps 600 GBP to 800 GBP, which is comparable to cities in the USA, granted this is not a full apartment.

In NYC, Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx, you can probably find a room for $700 to $900 or a small studio for $1000 to $1500. I was living in Brooklyn for around this price of $1500 a month, which is present exchange rates is 1200 GBP. Hostels and hotel rooms in London are noticeably cheaper with the lowest I saw advertised as $13 a night, whereas in NYC I saw something for $50. NYC definitely has the more expensive real estate.

Cost of transportation London vs. New York .. Here its just more about an equal cost when comparing London to New York. In the NYC the classic subway ride is $2.75 no matter how far you go. The buses in NYC are the same price when you swipe the yellow metro card. You are also allowed one transfer between and subway for free and bus to bus.

Over here in London, in order to save money, I use the Oyster card which is cashless card that i bought that can be used to swipe on double decker London buses and the Tube. The tube is actually a bit more expensive than the subway in NYC because here we go by zones. So for example my airport ride on the tube was zone 6 to zone 1. Zone 1 is the central zone in London.

When im in London i always take the city buses because its only 1.3 GBP per ride one way no matter how far you go. The bus lines are straightforward and i use my GPS on my cell to see where exactly we are on the map. in order to get from central London to Willesden through Notting Hill its about 45 minutes to 1 hours time, but this is also comparable to a NYC subway ride to central Brooklyn.! enjoy London, questions welcome!

Best Neighborhoods in London …

So I just moved to some place called Elephant & Castle.. as an American full-time tourist. Its kind of exciting let me tell you. You really can’t go wrong with neighborhoods in London. They are all safe and scenic and green with some being more urban than others. So let me tell you about the hoods ive seen so far. You may have seen my videos on Youtube of city streetscapes, here you can find one i just uploaded of Notting Hill in the northwest section of London. its the same Notting Hill as in the movie with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Transportation into London neighborhoods from Heathrow

About the best neighborhoods in London, let me tell you how i got here, first. I landed on a British Airways flight from Marrakesh, Morocco around 5pm 4 days ago at London Heathrow. The flight was smooth and it was a great experience with them. London has a lot of airports, let me tell you. I took the tube from Heathrow terminal 5 after passing through the E gates at immigration. This part was easy peasy, they asked no questions just scan your passport and your face.

I jumped onto the Tube which in comparison to NYC we call this the subway. I usually jump on city buses because they are cheaper but slower. The locals i met were kind enough to direct me to the Tube, however there is a bus from Terminal 5 that is cheaper but in this case i just decided to go with the flow. You pay by zones on the Tube so it can get pretty expensive versus the NYC subway. The charge was 3.5 GBP. I took the Tube to near Buckingham Palace then jumped on the 6 bus which is a bus that runs along the side of Hyde Park to north London to a place called Willesden, cost 1.65 GBP. This is a place I spent several nights in. Its a humble working class neighborhood that is about 2 miles north of Notting Hill. Its perfectly fine to stop by here… For transportation make sure to check out the details on the Oyster electronic card that you can use to pay for city buses and the Tube (they do not accept cash). I purchased one of these at the airport using my debit card.

Jumping on the tube from Heathrow

Notting Hill and Hyde Park…

On one of my first few days in London I walked down about 2 miles south of Willesden to Notting Hill. Its as fabulous as they claim. Most of the building are whitewashed and older. There are a lot of trendy thrift stores there as well as places like coffee shops. Notting Hill is fabulous and id love to live there. One of the attractions i saw was the Portobello Road Market, which is a collection of outdoor vendors selling all kinds of things. The local restaurants are also selling things like Indian curry food.

Notting Hill

Hyde Park…

Hyde Park is London’s answer to Central Park. its big open and green. it has some more open spaces and is less crowded than Central, much less. London seems to be a bit more spread out than NYC. Its green let me tell you, with a lot of grass. I walked south through Hydes Park to get to Central London and passed Kensington in the process. Just southeast of Hyde Park is Buckingham Palace which holds some royal and govt offices. Just south of this is the River Thames and if you go along the river youll find other parts of central London.

Hyde Park

Elephant & Castle – my stop

On to my stop on day #4 (today is actually day #5). I decided to take the 6 bus from Willesden to central London near Buckingham Palace, then began walking. I walked across one of the numerous bridges and because of a bike race I had to cut through a neighborhood Lambeth south of the Thames. This a nondescript suburban/urban green hood with a lot of complex streets. About 1.5 miles south of this I arrived at my new hotel at Elephant & Castle which is a fabulous hood that is very walkable, a bit on the grungy side and mostly for students, heres where im at…Ill post updates on other neighborhoods soon, stay tuned.. and check out some other related travel blogs here.

Thats me in Elephant & Castle

Tourist in Albania, my experience …

What is it like to be a tourist in Albania? I will tell you. I am a global nomad/traveler known as Solo Vagabond. Find out more about me here.

Albania is a laid back tourist destination. It has moderate weather, nice grasslands and forests and a scenic coastline. Albania is a very small country with only 3 million inhabitants. It is also kind of an out of the way and not as popular as Greece or Montenegro. I personally came to Albania from Montenegro on a bus. Montenegro, which i previously visited is much more mountainous than Albania, but Albania also has mountains. Near to Tirana, the land is mostly flat. Tirana is a very nice city to visit with enough stores, restaurants and sites to keep you occupied for at least a few days. Albania also has things like coastal resorts at the beach, castle ruins, and mountainous sites to visit. My video from Skanderberg Square is here: Youtube Skanderberg Square

Near Air Albania Staidum Tirana, Albania

Tirana:

The capital Tirana is slightly smaller than Belgrade, containing around 1 million inhabitants. It feels a bit smaller but has some similarities. The weather is very temperate. The city is very well organized around a central square called Skanderberg Square, named after an old war hero. The center square is a flat stone area, that has streets that spiral out in radials, along with some interesting parks, the big one being Grand Tirana Park. It is nicely landscaped with plenty of greenery and a lake at the center. One of the things I like about it are the plethora of well graded bike lanes for cycling around town and around Grand Tirana Park.

grand tirana park
Tirana, Grand Tirana Park

Other sites in Albania…

Saranda is along the coast of Albania along with Vlore, both acceptable beach towns. These spots are not as popular and less mountainous as those of its neighbor to the north, Montenegro. There are many smaller castles that are ruins in Albania. After having traveled around the Balkans and other places in Europe it seems that each small town has its own fortification. One such is Lekursi Castle near Saranda, and probably the most famous in Albania. There is also an abandoned castle near Tirana. its called Fortress of Justinian. The owner has turned this place into a series of restaurants near Toptani Mall.

Things to note about living in Albania… After having lived there a few months, I can highly recommend it has a laid back, low crime country. The people are very friendly towards foreigners and they have a great relationship with the USA. Its definitely considered an out of the way spot. Officially the country is Muslim but this is not noticeable in daily life. Enjoy, and dont hesitate to post a question on my site or contact me. Albania is also very affordable having a cost of living lower than Greece, and at about 30 to 50% that of the USA.

Wild Camping … on Tenerife, Canary Islands

Looking for tips on wild camping or backpacking tents??!?! You have come to the right place to see advice on camping! I am a solo vagabond/traveler who does some camping across the globe, although by no means a professional or full-time outdoorsman.

Why wild woods camping and which brands? I came up with the idea to cut down on my spending for housing on my world tour and also because i dont mind the outdoors versus a crowded hostel. Previously, I did not own a tent so this is my first time camping as an adult. A few brand choices for the tent that i considered, Big Agnes, Nemo, MSR, REI and Kelty. Some of these brands have some fantastic lightweight bikepacker and backpacker setups, but most these are hella expensive! Kelty is a brand that is a bit less expensive but also a bit too heavy for my requirement. The volume was also a consideration.

What did I choose? Instead of the high end brands, I settled on buying a Naturehike Cloud up 2 person tent from Amazon.com that weighs only 3.6 lbs and is approximately 17 inches by 6 inches in volume, priced at $120. I ordered this while I was staying at a hostel in Valencia, Spain and it arrived in 2 days. The tent is small enough to fit inside the 45L Pacsafe backpack – space is at a premium! It is also budget-oriented so the price is low enough just in case I change my mind and buy a more expensive one! See some more of my story down below…

NatureHike Tent

What is included in the NatureHike 2 person tent setup kit? Tent stakes, a ground cover, the inner tent, the double shelled outer tent or rainfly, some guidelines, two small stuff sacks, and pre-attached tent poles. As I said the total weight is only 3.6 lbs so this is just perfect for a two-person tent (I am solo but needed some extra space for gear). Now the material is a bit on the thinner side, however it is waterproof and does hold upto the wind, strong enough to withstand one month’s straight camping. Setup takes around 7 to 10 minutes time and condensation is minimal. Good luck out there!

Where to camp? Wherever, but make sure its a hidden spot away from too many buildings or roads.

Tenerife seemed like a great place to start camping due to the weather and also the natural areas of the island. It is very warm there. During the month of March the nighttime temp was somewhere between 58F and 65F, so plenty warm enough – I wanted to be comfortable while sleeping outside. I also brought a coat and a hat, and bought a small blanket that weighed 11oz, and all 3 were needed. The NatureHike 2 person cloud up tent setup was just about big enough to fit myself inside of plus my backpack, shoes, and some food. They do offer free spots to do wild camping on Tenerife, but unfortunately these were still closed due to Coronavirus restrictions. Instead I found a wild spot, near to El Medano, Tenerife, Adeje and Tenerife Airport south. Some people do go up to the mountains or near to Mount Teide forest to camp but up there, it is much colder so its necessary to take some winter gear.

montana roja wild camping
Montana Roja on Tenerife near my spot

The spot I chose was hidden so it was hard for passers by to see the tent. I was a bit concerned for my safety but this is where the security features of the Pacsafe bag came into play. When i was asleep I had the Pacsafe steal cable security to my pants and my wallet and phone locked inside, but the good news here is that I didn’t have anyone bother the tent while I was asleep. The oddest thing that happened was that a woman was calling out to her dog that had wandered away, it was about 4am, and she was speaking a language besides English, so at first i didn’t know what she was saying. Other than this nobody came by the tent at night. It was perfectly safe.

A few tips for wild camping…

Over in south Tenerife, there’s a lot of wind, so I decided to use some extra rocks to weigh down the tent rainfly and straps to keep the windy conditions from blowing it away and if you need even extra wind security, you may buy some extra safety pins to secure my tent for camping. The wind can get pretty bad down there; upto 30 mph. The Naturehike is also really easy to set up and take down. Heres a pic of myself enjoying my hike and camp time near Montana Roja near El Medano, Tenerife… good luck! questions welcome.

wild camping tenerife
wild camping on tenerife

Packing Advice, One Bag Travel for carry-on size EXP 45

Hi traveling guys and girls! In this post I’m going to offer you some advice on how as a man I packed my one bag Pacsafe EXP45 carry on sized backpack for months of travel! I am currently on month 4 and will be headed back to home base soon! I am particularly interested in “ultra-light” items! I am not a long distance hiker per se, but am a long term traveler with some occasional outdoor stents and having a light bag just makes things easier.

Here you can see what I am wearing and what is packed inside my Pacsafe EXP 45 cut proof bag. My bag when packed weighs 21 lbs whereas i am wearing 11.29 lbs worth of items, including my shoes which weigh near to 3 lbs, a pair of jeans that is about 1 lb 12 oz, an undershirt, and long sleeve button down shirt – for these items of course i would be wearing them regardless of whether i was traveling or not.

The Pacsafe bag itself weighs 3 lbs 6 oz. Inside the Pacsafe bag, ive got 1 stuff sack from Decathlon that is 20 liters and it helps to squeeze down the size of clothing items. ive also got another packing cube that is in the shape of a rectangle. Ive also got two toiletry bags for holding tools and items, such as a toothbrush etc. Granted these items could have been better planned as well and i may change them in the future.

For electronics I have a laptop which is a 14 inch Acer Swift that weighs 2.7 lbs. They do manufacture more lightweight laptops that are smaller for example tablets and the Microsoft surface pro. The Swift has been a great machine its slim and compact as well as reliable so i decided to go with it. You can see that my electronics weigh a total of 5.79 lbs, this includes a DJI mini 2 drone, cords, cases, and a charging brick of 23,000 mah by Anker that i can use when i am away from an electric outlet.

Next you can see that i packed a two person tent for camping. Ill get into where I use the tent versus stay inside of hotels, Airbnb’s and youth hostels. The tent weighs 3.6 lbs and takes up a space about 16″ by 5″ so maybe about 20 % of the inside of the inner portion of the bag.

Lighterpack export

For clothing, I am particularly interested in replacing my cotton shorts with blended or strictly polyester/nylon manufactured clothing because these items are slimmer as well as more lightweight. I currently have one pair of nylon shorts that weigh 8 oz with a belt attached, these are by Mckinley. Jeans tend to weigh much more than shorts, around 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. I would recommend packing these sparingly. I also wore a winter coat because I left for Spain in December. When I return to Albania I’ll trade in this coat for a lightweight jacket. The winter coat is bulky and weighs 3.3 lbs. One plus of having the stuff sack from Decathlon is that my coat can be rolled up into a small ball and compressed in the sack in about the size of 6″ by 8″ or so.