That is exactly what we are going to do this summer, one way only, we fly into Newark and return from LA. Travel with a Chevy Blazer and staying in hotels on the way makes it a bit more luxerious, but we have 2 kids along with us too.Catigale wrote:...and Joe....Barbara and I were ahead of you in our 1971 VW Microbus from Atlantic to Pacific and back.
Boat Bums
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Pouw Geuzebroek
- Engineer
- Posts: 179
- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:22 am
- Location: Aalsmeer (NL) The Netherlands (Europe) 1999 X 'Travelling Light' Yamaha 9.9 high thrust
Another item not posted here when sailing abroad is permit fees. The Bahamas want $150 for a boat permit which is good for 6 months. Boat US insurance wants another $150 added to the existing policy of a X to take the boat there. I would assume every place has a permit to sail their waters and the insurance companies would want to charge per destination as to the danger of the place. As every knows when flying there is a landing/exit fee and they probably do this to the boaters as well.
BTW, everyplace I have visited in the Bahamas/Carribean is expensive. There may be places in S. America that are cheap to visit but the danger of being there would offset that. Polynesia is also expensive to visit, at least Tahiti is. Try $12 hambugers.
BTW, everyplace I have visited in the Bahamas/Carribean is expensive. There may be places in S. America that are cheap to visit but the danger of being there would offset that. Polynesia is also expensive to visit, at least Tahiti is. Try $12 hambugers.
Foreign prices
Regarding costs of food, what I have noted in a lot of my travels, is that Americans (very broad generalization) tend to be very conservative or over careful as to what we will eat.
I was stationed in Singapore for 2 years, and initially could not figure out why most of the other military folks there were so constantly complaining about how costly the food was. I was eating like a king for about 5 dollars a day... When I finally started paying attention to what the ladies were buying to stock their larders, though, I understood - for the most part they were insisting on going to one of the 2 markets on the island that carries imported U.S. foods - paying exorbitant sums for USDA beef when there was readily available Australian beef at one quarter the price. Not to mention you could go out into the local markets and eat like the locals, where you could have a huge Thai-style chili crab feast for about 4 bucks, oh! and the broiled stingray and pacific lobster tails ... my mouth is watering just remembering it, and yet the majority of the Americans there tended to dislike eating like the locals because everything did not come on sterile, disposable plastic or gleaming white dishes, and the food service folks usually didn't wear plastic gloves while handling food. I always figured that if 3 million Singaporeans were doing ok eating the stuff, I should be ok, too. Of course, I did learn the hard way that when a Thai cook asks if you want your food "American spicy" or "Thai spicy", it behooves you to take it American style for a bit - some of those spicy dishes can literally make your whole face go numb!
Point of the story is, when you decide to go on an extended cruise with a shoestring budget, you're not going to be eating the same way you do in the U.S., and if you're not the type to be willing to compromise, you better at least double what you expect to spend on food.
- AndyS
I was stationed in Singapore for 2 years, and initially could not figure out why most of the other military folks there were so constantly complaining about how costly the food was. I was eating like a king for about 5 dollars a day... When I finally started paying attention to what the ladies were buying to stock their larders, though, I understood - for the most part they were insisting on going to one of the 2 markets on the island that carries imported U.S. foods - paying exorbitant sums for USDA beef when there was readily available Australian beef at one quarter the price. Not to mention you could go out into the local markets and eat like the locals, where you could have a huge Thai-style chili crab feast for about 4 bucks, oh! and the broiled stingray and pacific lobster tails ... my mouth is watering just remembering it, and yet the majority of the Americans there tended to dislike eating like the locals because everything did not come on sterile, disposable plastic or gleaming white dishes, and the food service folks usually didn't wear plastic gloves while handling food. I always figured that if 3 million Singaporeans were doing ok eating the stuff, I should be ok, too. Of course, I did learn the hard way that when a Thai cook asks if you want your food "American spicy" or "Thai spicy", it behooves you to take it American style for a bit - some of those spicy dishes can literally make your whole face go numb!
Point of the story is, when you decide to go on an extended cruise with a shoestring budget, you're not going to be eating the same way you do in the U.S., and if you're not the type to be willing to compromise, you better at least double what you expect to spend on food.
- AndyS
Well, I only eat at MacDonald's and other fast food places when traveling as they are everywhere and having survived Montazuma's revenge, Pharoah's revenge (the very worst), disentary and a host of other stomach problems when traveling, I would prefer health over culinery adventures. They say the best tacos in TJ, Mexico are at the street vendors food carts but you could never convince me of that.
My local friends in Hawaii tried to get me to eat the local foods but it's what you are used too and what your eyes/brain think looks good.
I remember that movie with Tom Hanks stranded on an island, I think these 4 greenhorn poor people we are talking about going around the world in a small boat will end up like him. Eating free fish and coconuts as they have no more money.
My local friends in Hawaii tried to get me to eat the local foods but it's what you are used too and what your eyes/brain think looks good.
I remember that movie with Tom Hanks stranded on an island, I think these 4 greenhorn poor people we are talking about going around the world in a small boat will end up like him. Eating free fish and coconuts as they have no more money.