Honestly, one thing loved to hate to accept is that “money has wings”. I know, it’s cliche I grew up hearing a lot in my neighborhood – but a true one.
You know:One of the keen areas I try to take a really conscious effort to save money traveling on a budget and that’s because we all mostly spend more on traveling beyond the budget.
For the love of those nice foreign spices, foreign wears or simply a night out on your first visit to the city of Paris? You’ve got to spend bucks – I mean money.
How to travel cheap: Here’re my 10 smart ways to travel on a budget.
1. Save costs on Activities
Put your ears to the ground… No, not literarily, I mean you need to do some research about the city of your destination before jumping on the boat.
Do they host some free carnivals? or are there some free museums you can visit or even something like “pay what you have” day sort of.
I honestly find all these activities as fun-filled – and yes, they don’t even leave a hole in your pocket. So, I think it’s a fun way to travel on a budget and still afford yourself some treats.
2. Shop at the local stores
A real “money gulper” while traveling is food. Now for someone on a tight budget, jumping into every restaurant and chomp a plate of garnished cuisine comes as a no option.
But, there is one: The local stores…
If you really want to save money on feeding expenses while traveling on a tight budget: Make the farmers your friends and buy your stuff directly from the local stores.
3. Have a mountain size lunch
I don’t mean the size of Everest – it’s a bit too much.
But it’s a culture in most restaurants in cities to hold lunch specials. Luch specials come at reduced prices.
So, the trick here is “get more for lunch and save for the dinner”.
4. Cut down on the Room services
I often feel like it’s so tempting to want to take a nib on every plate of chow while in the hotel.
But hey, I do feel for my pocket and I ‘ve got to cut down the hotel pizzas and make myself some toasts and a cup of teas on occasions – All thanks to my cozy little room with a small kitchen area.
The room services can be a bit pricey, hence the need to cut down on the expenses. One of the ways to cut down the expenses is by booking for rooms with refrigerators, microwave or kitchen area.
This allows you to quickly make the breakfast and lunch while you eat in for the dinner.
5. Stay off the eyebrows
I agree, going for the holidays and vacations in a foreign city is baeu – but that’s not just it. We all love to opt for the lush – save for the cost.
To be real, cutting down on this first nudge most of the times tend to save me some extra hundreds or even thousands of bucks.
By the way, why spend the whole of my two weeks vacation period on Paris’s Eiffel only to return to my “rat hole” small apartment, with a deep hole in my budget. It doesn’t really make much meaning to me – so I choose to go for the bucks.
6. A single apartment sometimes
Sometimes on your holiday vacation, you’re just the only one in the picture… and all there’s to it is a cycle: Sleep, wake up, watch some movies or even go see the museum, and then more sleep and wake-ups – for a couple of weeks.
If that’s the case getting an extra apartment seems to me like more of an unneeded lush or an avoidable cost.
In such cases, I honestly think getting an apartment is a nice and budget-friendly choice.
7. Off the Christmas season
Not really the Christmas itself – but the point I’m trying to draw is that the price of hotel facilities and almost every item you can think of picking off the store jumps off the roof during seasonal periods.
Unless your holiday is solely meant for the season, I think it’s a smart and frugal choice to dodge those peak periods for your travel vacation.
Honestly speaking, I see no reason why I can’t enjoy the Christmas or see the Halloween in the cool breeze of my corridor and go on a trip come February.
If the goal is to save cost, for cheaper plane tickets, fare charges or hotel bookings, then the Christmas peak is a no choice for your trip.
8. Don’t forget your city tourism card
For someone with a real flair for tourist places… Getting yourself a city tourism is a great choice.
Though you may need to pay for one – but the cost seems to be a token. It’s a cool way of saving the cost while enjoying the scenes. Some city tourism cards give you free public transport, restaurant discounts, free access to museums and free city guidebooks.
Be sure that all of these come at a deeper cost on your budget without a tourist card.
9. Stick to your budget
I know this: Most people have what they call “a budget”. But to be real, not many peeps stick to the budget.
I do believe to some extent that this is also responsible for the rise in debt cases in recent years.
Don’t forget:
Not sticking to a budget = Having no budget – which invariably could result in unbudgeted spendings.
To curb this, I often tell peeps to adopt the simple solution of coming up with a modest budgeting plan for every tip and religiously sticking to the figures.
It does seem like a simple solution but it works…
10. Finally, Get your cash-backs
One of the ideal ways to save cost on traveling is by getting cash-backs on your expenses.
You can easily cut the cost of your traveling expenses by a couple of hundreds of dollars by getting cash-backs or rebates on your hotel bookings.
For instance, SpentApp gives you up to 35% cash-back on your hotel bookings. With this, you can easily save a couple of hundred to thousand dollars – depending on your bookings.
Following these steps, you can easily save yourself a $1000 or more on the cost of your vacation or holiday trips.
Are there other genius ways you’ve been able to cut down the expenses on the cost of your trips and vacations? Most especially, those points I’ve missed in this post. Kindly drop your views in the comment.
