Traveling on a budget almost seems like an oxymoron nowadays, and let’s be honest, this is nothing to be surprised about. The experience of the whole journey itself is worth a lot more than the money spent. That being said, is it impossible to travel on a budget? If not, then how to travel on a budget?
The answer to this isn’t simple because it depends on you. If you want to travel on a budget, you can consider tons of budget-cutting options!
Here is a list of 26 super effective tips which would make budget traveling possible:
1) Making A Budget Plan
Everything starts with a plan, and when traveling on a budget, this is the fundamental step to saving money.
Grab a pen and paper, write all the expenses you would be going through during your journey, and start finding money-saving solutions for each.
2) Choosing Your Destination Wisely
Travel destinations are the most important factor in one’s expenditures. Choosing a popular tourist spot might cost you a lot. The reason behind it is a no-brainer. With all these spots being so crowded all the time, the prices go beyond budget for many people.
Looking for an alternative might save a lot of your money as many destinations with the same experience but less popularity charges less.
3) Airbnb Instead Of Hotel
Hotels cost tons of money. They are almost unimaginable when it comes to budget traveling. Tourists have found a very good alternative for hotels, none other than Airbnb.
Not only will it save you a lot of rent money, but you might also get tips from your native hosts to save more money.
4) Using A Local Sim
Internet availability is the most important facility you need after food and oxygen. A lot of your trip depends on it.
Keeping your budget trip in mind, instead of WiFi subscriptions, get a local sim with cheap internet packages to keep in touch with everything.
5) Cooking For Yourself
Trips are incomplete without trying native cuisines, but limiting yourself to going out often to eat can help with the budget.
Get some groceries and cook for yourself so that you don’t miss your homemade food during your trip and save a bunch of money.
6) Carrying A Water Bottle
One of the easiest yet extremely effective tips is to carry an empty water bottle with you all the time when you’re out.
Instead of spending dollars on mineral water, you can fill it with any nearby water cooler for the public or ask for drinkable water from the natives. By the trip’s end, you would save a bunch of money collectively.
7) Taking Advantage Of Currency
While choosing your travel destination, here’s one factor you should keep in mind before finalizing it. Look for a country where the currency is worth less than your native currency.
This would work out well with expenses all over your visit.
8) Traveling When It’s Not The Season
One of the best ways to conserve expenses is traveling off-season. The benefits are numerous. Not only will you get cheaper deals, but also there will be a lot less crowdedness compared to when it’s quite the season.
9) Working During Your Trip
Vacations might sound like an antonym of work but working while traveling can really help one cope with the expenses. There are a lot of options to choose from when it comes to part-time work. You can work as a waiter, babysitter, pet sitter or also freelancer, etc.
Since it won’t consume a lot of your time so, you won’t get the feeling of working even on vacations, and this way, you will continuously have money coming in.
10) Taking Guide From Locals
Talking to the locals and asking them for tips is one of the best ways to save money in any tourist destination. They definitely know all the ins and outs of that place, so they can be of great use in terms of taking advice.
They would certainly know the cheapest places to eat, the best places to visit in their hometown, and also the finest places to stay.
11) Booking Early
Planning ahead of time is a trait of intelligent people not only in traveling but literally in every case. Booking your flight ahead of your trip can give you a number of benefits and advantages. The prices go way beyond budget in the last-minute booking.
Not only you’ll save a lot of money, but you can easily grab the slot of your choice with almost no chances of fighting for it.
12) Walking Your Way
Always prefer walking over a transport, that way you will gain a lot of benefits other than just saving some fare money. Walking around the town will give you a lot of experiences and sightseeing, all of which you would miss with traveling in a vehicle.
13) Not Traveling Solo
Traveling alone might be a fantasy to fulfill, but with budget traveling, you would need to save it for another day. Grabbing your best friend with you on your journey will give you various benefits, the first one obviously being a “Friendship Goal!”.
You can also share the rent instead of paying alone for the rooms that are typically designed for two people.
14) Going Out For Lunch Instead Of Dinner
Most of the restaurants have lunch a lot cheaper than dinner. Since trying out the native cuisines is a part of your tour, keep it for lunch. Ordering a large meal and then parceling half of it to later eat at dinner is another good idea. This way, you would enjoy their cuisines all day with a lesser price to pay.
15) Looking For Free Things To Do
Not every place in your tourist destination costs money. A lot of enjoyable places are free of cost. Public visiting places, such as Parks and Museums, are free all the time or on certain days or times. Research is the key!
16) Talking To Experienced Travelers
Asking for advice from the higher-ups is always the key to success in any field. Travelling works the same way. Asking experienced travelers about their trips, their ups and downs, and what they learned from them can give you great leverage in your turn.
17) Flying In The Working Days
You have already learned by now that traveling off-season can save you money. However, it doesn’t just stop at this. The same could be said about booking your flight. The starting days of the week are the least crowded and cheapest for traveling.
18) Renting Your Place
In case of long-term traveling, renting out your place would greatly benefit you. It would help you a lot with your monthly expenses. Not only that but your house will be taken good care of. Since you won’t have to worry about it, you can peacefully enjoy your vacation.
19) Traveling Overnight
Traveling overnight might sound tiring, but it can save a lot of the day-time for you to explore as much as you want. Not only that, but it will save you the money you would have used to stay somewhere that night, making it a win-win situation.
20) Withdrawing Money Without Transactional Charges
Most people use debit and credit cards instead of cash as they’re more convenient, but foreign withdrawals have extra charges. When combined throughout your trip, these charges might end up deducting a good amount of money from your budget.
Using a travel-friendly credit or debit card would help you compensate for all those extra charges with cash withdrawals.
21) Preferring Public Transport
Using public transport instead of booking an uber or cab is another way of saving money on a budget trip. Besides that, it’s even better in terms of experience, as you’ll feel like a local while traveling on public transport.
22) Staying In The Central City
The best place to stay in a city or a town is its central region because every place is close and easier to travel to from there. Not only will it save a lot of travel expenses, but you will get a legitimate experience of what that city is like from the central region.
23) Eating Far From Tourist Spots
All the restaurants in the vicinity of tourist spots are a part of the Tourist Trap. They have a lot more expensive food than the usual ones. It’s always better to eat far away from tourist spots when you’re low on budget. The food is usually better compared to the food of restaurants near tourist spots.
24) Asking About Price Benchmarks From Natives
A while ago, we mentioned that the locals know the ins and outs of their hometown, and it’s better to take advice from them. In continuity to that, you should ask them about the price benchmarks of the city so that whenever someone tries to pull you into the tourist trap, you’re already aware.
25) Not Buying On Impulse
While roaming around the city, we do come across some attractive goodies which we tend to buy considering that they would come in use. However, later we find out that it was just an extravagant purchase. The solution to this is simple, a “12-Hour Rule”.
Whenever you like something, avoid buying it on impulse. Leave it and wait for 12 hours. If you still need it after 12 hours, grab it.
26) Shopping At Local Stores
Shop only from the local stores or from the street vendors. They offer goods a lot cheaper than the market or stores. In addition, the food is extremely delicious and feels local, something every traveler desires.
Conclusion:
So next time, whenever you plan to head out for your vacation, keep these effective tips in your mind.
They’ll play a huge role in saving your hard-earned money and giving you a better experience than you would have originally got considering your budget!
Have something in your mind to add to all these amazing tips? Let us know what’s on your mind so that we can expand this never-ending list!