One day on my luxury   holiday cost 30 yuan. Bus ticket: 2 yuan. Breakfast, lunch and dinner: 5 yuan. Hotel: 20 yuan. OK, so it was a 10-seater bus with only four seats that weren't broken and 20 other people on it. OK, all my food came from one steamed bun   stand at the side of the road, and the "hotel" was a hostel  , and I shared a room with four strangers. But the steamed buns I bought were so delicious and the bed in the hostel was soft and comfortable and I had the best night's sleep I'd had in years. Cheap travel is " _ ". It's on reality shows, and it's all around us. People who once went to five-star scenic spots are suddenly filling youth hostels and campsites, showing off to their friends about their 24-hour trip in the third-class sleeper train across Mongolia. Now, I'm not a millionaire who can afford more than a budget holiday. But even if I could, I don't think I'd spend the money. Budget travel is addictive  . It's partly the challenge of squeezing the most out of your pennies -- and it can get a bit ridiculous . My stomach wasn't too impressed with the meat stir-fry I bought from a stand simply because it was 1 yuan, for example. But it's easy to travel in a smart way, too. With the Internet, you can always check out reviews and find hostels, food and things to do, recommended by other budget travelers who've been there before. You don't have to suffer, and it means you can afford to spend more nights on holiday, see more things and have more experiences. The author mentions her budget travel story at the beginning to   _  .
show what budget trips are generally like introduce the best trip she's had over the years show how difficult it can be to spend as little money as possible display her ability to spend her money cleverly