hi guys-
for cheap and authentic places to stay you should visit Hospitality
Club (www.hospitalityclub.org). The members (it's free..) offer
travellers a place to stay, a meal or just offer to show you around
town. Especially cool if you're travelling alone, but many members also
offer a place to stay if you're with two or more.
I've been a member for more than a year and have stayed with super cool
hosts in Portugal, Ireland and more. You really get a different feel
for a place if you're staying with a local.
Jenny
Another way of "travelling" cheaply is to visit people from other
cultures in your own country
that's what i'm doing now...as a kind of project i'm having dinner with
people from 80 nationalities and describing it in with stories and
pictures on a website (http://80meals.blogspot.com). "Around the World
in 80 Meals" I plan to reach 80 in about a year...by now I've got 11!