7 Smart Ways To Save On Your Next Trip

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Booking a travel package is often the best option that a family of five would choose for a summer getaway. Travel packages or travel tours are not only convenient, they’re also less expensive.  That being said, it doesn’t mean that what’s included in travel packages are cheap hotels with cheap features. Most often than not they’re top rated hotels who partnered with certain airlines.

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Thus, if one prefers to book accommodation and transport separately, there are many websites that offer booking for hotels at a cheaper price. You just need to compare to find one that suits your budget.

It is given that one must plan and save money for travel. Budgeting for a trip saves you not just money, but headache as well, learn more here about how to effectively handle your money. There are also a number of ways to lessen the expenses when travelling with the family. Here are some.

Find Cheaper Flights

It’s not the best option, but at times, flying from different airlines is cheaper. It could be tiring, but if you want to see a city for an hour or two just to decide if you would come back and visit it for a longer stay, it’s fine.

We’ve summed up some ways you could find cheaper flights here, one thing that is really worth it is to join airline’s Frequent Flyer clubs. You collect points whenever you book and you can use those points to travel less or free, or upgrade if you fancy travelling in style.

Book At The Right Time

Booking 1 year before your flight is sometimes good, especially for long-flight destinations. Airlines usually have promos of such kind, and it’s worth planning that early if you want to save on dollars. However, airlines at times put their flight sales a month before the actual dates, so it’s really smart to follow their social medias for such promos.

Last minute bookings are sometimes cheap too. These are airlines ways to sell unbooked seats, so grabbing them on your next trip can actually save you money.

Cheaper Accommodation

One website you can check on for cheaper accommodation is Agoda. It has a comprehensive list of hotels in a number of cities to choose from. As mentioned, cheaper doesn’t mean one with cheaper price and less features…it’s getting one you prefer at the most convenient price.

 

When choosing  hotels to stay at one has to consider the price, size, facilities, services offered and actual reviews of guests who’ve been there. All these are included on Agoda’s pages featuring hotels. Plus an instruction of how to get to the hotel of your choice via local transport and a bonus list of what are the nearest attraction or interesting places to visit in the area that the hotel’s at.

And yes, a gallery of photos will help a traveler decide too, just in case. This is one website that will minimize you’re getting a hotel that’s not cramped, not with very little elevators and not very far from transit. Consider your options before booking that hotel on your next trip…having a comfortable and secure hotel is important too for you to enjoy your city stay.

Consider Apartments

Sometimes, renting an apartment will also prove cheaper. Since there are services that are not offered here compared to hotels, there is less to pay. There’s no cleaners everyday, no concierge, and so taxing is a lot different.

Pay or rent in apartments tend to be for the whole of it or per room. For a family of five, paying for the whole apartment for 5 days is cheaper than booking at a hotel for the same span of time per head and per night. You also can save when you have  breakfast and when cooking dinner in your rented apartment’s kitchen instead of eating out.

Be Food Smart

What I’ve learned through the years is to buy food items at local grocery stores, if there’s a fresh market, items could be cheaper, even bottled water. For cities that have potable water installed throughout the city, bringing a flask would save you lots of expenses from bottled water. Have lunch where the locals do, research on this before you go. Look into local blogs to get insider tips, and probably reach out to the city’s tourism board for some tips and probably vouchers. As said above, you can opt to have breakfast and dinner at your apartment if you opt to book one instead of a hotel room.

Shop Wisely

For those who are eligible, it’s best to get tax rebates from the country you’re visiting and then pay tax on your home country. Also choose a season when there would be a lot of items on sale. While spending on is not really saving money, we all want to travel in style, and sometimes there are pretty items we see abroad that we can’t resist.

Other Ways To Save On Your Next Trip

Before you book your next trip, make sure that you do not have a cancelled trip the past year. Otherwise, you can get refunds in connection to the corona virus that caused many flighty to be cancelled.

Currency exchange is a little confusing, whether you bring cash of your currency and exchange it at your destination, or get it exchanged before you leave, you will have to pay a fee. But, never exchange money at the airport, as they have lower rates. If you withdraw from local banks, you pay for the service and the exchange too. At best, get a credit card that doesn’t charge you for using it abroad. I find the Wise card to be very practical. Exchange a certain amount of money to the currency you will be using and then withdraw it from the local bank, there’s no fee for the transactions, or at least the first hundred amounts.

What other ways to save on your next trip can you share? Let us know in the comments!