How to Save Money While Traveling
Everyone likes to save money where they can, it’s something that almost all of us aim to do. We’ll sit and look for the best deals before confirming anything just to save a few pounds. And for good reason! At times travelling can be expensive, but with the right methods in place you can easily bring the cost down. Whether you want a little extra money for some excursions, want to travel but don’t think you can afford it or want to travel indefinitely, saving money on your travels is important.
Let’s have a look at some of the ways you can save money on your travels below:
Look For Freebies
Do some research about the destination that you are travelling to. You will be surprised to find that almost every destination you choose will have free activities that you can enjoy. Often these are the best way to get touch with the local culture too, so it’s a win-win situation. Check out the community calendars and have a look for events such as annual festivals or fates. You could also do a self-guided tour of your destination using a guide book, not only will it enable you to become familiar with your destination it can be extremely fun to research and learn about the area yourself both while you are there and before you travel. A lot of destinations also offer free entry to museums or ‘pay what you can’ days as a way to enable people on a budget to see the culture and history of their country.
Use a Budgeting Tool
Using a budgeting tool in your everyday life is a good idea if you want better control of your money. And when you go traveling, there’s no reason you can’t make use of a budget during your trip. In fact, it can be really useful to track your spending and get a clear idea of where your money is going. It will help you to understand where you might be overspending and how you can make some savings.
Luckily, modern technology makes it easier than ever to keep track of your money while you travel. If you use a program like Quicken or Money, you can have software on your laptop or phone that you can take everywhere with you. Some budgeting apps are cloud-based, which makes it even easier to check up on your finances wherever you go. Even if your bank has an app that allows you to check your balance and transactions, that can be handy too. Or if you have a credit card, you might also be able to get an app for that.
If you want to take a slightly less high-tech way of tracking your expenses while you travel, you could also just create a spreadsheet or even write down what you’re spending in a notebook.
Use Vouchers
Most of us will use vouchers that come through the post for the local takeaway or pizza delivery so why shouldn’t we be taking advantage of this for travel? Websites such as NetVoucherCodes.co.uk have a variety of different vouchers including ones that you can use for travelling. Research your destination see what vouchers you can use and use as many as you can. This is a great way of getting a reduced price on almost every area of travel.
Have A Room With A Fridge and Microwave
Some people don’t like to cook while they are on holiday, however, making something simple for breakfast, having a few drinks stocked up and some evening snacks can be a great way of cutting down the cost of eating out while you’re travelling. Room service can be extremely expensive and eating before you go out for the day can save you a small fortune. Having drink in your fridge is also a good way of cutting back on costs, stock up on a favorite evening drink that you can enjoy on your balcony, pre-drinks if you’re on a party holiday and water that you can pack in your day bag rather than buying expensive single bottles while out. We book lots (well, most) of our holiday stays on sites like Airbnb, so that we can have a kitchen for these reasons. We cook many meals, especially breakfast, and a great way I have found to save us money is to make a large pot of soup or stew, so that we have plenty of meals for a few days.
Aim To Use Local Stores And Markets
Rather than popping into the first shop that sees when you’re out and about, have a look for a local store or farmers market first. They often have lower prices and you’re able to barter with prices. It will also enable you to delve right into the local cuisine, doing this is fantastic if you’re travelling on a self-catering basis.
Research The Location Before Booking
Before you think about booking you need to be aware of the location. Two locations next to each other can be very different from costs. You also need to think about transport, the cost of transportation can stack up very quickly, so staying in a more central location may be better. You should ideally aim to stay somewhere that you can walk everywhere from. If you’re staying away from the centre then it’s a good idea to research the cost of things such as trains, taxis, underground and buses.
Pack A Day Bag With Snacks
This is one of the easiest ways that you can save money when you are out exploring. It works particularly well when you are travelling with a family. Carrying snacks and water in your day bag will mean that you’re not paying high tourist prices for the convenience of having snacks and water nearby. This doesn’t mean that you can’t splurge on a treat every now and again. Of course, you can’t carry an ice cream in your backpack.
Don’t Get The Best Room
Think about how much time you actually spend in your room, now can you really justify spending extra money on getting the best room available? Are you going to only sleep there? Is a sea-view really that important? Do you really need the extra space? Try to think about how much you’re actually going to all the extras it provides and see how much it will save you from down-grading. Sometimes it can cost hundred if not thousands for an upgrade, that’s a lot of extra spending money!
Be Flexible With Flying
This is our way of life…searching for cheap flights. At times you have no choice with the dates you travel, especially if you have a tight schedule or can only get certain dates away from work, however, being flexible with the dates that you fly can save you a lot of money. Try tweaking the dates of travel and see how much difference there is in the price. Another great way to do this is to search for the entire month and then travel on the cheapest dates. If you don’t many having stops or layovers then this can sometimes be cheaper than having a direct flight.
Go Out Of Season
Another fantastic way to cut the cost of travel is the go out of season. Yes, for some people this might not be possible, however, travelling just one day out of the season can often bring the cost of travel down. It can be difficult to achieve this when you have a family, but visiting a destination in the autumn school holidays rather than the summer can also help to lower the price.
These tips should help you to save money when on your travels, do you have any other hints or tips that you share in the comments section below?
