Traveling is great for indulging in and learning about people and cultures while in their country, but it can easily become stressful if you don’t have a blueprint. You don’t need thousands of dollars for a single trip, there are so many ways to save your money while enjoying yourself and making new memories.
You’ve got to start with a number that you’re comfortable to set aside whether that be $400 or $2000. This amount is what you’re okay spending pre-trip. The expenses that you should have available to pay your credit card off or paying back a travel partner (if they’ve spent on anything trip related), before boarding the departing flight. This is your “budget” for flights, accommodation, reservation holds, and experiences that need to be planned. It’s ideal to keep this number about 20% lower than the total you’re okay spending considering currency exchanges, alterations in values, and simply not knowing if you’re going to want an ice cream cone or dine-in for lunch! It’s variable to change depending on mood, weather, and options available,
When looking for flights, how many times have you blankly sat there starting at google flights on a Tuesday night or Sunday? According to Scott, there is no specific day you should be looking. The best day is when you find the best deal. In fact, airlines and algorithms are constantly changing and not manually like back in the day. One trick you can grab ahold of is to find a flight with one or more layover, given that you don’t have a time constraint on when to be at your final destination. There’s actually a “fake layover” trick that lots of people use to land a cheaper ticket where your connecting flight is only 30 minutes to an hour, considering how long it takes you to get off the aircraft and board the next, you basically don’t have to sit around waiting at all! Flights with layovers are normally cheaper because the airline actually makes more money. One pair of legs leaves for another plane, another pair enters the current one, and another ticket was bought just for that!
Another very easy option is to choose a flight that only allows you a personal item and/or carry on. These are normally cheaper and more efficient since you don't have to wait on the conveyer bell from hell, awaiting your luggage. Not to mention, in 2022 over 220,000 items have been labeled lost or mishandled by airlines — imagine boarding a flight to your bucket list trip and losing your luggage!
Lots of times you’re fixated on ideal locations, completely wanting to indulge in them, but countries pay close attention to their tourism rates alongside who’s arriving from where. You can always stay elsewhere and still find a way to visit your lovely locations. An example for 2022 would be the Amalfi coast and Greece, they’ve never had tourism rates as high as this year. Let’s talk about Greece, which 2 islands come to mind, Santorini and Mykonos? Well did you know there are other beautiful islands: Paros, Naxos, Los, Syros, and Kythnos just to name a few. Why not save your bank and stay on one of these islands? You can easily take day trips to the two most popular islands by ferry. You’ll get all your photos for the ‘gram, those tiktok transitions, and still get to have the delicious food! What’s better than all that while NOT breaking the bank? At the end of the day you can peacefully head back knowing you’re saving.
Knowing what you want to do in terms of sight seeing, food places to try, places to visit is very important as it can totally get you out of your budget, not to mention groove while vacationing! Write out what’s going on which day. When you’re fine dining versus eating at a neighborhood cafe, which areas you’ll uber in versus taxi (find out who only takes cash), when you’ll have to ride a train, these details seem nitty gritty now but are the more broader ones. This way you don’t end up spending way more than needed.
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