Top 10 Budget Travel Hacks

I will always recommend research. I’m not against spontaneous travel, but spontaneity isn’t always going to be synonymous with budget travel. If you are trying to be budget conscious, making rash and on the fly plans will probably be a mistake. Many of my recommendations will require some pre-travel or pre-decision research. I truly think all budget travel needs to start with looking into your destination, reading blogs from travelers who have traveled there, chatting with travelers and travel agents you know, reading reviews, and shopping around.

No matter where you’re going, always create a budget. Whether you’re going on a quick weekend getaway or a month-long multi-country road trip, financial budgets are key. Especially if you want to budget travel. If you don’t take the time to budget out your trip, you will assuredly spend more than you expected and really wanted to spend. Creating a comprehensive budget doesn’t have to mean cheap travel, either. It just means that you know how much you want to spend and how much you can spend. If you aren’t sure where to start, check out the site https://www.budgetyourtrip.com/. You can input your destination and see what they say is the average daily cost. Their data comes from tens of thousands of travelers who have shared their travel costs with the site. And in the end, always be prepared for unexpected expenses. 

Where you travel is definitely a factor when it comes to budget traveling. Cost of travel is not created equally based on destination. Bottom line, if you are a budget traveler and want to travel more for less, you will need to determine your destinations wisely. I start by researching the standard of living for my desired destination. What do accommodations generally cost? What about food, car rental, gas? How good is their public transportation? Can you walk to many things you’d like to see? Often a more expensive flight will keep us from looking at certain destinations, but with some research you can find out if maybe paying a bit more for a flight will save you more in the long run. For instance, flights to Iceland are pretty cheap, but everything else in Iceland is fairly pricey. Flights to Indonesia are generally more expensive, but your daily budget is relatively low. Keep in mind, you can find ways to travel cheap or travel in luxury regardless of cost of living for that destination.

Finding a good travel credit card can really start paying dividends quickly. As an aside, finding the right card for you will potentially be different than what makes sense for me. While cash is king, credit cards really offer so many potential travel hacks for you. Nowadays, there are hundreds of different travel reward-based credit cards available for you to choose from. Instead of getting overwhelmed and just using your debit card, do some research and use these tools to help earn free flights, hotel stays and more. First, decide what your goals are. Are you looking for cash back, no fees, strong welcome offers, miles? Do you shop a lot of Amazon and want to make sure you get 2x points for all Amazon purchases? Most importantly, make sure whatever card you choose can be used all over the world without any foreign transaction fees. My current go-to card: Capital One Venture Rewards. It gives me 2X miles per dollar spent every day. It also earned me a credit for my Global Entry fee.

• If your schedule is flexible, there are cheaper days to travel. Basically, flying out on Tuesday (and Wednesday) tends to be cheaper than other days since most folks travel around weekends.
• In general, it’s smart to book early for the best deal. That being said, sometimes you can get last minute deals if you’re into spontaneous travel. Either way, if the flight is refundable, book the best price you see early and then continue to search for better deals.
• I tend to travel off-peak most of the time. Doing so is advantageous from a flight cost perspective, too. Supply and demand. If less people are traveling to that destination, prices will often lower to entice more people to fly.
• Last, while you’re searching for flights, make sure to clear your browser cookies and use an incognito or private window. This way, your previous search history will not be a factor while booking a new flight. Prices can also vary depending on where you are booking from, so mitigate that by using a simple VPN on your computer to make it look like you are booking from another place.

Booking early can often be a very good tactic to getting the best possible price for your travel. That being said, deals can come and go pretty quickly and often without notice. While booking anything for a future trip, you should take advantage of relaxed cancellation policies. This way, you’ve confirmed your activity, rental, accommodations, flight at a price that fits your budget, but if you come across a better deal, grab it! Even after you’ve booked your entire trip, occasionally looking to see if a better deal is available could potentially save you some big bucks. Also, unless you are offered a special deal for paying upfront, always opt to pay later or in installments. This way, if you do cancel, it’s easier and you have more flexibility. Additionally, your money should always be earning money for you, not someone else. If places require you to pay 100% upfront for far in the future travel, make sure you’re getting some sort of perk for that.

When possible, talk to locals and get their advice for how best to navigate their home economically. They will have a wealth of knowledge. For instance, those local spots I mentioned above? Locals are the perfect people to recommend the best hole-in-the-wall that no tourist guide will think to mention. Eating like a local will definitely save you money. They’ll also be able to give you ideas about great places to see while visiting. Locals will know the tips and tricks to a fun day of adventure without breaking the bank. Where do you find locals? Pre-travel, check out Facebook groups, look for instagram hashtags, blogs from locals, ask your network of friends on social media if they know anyone. Most people will want to share their favorite places and activities with you. I love to strike up conversations with locals while traveling. It’s a great opportunity to enrich your travel experience, since locals are a huge part of the culture you want to get to know while traveling.

Tourist traps are real and they can definitely hurt your budget. Now, they totally have a place in traveling, but if you are being particularly budget savvy, you might want to venture off-the-beaten-path more. Every place you visit will have amazing things to see. I bet you’ll be able to fill your days without going to expensive tourist traps and not feel as though you’d missed out on anything. Partake in free activities, like walking tours, free entry days at museums, farmer’s markets, public beaches, nature hikes and more. Don’t worry about following the crowd. If you end up going to a more touristed location, do a little research before your trip and find out the less popular destinations to visit or off-peak times to visit. One of my favorite things to do, if I already budgeted for a rental car, is to tour the country. We’ll plan road trip days of sightseeing where the only expense is the car we already accounted for and the gas it takes to tour around.