Making Travel Affordable

Adventure is a State of Mind

One of the myths of travel which contributes to people thinking that they can’t take an adventure abroad is that they believe international travel is too expensive for ordinary people. Much of this myth is perpetuated by the expense of planning a trip with a tour company, but if you’re reading this blog, hopefully you’re already considering doing the planning yourself and consequently reducing the overhead costs.

Living Like a Local

While it is true that traveling to your destination is likely to be expensive, once you’re there, you don’t have to live any more expensively than you would be at home. “Living like a local,” including taking public transportation and visiting local markets for food that you can cook “at home” (often called “self-catering”) is not only an affordable way to travel but also fun. Using buses, trains, metros, and other forms of public transportation is usually more affordable than a renting a car or even using taxis. It also offers opportunities for outstanding people watching.

Making Food More Affordable with Self-Catering

There is no rule that says that you have to eat every vacation meal in a restaurant, and some of my favorite meals anywhere I have traveled have been simple picnics — the quality of the bread and cheese in France elevates a simple picnic there to gourmet levels! An added advantage to picnics is that they often take place in view of inspiring historical buildings or stunning vistas of nature.

Making Food More Affordable with Restaurants

If you do want to eat in a restaurant in an affordable way, ask a local where they like to go when they eat out. Doing this rather than just asking what they recommend, in which case they may give you the most well-known restaurant in the area, can sometimes take you to out-of-the-way, very affordable, “hole in the wall” places with outstanding food and phenomenal service.

Eating away from the crowded tourist areas also increases your chances of interacting with locals. This is not only fun but is a way to learn more about the area and possibly get some unique recommendations for fun places to explore.

Greg and I often plan to eat one meal in a restaurant each day and picnic or cook “at home” for the other meals when traveling. If you do this, consider making lunch your restaurant meal. Lunch menus are frequently less expensive than dinner menus, which means you can experience the regional foods you want to try for less money.

Affordable Lodging

Vacation home rentals, bed and breakfasts, locally run hotels, and hostels are often more affordable than well-known hotel chains, but there can be a wide range of prices. It takes time to compare costs and amenities, but there are definitely bargains to be found if you look.

As discussed previously, when searching for where to stay, keep in mind what you need and what is important to you. If your first meal of the day is usually not until lunch, foregoing a bed and breakfast for someplace with just a bed may be the best option for you. Others, myself included, love the chance to meet fellow travelers while sampling local breakfast items that we would not have otherwise dreamed of eating first thing in the morning. (Pickled herring, anyone? You might find it on the breakfast menu if you travel to Iceland.)

Some friends shared with me that their biggest fear in traveling independently is that they don’t want to end up in a scary flop of a hotel room in a country where they don’t speak the language. Their fear is not unique. In fact, facing this fear may be the most adventurous part of adventure-ish travel.

What is interesting to me is that these friends didn’t express the same fears about traveling domestically or in other countries where they can speak the language, even though language does not determine the quality of hotel rooms. It’s clearly an illusion that just because you’re in a foreign country, you are more at risk to end up with an unpleasant room. In fact, in some countries, because of a favorable exchange rate, you may be able to afford to stay some place far nicer and with more amenities than you could afford in your home country.

While there are no guarantees, doing some research beforehand, including reading reviews, increases your chances of making reservations for a place where you will feel safe and comfortable. And if your reservations doesn’t end up being exactly what you expected, keeping a spirit of adventure will also go a long way toward preventing what you believe to be a subpar room from ruining your entire trip, even if the room is more cramped than you are used to or the bed has a harder mattress than your bed at home. Reminding yourself that you are open to new experiences will have a positive influence on your attitude, and consequently, your experience.

The Benefits of Friends and Family

Another way to make travel more affordable is to take advantage (I mean that in a nice way) of your family and friends. Visiting loved ones who live abroad or in interesting areas can, not only reduce your lodging costs, but also give you the opportunity to reconnect with people who are important to you. You also can explore the area with someone who likely knows interesting and unusual places to visit.

Obviously, the expense of lodging will be reduced if you’re invited stay with your friends or family. Even if they don’t have a spare room or you’re not invited to stay, they still likely can give you guidance as to safe, clean, and affordable places to stay in the area.

If you do stay with family or friends, it is important to be a good guest. That means not only being respectful of their property and time, but be sure to let them know how much you appreciate the gift they are giving you. Some ways to do this are to bring them something special from your home country or to take them out for a nice meal while you are visiting. Also, make sure to return the favor when they want to visit the exotic (to them) area where you live. Play host for them when you have the opportunity.

Splitting Expenses

Speaking of friends and family, traveling with others can also make your trip more affordable by sharing lodging and large expenses, like car rentals. Just make sure that you’ve talked before your trip about how you’re going to share expenses so that one person doesn’t end up footing the bill for everyone.

The Cost-Saving Benefits of Slow Travel

If you have time available and can engage in “slow travel,” the daily cost of your trip can be significantly reduced by spending more days in a region. The largest cost savings is that the large expense of getting to and from your destination is only happening once, even though you may be traveling for weeks or months in the region to which you traveled. For example, someone who spends a week in France every year will have spent far more over the course of five years than someone who travels throughout France during one, five-week trip.

Another benefit to slow travel and staying longer is often related to your lodgings — sometimes you can get discounts for staying places longer. If you know you want to spend a week or more in a single location, ask whether there is any discount for doing so. Often there is because the host knows that their room or home will be filled for more days, and not having to change bedding frequently for new lodgers reduces their cleaning costs.

If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, there are some more affordable but out-of-the-box lodging opportunities if you have the time — consider looking into house-sitting or being a campground host. There are also volunteer opportunities, such as staying on organic farms around the world, where you pay for your lodging with an exchange of your time and labor. If this interests you, check out the website World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms for locations.

The Benefits of Flexibility

Being flexible as to when you can travel can also reduce expenses. The most touristy time in an area — which is usually the summer, but can be during the winter for areas with cold weather sports — is known as the “high season.” During the high season, not only are there usually larger crowds to contend with, but it can be more difficult to find places to stay if you haven’t booked well in advance. Additionally, food and ticket prices are usually at their most expensive during the high season..

The time with the fewest tourists is called the “low season” and is usually the most affordable time to travel, but some attractions, restaurants, and lodging may actually close during this season. Between these two extremes are two magical times called the “shoulder seasons.” Personally, these are my favorite times to travel. Shoulder season is often in the spring and the fall, so the weather is usually still nice, most places are still open but with smaller crowds, there are some discounts to be found on food and ticket prices to attractions, and plane tickets are not at the premium that they will be during the high season.

Obviously, many people are limited to traveling during the high season, especially if they need to plan around their children’s school calendar, but many travelers have more flexibility in their schedules than they realize. They may only be traveling during the high season out of a habit developed in earlier years when they had less flexibility.

Finally, if you have the flexibility to travel mid-week, you can often save money by comparing days of the week when purchasing airline tickets. Because traveling to your destination is one of the biggest expenses of any trip, the potential savings can be significant at times.

As a general rule, traveling mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday) tends to be less expensive, as does avoiding traveling around national holidays, although this is not always the case. A lot of the price depends on the airline algorithms — days with increased demand (usually because of business travelers) tend to be more expensive. Sometimes the difference can be significant and sometimes it can be so small as to be almost meaningless, but it never hurts to check…just in case.

Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.

Anonymous

Discounts

If you are a student or under 26 or 27 years of age (depending on the specific discount), there are numerous discounts to be had in Europe, including entry into many museums. You’ll need to have both proof of identification, such as a passport, and your official student i.d. issued by your school. There are also significant savings to be had with public transportation, mostly buses and trains. Some of these you need to apply for before your trip and while in your home country, so you will definitely want to plan ahead, but the discounts are well worth it.

In general, if you will be using the train a great deal, getting a train pass will make it more affordable, even without a student or senior discount. As of the time of this writing, a regularly-priced, four-day Global Eurail pass (which can be used in 33 European countries) costs $286USD, but the youth version (for 27 years and younger) costs $215USD. I know that most of our readers are older than 27, but many of you may be bringing children, grandchildren, or (as in my case) nieces or nephews with you on your trips, and you can at least get a discount on their tickets.

At some point, your age can again gain you discounts to attractions and transportation. This usually occurs around 60 years of age, although you’ll want to check since the age cutoff can vary. To continue with the Eurail example above, the four-day Global Eurail pass for a senior (60 years or older) costs $258. This isn’t as cheap as the youth pass but it is more affordable than the regularly-priced ticket.

Travel Reward Cards

While we’re discussing ways to make travel more affordable, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention travel reward credit cards. If you’ve been interested in travel for awhile, there is a good chance that you have at least one credit card in your wallet with an airline name on it. If you’re new to travel adventures or you don’t daydream frequently of your next trip (like me), then this may be a new concept for you.

If you tend to carry a credit card balance, then the benefit of a travel reward card is nullified by the high interest rates on most of the travel-related cards and I, therefore, don’t recommend this for you. On the other hand, if you pay your credit card balance in full and on time every month, using travel rewards can help to pay for at least some of your travel expenses.

There are cards that earn you points toward airline tickets or hotel stays. Some cards are flexible and can be applied to a variety of travel-related expenses. A quick search of the internet will provide you with information about different options, and if you want to learn to maximize your use of these cards and obtain absolutely as much value as possible, there are websites devoted to these strategies, such as Travel Rewards 101 at ChooseFI or The Points Guy.

Has the fear of high costs kept you from taking your dream trip? Have you considered more affordable housing options? Or fun food options such as self-catered meals or picnics? What plans can you make for your next trip to make it more affordable?