Recently we posted an article revealing our number one tip for budget travel. And it got us thinking, while our tip has worked great for us, it’s only one of the many awesome budget travel tips out there. We took to our favorite travel blogs asking them the question; what’s your best travel tip for saving money and traveling longer?
Join us as we hear about the best budget travel tips from some of our favorite travel bloggers!
Learn how to score crazy deals on flights –Â Backpack ME
If you travel with a limited budget (or just want to be smart about your expenses) it is important to keep an eye on the things you pay for on a daily basis. But, more than that, it’s essential to try to save on the major expenses as that is exactly what will make a difference in the big picture! For us, and many other travelers, that translates into booking the best deals on flights.
Flexibility of schedule is key on scoring the best prices on flights: if you don’t limit your search of flight to a specific date, but instead a period of time, you are much more likely to come across sweet deals. Other than that, be prepared to face long lay-overs or not so straightforward routes if you want to save more money. After dozens of flights on all sides of the world, we’ve perfected some techniques to score crazy deals on flights no matter where we go.
Bargain your way through the world – Bunch of Backpackers
One of the best ways to save money during my travels was to bargain. In tourist areas this is almost always possible, wherever you are in the world! I bargained for tours, souvenirs and accommodation. So, what’s the secret to great bargaining? The number one rule is ‘Be friendly’. A smile can make the difference. It’s important that the person that you’re bargaining with starts liking you and eventually is willing to help you out. So, now let’s move on to the more practical tricks. Everyone knows the walk-away technique. When the owner calls you back you know you were close to a ‘reasonable’ price. If not, you may have aimed to high. But no worries, you can always go to the next shop/stand/hotel.
This is also essential: always check different places and do your research to get a rough feeling for the price. When you shop around don’t carry too much money with you! The chances are that prices rise once they see your big banknotes. Another tip is to try not to be disappointed once you closed a deal. It’s tempting to think ‘Ow, I could have maybe gone a bit further down’, but there is really no point in that. Ask yourself how much you think it’s worth for you and just be happy that you already bargained some of the price down, and maybe grant the owner a bit of extra profit! Final tip: don’t be shy, you can always try!
Think in local currency – The Crowded Planet
Whenever people ask us how we manage to stay on the road for months at a time, our answer is always this: start thinking in the local currency. If you’re traveling around developing countries it’s very easy to fall into the trap of converting to the euro or dollar, thinking everything is so cheap and splashing out on swanky dinners and pricey drinks. Don’t get me wrong; there’s no problem with the occasional splurge, but it must be occasional! What we usually do, in the first couple of days somewhere new, is ask around to get a rough idea of costs; hotels, food, local transport and so on. This way we can keep track of what we spend and avoid being overcharged. And of course, we never, ever convert. You’ll think twice before parting with 250 rupees, but 3.11 euros? I guess not.
Finding the best food – Mytanfeet
A few of our best budget travel tips are about finding food. Yeison and I love to eat and try new foods,but we believe that you don’t need to pay a ridiculous amount of money to eat authentic and tasty food. Whenever we’re in a new place we ask the cab drivers where the best and cheap place to eat is. Cab drivers always have to eat out, so they are a great resource for cheap and tasty local food and they usually know which ones are open late or are twenty-four hours.
For grocery shopping, we always ask the locals to find out where they do their shopping. Buying North American or European brands in Central America is always more expensive, so to cut down on grocery money we try to buy local brands as often as we can. It helps to do some research online before you go, but you can’t always find that information so it’s best to ask the locals when you get there. For a few minutes of asking around you can save a lot of money by finding out which one is the (normally) cheaper local grocery store compared to the expensive tourist one.
Have you got something different you’d like to share?
If you’d like to be a part of this ongoing series send us an email at contact@dontforgettomove.com
This is a great idea for a series of post, guys!
It’s important to share with one another the things we learn while on the road.
Well-done and thanks for including our tip! đŸ™‚
Thanks for contributing guys! We really appreciated your tip and enjoyed getting advice to share with everyone!
Great collection of advice! Thanks so much for sharing đŸ™‚
Thanks for stopping by Liz!
Great tips! Love the one about thinking in local currency – not converting in your head to USD.. That has never occurred to me! Would probably save me some $$!
Yes, that tip is definitely a good one! Prices in USD can seem a lot cheaper than in the local currency!
What an excellent series, these are great tips – thanks for sharing them.
Thanks Noel! Gad you enjoyed them!
Some really great tips from a collection of wonderful bloggers – definitely a very valuable resource!
Great tips, great post. Thank´s for sharing it with us.
No problem, hope they’re helpful!
Thank you for featuring me J&C! Already look forward to the second part of this series!
Was a pleasure! Thanks for contributing. Second part coming out this weekend đŸ™‚
Excellent travel tips. I’ll make sure to follow them.
Glad they are helpful đŸ™‚
I’m all for the bargaining!
In Vietnam and China for example you kind of have to bargain for your accomodation. If you go in low season, they’ll put the hotel price down!
I think our best tip to not spend too much money is to buy your own transport and sell it back at the end of the trip, gives you freedom and you don’t spend as much on bus and trains!
Great tip! Not sure it would work in all countries, but definitely places with a decently navigable road system would be awesome to buy a car/bike/van in!
That third tip, think in local currency, is SO important! We spent our first three months comparing everything to England – and it’s so easy to think ‘oh it’s only £2, it’s so cheap’. But all those £2’s here and there really add up fast. We ran out of money quite quickly in the countries that should have been cheapest, and we’re picking our stingy way though Argentina on a super strict budget!
Now we set our budget in local currency, and it’s helped us stop splurging on things that seem cheap by English standards!
Definitely! It seems so simple but it’s so important! Those few dollars that you save here and there can really make a difference on the length of your trip! And then you can spend them on big, pricey splurges!
I completely agree with all of these, especially Manouk of Bunch Of Backpackers. Bargaining is key, and that simple question ‘is that really your best price?’ can save you a LOT of money!
Some amazing tips from the experts here!
Definitely! Haggling is huge if you want to make purchases. And it can be really fun!
Thinking in local currency is so important. We have blown a lot of money because we try to convert in our head, and most of the time we think it is cheaper than it actually is. Its much easier ti figure out roughly what things should cost in the local currency and go from there.
Definitely! If you compare it to prices back home, everything will seem cheap but if you think in the local currency, you will save more money!
Love these tips. I agree with thinking in the local currency, it’s so easy to get distracted thinking that things are cheaper than at home but you can still find yourself spending more than you really need to. Some great advice here! đŸ™‚
It’s definitely easy to forget what things costs when you start moving between so many different currencies. Glad you liked the tips đŸ™‚
Thinking in local currency is probably what I need to improve on! When I moved to the Czech Republic I was constantly thinking oh its only £4 for a sandwich! I was used to paying £7 in London. But then after awhile I realized £4 (or the equivalent of) was extortion in Czech Republic! So now I try not to in other countries I visit.
We have a daily budget but are pretty flexible which I think is our downfall will take on some of these things and see how we go
You’ve always gotta be flexible, but definitely trying to make a few savings a day can help stretch out your trip a long time.
Great post. Excellent tips for seasoned travellers as well as those just starting out.
I really love the tip about thinking in the local currency! This would have saved us a lot of money in SE Asia!
Some good advice. I especially like the bit about thinking in local currency – it’s so easy to pay far more than you ought to just because it seems cheap when you’ve converted it.
What an awesome idea, I love seeing collaborative posts from other travel bloggers. There’s no better way to hone our collective arts than by sharing and cross-pollinating. I really liked this: “Whenever people ask us how we manage to stay on the road for months at a time, our answer is always this: start thinking in the local currency.” Everyone had very constructive tips, thank you for sharing your brain juice đŸ˜€
Ah, what a useful post.. Love it! Can’t wait for the next series!
Thanks, it’s been really fun getting all the tips together.
Great tips from respected and experienced travelers!
All really good suggestions! We always plan trips on a budget. Lot’s of savvy ways to save while traveling! Thanks!