SOME IDEAS TO APPLY TO TRAVEL LOW BUDGET
To travel as much as possible and especially with as little money as possible, would be a dream come true for travel lovers. And since traveling shouldn't be a luxury, but a normality, I thought I'd put together some tricks I use that help me save money on my travels and I hope will help you too.
You probably already know some of these tricks, and others you are just learning about. So, without further ado, let's go directly to the topic:
1. Buy the plane tickets directly from the website of the companies you plan to fly with. I know that there are situations where there are better offers on third-party websites than on the airline website, but even so, I don't recommend it. In case of flight cancellation, there are very few chances to get your money on the ticket back. I recommend using third-party sites only to compare price offers.
2. Information means power... and in some cases more money in your own pocket. Before visiting a new destination, especially from outside Europe (and not only), inform yourself very well about the most common methods of scamming tourists, or certain very expensive places that do not offer good services or or good products.
3. If you choose hotels outside the tourist areas, research the location and the distance to the tourist attractions you want to visit. Most of the time it is recommended to choose accommodation in more distant areas because they are much cheaper, but there are also situations where the price of transport exceeds the price difference. So, before booking, do a calculation to see if it's worth it, both in terms of the time spent on the road and the price for transportation.
4. Research the activities, entrances to tourist attractions and, last but not least, the tours offered free of charge. All this will help you see as much as possible, without having to take money out of your pocket. For example, in Dubai there are free buses to certain areas of the city, such as the mall, JBR beach, etc. Another example would be many of the major European cities, which have free access to museums on certain days of the month, depending on age, or have free entry all the time.
5. If you want to be up to date with social networks and not only that, buy a local simcard that offers internet, the costs can be lower. If you can give up the internet during the vacation, it would reduce these costs to zero. Usually, the application you cannot do without is the sat nav, but you can use one that works offline, just make sure you download the map before you arrive in the country you are going to visit. An example of such an application is Here We Go.
6.For cheap currency exchange, use the Revolut card and application, which allow you to exchange money in any currency, at no cost, or very cheaply. Also, avoid withdrawing money from ATMs or exchanges at the airports, where the exchange rates are not the most advantageous.
7. Replace restaurant meals with supermarket meals, especially in expensive destinations. Some supermarkets have menus with cooked food, and instead of a meal of 40 euros or even more for two people at a restaurant, you pay a maximum of 10-15 euros at the supermarket. Look for large chain stores, for example in Spain it is Mercadona.
8. Travel insurance is one of the aspects that you should not skimp on, because in the end it can cost you much more, especially outside of Europe (but not only), where there are much more dangers than here. I recommend it all the more if you know that you are going to do some activities with a higher degree of risk, such as hiking or climbing. For the citizens of the European Union, there is the European Health Card, free of charge, that covers all EU countries.
9. Give up checked baggage and travel only with hand luggage. More precisely, it is about the backpack included in the price of the plane ticket, al low-cost companies. Look online for ways to pack efficiently and make up your outfits only with clothes that can be combined with each other. This way, you avoid paying tens of euros for a few extra clothes.
10. Download applications to your phone that help you find good prices and offers at restaurants, hotels, plane tickets. I wrote a separate article where I talked about the most useful apps and websites. Many of them will help you save money.
11. Choose to travel to destinations to which you have cheap flights. Do not choose the destination and then the tickets, but vice versa, let the ticket price dictate the destination.
12. When searching for flights, for example on Skyscanner, set the destination to "everywhere", with flexible dates, and you can see the cheapest tickets and the destinations you can choose from. Example in the image below:
13. The easiest and safest way to catch the offers on plane tickets is if you subscribe to the newsletter of the airlines. Each company has its own period when it applies flight discounts. For example, Qatar Airways has discounts in March, for flights operated in any month.
14. Be flexible with the departure date, usually the flights during the week have lower prices than the ones on the weekend. Also, in the periods of June-August, but also in December, prices tend to explode both for accommodation and for plane tickets.
15. If you know that you will travel a lot with a certain airline, consider a subscription. For example, Wizzair has a Discount Club type offer, which offers you cheaper tickets.
16. Try the experience of staying in campsites when you have this option. Some of them even have cabins and it is not necessary to have your own tent. If you like to do wild camping, make sure that the country where you are camping allows this.
17. Travel in the off-season. Thus you will pay less money for the same services and it is less crowded. Personally, I decided not to travel in the summer, especially in very hot destinations. Besides the fact that you can't visit too many places because of the heat, everything is overpriced.
18. When looking for plane tickets and accommodation, use the browser's incognito function. In this way you will find the real price of the plane ticket, not increased because of cookies.
19. Before purchasing a flight, accommodation or anything else related to travel, check the price on several websites and choose the cheapest option. For example, for accommodation units in Asia, you can find price differences of up to 50%, compared on sites like Booking and Agoda.
20. Avoid eating at the airport. The prices are quite high for everything. It is best to take snacks or sandwiches from home, they are allowed in hand luggage. Also, if you have a credit card, check out the perks offered by it. Many of them offer free access to certain airport lounges.
21. Do not book your accommodation and car during the summer, if you plan to travel in September or October. Wait for August to pass and start making reservations at the beginning of September. You will see price differences of several hundred euros.
22. Do not rent a car if you plan to visit only one city or several cities. Usually, public transport is well developed both in cities and between them. It is recommended to rent a car only if you plan to visit locations that are more difficult to access, where there is no public transport option. In some cases, it is much easier to book an organized trip to a certain location than to drive there on your own, in a rented car.
If you decide you need to rent a car on vacation, I leave a little guide to help you make the best decisions when signing the rental contract.
23. Most of the time, buses are cheaper than trains. It is good to know this information especially when you do not have access to see the prices online before choosing the mode of transport.
24. In the cities where it is possible, buy a city pass or a museum pass, it is a more economical option to see more places in a city.
25. Use volunteering platforms like Worldpackers or Workaway, where you can find accommodation in exchange for work. Be careful, these platforms are not free, but they can help you save money.
Conclusion:
I hope that I have come with news and things that will help you in planning your future trips. Every trip is different, but I tried to find the most general solutions that would apply in most cases.
I'm curious if you have other ways to save or spend less money on vacations. If so, leave them in the comments, I'm sure that both me and the readers will be delighted to find them out.
Read other articles that will help you in your future travels: long fights tips and tricks or how to take the most beautiful photos on vacation.
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