Slim pickings for the small budget

Every week I eagerly await the Travel section. In my frequent travels, I try to keep to a small budget in order to stretch my dollar as far as possible. Therefore, it is usually frustrating that the Los Angeles Times rarely caters to people in my budget range.

Arthur Frommer’s On a Budget column is a misnomer. “Glut of Cruise Ships Crowds the Islands” (Feb. 15) talked about cruises that people in the low end of the travel budget spectrum certainly do not take. Try an overnight ferry where you sleep on the deck in a sleeping bag in Alaska or Tunisia.

The Weekend Escape often has budgets of $500 to $800 -- that’s astronomical. I spent less than that for a round-trip flight to Europe and three round-trip internal European flights.

Finally, staff writer Susan Spano in “On the Riviera Maya, Lost in a Land of Nod” (Feb. 15) has the gall to suggest that Kailuum II, where she paid $95 a night, was like sleeping in a tent on the beach because she stayed in a canvas “tentalapa.” I have been to the Riviera Maya and spent less than $10 a night.

The Travel section should cater to people on all budgets.

Brian Birkenstein

Fountain Valley