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Since there is internet to show photos and videos of incredible places, apparently close at hand, the desire to leave everything and leave has become even stronger. But then you have to deal with the budget and with the bills to pay and the suitcase is immediately placed in the closet. How, then, to travel the world spending as little as possible?

The first thing to do, of course, is to choose an economic destination . Instead of planning a holiday in the Norwegian fjords, you could buy a motorbike and travel around India. Asia is an extraordinary continent, rich in culture and beauty and the most exciting thing is that these wonders are accessible almost to everyone. Countries like Nepal, India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka or China allow you to spend whole months spending just over $ 15 a day.

The same is true for Central America : Guatemala, Nicaragua and Salvador are among the cheapest countries to spend time.

Another way to travel cheaply is to work in the places you visit . Of course, finding a temporary job is not easy but, for example, if you are a digital nomad and offer services via the internet, you can earn and travel simultaneously .

And then there is the Woofing , the program that allows you to work in the countryside in exchange for food and lodging . By subscribing to the WWOOF website and paying $ 40, you join the network that connects manpower and farmers all over the world, willing to work at a farm in exchange for food and lodging. This is a way to travel to countries like Canada, Australia, the United States or Europe, where the cost of living is certainly higher .

Even the Coachsurfing is a way to travel without breaking the bank. Through this program, people make available a bed or sofa in their own home for the other members of the site. This is also a way to get in touch with the locals and experience the culture of a foreign country from within.

Then there is the Housesitting : in practice, we take care of a person’s house while it is away. Also in this case, accommodation is free and the cost of the holiday becomes really low.

Another solution for traveling the world at low cost is to buy a camper , for adventure lovers, fun is guaranteed.

Then there are some simple rules to follow each time you travel: choose cheap entertainment , save money on food and take advantage of the many free attractions.

What is there to eat?
If you’re at the restaurant, it’s because you want to eat! This allows you to exclude at least 50 percent of the options. Did you order a red meat dish? It goes without saying that you can snub the white wines and head without delay on the reds, maybe a Sangiovese or a Bordeaux blend. White meats and fish go with white, but if they are seasoned with tomatoes or important sauces, they can also be perfectly combined with rosés. Do you love oriental cuisine? Focus on the Gewürztraminer or orange wines (wines made from white grapes, vinified with a long maceration on the skins), both able to withstand the spiciness and personality of ethnic dishes. It is good to know that acid wines balance well the fat dishes, while the soft wines are combined with savory and acid-rich dishes. Finally, the golden rule is to take into account the structure of the food and choose a wine with the same structure. marcolavoro@gmail.com

IN DEPTH
Decide on a budget
To drink well, it is not necessary to spend half a salary! So, set a budget and look for a convincing wine, which falls within the established price range. To do this, keep in mind a few simple fixed points. First of all, a paper made as it should certainly has good wines at affordable prices. Evaluate, then, that the prices in the restaurant undergo a charge of about three times the original cost. Finally, consider that between the price paid by the restaurant owner and the top-up that you find on paper, there is an inversely proportional relationship: the cheaper wine will have a higher top-up and vice-versa.

Glass or bottle?
The wines by the glass can be an opportunity to combine each dish in a different way and to discover new labels (without having to drain a bottle), but be careful! First of all because it could be bottles opened for more than a few days, with a consequent loss of pleasantness of the wine. Then, because the wine by the glass usually has a higher price mark than the bottle. If you are at least three people at the table, then you should take an entire bottle of wine, because, if you have followed our advice, surely you will want to drink more than a glass.

Bets on local wines
Pinot nero and Chardonnay like everyone! But, if you are on holiday or on a business trip, forget about the international vines, which you can drink anytime and anywhere, and be intrigued by local wines. Italy is the country in the world with the highest number of native vines, from which are produced excellent wines, able to best express the territory of origin. Some examples? Timorasso in Piedmont, Schioppettino in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Cesanese del Piglio in Lazio or, again, Grillo in Sicily and Schiava in Alto Adige, Falanghina in Campania and Montepulciano in Abruzzo.

Ask the expert for advice, but first clarify your ideas!
Do not be intimidated by the waiter or – when present – by the sommelier, his theatrical gestures and his technical language. After all, it’s there for you! So let me help you and guide you in your choice, but first clarify your ideas. Focus on the character of the wine you want to drink. Do you prefer something fruity and watered? Or better, a wine with a long aging in wood and structured palate? Are you more from silky and enveloping wines or from vertical and fresh wines? Think about the characteristics of the wines that you liked the most in the past and describe them to the sommelier, so that you can understand your tastes and advise you the best.

In the era of Master Chef, when the chefs have become stars and everywhere we talk about cooking, restaurants and food, we need to stop for a moment and try to go back to the basics. For example, how do I choose a restaurant? Who do I trust, the reviews of Tripadvisor where a sandwich barini becomes the best place in Milan (it happened at the end of August), the historic restaurant guides, from Michelin to Touring, the word of mouth of friends? And how can I tell if a restaurant is not just about design but also about the latest fashion?

Many questions that Gianni Mura , a sports journalist from Repubblica, tried to answer, but also (and in this capacity, above all) for years writer (critic is too much, he says) of restaurants on the Friday of the Republic. He did it ” There is no taste, everything you should know before choosing a restaurant” , published by Minimum fax. Here is our interview.

In an era where everywhere we talk about cooking, chefs and restaurants, where did the idea for this book come from?
I thought about talking about the world of cooking differently just because I lived on my skin as a restaurant writer – critic is a bit ‘too – this moment of total confusion. There is talk of cooking everywhere, but nobody who drives with common sense and helps to make choices, all recommend dishes and addresses. So I thought about writing something that could give clues to judge the seriousness of the place before choosing it. Today we have too much information, all discordant and we lose sight of the basics. I tried to get back to the base.

For example?
We judge from the menu. If, for example, prices are not expressed this is not good, I consciously have to know how much a cheese and pepper costs me. If then the dishes are accompanied by too many adjectives of fashion, as crispy, lukewarm and tasty this is not good either. The omnipresence of rocket, which was a fashion now a few years ago, is not good. Today my enemy is the pineapple carpaccio. The pineapple is made to be cut into large, chewed slices. If you present it with this aspect of yellowish bresaola, drowned in its liquid then we are not there.

And besides the menu?
Some places today are too much design: there are knives standing alone and forks that do not allow you to roll up two spaghetti. And then this fashion of not putting the tablecloths, is a bit ‘too minimalist, where I support things, on the bare table? It is also a hygienic question.

Other things that can not stand?
The music too high that prevents two people sitting at the same table to talk. But also that the waiters when you enter first ask: did you book? First greetings, then ask. Education is the basis. Like the cleaning of the environment and that of the bathrooms. But unfortunately when you get to the baths, which are a sore spot in Italy, it’s often too late: you’ve already sat down.

For many travel enthusiasts the real dream would be to work traveling . indeed there are some jobs that allow you to travel without spending anything : in fact, sometimes the job forces you to travel to the most beautiful places in the world, gaining.

The myth of who can afford to work while traveling is not so contemporary, and it probably started several years ago. Many people have exploited for years the opportunity to work as a boy or an au pair , visiting so many places at almost zero cost. This experience consists in moving for a period to a foreign city, to work in the house for the host family. It’s about doing household chores, or keeping the kids in exchange for food and lodging.

Of course this kind of perspective does not allow you to travel all year round, and in any case you need the resources to stay weeks in a city far from home, even if food and accommodation are already paid. If you really want to work you can scrape up liquids by collecting the fruit . The trip must be paid from your own pocket, but the harvest in Australia or the orange harvest in California can yield enough money for food and lodging.

Fruit collector work is often very hard and often does not allow you to take advantage of the free days while having fun and visiting the host country. In recent years a new professional figure is spreading: the travel blogger . He travels the world telling his experiences on the blog he has had in the various countries visited. Clearly you need a good familiarity with the internet and writing and at least the first trips will be paid with other types of resources.

The photography enthusiasts can take advantage of the image of a beautiful journey to distant lands to sell and finance the next stages. Clearly you need to be good with the camera and have a good basic equipment. It could also be an idea to follow a photography course, in order to maximize the sold images.

Those with artistic skills can also hope to find work in distant theaters, in order to travel the world thanks to their skills. If you can not get an engagement you can always try to raise a few euros as a street artist , certainly it takes a good budget, however, as a sustenance in the event of failure.

The dream of every self-respecting traveler is to travel around the world spending as little as possible .

Since there is internet to show photos and videos of incredible places, apparently close at hand, the desire to leave everything and leave has become even stronger. But then you have to deal with the budget and with the bills to pay and the suitcase is immediately placed in the closet. How, then, to travel the world spending as little as possible?

The first thing to do, of course, is to choose an economic destination . Instead of planning a holiday in the Norwegian fjords, you could buy a motorbike and travel around India. Asia is an extraordinary continent, rich in culture and beauty and the most exciting thing is that these wonders are accessible almost to everyone. Countries like Nepal, India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka or China allow you to spend whole months spending just over $ 15 a day.

The same is true for Central America : Guatemala, Nicaragua and Salvador are among the cheapest countries to spend time.

Another way to travel cheaply is to work in the places you visit . Of course, finding a temporary job is not easy but, for example, if you are a digital nomad and offer services via the internet, you can earn and travel simultaneously .

And then there is the Woofing , the program that allows you to work in the countryside in exchange for food and lodging . By subscribing to the WWOOF website and paying $ 40, you join the network that connects manpower and farmers all over the world, willing to work at a farm in exchange for food and lodging. This is a way to travel to countries like Canada, Australia, the United States or Europe, where the cost of living is certainly higher .

Even the Coachsurfing is a way to travel without breaking the bank. Through this program, people make available a bed or sofa in their own home for the other members of the site. This is also a way to get in touch with the locals and experience the culture of a foreign country from within.

Then there is the Housesitting : in practice, we take care of a person’s house while it is away. Also in this case, accommodation is free and the cost of the holiday becomes really low.

Another solution for traveling the world at low cost is to buy a camper , for adventure lovers, fun is guaranteed.

Then there are some simple rules to follow each time you travel: choose cheap entertainment , save money on food and take advantage of the many free attractions.