An expert traveler knows how to prepare a getaway in the best possible way. There are several options and with the following tips you will see that planning your trip can be easier and cheaper than you may think, without having to give up going on vacation. However, it requires something from you. Look at the list that we have prepared and enjoy!
Take the most of the stopovers
Cheaper international flights usually do not arrive directly to your destination, especially if you are more than 4 hours away from your starting point. The stopovers can be an opportunity to extend your getaway to two or more cities, without needing to sleep in them. If you are traveling around Europe, many of your intercontinental flights will probably connect in cities such as Frankfurt, Milan or Madrid. In the case of traveling from South America to the United States, it is probably that you stop in Atlanta or New York; if you travel from Europe to Asia, visit Istanbul or Doha, while from Australia to the northern hemisphere you’ll probably stop somewhere in Singapore, Shanghai or Seoul.
Take the time you have and take a trip around a city you did not expect, while saving money avoiding a direct flight. Try the local food at street markets or buy sandwiches and go for a walk. The trip has just begun!
There are several good flights and hotel search engines such as Kayak, Trivago or some a bit less known such as Hoteloogle.
Choose wisely where to sleep
If your trip includes more than one city or town, try to narrow down the cities in which you are going to sleep and establish a base point from which to travel around the region or the country. This will save you a lot of money, since local buses are very cheap and traveling constantly from one part of the country to another incurs in more expenses, less rest and much time wasted looking for a new place to check in.
In addition, some web pages renting cheap homes like Airbnb, Homestay, Spotahome charge you a fee for each booking, so do some hostels, so the less places you choose to sleep, the more money you’ll save.
In terms of accommodation, you probably already know the different options for renting apartments, hostels, couch surfing or hotels, depends on the quality of the site where you want to spend the night. However, first investigate the areas you are going to visit, for example in all big cities the business areas have a large variety of hotels that are empty during the summer, in the absence of business meetings. Therefore they offer great discounts and are always well connected by public transport with the city.
No more calling, no more ‘Where are you’s?’
Overseas calls to your friends, your family or the host cost a lot of money and can give you an unpleasant surprise when you get home and see the bill. However, when you travel in group it is easy to get lost, as people usually split for a while to visit different spots in the city, or some of you need a rest while others are more willing to continue sightseeing. In those situations, connecting to others is needed and the best way to do so is using Internet and taking the most of the best apps to travel in the market.
If you are traveling in Europe, you are lucky because they have recently eliminated roaming, the fee charged for using a foreign operator, and you can use the Internet to the fullest without paying more than at home. In other places you normally have better fares to use Internet rather than calling.
Your best option is to download for free Wave Application, an app available for both Android and iOS, that allows you share your location privately with your contacts in a real time map. Forget about learning how to pronounce the street of the hostel, just check the map and see where your friends are in the city and set a meeting point to gather in the centre.
Wave is the best application to share your location privately with any of your contacts, when you need it most.
Set alerts for your favourite destination
An inveterate traveler will tell you that the destination is the least important part of the trip so if you think of going to Paris you will probably spend twice as much as you would spend in Toulouse, also in France. However, if you really want to visit a certain city, set alerts on the phone through different flight comparators and just wait to receive the best offer.
Prices of the flights change constantly up and down and if you already know in which range they move, you will be able to take an offer without wasting your time comparing prices on the Internet.
Share everything you can
Sharing is living, it is the motto in many countries and it is also an excellent way to save. The options are unlimited, you can go from one city to another using carpooling services such as Blablacar, or staying with people who live there with Couchsurfing or HomeStay. However, there is more you can do: search for travel buddies on Meetup to get discounts on group tickets for museums, touristic tours or even make a group to rent a boat, it is always cheaper to rent it in group.
Eat at home at least once a day
Plan one or two meals at your rented home, let’s say breakfast and lunch. Eating out is always more expensive than preparing a meal at home, especially if you cook pasta, salad or sandwiches. In addition, if you travel in group sharing the expenses of the grocery will make you find ridiculously cheap to eat well at home. If you are sleeping in a hotel, cool food such as sandwiches are a good choice to prepare in your room.
You may think that street food is cheap, however it is usually not enough to save money more than eating at home. Other advantage of this routine is helping your stomach to the new food, if you are in a country with a very different cuisine, you can rest one day from the spice or the new flavours, cooking something similar to what you usually eat.
Now you are all set! Try these tips and enjoy your getaway!
Pablo Clemente Pérez 