How to Travel on a Budget

Ever thought of going on a tour all by yourself? The idea of traveling solo only expands the overall budget and sometimes goes beyond the worked-out expense plan. A solo traveler is self-responsible for the cost of getting a hotel, booking a cab to visit all of the decided locations, and also hiring a travel guide for a tour of the destination. Below are some tips to travel on a budget.

The following listed tips will help you stick to your budget for a vacation and help you manage your overall expenses during your trip or even solo travel.

Travel on a Budget Tips

1. Pick your destination wisely

My first tip for traveling on a budget is carefully researching places where your money goes far. Such destinations are suitable for traveling on a budget. Some areas are naturally more expensive, but some are affordable and easy to get to, where your country’s currency is stronger because of the higher exchange rate, or the cost of living is low in that place. It means that if you’re coming from countries with a strong currency, you become “richer” in countries with weaker currencies.

2. Book your flights in advance

We all know that getting last moment deals in flight bookings is a stroke of luck. Therefore, it’s often cheaper to book your flights, especially return flights well in advance. However, exhausting all your money in a foreign place without having a guaranteed ticket back home is not ideal. Most airlines release their scheduled flights and seat availability nearly a year in advance. The airfare became higher in the final month. Still, keep yourself updated about upcoming events like the Black Friday sale, where almost every airline offers heavy discounts on their flight bookings. This is the best way to save on air tickets and travel on a budget.

3. Be smart and fly mid-week

Flights are more expensive at weekends than midweek travel prices because most people only plan their vacation at weekends. Midweek airfares are cheaper than weekend flight prices because a premium charge fair is included. Remember to fly in economy class, regardless of how excellent business class appears. You can later use the savings on economy seats to try the local delicacies or visit a location you forgot to add to your list.

4. Choose Car-Pooling

Once you have arrived in your destination city, the first thought that comes to your mind is hiring a cab and exploring the city. And this can be where you can save your money by opting to share your ride. Nearly every holiday destination has local cab services that allow people to share rides. Carpooling services, such as Uber or other local rental companies, allow people to share a ride with other commuters.

5. Accommodation

Booking a room at a hotel can completely exhaust your budget, which you don’t want. So the best option is to exchange expensive hotel suites for hostel dormitories. Sharing a space innately divides prices, and shared dorm rooms provide the opportunity to interact with people who want to explore with you. While planning a destination for a solo trip, make a list of the hostels inside the main city that offer affordable lodging. Couchsurfing could be an excellent alternative for those on a shoestring budget.

Other excellent options available include websites such as BeWelcome or Homestay, which allow you to book a spare room or apartment in a local’s home and stay as a paying guest. It will cut your accommodation costs in half and provide you with an honest picture of the city’s actual life. Consider your host as your tour guide, full of insider information on the area’s simplest restaurants and tourist attractions.

6. Plan your meals

Cheap lunches are readily available in a supermarket or perhaps in a local area of fresh foods market, rather than in an overpriced cafe or hotel. Target to walk around and look at all the local eateries and fast food joints before deciding where to eat; if you go to the first restaurant you see, you can’t be sure if you’re getting out of hand. Meal planning is an important part of travel on a budget.

Avoid eating at cafes as an abundance of food delivery services similar to Zomato and Uber eats provide food delivery services from several good restaurants in the city at great discounts. Therefore, this will be more suitable as you can quickly get all your favorite dishes and the local cuisines delivered to your doorstep. Still, choose an accommodation that gives complimentary breakfast, If you’ve got the choice.

7. Set a daily spending budget

We have a financial plan as the main priority when we travel. While we ought to be adequately adaptable to change our financial plan during our journey, it is essential to understand the situation, go a little overboard, and pull our hands back and save! It’s extraordinary to search for cash-saving tips for the excursion; we as a whole do, however, make sure that you don’t overdo it! Set a financial plan according to your daily spending budget and attempt to adhere to it.

8. Using your social network

Nowadays, everyone has a vast social network of friends and family across the globe. All you need to do is ask your colleagues and friends if they know anyone in the place where you’re going for a trip. You never know who knows who! Using your social network smartly can prove to be greatly helpful while traveling the world.

Therefore, it is very beneficial to create your social network in today’s world, especially if you love visiting new places. You can travel the world only by staying with friends and friends of friends and exploring and enjoying every journey. You can also reach out on social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram and find strangers willing to host you in their homes. You can stay there as paying guest and explore the place without worrying about your budget as they have a minimal cost. It will not only help you to lower your travel costs, but also it will allow you to meet incredible, fascinating, and kind-hearted people.

Other than the points mentioned above, some other factors will help you cut down the overall cost of your journey. Traveling by road will also save you a lot of time. You can also pick a car and travel to nearby cities in places like Europe which are well connected by roads and get an idea before deciding where to spend your money.

Bottom Line

Traveling on a limited budget does not mean that not spending at all; instead of spending wisely and deciding where you could cut the extra expenses and where you would splurge. The tips and tricks mentioned above are convenient and can help you in budget solo travel. Now you can buy souvenirs or visit other places out of your list with the saved money.

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Share your thoughts. How do you prefer to save money while traveling alone or with a family?