I love to travel but I also love to save money. Some of the ways I do this is to buy plane tickets at the lowest possible price. The best way that I have to date found to do that is to join airline rewards programs and they will email you when they have flights on sale. Sometimes these sales can be huge. I have at times saved about 50% on what it would have cost me off sale. Plus I get rewards that add up to future flights. My favorite is Virgin America as your rewards remain good for 1.5 years and as long as there is some activity that 1.5 years keeps getting renewed. Activity can be buying a ticket, buying points etc.... As for lodgings I usually stay in hostels whether it be a dorm room or at times in really inexpensive places a private room. My thinking is that I am not going somewhere to stay in my room all day and if that is what I want to do I can just stay home. I am going somewhere to get out and explore, gain new experiences and see new and different cultures. As for a room I need a clean bed, somewhere to store my belongings and a place to shower and eat. Hostels provide that for me very well. Plus hostels usually have a complete kitchen and you can buy and cook food. I usually make breakfast, pack a lunch and some snacks, then come back and make dinner and relax for the evening. This saves me a lot of money on eating out costs. I do however eat out once in a while for lunch or dinner while traveling to experience some of the local dining cuisines. These are my big money saving tips for traveling. What are some of yours?
I save money buying my hotel or apart-hotel online, I can get crazy promotions of over 50%. Other than that I try to stay in a place near the beach so that I don't need to use my car and we do everything on foot. We also get an apart-hotel and in this way we buy the food in the supermarket and we can cook, saving a lot on restaurants.
I just do all my bookings on-line. You can go on decent comparison websites and often get last-minute deals. Also, a lot of hotels and stuff do promotions just to fill up their rooms at certain times in the season so I look around for this too.
Travel is my life! I wish it were more often, but I definitely look at my schedule at the beginning of each year and map out all possible travel dates and destination options. As far as saving money, I've found that being flexible with departure/arrival times and being patient have been the keys. A lot of heavy travel spending comes from planning a trip, then having this overwhelming need to finish all the details (plane ticket, hotel, etc.) within a few days. It's always better to take your time, and not feel rushed in tying up the loose ends! Cruise deals are always best last minute, and usually with upgrades. Plane tickets have their up and down seasonal prices, and hotels will run deals throughout the year. Keeping travel affordable is always about timing!
Thanks for these tips! I do have some tricks on saving money myself. Like if I'm staying in one country for than 3 weeks, I just rent least a room good for a month than book in a hotel room. That has cut down my cost on traveling a lot!
Your trip tips are on point! The transport and lodging are usually the highest costs of any trip budget, so cutting back in those areas automatically creates a large savings percentage. I've found that if hostels aren't really an option (if I'm traveling with my husband, for instance), that renting apartments can save a ton of money! I've used homeaway.com and airbnb.com to find some excellent deals, especially for stays over 4 nights. I prefer to feel like I'm living in whatever city I'm visiting, and the apartments are much more local-feeling than hotels and even hostels.
I do the same for my decisions when it comes to rooms, as I would just pick a cheap room not only to save on expenses but also to motivate me further to go out more. If the room were too comfortable, I'd get too tempter to stay in it a lot longer. I still get nicer rooms when I feel like it, though, just so I don't feel like I'm depriving myself too much.
I travel based on where I can get the best deals. Instead of saying, "I must go to ____________." I just get an idea of where the cheapest bus/train/flight tickets are going to take me and then work from there. I'll look into hostels, hotels, or even using a service like airbnb and see where I can stay that will give me the comfort that I need for a trip. Which is very little. I just need a quiet place with a relatively comfortable bed. I don't travel to stay inside. Then I'll check out costs of food and determine if I can eat out for each meal (preferable) or if I need to be realistic and purchase breakfast/lunch at the grocery store and then enjoy a kick ass dinner. When it comes to seeing the attractions, I'll look into the 'city passes' that almost every place offers these days. I'll see if it's worth the price or if I'm only interested in a few sites. Plus, I'll do a search for 'free things to do in __________.' This usually gives me a number of options that won't cause me a cent.
I try to save money when traveling by planning it all out. I usually fly during the low season as well as booking the flight in advance. I usually go to a travel agent that ends up saving me money. I will also look at certain airlines' websites trying to look for a web special. As far as hotels are concerned, if I am traveling with friends, I try to share hotel rooms with friends and split the cost of the hotel room. I look for hostels when I am on a budget. I also save money by booking the flight and hotel together. zny travel agencies offer bundled discounts like this. Flight Centre is one of them.
The best thing you can do always it to always plan things well in advance in that way you are giving your self enough time. Even 6 months before if you can. Most of the hotels and airlines are on a seasonal basis but most of the time even if you book for a busy season on time you can always get discounts. Subscribe to the hotels information pages and airline information pages, to be informed of promotional discounts, in that way u will be keeping abreast and staying ahead. If you are a frequent traveler, you need to also join the point systems that are normally offered. I know most of the time they seem as if they lead nowhere but trust me, wen you have those accumulated points you can really do a lot with it.
Where do you find out about hostels. I've never tried that, and I don't know much about them. Is there anything required of you to stay there? Is it safe? What has been your experience with them?
Some of the ways that you can save on travel is by using airfarewatchdog.com where you can find out when an airline has a sale. You can also offer to do some house sitting, and sign up at House Carers, Luxury House Sitting and Mind My House. Two of these have paid registrations while House Carers has a limited and free registration trial. You can also use Google Flight Search and Kayak Explorer Tool to find out about cheap airfares.
Their is many ways you can save money on traveling, here is a few things you can do to save money. Call before booking online. Making travel arrangements through the Internet may be convenient, but it doesn't always guarantee you the best deal. Go against your traveler type. Another way to save on hotel stays is to choose properties that are less crowded and thus have an incentive to discount their rooms. Ask about repositioning flights or cruises. Airlines use repositioning flights to move aircrafts from one airport to another, and the same applies to cruise lines, which typically reposition ships twice a year. These flights or cruises tend to be cheaper but provide services similar to traditional offerings. Sign up for local discount websites. You may already receive emails from sites like Groupon or LivingSocial that offer deals based on where you live, but you can also get top deals for the cities you're planning on visiting, as well. These are some ways to save money on traveling. Does anybody else have any other good tips to save money traveling?
There are several ways to do that. My standard ones are staying in Hostels whenever I can (and whenever I find good, clean and safe ones), buying your ticket in those flash sales is also very useful. Places like Groupon will also sell some travel packages sometimes that are worth it, even thought I never got them like that. Also, something that if you can do saves you A LOT is travelling on low season. Travelling on April, for example, will save you a bunch of money compared to July!
