With the dollar as it is, surely everyone is considering a sneaky
trip somewhere pretty, to take advantage of the record exchange. Even if
you don’t have lots of spare money, travel is without a doubt one of
the best ways to broaden our horizons, grab some new life experiences
and just get out there. Here are some ideas on how to do it on the
cheap, inspired by Yahoo! Finance.
Hit The WWW
When I first started travelling, I used travel agents because I
thought they had the inside track on all the best deals. While they
might still have some great insider knowledge, and can certainly take
some of the pain out of organisation, the internet can offer some
amazing bargains that save you huge amounts of money. Check out the
sales from budget airlines, usually during the day on Friday, and think about signing up for the free frequent flyer programs.
Wise Food Choices
Locals can obviously not afford to eat at the huge prices you can
sometimes be expected to pay overseas. It would then make sense that
there is probably an eatery around somewhere, where all the locals hang,
pay cheap prices and experience amazing food. Make it your mission to
get into the actual (as opposed to tourist) culture of the place you’re
visiting and save money into the bargain. Packing your lunch, as opposed
to buying it, and having a big breakfast is it’s included with your
accommodation, will also keep your expenses down to size.
Do As The Locals Do
Anyone who has ever carried a chicken on their lap as part of their
passage to the next town, been stranded in the middle of nowhere in a
broken tuk-tuk or considered the chance of survival as slim to none as
the bus turns yet another harrowing corner will tell you that travelling
by local means has its perks. It’s all part of the experience, and will
save you so much money as long as you can maintain a sense of humour
(in the most part) and keep wide time schedules.
Shoulder It
I would necessarily recommend hurricane season travel as a great
cost-cutting measure. Likewise, August in Italy is cheap for a reason-
the whole country absconds to the ‘beaches’ and you can’t do anything.
But with a bit of research, you can find great bargains on shoulder
seasons (the times of the year before and after the massive tourist
rushes, but hopefully not the depths of winter or natural disaster
times). Avoid school hols at all costs, and spend some extra time
planning about how best to enjoy these wonderful places cheaply.
Think Outside The Box
Just because ‘everyone’ heads to Europe doesn’t mean you have to as
well. With so many amazing countries nearby, desperate for tourism so
offering great deals and amazingly cheap to get to, why not think
outside of the box in terms of destination? You can always head to the
more popular places when you have some more money saved- though maybe
the chances are, you’ll fall in love with the off-the-beaten-track way
of living.
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