Welcome to the award-winning Cheapest Destinations Blog, up since the dawn of the blogosphere and written by an expert on where and how to travel well for less money.

I am a travel writer who has been around the world three times and dispatched articles from five continents over a period that is approaching two decades. I am author of The World’s Cheapest Destinations – currently in its fourth edition — and the Travelers’ Tales title Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune: The Contrarian Traveler’s Guide to Getting More for Less. I am also co-author of Traveler’s Tool Kit: Mexico and Central America and author of Travel Writing 2.0.

I am editor of the narrative web publication Perceptive Travel, which is known for publishing the best travel stories on the web, and the leading travel gear review blog Practical Travel Gear. I run this travel writing blog connected to the writing book.

Hopefully all this means I am going to give you worthwhile advice. I have won a whole slew of writing awards for work in a variety of print and web publications (you can look it up on Wikipedia) and have been quoted as a budget travel expert in dozens of more than 50 major media outlets. This blog is an award-winner too:  it scored a Gold in the annual writing awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association in 2012 and a Silver in 2011. It has also won “best travel blog” awards from Forbes, Tripbase, and others. I was voted one of the 12 most popular travel bloggers in a poll at Elliott.org. Wanderlust magazine picked this blog as “One of the top travel blogs you must read.” To learn more about me, get contact info, and see clippings, visit TimLeffel.com.

If you really want to know more, Gadling interviews me here or you can read an interview with me in RoadJunky, the Freelance Zone, Nomad Lawyer, or EuroCheapo. Here’s a “week in the life of” thing I did while living in Mexico for The Professional Hobo.

I get interviewed a lot in major media outlets like USA Today, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, and Travel + Leisure. If you’re a journalist looking for a quote or more insight, click the “contact Tim” link in the right sidebar.

I’m a husband and dad, so I’m not on the road non-stop like some other bloggers, but I do travel internationally a half-dozen times each year at least and own real estate in Mexico. This blog has been up since 2003 (past 1,400 posts) and I’ve purposely lost count of how many countries I’ve visited. It’s not a contest; it’s a journey. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

You can follow me on Twitter (@timleffel) or reach me by e-mail. See the contact link in the right sidebar.