One of the ways that you can enjoy budget travel around the world is to attend holiday and event celebrations that aren’t traditional. Many people travel for Christmas and for Spring Break so costs of travel at this time can be high. There are many other holidays that are widely celebrate but aren’t commonly high-traffic holidays in terms of travel. Traveling during this time allows you to experience a very festive vacation without spending a lot of extra money. Chinese New Year is coming up and that’s a great example of a popular holiday that isn’t too traffic-heavy in terms of a passenger rush.
Technically Chinese New Year actually started on Valentine’s Day of this year. If you aren’t familiar with this holiday then what you should know is that it lasts for approximately two weeks. Most places that celebrate it have events going on throughout those two weeks. However the big celebration is usually at the end of the two-week event on the first full moon of the Chinese New Year. This year that’s going to be the weekend of the 26th and 27th of February.
This doesn’t give you a lot of time to do your planning. It’s definitely going to be a last minute trip for you if it’s something that you hadn’t thought about doing before. However, since it’s not a highly popular travel season, it’s likely that you can still get good deals on economy hotels and cheap flights if you want to take a quick trip.
The most popular place to travel for this holiday is, of course, China. You probably aren’t going to want to make that trip this year. Traveling internationally is a lot of fun but it typically requires more planning that what you’ve got left to enjoy the celebration this year. You probably won’t be able to get the good deals if you travel to China. However, there are U.S. celebrations that are feasible to do on a budget at the last minute.
The most popular U.S. destination to visit for Chinese New Year is San Francisco. With the world’s largest Chinatown, this is a destination that really knows how to celebrate the holiday. There are events in Chinatown all weekend long with a final lengthy parade on Sunday the 27th. It’s easy to get around San Francisco so you can stay in an affordable hotel anywhere in the city and make your way to Chinatown for the events.
San Francisco is your best bet. However there are a few cities that are doing their celebrations on the 20th and 21st. That’s a bit too soon even for most last-minute travelers but if you’re interested in trying that trip then check out one of the major cities. There is a parade in LA and one in New York, too.
Are you going to celebrate Chinese New Year?
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