03 Dec
Money-Saving Tips: How to Travel on a Budget
BY Aileen Adalid / 47 Comments
Reader Question:
Aileen, I am grateful with the wealth of information that you share with us! I have not found another blogger out there that is as detailed as you, and for that… THANK YOU. You’ve helped me very much in planning my travels this year. I loved your ‘money saving tips to start a life of travel’ post best, but can you share with us too your tips on how to travel on a budget? I will appreciate it very much because your additional tips for that will definitely help me even more!
.
– Kach from USA
.
Thank you Kach! I have been meaning to put up a blog post about how you guys can travel on a budget; but with the barrage of travel plans that I’ve been making this year, I’ve never really had the time to sit down and write it all… until now.
First things first: I don’t call myself an ‘expert’ but with over more than 3 years of leading a travel lifestyle, I have certainly learned travel hacks that helped me make the most of all of my trips without spending a fortune.
In fact: you should know by now that you do NOT need to be rich in order to live a life of travel!
So today, it is my wish that the tips below would help you learn how to travel on a budget — the same way that these tips have helped me!
.
» Before you travel…
Plan your journey well and good
I think it helps if you read my guide first on how to jumpstart your own travel lifestyle…
» READ: How to Start a Life of Travel
…once you finish reading that and decide to finally start your plans, go and make use of the following tips.
» READ: How to Travel the World on a Third World Passport // Best Countries for Travelers & Digital Nomads
Grab the best deals on transportation
Additional Tips: I generally don’t bother with first-class tickets especially when first-world countries are concerned, because the second-class sections are often of the same quality (and leg space!) like that of the first-class.
Meanwhile, for travels within large continents, consider doing ridesharing (which is different from hitchhiking which I don’t really recommend). There are various providers for every destination and the best ones that I know of are…
For Europe: Blablacar
For USA: Zimride
For Japan: Noritomosan
Another thing that you can try when you’re in Europe is Busabout which is a hop-on-hop-off bus service that can be an alternative for Eurail or Interail passes.
Additional Tips: Firstly, some travel websites can track your searches and they can raise their prices after knowing that you’re interested in a certain route at a particular date. In order to curb this ‘feature’, always use an ‘incognito window’ or clear your cache before searching.
Secondly, try to book your tickets no more than 3 months before your departure dates; this is because fares are discounted and ‘locked in’ customarily on the 8th week from your travel date. If you book too early or too late, you might not enjoy those sale deals.
Lastly, studies say that you’ll find the lowest airfares on a Tuesday around mid-afternoon up to Wednesday. The reason for this is that most carriers release sales during this day; plus, it’s customary for some airlines as well to put their prices up on Friday and if no competitors match their price, they will start putting it back down around Monday to Tuesday.
Additional Tips: For travel deals in general, check your local coupon sites and other international websites like Travel Pirates, Deal Base, and Travel Zoo.
Get cheap or FREE accommodation worldwide
» READ: For a more detailed discussion on this, go to = How to Get Cheap & Free Accommodation Around the World
Additional Tips: If you’re going to book a hotel, I advise that you forgo paying for breakfast because even if they’re convenient, they’re almost always NOT worth the price. It’s best that you just go to a cafe and mingle with the local crowd. Also, avoid booking into an accommodation that’s near the city center to access cheaper prices.
Cut your existing and potential costs even more!
» During your travels…
Be on the constant lookout on ways to minimize your accommodation and transportation costs
Apart from the travel on a budget tips that I’ve already mentioned above, do remember the following tips as well while you go on your journey around the globe…
Mind your money and the currencies abroad
Save up on food!
Get travel insurance
Other tips to remember on how to travel on a budget
There are several other tips out there on how you could travel on a budget, and if you’re a seasoned traveler like I do: please feel free to leave a comment below if I’ve missed out on something! Let’s help each other out ;)
All in all: I hope that what I’ve listed above will prove to be of help to you.
… And I bet that as you go on trips all over the world, you will see it for yourself that travel really doesn’t need to be expensive at all. You will realize it as well that even if you travel on a budget (which is evidently a pretty easy thing to do), you can already absolutely achieve the best experiences possible! So go out there and quench your wanderlust!
How about you?
Hey there! I am Aileen Adalid.
At 21, I quit my corporate job in the Philippines to pursue my dreams. Today, I am a successful digital nomad (entrepreneur, travel writer, & vlogger) living a sustainable travel lifestyle.
My mission? To show you how it is absolutely possible to create a life of travel too (no matter the odds), and I will help you achieve that through my detailed travel guides, adventures, resources, tips, and MORE!
NEW READER? START HERE!
CONTINENTS: 7 ~ COUNTRIES: 59
Join over 1 million people and receive exclusive giveaways, travel tips and so much more!
© 2019 Aileen - All Rights Reserved / FYI: Some posts contain affiliate links. See disclosure for details.
Awesome tips. Thank the gods for Google maps as well. I recently travelled to Japan. Using Google maps, I worked out the metro train system to get to all of my tours and event tickets, zero problems. And if I was slightly confused, I simply went to a train officer, showed them my Google map train itinerary, they just pointed at the platform and off I went. I could not have afforded those taxi fares.
I'm very happy to hear this! Yeah, Google Maps is epic for mapping out routes like that, that's why I sometimes find it weird when people say that Japan trains are overwhelming (makes me think that they haven't encountered Google Maps yet haha).
Hi, Aileen! Thank you for these tips! Will surely take note of these on my next travel! :)
I dearly hope it can be of help! :)
Thanks for your effort in sharing this travel tips. My sister and I are planning to visit Langkawi and Phuket.
Awesome to hear! Enjoy your trip :D Let me know how it goes!
Thanks for sharing this great tips! Its really very helpful Good job AILEEN ADALID !!!
You're welcome :D Hope it helps you!
awesome article with informative content
I love this! Such awesome tips! My family and I travel quite a bit so I can't wait to start trying these out to cut some costs!
All the best, Jennifer! Here's to more travels!
I seriously cannot thank you enough for writing this post! I've always wondered how people were able to travel to far off places while on a budget. I'm hoping that someday I'll be able to take a trip internationally with my whole family.
Aw, I'm happy to hear that Kristy! :D For sure, with these tips, you could make that happen!
The cost of traveling is the part that keeps me from doing it more. If we use these tips and save on travel we will be able to do it more. Thanks for sharing, we will have to use these tips and head out on some fun vacations.
Let me know how it goes, Melissa! All the best :D
Coming from a seasoned traveler, I can say that these are awesome tips! Your post is concise and very simple to follow. I wish I had seen something like this before I had started all my travels years ago.
I'm glad you agree! :D
Such a detailed list. For me, I am able to travel since I use points and miles. I am a frequent business traveler (to your point about jobs that let you travel) and it allows me to travel for pleasure a lot - for free.
That's awesome, Heather!