Traveling in times of extreme economic downturn and unprecedented market disruption can often be difficult, to say the least. However, just because you are living below your means or budgeting, it does not mean that you cannot travel. Thankfully, there are many ways for you to travel on a budget, from Borneo to North America, you can do it all.
1. Create a Travel Plan
If you’ve little money often the best thing you can do is create a travel plan. A travel plan, when applied successfully, will mean you can avoid costly flights and hotels and adhere strictly to your budget. You should map out how long exactly you plan on being in every country, every hotel, and on every flight. Often creating a travel plan can be difficult, so thankfully, the professionals of Wanderlust Story Tellers have made it that much easier by offering their own tried and tested tips and guides. With proper financial trip planning, you will be able to get as much out of your holiday, whether with family or alone, as you can.
2. When You Travel, Travel Off Peak
If you are traveling and adhering to financial constraints and a plan often the best time to travel is when the travel industry is on a downturn. Try to avoid summer holidays when children and their families are going abroad on mass, and try to avoid winter breaks, too. If you can, go in between both of these seasons. Thankfully, there are many places you can go where the sun will still be beaming down on you. The hotels and flights will be cheaper, and there will be fewer tourists there to dampen your vacation!
3. Pack Efficiently
When traveling and adhering to a budgeting plan perhaps the best thing you can do preemptively, other than map your journey out, is to pack efficiently and accordingly. You should pack so that if anytime on your trip you need something, you have it, to avoid having to go into overpriced tourist trap shops and buy essential items. Bring every single thing you could need, from shampoo to bathing clothes. It can cost a pretty penny if you don’t.
4. Pick The Right Hotel
If you’re traveling alone or with friends, as opposed to with your family, then consider staying in hostel rooms instead of hotels. By staying in a hostel, you will share the price between everybody else staying in there and might make travel companions. You can also use websites that let spare bedrooms out to travelers who have seen a recent surge in business, which can often be very cheap.
When staying in places like that, yes, we’ve all seen horror movies, it is important to consider your host properly. Many instances of tourists being hurt by their hosts have been featured in foreign publications, so make sure that you know exactly who you are dealing with and are comfortable staying in somebody else’s homes as ordinarily they are not regulated nor have cameras.
5. Don’t Throw Your Money Away
When you are abroad it can be tempting to throw your money away at every opportunity afforded to you. It is important that despite how delicious the food looks, and despite how tempting the tourist trap stores look, that you are conservative with your money. While you are abroad and should have some room to spend money, if you are traveling on a budget, you should be very careful about which way you do spend your money, and where.
When eating out, eat effectively, get as much food as you can for the price of which you are spending on it. It makes no sense to throw money away at a tourist trap restaurant and starve the next day. Try eating at a quiet local family-run restaurant for the most bang for your buck.
6. Make The Most of Public Transport
When traveling on a budget, you must use public transport. Taxis and Uber can often cost a lot of money and it all adds up. To get the most out of your budget plan, then you should use the public transport system as much as possible, they are often cheap and inexpensive. When traveling abroad, it is important to look out for pickpockets. Pickpockets often target tourists in busy metro systems, so be sure to keep your pockets zipped up and pay attention to everything that is going on around you.
When traveling abroad you should always exercise caution and only travel to places the Home Office has deemed to be safe for international travel. Oftentimes, you can be unaware of brewing political conflict, and the airlines will still run, so you can end up in quite a sticky situation if the borders are closed when you are there.
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