Want to explore the world while spending the least amount of money?
To start off there is a significant difference between travelling and going on a holiday. When travelling you want to keep expense as low as possible, while during a holiday you are treating yourself for all the hard work you have done.
I am currently in Sardegna, Italy, for a week and will be sharing my expenses for this trip and how I made my decisions during this week here.
As I also work while abroad I prefer to have my privacy, so shared rooms and hostels are not an option. This could cut down costs even further.
Decide your location depending on the costs of travel
Instead of looking for the cheapest option to a specific location you have in mind, look for cheap travel opportunities and let the location be a result of what is available. You can of course look in a certain part of the world, like a warmer climate.
I use skyscanner.com, they offer a map showing all prices from your departure airport and you can pick the month you wish to travel. I also let the length of my stay depend on when the cheapest return ticket is.
My ticket price to Sardegna: 58 euro
Cook your own food
This is mostly catered towards travelling in Europe, for Asia street food is quite cheap in general. Instead of booking a hotel look for an apartment, via Airbnb for example, where you can cook your own food. This does not mean you should not eat out, since food a big part of experiencing a different culture. Just do not eat out every day ;)
Two bedroom apartment with wifi for 8 days: 122 euro
Walk
Instead of using taxis use public transport as much as possible, even better is walking. Walking not only allows you to see more of the place you are visiting it is also healthy. This only works for cities where there is enough to see since your range is not that far. Since I am currently on an island with only a handful of small cities I have rented a car for 8 days. Before booking my trip I always check the price of the flight, apartment and a rental car, if needed. Based on the combined cost of all 3 I will decide if a destination is worth it.
Small car for 8 days: 35 euro
8 days Sardegna
- flight: 58 euro
- apartment: 122 euro
- rental car: 35 euro
Fixed costs: 215 euro
This only leaves groceries, gas and maybe some regional costs like tickets.
wow...that is a very good budget.
From where did you traveled?
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This is helpful. Most people don't like trekking even a very short distance. I tend to spend alot on my little vacation but with this, I'll curtail the expenses.
Thank you
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Most people are lazy ;P I hope you can save some money with these tip to invest in more travel!
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Exactly! Laziness
I will certainly save
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If you’re in a new place walking around helps get your bearings and the feel of a city.
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Exactly. You get to see places and explore.
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I like your article. It says the most essential things for every traveler. I would add a few more tips from my own experience. I work as a flight attendant and when I visit a place as party of my job I stay in 5* hotels and I have the freedom to spend more money. When I travel on my own is a completely different story.
One of the things that really helped me and reduced my expenses is using websites like Couchsurfing. I've met really great people who helped me with accommodation and lots of tips about their hometown. If you avoid doing the most touristic things you can also save money and you will have great experience learning many more new things from local people. I tried hitchhiking a few times (but I would do this only if I travel with somebody else) and it's also a great way to save from transportation. These basic rules helped me to visit around 60 countries until now and I hope they will help you too :)
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Great tips, thanks for sharing. Couch surfing is a great idea when you do not mind sharing the place you are staying and I can imagine it becomes quite easy to get to know somebody and learn about their culture when sleeping on their couch ;p
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It is easy if you carefully choose your host. I don't know why I sense some irony in your comment. I never stay with people who don't have enough references left by other travelers. Sometimes people are busy, especially during the week but I've received some of the best travel tips where to go and what to see exactly from those kind of people. I also host people back home and I've met amazing people who did amazing things. Sometimes you can travel without even physically moving. It is a truly inspiring project to me.
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I hope you can come to Indonesia to enjoy the beautiful natural charm.
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I will visit Indonesia eventually!
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I hope like that, hopefully we can meet in Indonesia and can share the story
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Thanks for the tips, I am using Skyscanner too to search on budget fare and airline. If riding the train, I will try to purchase in advance on Trenitalia website.
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Thanks man very useful guide, I will certainly use it when I finish my studies and start traveling <3 Have a nice day!
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Useful guide! I've never heard of skyscanner.com and will definitely be checking them out. I hadn't realized it was that cheap in some parts of Europe to visit, that really makes it more tempting to take some International trips!
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good recommendations, thank you.
I have upvoted you
I am planning going traveling here in San Miguel de Allende.
I will see if I can apply your recomendations.
Greetings from México
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For moving around I like to rent a bike. Easy to rent, fast-ish to move and cheap.
I also try to hitchhike a lot, good way to meet people.
That's how I've travelled Patagonia for 62 days spending less than 500 dollars.
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This is good information for traveling I will sure keep this in mind thanks for sharing .. looking forward to your Italy post of your experiences :)
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Great pieces of advice! This is very similar to the system I use for years. This week I just finished construction of May spring travel. The only difference is that we choose a rough destination in advance. When I say rough, I really mean that - our preselected destination was: 'Austria or Southern Germany'. I use booking.com for years, and I have a lot of benefits as a regular user (see hidden offers, have extra discount etc).
Decision car vs plane we base on the calculation of the expenses from viamichelin.com site since it includes gas, amortization of car and road taxes. We compare price from there with the price of cheap flights plus rent and then make a decision ;)
Our construction for 7 nights stay in Salzburg area for 5 people:
And this is a very expensive area. Imagine calculation like this for someplace in Eastern Europe. Our one week stay in Bulgaria a few years ago was 50 eur per person with all expenses, without a food. Complete bargain ;) Very often those travels are cheaper than staying at home since my 'home' expenses are somewhere between 50-100 EUR per week ;)
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Great post! I agree 100%!! that is the way we do it most of the time...
While you are in the méditéranéan see, We would be glad to be your host if you spend a few days In Marseille..
Keep it up and steem on!
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Are the prices for apartment and car rental shown in daily rates or total? Must say, I've never seen a car rental for ~5 euros per day :) Is it because it's the off season? Still, it seems like an incredibly cheap deal!
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Let me share my experience, it is sometimes cheaper to book accommodation on the site Booking.com than airbnb,as so it was when I traveled in Fortaleza in Brazil. But it's also always need to compare prices for hotels and rooms at different sources.
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Google flights is also a great resource to use in conjunction with Skyscanner. It works like Skyscanner but sometimes has better(or worse) deals.
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