Where are some good destinations for travel on a budget - not a cruise?

Mexico

why would you ask this in a cruise section if you didnt want a cruise as an answer

Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Dominican Republic. If you don't mind cold weather Europe is pretty cheap this time of year.

If you dont want ot cruise why post here?

Well where you start is gonna determine your budget. So seeing as this is the WORLD Wide Web, it might be handy to state where you are (although I rekon I could guess....)

For exotic but dirt cheap, can't go past Thailand. The biggest cost is gonna be your airfare (again, depends where you are) but then accommodation is cheap ($10 US a night for a hut right on the beach) and so is food (noodles and a beer on street for $1-2US).

If you are on a budget and you are from the states, why not stay in the states, do a train trip across the states stopping off at highlights for example - you have sooo many beautiful parts of the country it baffles me that you are all so much in a hurry to check out the 3rd world countries next door ;)
That aside, you have the exotic central america to the south, the caribbean to the south east, canada to the north (i would stick to the west coast personally or newfoundland to the very east)
then there is alaska - obviously NOT at this time of year....ok while technically part of the states i see it as a different nation all together - incredibly beautiful!

the only place id strongly reccommend you DONT go is Scandinavia (sweden, norway, finland)...I'm British so am used to being ripped off but OMG that place is expensive... if you like paying over 16 bucks for a burger king meal thats the place for you.....

you can get a 3-4 day cruise now for about $250.00 a person in January, but other than that Mexico, parts of the Carribean are going to start being expensive being that we are about to be in the high season for hot climates...Sept/oct are the best rates for mexico. Good Luck!