How to Travel Cheap: 5 Tips for Budget Travelers



The ability to travel cheaply and save on trips usually comes with experience. Useful services, sites, and applications help to accommodate for trips and budget appropriately. It is now much easier to understand what costs you can avoid and what you shouldn’t sacrifice, just like it works with other spheres of student life: when ordering custom papers on renowned services like WriteMyEssayOnline, for instance, students first have to take a look at a trustworthy  writemyessayonline review.   Same with traveling: find out how to travel for cheap and then start exploring the world!

Traveling helps us take a break from everyday life, forget about work, shake off stress and problems, and re-evaluate our lives. Visiting other countries or cities, relaxing in resorts, splashing in the warm sea, we re-evaluate the world, and also get to know ourselves better.

Traveling helps to discover in oneself what was hidden behind the dullness of everyday life, to expand one's consciousness, to realize one's dreams. Travel should become an integral part of everyone's life. On each trip you can make new acquaintances, new friends, business partners.

Accumulated experiences are collected in this review of useful resources, services, and tips that will help you save money when planning and on the trip. There are areas where it is more affordable to go on a tour, but most of the tips relate to independent travel, as this is often the best budget option. Do not be afraid to travel alone – it is easy if you prepare in advance for the trip or be prepared for different outcomes.

1. Do not plan specific places and dates, and keep track of promotions

The cheapest trips are obtained on the basis of existing offers, and not a pre-planned place on certain dates. Typically, promotions come either on last minute tickets and tours, or on departures that are planned far ahead. It will also be useful to subscribe to direct mailings of airlines, as sometimes they send out promotional codes and special offers. The cheapest tickets are found at low-cost airlines, so you should pay special attention to them. Many airlines have their own calendars of low prices, where it is also convenient to select the best options.

In addition to the fact that this approach allows you to save as much as possible, it also shows directions that you might not have thought of yourself. The special offer will tell you an idea for a trip, and an unusual connection flight will prompt you to make a non-standard route. Therefore, it is very important to be flexible and open to new places.

2. Fly with hand baggage

Most of the cheap tickets are sold by low-cost airlines, offering the basic option only with hand baggage. Usually, the airline applies a substantial surcharge for full baggage. And if at first it seems strange to leave with a backpack or small suitcase for longer than a couple of days, you will quickly realize that this may be the best option.

Hand baggage teaches you not to take too much – after all, everyone carries things with them on trips that end up not being useful. Also, small baggage gives you mobility – you do not need to wait for the suitcase to be returned after the flight, rush to the hotel to leave your belongings, or carry a lot of heavy baggage. There are many convenient travel options, such as small bottles for gels or creams, and atomizers to take your favorite perfume without the heavy bottle.

To travel with hand baggage for longer than a week, you need to pack more skillfully. For example, all pieces of clothing should be packed with each other and be as functional as possible: for this it is worth choosing waterproof items, a palette of a maximum of three colors, and also what can be worn in layers, so that things can be easily worn and removed if necessary.

3. Prepare compound routes

You usually want to take round-trip tickets to one city, but it is often more expensive and less interesting. As such, don’t be afraid to compound your routes: this allows you to both save money and discover new points.

A tip for a successful compound route may be a connecting flight: you can at least go to the city if your visa allows, or plan a further trip through it. For example, there are connecting flights in Dusseldorf. In itself, this is a rather interesting city, and if it comes to short distances, the route there can be followed by bus or train (for example, to other cities in Germany or Holland). Ground transportation will save money, and an extra stop will make the trip more interesting.

In Europe there are popular airports with low-cost airlines, which means that when planning a compound route, you can immediately check them: Budapest, Milan, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Tallinn, Berlin, and Barcelona.

4. Independent trips vs tours

Often the guarantee of cheap travel is independent trip planning. However, in some areas it can be easier to buy a ready-made tour, as tour operators sometimes have profitable contracts with hotels and have their own charters. Tours are usually more profitable for beach and exotic vacations: Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Cuba, and Thailand. Before buying a tour, check the prices of tickets and hotels yourself to be sure that you are not overpaying.

5. Pre-prepare

In order not to spend extra money and time on the trip itself, you should prepare in advance. For example, you can note the worthy cafes and restaurants ahead of time, because you can make a choice based on internet reviews. Otherwise, there is a big risk of getting tired after a long walk and visiting the first place you find where the quality of the food will not match the price. A good list of places to look is on Tripadvisor and Google maps.

To sum up

If you are going to travel cheap, these tips will help you. You will certainly save money if you stick to them. I use these tips myself, and I am happy that I not only can go on my travels but save at the same time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are five essential tips for traveling on a budget, and how can these tips help in reducing travel costs?
Tips include choosing budget accommodations, traveling during off-peak seasons, using public transport, eating like a local, and prioritizing free or low-cost attractions. These help in significantly reducing travel expenses.



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