[magduf]

It's not just that: everything in the US is ridiculously expensive now, so it doesn't make sense to travel domestically at all for me any more. I can stay in very decent hotels in western Europe and Japan for $50/night, but paying that much in America would put me in a rat-trap. Eating out (hard to avoid when traveling) is much cheaper in Europe in my experience. And ground transport is far cheaper in other countries.

America is just plain overpriced. The only thing that's harder about international travel is that so many people don't speak English in other countries, but that's also part of the fun of it.

[rconti]

Yup; I stayed in a rented room (AirBnB) in Vienna with a few software developers in their 20s, 25 euro a night. Their penthouse apartment directly overlooked the Danube. I couldn't believe what a deal I stumbled upon, but then I found some of the clean budget hotels (Ibis or similar) were like 45 euro a night. In a major European city!