I'd like to suggest a Hostel/Budget Travel forum.

By 12/04, I'll have flown about 70K this year, all on leisure trips (my job never takes me anywhere!). For those 70K flown (total cost to me is about 1200 bucks, thank you NW vouchers & the Mileage Run forum ), I will have spent about 30+ nights somewhere other than my bed at home - no where have I spent more than about 49/night (and that was for a very nice resort in Thailand - we wanted to sleep in a comfortable bed & the price was right) - the majority of those nights have been spent in airports (ABQ's observation deck is apparently off limits at night, found that out around 12AM with a cop's flashlight in my face), camping in campgrounds (both legitimate and just pulling my rental car off onto a dirt road & setting up a tent somewhere in the Oregon mountains), and staying with friends, and staying in hostels (if you're ever in Bozeman, MT, screw the hotels, stay in the hostel - friendliest people ever).

I am a budget traveler.

I'm in the midst of planning a week-long 20K flown trip with 4 friends (they want to qualify for NW Silver & they've never been to HNL or TPE - for about 736 tax inclusive, wasn't too bad of a deal for a leisure trip) and I'm looking for good hostels in the TPE area (best I could find is 10/person/night - 7 if its shared, but I think we're willing to spend the extra 3 bucks to have a 5-bed private room). I've seen some that have online reviews, but I'm sure that there are other travelers (not tourists, but travelers) that are of the el-cheapo mindset that I subscribe too that may have been there & done that - TravelBuzz is a decent enough forum for it, but I was hoping FT could create a forum for us el-cheapo travelers, I'd even volunteer to moderate it if need be. I like staying in the cheaper, more colorful places than the glamourous 5-stars that cost as much per night as my airfare was roundtrip.

Just a thought - anyone else out there support this? If there's a Luxury Travel form, there should be an Hostel/Budget Travel forum!

We used to have a Budget Travel forum on the old board, but we folded it into TravelBuzz, as it didn't have a whole lot of activity.

Surely it had more activity than the MBS airport forum (1 post in the past 100 days & 5 threads & 181 views in the past year!) or the FAT forum (5 threads, 132 views since the beginning!)

I know I'd appreciate it - maybe it wasn't listed in the "right" area - the older FT was harder to navigate & this one is easier - I think it should be brought back - thanks for listening!

Have you looked at the message board at http://www.hostels.com ? That seems to be the site that might meet your needs.

I had not - I'll check it out, thanks! I still think FT should have one though - I like that fact that this is a relatively non-commercial site with a common goal of community & it is all encompassing in terms of travel, I just feel it's a topic that warrants its own discussion group.

If we could get Rachael Ray to moderate, I'd support it ^

Personally I don't see the need for that. If you do your homework (with the help of FTers of course) you should be able to find decent places to stay at very reasonable prices. The rates you have to pay for Hostels/Motels etc will usually be marginally cheaper and not infrequently even more expensive than proper 3-4* hotels that can be obtained through a measly amount of FF miles, a Priceline bid or a website offer. And there's always the MR forum for ultra-cheap flights!

I do my homework & I'm a regular on the MR forum - I'm not worried about the cheap flights - flights are the cheapest parts of most vacations, IMHO. I think our definitions of budget travel are a little different - I'm talking about staying in places that are a little off the beaten path - like 4.00/night guest houses on the beach in Koh Phagnan during high season or 7.00/night hostels in Taipei - or setting up camp in a farmers field in Iceland while living out of the car for 5 days - I'm not talking about staying at Motel 6 on the side of I-95. I'm talking about experiences like doing a weekend in AMS for under 100 bucks & having a really great time while doing it. Travel and experiencing different cultures isn't & shouldn't always be about tourism & upgrades to business class & staying in hotels that have flushing toilets versus pit toilets where you have to pour a bucket of water to flush.

Surley I'm not the only one on FT that enjoys being a traveler as well as being a tourist, am I?

(the camp living aside) what you posted isn't any different to what I did!
I haven't done a lot of research on AMS but I do know plenty of decent hotel places in Central Europe where you can stay for �10 pppn, and a number of double rooms in B&Bs in England that you could get for �25 (making it about �8 pppn as breakfasts tend to be hearty and could well keep you going till dinner time!). Incidentally, I don't know where/what I-95 is.
I am confident a weekend at AMS for �100 is feasible without having to go camping , not sure about dollars though as they seem to get cheaper by the day.

I support this, we have a luxury hotel forum, isn't it fair to have a budget travel forum?

I guess people outside of the US wouldn't know - I-95 is Interstate 95 - a highway that runs from Florida to Maine all along the east coast of the US. Motel 6's are really shotty hotels that are generally for people passing through a town on a long driving trip.

I'm also in support of this as a budget, college-aged traveller myself, but I don't think it would be very popular.

Check the Lonely Planet Thorntree travel forums. That's also a good site that would be good for budget travel.

These are really good sites and forums for budget travel:

http://www.eurotrip.com/forum (good emphasis on finding cheap fares, plus a lot of other subjects)
http://www.bugeurope.com (the hostel reviews are very helpful, the forum is not too active)
http://www.guideforeurope.com (click on the forum link)

Edit: I just realized you are focusing on US travel, and most of those are Europe-focused.

Oh well. My main trip for US budget travel is to use Priceline judiciously.

I support a budget travel forum. A lot of great info could be exchanged.

I can share things such as how to get a nice hotel room near the MRT in Singapore for only S$40 a night, credit cards welcome. Or the best $2 guesthouse in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

I'm for a budget forum - in Feb/Mar I took a cheap flight SYD-LAX and then flew on to DCA to stay with a friend for 4 weeks. Bought an Amtrak 15-day $295 pass and travelled through 14 states, 1 District, 1 province & 2 countries during the week while my friend (& fellow FTer) went off to work. Much of the time I had less than $2 in my pocket, so planned my itinerary around o'nite trips to save on accommodation - and it's amazing how long you can live on potato flakes & cans of tuna, as long as you can get free cups of hot water

I stayed a couple of nights in hostels (HI) & found them to be friendly and comfortable. I saw a lot of the country (my first visit) and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of travelling on a shoestring. My only beef was that because I had to be from outside the States to get the rail pass I couldn't claim the Guest Rewards

Oh, and on the weekends I got to watch lots of TV & hang out

Maybe the forum could help me next time a great fare comes up - I know I picked up a few ideas I'm happy to share

I'll keep saving my pennies just in case