Tired of Hotels? Try a Homestay!

Ever thought of visiting India? Interested in getting a truly unique cultural experience? It seems there are more and more local options to get a new travel experience. According to this article Homestays, namely in India, are becoming more and more popular as a lodging option.

This article in The Guardian.co.uk stuck out to me. I've only ever heard of Homestays through Study abroad programs or student travel sites. At first glance it's a pretty straightforward and informative article, but a bit stiff for me. The author gives us a very simple intro into the growing popularity of Homestays, but with no evidence of this 'trend.' They then launch into a list of possible Homestays options in India with some background on the property, location, area, and what's included.

Nelpura homestay, Alappuzha, Kerala" width="460" height="276">
What I think would be great would be an accompanying article that gives a few peoples personal experiences on one of these homestays and possibly some ratings. As the article sits now, it seems to be a marketing push by a Homestay agency that represents the different properties. If you look closely you can notice that under each 'Homestay' option is a link to a lot of the same websites. My keen (some may say skeptical) sales and marketing eye makes me think the site may have paid some sort of advertising fee to be featured in this article. But on further inspection it seems possibly the author was given an 'assignment' to find out some Homestay options and he/she simply googled the topic and this is what they found. The author doesn't really have any heart or any real investigative information about these places. So on that front it's a rather weak article because they author hasn't done any reporting.

While I like the premise of the article, picking a new and different way to stay while traveling, the article was not executed well. The author could have added so many other dimensions to the story and provided more useful and practical information for potential travellers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/sep/07/india-homestays-top-10

Frugal Existence

Found on New York Times online, this travel blog follows a journalist who is living the 'frugal' life on a trip around the world. I'm particularly interested in travel articles like this because I've been there and done that when it comes to traveling on pennies. I think there is definitely a huge gap in the market for educating young and old about the ability for anyone to travel the world no matter your budget.

This blog, currently filled with Seth Kugel's day to day exploits on a mission to make his way back from South America on less than $500. I found it interesting not only because I am personally interested in it, but also because it does a great job of bringing in colourful experiences from his journey. He paints a picture with his words of the characters he encounters, and the epic locations he is able to discover. His entries are a healthy mixture of interesting stories as well as providing new and interesting money savings options. 

In this particular entry, he uncovers new accommodation options like homestays. I think this is also a great discovery because as far as newsworthiness, most people already know about hostel's. But since the premier of 'The Hostel' movie, some people may be turned off from staying at the low cost hotel. Yet, homestays, according to Kugel can be a really telling experience that is not only inexpensive, but a great cultural experience. So far I think Kugel's blog offers an example of good travel journalism that using online media can reach a large number of people looking for just this information.

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/a-homestay-among-the-tzutujil/