By Mashum Mollah
Ask the average person, and they’ll admit they wish they could travel more often than they do. It’s not a lack of will that’s keeping these people from taking the trip of a lifetime but a lack of funds. International travel can be expensive, making it a challenge for anyone hoping to see the world.
If your wanderlust doesn’t match your budget, you aren’t doomed to a life of staycations. You can see the world if you plan your holiday right with the following tips:
1. Time your travel :
Timing is everything when it comes to travel. Book at the wrong time, and you could be paying twice as much as what you would if you had just waited for the right time. But what is the “right” time for travel? It’s different for every place, but a good rule of thumb is to avoid the summer months when you’re traveling in the Northern Hemisphere.
Prices are inflated in the summer because of the nice weather. If you’re willing to travel during the fall or winter, you could save money by organizing your trip around the off-season. You can further maximize your savings by booking your international flights two months before you want to leave.
2. Use rewards points or travel miles :
If you have any rewards card that can go towards flights, hotels, or other travel must-haves, now is the time to cash them in. These points usually come with conditions about how you can use them, so make sure you plan ahead before you rely on them. You could have to book flights or hotels at specific times to qualify, so don’t expect to be able to use them right away.
3. Work a mobile side-gig :
One of the reasons why vacationing is so expensive is because you rack up considerable costs at a time when you aren’t working. If you’re lucky, you’re due vacation pay that can help offset the cost of your wanderlust. If you don’t have this, and you’ll be traveling for a long time, then you should think about becoming a digital nomad.
Websites like UpWork, Fiverr, and Take Lesson offer a way to sell your services online and turn a buck wherever you are in the world. Whether you’re a copywriter, web designer, teacher, or graphic artist, you can find freelance work using these websites. You could schedule your day around work in the early morning and sightseeing in the afternoon.
If you’re going where the Internet is spotty, consider offering your English skills to local businesses and restaurants. You can translate their signs, menus, and web content so they’re more accessible to travelers and trade your services for money or credit at their stores.
4. Be Prepared :
When creating one of the peaks of Peru’s Cordillera Huayhuash mountain range, the last thing you’re thinking about is life back at home. Few travelers like to think about the trip back to reality when they’re smack dab in the middle of their trip, and neither will you. You’re too busy hiking, sightseeing, or sunbathing to deal with issues that might arise back home, but that doesn’t mean emergencies won’t happen.
Maybe you’ll come home to an inflated cell phone bill thanks to roaming charges, or maybe your basement flooded while you were away, and insurance won’t cover the damage. It’s a good idea to think about these things before you leave for your trip so you aren’t totally blindsided when you get back.
If you won’t have savings left after your trip, you should research installment loans as a possible backup. Lenders like MoneyKey offer these short-term loans with alternative repayment options that let you pay back what you owe in smaller chunks or installments.
Since they work differently from the average payday loan, you’ll want to check out these options for installment loans to see if this is a practical stopgap for your savings. Doing this before you leave for your trip when you aren’t stressed out will help you find the right solution when the clock is ticking.
5. Look for free activities :
Once you get to your destination, think carefully about how you’ll fill your time. You don’t have to spend your cash to spend your time well. There are a ton of free activities to do in most cities, including walking tours, concerts, and special pay-what-you-can days at museums and art galleries.
If you do a little research online, you can uncover any of these free (or nearly free) opportunities. Don’t forget to check out the community calendars of your destination to see if there’s anything planned for when you’re there. You might be surprised by what you can do without paying money.
6. Don’t stay at a hotel :
While hotels offer a simple and convenient way to stay in the city of your choice, they’re not the most practical ways to visit when it comes to your budget. The most basic hotel room offers just a bed and a bathroom. For what’s essentially a place to rest your head at night, hotels can be expensive. Sometimes, you can rent a full apartment or condo through Airbnb or HomeAway for a lower price than a hotel room.
7. Eat out less often :
You can run up quite a tab if you eat out for every meal. Next to flights and accommodations, food and drink are the most expensive aspects of your trip. You can minimize their impact on your budget by eating out less often.
You can do this by visiting the local grocery store to pick up portable snacks and food for quick and cheap meals. Make use of your Airbnb’s kitchen and cook something at home. You can pack up your dish with a bottle of wine and eat al fresco in a nearby park, so you aren’t cooped up in an apartment while abroad.
Travel will always be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be impossible for those on smaller budgets. The trick to affordable travel is adjusting your expectations. An elaborate summer holiday that involves eating out and visiting every cultural site may be out of your reach, but an off-season trip organized around cheap activities may not be. Try out these money-saving techniques the next time you vacation, and you’ll start doing what you actually want to do for once—and that sees the world!
Read Also :
