How many times did you refuse to travel on a trip because you think it’s is not affordable? If yes, then you should know these ten easy tips to travel on a budget and make your dream come true. Traveling can be cheaper than you think!
1 Compare to get the cheapest tickets
There are plenty of different websites for buying tickets, but prices can be different. Experienced travelers know that to find the best price for you, it is not necessary to check tens of websites to compare prices. I’d recommend you to use Skyscanner. Use the option “add nearby airports” and you will see that traveling to a city which is just 50 km away might be cheaper. It’s an affordable opportunity to see a new place.
2 Don’t be afraid to sleep in hostels
A separated room in a hotel, even not in a city center usually costs a lot that not everyone may afford it. However, there is such great thing as hostels. Even in big tourist cities, you will find these cheap accommodations even in a city center. But you should be ready to share a room with strangers; sometimes it can be up to 40 people in same room. The best combination of price and quality is when there are 4-6 people in a room. You may also choose to stay in a room with only men or women. It is a good way to make new friends while you are traveling. Anyway, if you prefer relaxing in the company of yourself, many hostels may offer you a separated room with a lower price than the hotels. Also, hostels often provide some further services for free like breakfast, Wi-Fi, and many others.
3 Couch-surfing for saving money and making local friends
Join the community of enthusiastic travelers and stay in their places while you are traveling. Sleeping at stranger’s apartments is not dangerous as it might seem to be. To be allowed to accept guests, hosts must fill a lot of information about themselves. Also, you may choose someone with a lot of feedback and high rating. You may see right on the website the place where you’re going to sleep.
4 Go volunteering
You may get covered a big part of your expenses for living in exchange for some work. The type of work might differ depending on your preference; it could be helping in the restoration of an ancient national historic landmark, on a farm, teaching, etc. Usually, volunteers get free accommodation and one meal per day. The work conditions might vary; so, they should always be mentioned in detail in a description of the project. The most popular sources to find a volunteering project are Workaway– different types of work around the world, WWOF – for those who like eco-tourism, help on farms, AIESEC – international student organization led by young leaders, they offer many different volunteering internships.
5 Travel with a backpack
You don’t need to take with you half of your wardrobe. According to experience, you never wear more than half of the clothes you take with you, but you pay for luggage. A lot of airlines sell their tickets cheaper if luggage isn’t included. Some bus companies also ask for an extra fee for luggage. Plus, it is not comfortable to carry a big suitcase with you everywhere if you are visiting several places during your trip. Left-luggage offices aren’t presenting services for free, so that will add more expenses.
6 Choose night-time journeys
If you have to travel a long distance by bus or train, choose night-time journey; this will help you to save money in different ways. First of all, night-time journeys usually cost less than those on day-time; secondly, you’ll save money for one-night staying in hotel or hostel. Plus, you will not lose a day of your trip.
7 Hitch-hiking
If you are risky enough and are not afraid of strangers, try this way for moving around. It might be scary for the first time, but it is a great opportunity to leave your comfort zone. But before choosing this way of traveling, make sure the crime level in the country you’re heading is low. As a rule, people who get a companion on the road are usually just bored drivers, so be ready to talk with them. If you don’t pay them money, share your experience and impressions as a thank.
8 Don’t eat in cafes and restaurants
There are many different ways to save money on food, and it doesn’t mean that you are supposed to eat only sandwiches and miss an opportunity to try local food. Restaurants’ prices in tourist places are higher than in places for locals. You may ask locals where is good cheap cafes or look for them by yourself. If you see a place full of locals, it means you are on the right way. When you are in your home country, you eat your traditional food, but not only in restaurants, right? So, that works same in other countries. Another even cheaper variant is to cook yourself, find some recipes on the internet, get all the needed ingredients and cook! If you live in a hostel or on Couchsurfing, ask your new local friends to teach you, and teach them to cook some dish from your country.
9 Buy CityPass card
Almost in every tourist city, you may buy a special card which gives you a free pass to museums, excursions, zoos and many other places, depending on the city. Despite saving money, it also will save you time because you wouldn’t need to wait in a line to buy a ticket. Besides, it gives you discounts in cafes (sometimes there are free meals), shops, taxi, public transport and so on. But I wouldn’t recommend you to get the card just for one day if you want to get it to save money only, it will be hard to recoup. But if you stay in a city for 2-4 days, using CityPass is a great way to get more impressions with spending less money.
10 Use audio guides
You’ll spend plenty of money on sightseeing tours if you are traveling to expand your horizon. But if you are prepared for your trip well, you’ll not spend a dollar on that. Before you go, make a plan of places you are going to see and download audio guides. This way you will not only save money, but you will also be your boss, you will not have to wait for other people in an excursion, or if you want to stay at one place longer, nobody will rush you. This will work in museums. Often entering a museum doesn’t cost much, but you will have to pay more for a guide service. So, just download everything in advance at home or any place with free WiFi and enjoy your excursions for free.