How To Plan A Low Budget Trip
23 March 2018
Ever since I started traveling I realized how important it is to have a minimum amount of money to travel, and I know that many times the reason I didn’t go through some traveling plans in the past was mainly because of this economical obstacle. After being frustrated many times due to the lack of of money I started to look for different ways to still travel and spend as little as possible, how? By reading travel blogs and following advice from other experienced travelers.
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In this post I would like to share with you some tips on how I save money when I travel and how I plan most of my travel trips. I implement these strategies on most of my traveling adventures, because it saves me money and because I get to enjoy my trips in different ways that I wouldn’t think of if I wasn’t on a budget.
These tips I am about to share with you are based on my personal experience and things I learned from other travelers around the world. The best way to use this information is by applying it in your own way and style to your travel planning, until you develop your own unique way to save money.
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Flight ticket research
Firstly, I would like to point out the fact that for people traveling within Europe it’s easier to apply the advice that I am about to tell you, for people traveling in other continents there should be other tools that you can use and different low and high season information that may be different due to location. My main tools when it comes to finding cheap tickets are Skyscanner, Vueling and RyanAir; all these tools usually have cheap flights available for the budget-minded traveler, if you don’t mind flying without the usual benefits of a typical airline, these tools can help you get the job done of moving from one country to another.
Flight ticket research
Firstly, I would like to point out the fact that for people traveling within Europe it’s easier to apply the advice that I am about to tell you, for people traveling in other continents there should be other tools that you can use and different low and high season information that may be different due to location. My main tools when it comes to finding cheap tickets are Skyscanner, Vueling and RyanAir; all these tools usually have cheap flights available for the budget-minded traveler, if you don’t mind flying without the usual benefits of a typical airline, these tools can help you get the job done of moving from one country to another.
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Find cheap accommodation
Firstly, I would like to say that this advice is not handy if you're looking to stay in a five stars hotel. When looking for cheap accommodation you should start early to get the best prices and if you already applied the previous tip you can also be lucky enough to find cheaper accommodation during low seasons. The main tools I use are Booking.com and Couchsurfing, and Airbnb the main reason I used them is because they’re platforms that can help me find last minute cheap accommodation . Couchsurfing is something I’ve been using for many years, because it’s a cultural exchange platform where you can get hosted by other travelers around the world; my main advice when using this tool is to have a strong profile so other members can get to know you and trust you to stay at their place, because if you do so it can help you save money on accommodation and it will give you the experience of making new international friends. Here is a great article about Couchsurfing safety if you want more info about this topic.
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Keep track of your expenses
One important habit I learned from a fellow German budget-minded traveler was to keep track of my expenses when traveling, I used to be the traveler that used to spend money without even worrying about the prices, but at the end this ended up badly, because the money disappeared without noticing in things I don’t even remember afterwards. My main advice is to write down everything you purchase, if you have a budget beforehand it's better to categorize your expenses , this is an example of how I do it:
- Total Budget: 0.00
- Food Budget: 0.00
- Activities Budget: 0.00
- Transportation Budget: 0.00
- Emergency: 0.00
The previous example is just ONE way of doing it, some people do a budget per day and that helps them keep in track of what their expenses are during the day. Give it a go and you’ll see that traveling can be done with little money if you're organized!
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Choose activities that are free
When I travel I always look for activities that require no money or that are free, therefore I recommend you to be creative when looking for fun during your traveling, and you can check more detailed advice in our article: How to travel and have fun on a tight budget.
What I do is I try to implement my hobby of photography with exploration wherever I go, I have fun by getting lost in the city/nature by foot and taking pictures of the places around. Instead of taking the typical touristic bus tour, I create my own tour by following Google Maps or simply by asking locals about places that are interesting, most of the time the monuments that these tours take you to are accessible by foot, therefore if you make a list of the main places that you want to visit you can add them on your Google Maps and visit them by foot or public transportation.
Be careful though if you are a beginner traveler when exploring local areas, because you may end up in dangerous places without noticing, so make sure you ask local people before venturing into new areas of the place that you’re at; locals can also be the best guides, if you befriend one make sure he/she accompanies you in your explorations.
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In conclusion I think that traveling doesn’t have to be expensive, you would have to prioritize saving money for the trip beforehand and take notes about your expenses. What I hear very often is that people complain about not being able to travel because of lack of money, but when you see how they spend money on unnecessary things you realize that traveling is not a priority for them, so…what is your priority?
If you're a budget-minded traveler, let us know in the comments below the tools that you use to save money when planning a travel trip.
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