All the excitement of world travel, of being an “acrobat of the road,” is enhanced dramatically when the travel is free of cost. This happened to me for a while when I won a sweepstakes, providing airfare and accommodations in Singapore. I was able to change my departure date despite a recalcitrant airline, and so I extended my stay. After a thrilling 4-day stay in Singapore, all expenses paid, I resumed my normal, more frugal, mode of travel, and hitchhiked through parts of Asia I had never previously explored.

Since I did the rest of the trip on my own, it’s not actually fair to see the travel was entirely free of cost. However, airfare is usually the majority of my cost so it was huge. Plus, in Singapore, I was at the kind of fancy hotel I normally avoid to save money, and MAN it was fun seeing how the other half lives! It was gorgeous, with fabulous views, and comfortable in every possible way, down to the thread count on the bedsheets.