Thanks to Eddie Schmid of WhereIveBeen.com (@whereivebeen on Twitter) for these great ideas for the baggage fees blues. If you missed it – check out the rest of the series Airline Bag Fee Headaches? Try “Backpacking” instead! | Backpacking through Peru | Backpacking through Dublin and Beyond

Find cheap flights to popular cities in Europe, including Istanbul, at FareCompare

It’s more than a bit common for Westerners to harbor some lingering apprehension at the idea of touring the Middle East. But with a slow-burning uptick in traveler traffic, places like Turkey are proving these fears, whatever their basis, to be unfounded.

Then again, the highly-modernized Turkey also has tried (and so far been denied the chance) to be annexed into the European Union, so perhaps they’re a bit of a different case than the peers they’re grouped with. Still, clever globetrotters continue to capitalize off of fallacious fears in making excursions through Istanbul and beyond, which has proven itself as a warm, widely affordable and easily navigable region in recent years.

Keep reading – perfect tourism season for Turkey is just around the corner…

Much of the greatness of Istanbul lies in its comfortable blend of traditions: Like its predecessor Rome, it contains remnants and ruins of kingdoms past right near modern shopping strips, and its geography lends itself to an intriguing meeting of Eastern and Western culture.

Low tourism season starts in Turkey right around October, and visiting after then allows backpackers to take full advantage of Istanbul’s solid bus system without much crowding. You can get by on about $20 per day — that includes lodging, tourism expenses and food (Speaking of food, don’t spare yourself the chance to snack on a local world-class kebab).

This is barely an introduction to the fulfilling lifestyle of backpack travel, but hopefully it was informative enough to get you to reconsider overstuffing that suitcase. For an excellent primer on efficient methods, check out Nicholas Kristof’s piece on the pastime in the New York Times.