If you haven’t already, go through our articles on What Is Your Plan and Travel Budget & Finances to figure out how to budget for your trip, and ways to save enough money to meet that budget.
Whilst it’s important to have a budget, it will come a time when you may need to re-evaluate your budget as you go through your journey.
You will come across temptations such as tours, social events, and experiencing once-in-a-lifetime adventures.
It makes no sense to go on your trip of a lifetime and the whole time you are living as a resident in your hotel or hostel, eating leftovers, and by-passing every tourist site, adventure tour, and social event because you didn’t allow for your budget to let you experience the joys of traveling.
Always remember….we go traveling to experience different cultures, to meet interesting people, to explore local sites, and to do the once-in-a-lifetime adventure trek, tour, or such things as eat in a famous restaurant, or attend a famous concert or sporting event.
- on our walking safari in Kruger Park, South Africa
Don’t have any regrets and hold yourself back from a cultural experience or an unforgettable adventure.
If you find yourself stretched thin on your budget and merely traveling for the sake of traveling without experiencing anything, we highly suggest you shorten the length of time and give yourself more spendable cash for each day so you can do stuff.
It’s all about the memories and you wont have many fond memories if all you do is sit around all day counting how many days you have left.
With all that being said, here are some practical tips for saving money on the road and making it work longer for you:
- cheap hotels, hostels, shared accommodation, or camp whenever you can.
- Follow all the guidelines in our Cheap International Flights page to get from point A to point B as cheaply as possible.
- Cook your own meals with food from the local store – we made self-contained accommodation with kitchen facilities a priority.
- Have brunch instead of 3 meals a day.
- If you’re going to eat out, breakfast and lunch is usually cheaper than dinner.
- Take your own food on flights, buses and trains where practical.
- In most cities accommodation will be cheaper Monday – Thursday and more expensive over the weekends.
- Have picnics, barbeque’s, and house parties.
- Keep your communications costs with friends and family low by following our Staying in Touch tips.
- When drinking alcohol take advantage of happy hours, drink in before going out, and don’t drink expensive import stuff, give the local stuff a go.
- When going out drinking, take a certain amount of cash and leave the ATM card at home – when the monies is gone it’s gone and you won’t be tempted to withdraw more.
- Keep good security measures with your valuables by using lockers and safe’s.
- If you are a student get the student discount card from ISIC
- Know the local bartering customs. Don’t be rude and expect stuff for nothing, but don’t overspend either.
- Learn the basic phrases of the local language – it can go a long to a friendship, a discount, and good advice.
- Visit the local tourist information offices for free maps and ideas.
- Use ATMS to get local currency – they usually offer the best exchange rate.
- Try not to exchange money in airports, you will pay more so shop around.
- Shop for food, clothes, and souvenirs where the locals shop.
- Attend museums or tourist sites on free days or when they are discounted.
- Wash as much of your laundry as you can by yourself by hand, instead of pumping money through laundromats.
- Walk as much as you can. Stay in accommodation that allows for this to save on transportation. And you will experience more things by wandering around.
- Eat away from the tourist streets. Usually if you go a block or two away it will be much cheaper.
- Share tours, and transport when necessary.
