Budget Travel Webpage

If you are intending to travel but are mindful of the expenses, there are ways you can adopt to cut back on unnecessary purchases. Always look for good bargains and set your priorities right while on the road.

1) Study airline fare cycles and consider alternate routes and times when booking your flights and save a lot of cash. Knowing the high and low airfares seasons and not reserving a flight in peak travel times will be much cheaper.  Be flexible with the routes you search for and don’t rely on default search results when using travel booking online. For example, airfares for direct routes are much more expensive than transit routes for example Sydney-Perth-Singapore. If you don’t mind the long route you may save some cash on your airfare.

2) Don’t use traveler’s checks. You have to pay service charges and they are troublesome to exchange. It’s very rare to even have them accepted as payment anymore and you’ll have to exchange them to have ready cash while traveling, losing a lot in the transaction. It is wiser to use your debit card to withdraw money from bank machines along the way.  Using your debit card for as many transactions as possible will also reduce he amount of cash you carry around. Change enough cash with the money changer in your home country to avoid being charged unnecessary high rates at unfamiliar money changers in the country of your destination.

3)   Stay in a motel, bed-and-breakfast or service apartment. Save on lodging costs and exercise flexibility. Most service apartments come with a kitchen and you can save by cooking or preparing your own food. Renting a room in a motel is cheaper than in a hotel. However, the benefit of staying in a hotel is that most hotels offer breakfast so this may be a good way to save on meals. If you tuck in to a heavy breakfast, you can forgo lunch and have a decent dinner. Alternatively, bed-and-breakfast lodgings provide you with this privilege.

4) Learn to say “no” to tour guides you hire on site. Many times you’ll be approached by independent guides once you arrive in a city’s airport, ferry port or places of interest. They can actually be helpful in showing you around the place and offer affordable rates — but — keep in mind they may be receiving commissions from restaurants and shops along the way. If prices of souvenirs and food seem far to exorbitant, tell the guide you would like to go elsewhere. They will likely protest, but stand firm. Also, say no to on-site photographers. They usually charge high rates for their services. Use your camera instead.

5) Use envelopes for easy budgeting during a trip. If you have trouble sticking to your budget or keeping track of numbers, try putting cash into different envelopes marked for each day or for each category for each day such as food, transport and admission tickets to places of interest. Only spend the cash in your envelope. Use your debit card for emergencies only.

6) Be creative when souvenir shopping. If you’re feeling pressured to bring something back for those back home, don’t discount the simple ways to share your experience. Buy from smaller local shops or rural communities. You’ll end up with a souvenir that’s not only authentic, but budget friendly such as an intricately woven coaster or a hand-made picture frame. Also don’t discount supermarket staples. Instead of buying $20 T-shirts, buy consumables from local supermarket that seem more exotic back home. Examples include chocolate-coated Macadamia from Woolworths in Australia and an intricately designed box containing local tea from Cottage Industries Supermarket in India.

Try to stick to your budget and refrain from being taken in by souvenir or restaurant touts. It takes some proper planning, discipline and flexibility to achieve your goal as a savvy budget traveller.

Tags: budget travel tips, tips for the budget traveller