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Great budget adventure travel begins at home. If you prepare for your trip before you walk out your front door, your vacation will be better organized, more full of all the exciting extra experiences to make it more memorable and you will almost certainly save significant money.

Not only that, you will be better able to put together a budget adventure travel experience to give you an insurmountable bragging edge over your friends and neighbors.

Start with research. No I am not talking about the dry, dusty book stacks that haunt your memories of college when you had put off an important paper until the last minute and your friends were out on the town while you were playing catch up with the librarian.

I am talking about going online, to the bookstore, and maybe to the library (but rest assured, the travel section probably does not contain dusty stacks).

1. Where do you want to go?

Make a list of the must-see and must-do things about your desired destination. Let's face it, if you go to Paris and do not go up onto the Eiffle Tower , or you go to Rio without taking the cable car to ; your friends will laugh at you without mercy when you return.

2. How much can you afford?

Budget adventure travel requires planning ahead of time so you can avoid the heartache of having to cut the trip short or missing out on an excursion you had been counting on. The beauty of doing your research ahead of time is that you can find all kinds of discounts and travel deals if you do a lot of comparison shopping.

3. When do you want to go there?

The timing of your trip will impact both what you can do and see, but how much it will cost. Whenever possible, travel during the off-peak season. Obviously peak and off peak times vary with location, so you should check this out. But you will find much better bargains on your airfare and hotel costs if you can avoid the rush of other travelers. Also, every destination has seasonal events like festivals, carnivals or sporting events that you may want to take in (but be aware that these special events usually take place during peak seasons, so you will negate the above mentioned cost savings if these festivals are high on your list).

4. How do you plan to get around once you arrive?

By this I am not asking how you will travel to Europe, but how will you travel from place to place once you get to Europe? Look for special fares on car rentals or train passes online. Not only will this help you avoid a significant expense, but this intra destination travel might just be one of the highlights of your trip. This is especially true for train travel within Europe.

One site you might want to check out is Eurail Saver Pass which offers a variety of rail passes for all of Europe.

Finally, be sure to find ideas for things to do and see that will appeal to all members of your family or party. Plan ahead and you will save a lot of wasted time and you will have a budget adventure travel experience you can remember forever.

COPYRIGHT © 2006, Charles H. Brown