My fiance and I are keen on travelling somewhere interesting in the near future (from the UK, within the next month or so) but we are both currently not earning and have a modest amount of money which we don't want to burn through too quickly, so this would have to be on the cheap, coaching and hostelling everywhere probably (drawing the line at hitchhiking!). We're both outdoorsy (my fiance more than me, he's a very keen cyclist while I'm more of a beginner/intermediate) but I also really enjoy the history and culture of a place. We're also VERY awkward eaters (I'm a vegan, my fiance is non-veggie and just plain fussy ) so this would also be a major consideration.

I guess my question is; where? We both like the idea of Central Europe (Prague etc) but it would be pretty darn cold this time of year, limiting the opportunities for outdoor stuff, or somewhere like Croatia, which looks amazing but might be awkward for us eating-wise...

Anyone got any opinions or advice on what we should do, or whether we should just forget it and stay at home?

If you are staying in hostels then anywhere. Almost all hostels have a kitchen so you can prepare your own meals. Shopping with ingredient lists in a language you can't read isn't ideal but you can just play it safe with educated guesses. And happy cow says there's 12 vegan/vegetarian/veg friendly restaurants in Zagreb which isn't bad, I think these days most places in Europe give you more options than you might assume.

Have you covered all of the UK? The pictures from Wales posted recently on this forum for example looked great to me. Or pretty much every photo in the training log of ninearms too? It should make for a cheaper trip not having to fly, easier to find an apartment to rent, veg friendly hostels etc? Being outside in the cold is not bad at all if you're prepared and equipped for it.

Portugal and/or the south of Espana? Cascadia?

Thanks for your responses everyone! I love the idea of going to Portugal as I've never been but my fiance not so much, for some reason... It's coming to the point where we're even considering travelling separately, or at least putting it off until it gets a lot warmer so there are fewer complaints from either of us I have found from experience that vegan stuff is more readily available everywhere if you know where to look for it and make smart guesses but you can never go wrong cooking your own food as you know the exact contents of everything!

To echo what people have said already, visiting friends, especially vegan friends you have met on the internet can be an awesome travel experience. The Vegan Fitness weeks have been amazing for just this reason. There is no VF week planned yet for the coming year, but keep an eye on it (or offer to host one).

How about couch surfing?

Lots to do in UK, cheap to go camping, if you come down our way we could host you for a couple of nights.

Yay for http://www.CouchSurfing.org ! Now if only there were a VF crew on CS...

I've been on the lookout for a new VF week for ages but there doesn't appear to have been one since 2012...

Thanks for bringing the existence of VF on couchsurfing to my attention. Think I'll be joining now, and I'll let you know if I'm in the area

CouchSurfing is great stuff! Besides the VF group, there are quite a few Vegan & Veg groups on there.