Whether you’re travelling alone, with friends, backpacking, or with your family, there is no doubt that wanderlust is expensive. Finding the best deals and saving money however, is possible.
Read our tips on how to save money when planning a trip abroad.
- Budget
Sounds easy, right? There are just so many components to travel – flights, accommodation, transfers, add-ons, entertainment, food, spending money, and not to mention a whole host of unexpected costs. Therefore, it is so important to set yourself an overall budget, and some mini budgets within that – for example, give yourself a maximum amount you’re willing to spend on your accommodation, and don’t go over. If you do, you’ll have to deduct from another element of your trip. This will be an issue if you’re on a tight budget and you’re not willing to increase the amount which was pre-planned to begin with. You might have been encouraged to go on this trip with your family with the right circumstances. And one of those circumstances can be the affordability. So, if the destination fits your budget, then it makes all the more sense for you to stick to that destination whilst ensuring you don’t cross the budget you’ve set aside. This may have been set aside for the leisure activities that you’ve planned. So, for instance, if you’re based in Aberdeen, you can do some research on “bargain holidays from Aberdeen” to find potential destination choices. Or you can take a look at a few alternative locations depending on the place where you live.
- Cash vs Credit
Getting cash over credit cards can often simplify things and save you money. Credit cards abroad are proven to have huge fluctuations in rates, and depending on which one you may opt for, could cost you up to 100. Cash, in general, is also great if you want to stick to a budget. You can see what you’re spending each day, and if you just have that amount in your wallet, it’s impossible to go over it.
- Don’t wait until the airport to change your money, rates are horrendous.
Not only do airport rates entirely rip you off, it’s just so much easier and stress free doing it in advance. Manually searching around for good rates is also a drag, and in the long run may save you money but is a lot of hassle. I find using a comparison site, such as https://www.comparecurrency.com/ is a really good way to go, it shows you all of your
options in one place has made surprisingly substantial differences before. This really is one of the easiest ways to save money, with absolutely minimal effort required.
- Explore all of your options
Exploring your options is essential in order to make the most of your trip abroad, regardless of what the activity or task is. Say, you want to find the best hotel in your destination, you need to browse through what is available in the region, and narrow down the best choice based on your preferences. Likewise, if you’re interested in visiting a spa, you should search “Massage Therapist Near Me…” followed by the destination. By doing these searches on the web, you can create a list to choose from.
As a result of thorough research, you will be able to not only find good offers within your budget, but also some of the best options to choose from.
- Be internet-savvy
Use incognito windows, or manually delete your cookies and browsing history when searching for holidays. Sites gather your data, and on returning to their site as a repeat visitor, will most likely try to up their prices.
If you find a couple options you’re interested in, follow their social media and do some digging for deals. More and more hotels (and large booking companies!) are offering daily deals which could save you tonnes.
Sign up to newsletters for your favourite booking sites. Yes they may seem click-baity but some do have hidden gems and coupons for their email subscribers.