Have you been following the exploits of the newly-installed Frugal Traveler, Seth Kugel, this summer as he’s been making his way from São Paulo to New York? This month alone he’s traipsed around Los Zorros, a seaside fishing village on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, with his parents; shacked up with a local family in Nicaragua on the banks of Lake Atitlán where he learned the fine art of tortilla making; and wandered the street market of Sololá, buying provisions for the rest of his trip.

Seth is off to Mexico for the beginning of the end — a final five-week push where his otherwise very frugal budget is sure to be tested as he crosses the American border. But true to form, he did give us all a little update as to how his budget fared during the middle five weeks of his trip.

Remember now, his goal has been to stretch $500 for an entire week (or about $70 a day), a goal which seems to be very doableconsidering where he’s been traveling (however, keep in mind that he can’t just sit around all day napping and eating granola bars — he’s got a NY Times blog to write and needs to spend cash to come up with some subject matter to write about).

Taking a look back at his dutifully-recorded budget, here’s how things fared for him: (more…)

There are some people who choose to remain busy, and there are those that are able to take things as they come. Then there are those people who can do both. Finding a balance may start in a hammock.

Figuring out how to relax while away is probably one of the biggest obstacles for most travelers (next to blowing their budget). Many feel a constant tug to see and do as much as possible, and others are content living a “normal” life. Still others are able to find a balance between the two. It’s more about the person and what he or she wishes to experience.

But, what if you are on a cruise that is stripped of all the “luxuries” that we associate with a cruise ship? What would you do if your only option for rest was a hammock? Such was the case for The Frugal Traveler as he dreamed up a business plan for workaholics, all from the comfort of one such hammock as he “cruised” down the Madeira River on a four-day, four-night trip from Manaus to Porto Velho near the Bolivian border, during his current trek from South America to New York:

My clients would be forced to spend all day doing nothing but lying on a hammock, taking in the breeze, eating three hearty (if monotonous) meals a day, looking out for surfacing river dolphins and making new friends without even trying. There’d be no clocks, no cellphone signals except for a few moments as you pass small cities, and certainly no computers.

I’d probably upgrade the bathrooms a few steps above wretched, though, and I’d  certainly charge more than $17 a day.

I wonder if it was the sway of the hammock or the people and scenery — or all of the above – that made the experience more enjoyable? It could have been anything, but there is something so easy and reassuring about the hammock: It rocks you back and forth, stops you from fidgeting.

It definitely made me think that inventing a portable pop-up hammock might be beneficial for everyone.

Time to put away the resume, looks like The New York Times has themselves a new Frugal Traveler. No sooner had we learned that Matt Gross, the former Frugal Traveler was hanging up his Lafuma SkyRace OT trail runners, then it was announced that “Weekend in New York” columnist Seth Kugel would be taking over the coveted position.

If you recall, the during the last few years, Matt, in his Frugal Traveler role, undertook a number of epic trips, including “Around the World in 90 Days,” “American Road Trip,” and “The European Grand Tour.” So what’s in store this time around? Turns out, right off the bat Seth is flying down to São Paulo and making his way back to New York City, all on a paltry budget, all in matter of a few months, for the column.

As a combination pass-the-baton/send-off, Seth recently sat down with Matt for a little Q&A. Some highlights: (more…)

In some very sad news this morning, Budget Travel is reporting that Matt Gross of The New York Times is leaving his post as the Frugal Travel, one of the, if not the most, popular — and frequently most e-mailed — recurring articles in the paper.

No word yet if Matt’s going to be filing dispatches as a freelancer for the paper, but he is moving forward with a new project: a new travel show. According to his Kickstarter page (where you can donate to get the project off the ground), the show will be named Strangers in Strange Lands. Matt’s in the process of raising money to shoot a “sizzle reel,” with hopes to land a full-time gig on a cable outlet. The premise, you ask?

Each episode of Strangers in Strange Lands will introduce us to two people who are living vastly different but equally extraordinary lives in one locale — like the Orthodox rabbi ministering to Jews in Cancun and, in nearby Mérida, the famous novelist’s granddaughter luxuriating in a palace . . . Beyond the exotic locales, it’s the interaction between host and subject that makes Strangers in Strange Lands unique. As each episode progresses, we will see the bonds of friendship take shape, a process that leads us deeper and deeper into these strange lands.

As mentioned, if interested in helping to get the project off the ground, head over to Kickstarter to make a donation and help make sure Matt gets the $825 (at the time of publication) left to meet the goal of $2,500. Sad to see you go. Potential Frugal Travelers, break out the resumes!

Not content with the haute cusisine and celebrity chefs that permeate the dining scene in New York, the NYT’s Frugal Traveler, Matt Gross, headed off to Italy to barge in on some local families for a few but-gusting sit-down lunches and dinners (oh yeah, they were also complete strangers), all without getting kicked out even once.

But not just any dinner, but a dinner prepared by ordinary folks whose culinary skills have earned them the right to be named Cesarinas by Home Food, “an Italian organization dedicated to, as its promotional literature states, ‘the protection and increase of the value of typical Italian gastronomic and culinary legacy.’”

Who cooked your last dinner party meal?

Restaurants are great, but they don’t give transient tourists much opportunity to establish a relationship with the people making and serving the food. No, if the family is the fundamental social unit in Italy, then family meals must be the fundamental way to experience Italian society. You just have to have an in . . .

Home Food seeks out exceptional home chefs, puts them through a training course and dubs them Cesarinas — little Caesars, emperors of the kitchen. Then, a few times a month, the Cesarinas host dinner parties at which they open their homes to strangers.

And how does one get invited to such an exclusive, authentic experience such as this? Easy, pony up a few dollars a month. “All an intrepid eater has to do is register with Home Food, pay a membership fee (3.50 euros for foreigners, or about $4.60 at $1.31 to the euro; 35 euros for Italians) and scour the monthly listings for a meal that appeals. Would you like goose-meat salami in Lombardy? Fried chicken bones with red chicory in Emilia-Romagna? Rabbit in a pot in Tuscany? All are part of dozens of meals on offer throughout April, with participation fees typically 34.90 or 39.90 euros per person.”

Sample some spaghetti alla chitarra, taccozzelle alla cucuzzara, and Sagnarelle dressed in a sauce of puréed and whole chickpeas here at the full article, and sign up for Home Food here.

With over 29 million visitors a year, Paris is the most visited city in the world. With that number of visitors, truly it must be impossible to find your own little nook of the city where you can blend in and experience the city like a local. Right?

Cue The Frugal Traveler, circa summer ’08, who, in the above video, decided the best way to see the city was to shack up in a rented apartment in the 10th Arrondissement he found on one of the rental sites, VivaStreet.fr and pap.fr (it’s not clear which one gave him the the most luck). (more…)

The New York Times’ “Frugal Traveler,” Matt Gross, was in attendance at last night’s talk, “Travel Gets Social: The New World of Travel Media,” when discussions turned to the prospect of the future of travel journalism.

In a surprisingly candid, yet refreshingly sober, analysis of his own employer, Matt admitted that should the Grey Lady cease to exist one day, or at least cut back even more dramatically than it already has, he has often wondered what the demand in the the marketplace would be for a stand-alone Frugal Traveler site, with reader-based instructions as to where to go and what to do.

Payment, he mused, could be collected via a PayPal donation box on the site, with tourism agencies and readers alike supporting his travels. Kind of like the guys you see playing mariachi music in the subway on the weekends.

What do you think? Is this the future for Matt? Is this even a viable idea? Haven’t people tried this before?

In my opinion, as good as Matt is, the sad reality is that it’s often the name way above the byline that draws the readers. There will always be excellent independent travel publications (whoo-hoo) and bloggers, but let’s face it, it takes something like the New York Times to really draw the eye-popping number of readers and advertisers.

It’s up to the Times to adapt to the times, and not up to its writers, if quality travel journalism is going to survive in the future. Otherwise, time to snap up the URL: www.thefrugaltraveler.com

This week the Frugal Traveler attempts the impossible: Paris for cheap. And he succeeds! Through a little hotel-slumming, twitter restaurant advice, and the reliance on the all-important French institution that is the picnic.

“The picnic is the great democratizing institution of summer, when Parisians spill onto riverbanks and bridges and into parks and gardens, chasing away the memories of winter and rain with baguettes and bottles, sandals and sundresses.”

Follow Matt (his definite articleless title) as he makes his way around the former Jewish quarter, the Marais, one of his favorite haunts for shopping and lazy weekend wandering. Next on the zero-euro list, he heads to the Museum of Hunting and Nature, one of the many museums that are free on the first Sunday of every month (as are the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay).

For a little shopping, the Parisian flea markets and the A.P.C. surplus store in Montmartre, where clothes that have been on the shelf for over 6 months are 50% off, are a must for any bargain hunter or budget travel writer.

And what’s Paris without squirming your way into the restaurant of the city’s hottest chef? In this case, Spring (check out the live kitchen cams at the site!), the tiny, hyped joint where Matt takes advantage of the no reservations policy on Saturdays. And it’s all done on the cheap. Save your Euros for the next trip.

The Frugal Traveler did Portland, Oregon, this week (not one of the other 19 Portlands around the U.S., but who knows, maybe Portland, Arkansas will be soon) and he found that this city known the world over as a mecca for foodies and coffee lovers is actually a surprisingly cheap destination, what with all the free beer being passed out at clothing boutiques, $0 Monday morning coffees, and random dudes offering up their forest cabins and all.

One of his highlights while there (despite being constantly reminded of the high quality of life and laid-back lifestyle) was his run-in with the 400-strong food-cart scene (you can watch the video here) where one, despite the advice of their cardiologist, can intake everything from schnitzelwich at “Czech Out Czech Food” to $5 double burgers from “YouCanHasCheeseburger.”

He finishes the week with $2.50 beers and pinball at an arcade called Ground Control and $5.50 eight-ounce steaks at what is described by many Portlanders as a rite-of-passage, the Acropolis Steakhouse Plus. Which begs the question: how many New York Times reporters go to strip clubs while on assignment, and how many of those find a way to work it into their story? I think this one might be one of the rare few.