Stretching your Travel Dollar

There are lots of names for it: Budget travel, Frugal travel, Stretching your travel dollar, Saving a dollar, Bargain travel, Lux on a budget.  Whatever you call it, the definition doesn’t mean that you must suffer while on a travel budget. Many times, the opposite is true. Those who travel with excess money to spend may not see the authentic side of each country they visit, while those who stretch their money tend to seek out local experiences that are usually less expensive. Here are some money-saving travel hacks and links to our blogs that ensure you’ll have a ‘richer’ travel experience.

Food

Eating can become expensive while on-the-road. These travel food tips will help keep more money in your pocket.

• Remember that the standard three meals a day can be cut down to two: A late breakfast, brunch or lunch plus dinner.
• Choose higher-end restaurants for lunch. They offer similar foods as the evening meal but at a reduced price.
• Go to the best hotel in town and have a drink in their bar with an appetizer.
• Search for reviews on the area’s best street foods and local dishes.
• When traveling, consider eating vegetarian. It can be less expensive and, dare I say – healthier.
• City food tours are one of my favorites! It’s a great way to combine a city tour with food samplings and you walk away with a list of good restaurants to return to. Here’s more on authentic food tours.

Hotels

Accommodation costs can be the single largest expense while on vacation. These tips will keep those costs in check.

• Find small, family-run B&Bs
• Check out the hostels. They’re not all the same. Some have private rooms with ensuite baths – really!
• Don’t overlook the bidding sites like Hotwire and Priceline. These sites can return good hotel deals if you are flexible about what hotel you stay at. Here are our best tips for successful travel bids.
• It’s becoming passe to pay for in-room movies. To avoid the charge and still enjoy in-room TV, just bring your streaming stick from home. Whether it’s Google Chromecast or Roku, you can access your Netflix account and watch movies or continue to binge watch your favorites series’.
• For more hotel budget ideas, check out 6 Tips: Luxury Stays on a Budget

Transit

If you give in to taking taxi’s everywhere, your transit costs will add up. Use these ideas to get around without breaking the bank.

• When possible, walk everywhere – and for so many reasons! Yes, you save money, but it also gets your daily exercise in AND you see and experience so much more by foot than by any other form of transportation.
• Hop-on, Hop-off tour buses are good value and get you to many of the tour locations you’d plan to visit anyway. The first time on the bus, consider hopping on and staying on for the first full loop. Then, you’ll get an immediate tour of the city and you’ll have the chance to short-list the places you want to return and hop-off at.
• Research tourist transit passes in the cities you’ll be visiting. Many cities offer special prices for 3 day or 7 day passes so that you can ride an unlimited number of times for one price.
• If you need to rent a car, there are many tricks and hacks to receive the best pricing. Take a look through Getting Best Car Rental Prices.

Saving on Cruises

You’ve likely seen the articles – how cruise ships fill cabins and how you can score a great last-minute deal on a cabin. Well, there are some myths and truths to understand when searching for these cruise cabin deals.

If you drink wine or liquor on your cruise, your alcohol bill can add up to a major surprise when you receive your final cabin charges. Knowing and using a few well-tried tips can help save. The options range from sneaking it onboard to saving on wine at dinner. Here are our favorite wine and liquor cruise hacks.

Booking the Best Flight Deals

And finally, the cornerstone of budget travel and travel planning starts with saving on flights. It’s one of the most expensive aspects of your trip. Here are the most recent money-saving flight tips.

• How far in advance should you book to receive the best pricing? For domestic flights, Kayak estimates prices drop 3 months to 7 weeks before your trip date. For international flights, bookings 4, 5 or 6 months prior return good fares.
• If you can fly on Tuesday or Wednesday and second-best on Thursday or Saturday. Because it’s about supply and demand, the high demand days are more expensive. Business travelers and weekenders are commuting on Monday and Fridays as well as Sundays.
• We know this but sometimes forget to check our destination city for special events. Traveling during those times is going to be more expensive. It’s also best to travel during low season and always expect to pay more during times many people are on vacation – Christmas, Thanksgiving, March break, and summer. However, you can get good deals on flights if you are willing to fly on the actual holiday like Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
• One budget travel trick is to schedule your flight on the holiday, like Christmas, to receive a lower fare.  Then you may have a chance to change the date at no cost IF (and it happens often), the airline emails you to advise that the flight time has changed. They typically suggest contacting them if this flight change is an issue for you. Even if the flight has changed by only 5 minutes, the airline may be willing to change your flight to Dec 22 or 23 while you maintain the initial better price you were paying for flying Christmas Day.
• Sign up before and after booking flights for price-drop alerts. Here’s more on how to do that.
• Be smart about collecting travel points on credit cards. Any credit cards you use should pay you. Avid collectors have one card that gives points on one favorite hotel chain and another card that collects on one favorite airline.  Or the do-it-all points card is available from most banks. To learn about the best travel cards to use, here’s a list for U.S. citizens and one for Canadians.
• Finally, it’s true that the more travel sites you search, the better deals you’ll find. Opptee^TM Travel Search is a good one-stop app for searching and comparing favorite travel search sites.
• Quick Easy Flight Searching explains more money saving flight tips.

So go ahead – be frugal, stretch your dollars and enjoy budget travel. You’ll be proud you didn’t over-spend and proud to have experienced the more authentic side of your trip.