How To Save Money For Traveling?
/Instagram and YouTube have turned me into an armchair traveler: every day I scroll my feed. Just a simple search and you can see historical places from London or a great food spot in Japan, beautiful landscapes from Vietnam or old sights from Peru. This usually gets me anxious and I want to see, taste and feel everything for myself, and almost every time I find myself in this particular situation: I check my bank account and then I have to reconsider. But what if that is not always the case? What if the choice to be an armchair traveler comes with the opportunity to actually go and see the real thing without a steep cost?
We all have that misconception that travel is expensive unless you backpack and do couch surfing (nothing against that, but there are people like me that don’t feel comfortable doing it!)
That means that we can actually easily transform from an armchair traveler to a window seater traveler which only means we can travel for real. We live in the golden age of wanderlust and that tells me that we should be lucky enough to get up and go see everything around the world at a fair price.
So, get your good walking shoes and your pretty carry-on and let’s see how we can figure out the cheapest or at least the closest to the cheapest flight tickets. In general, accommodation will not be that expensive, unless you plan to go to a 5 stars spa, therefore the main focus remains to get a round-trip ticket at the cheapest price as possible.
Keep in mind a few tricks I picked up on all my travels on how to save money for traveling without giving up ongoing on new adventures. So take a pen and a piece of paper and write down these tips which will help you switch from scrolling through the world to strolling through it.
HAVE A SAVINGS MENTALITY
Don’t budget yourself to a huge amount for a plane ticket, because chances are that if you follow my tips, you will get cheaper tickets and all those extra money you saved will be used on spoiling yourself during the trip and buying gifts for your loved ones.
FLY TO SALE DESTINATIONS
Be as flexible as much as possible. If you plan to go to London, but flights are cheaper to Paris, go for it. The train between the two cities is less than an hour. Think about how to maximize your trip. For sure the tickets will be expensive but if you don’t lock the dates in stone and you try to be flexible, you will find for sure cheaper flights.
BE SMART WHEN BOOKING ACCOMMODATION
I always check multiple sites on top of Booking.com and to be honest, and most of the time, hotels are cheaper on their own websites, so don’t stop at the best-known search engine. Also, don’t forget about Airbnb, which offers a great alternative in central parts of the city. I stayed in Barcelona on Las Ramblas, the famous Spanish street, right in front of the market entrance, and this just by booking cheaper with Airbnb.
SIGN UP FOR A FREE WALKING TOUR
Ok, I don’t remember exactly when this trend started, but I personally did it in Dublin and it was so much fun, that since then I do it to all the cities I visited. It’s “free” but you are expected to offer a tip to the guide. In general, it’s a great way to see hidden gems or places that just opened or the ones that only locals go for.
EAT MEALS FROM GROCERY STORES
I usually do some research and if there is a specific place I want to go, of course, I will not eat every meal in my room. I tend to go for one traditional food restaurant which is not in the city centrum or old town and for one Instagrammable spot. But, besides that, I just go to the grocery store to see the local lifestyle, what diversity of food I can find and try something I never had before.
DON'T BE LOYAL TO AIRLINES
I don’t like the idea of loyalty when it comes to airplane tickets, the whole point of it is to spend more money on the tickets just to fly with that airline and that might not benefit you. I, for example, am not willing to do that, hence I recommend against it! Or maybe a prettier way to say this would be: how about you actually stay loyal to all of them? Once I find my ticket at the lowest price if there is an airline I flew with before I will just add my frequent flyer number. If it’s the first time I fly with that airline, well, I will just create a loyalty account, but I will never stick to one airline just for the sake of being loyal to an airline company! There are more important aspects in life that require loyalty: I’ll save myself for those!
BE PATIENT WHEN BOOKING FLIGHTS
This is honestly something that is hard for me to do…and I will tell you why! The day after I came home, I suffer from PHT, which stands for, yes you guessed right – post-holidays trauma. If I manage to book a free cancellation accommodation then I start hunting the plane tickets. Don’t check the tickets every other day, because the chances are the search engine will record that search against you. Just be patient and be flexible.
Any suggestions from your side? Comment down below.
