We all love to travel. There’s really nothing better than having a fabulous holiday to look forward to. However, planning our holidays can be stressful. Sometimes can we count our pennies and realize that we’re not going to be able to splurge out in quite the way that we thought we could. It can suck to realize that avoiding expensive travels is the way we’ve got to go.
The disappointment kicks in, as hopes of our dream holiday begins to start drifting a little too far out of reach. But fear not! We’re here to show you that in an increasingly expensive world, travelling on a tight budget is still possible. Here are our top tips for avoiding expensive travels.
How to Have an Amazing Vacation While Avoiding Expensive Travels
Keep your eyes peeled
Looking around for promotional deals and coupons is a really good idea when you want to shave costs off your holiday expenses. There have never been so many awesome deals available that can make pricey parts of your holiday much more affordable.
Look for discounts off theatre tickets or places that offer cheap night cinema tickets. Check out happy hours in bars and restaurants and coupons for tourist attractions too. Scope out any deals that will make your travelling to and from airports a little bit cheaper – like these newark airport parking coupons. Saving money on airport parking and transit tickets will all free up extra cash for you to be able to spend enjoying your holiday.
Shop around for accommodation deals
Look around websites like booking.com or lastminute.com that will allow you to access hotel discounts in your chosen destination. It’s a smart idea to book your holiday in advance while the deals are hot. You can also look into more thrifty accommodations such as airbnb.com to find more affordable apartments to rent. You can also find cheap options to rent a room in someone’s house. If you’re into that.
If you don’t fancy the idea of staying with other people, there is still the cheapest option of all. The house swap! People all over the world – regardless of their budgets – are turning to house swapping as a new way of seeing the world. There are some very reputable house swapping websites out there that offer peace of mind and security. So, do a little research online to see if this is something that you’d like to try.
If you’re concerned about the amount of money you’ll spend on meals, then consider the option of staying in an apartment rather than a hotel. An apartment provides you with all the necessary amenities to prepare your own food. If you’re really worried about avoiding expensive travels, then you could even stay home a couple of nights for dinner before going out for a walk, an explore and a couple of drinks later on. You’ll be able to do a big supermarket shop at the beginning of your stay which will keep you going for the week so you won’t need to be dining out for every meal of every day.
Avoid the tourist traps
There’s one sure-fire place that will ensure the cash in your purse starts to rapidly trickle out. Can you guess? Eating in the tourist areas. The typical tourist traps will eat up your holiday budget if you don’t do a little research in advance to make sure you’re getting quality, well priced food for your buck.
With just a little pre-planning you can research the great restaurants, with the best ratings, that won’t rip you off. Eating where the locals eat is always the best bet when wanting to sample the top, local cuisine your holiday destination has to offer. So go online and start looking around for the best restaurants in the different parts of town. If you want to be super, super organized then you can download a PDF map onto your phone in advance of your arrival, and drop pins in the places that you have researched that you want to try out. That way you can avoid the tourist pitfall and blend in with the locals.
This “Avoiding Expensive Travels” post was contributed to The Lady-like Leopard.