Master The Art Of Saving Money While Travelling!

Tags: Lifestyle

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Saving money and travelling is a continuous process.

You can’t save money before you travel and splurge like there’s no tomorrow when you are on holiday

This will result in severe post-holiday reality check when you take stock of your accumulated debt. You might need to have a tight financial plan for some time. Do not be surprised if you are forced to live under a shoestring budget for a year after splurging on the trip.

And, neither can you spend lavishly for pre-travel preparations hoping that you could cut down some bucks while travelling.

You will be stressed and too focused on trimming the expenses. Highly likely, you will miss out on experiences and compromise on fun. Really, what’s the point in going travelling then?

Effective, simple and practical money-saving hacks

Earlier, we came out with five money hacks that will help you save money when you are planning your trip. Read all about it here!

Now, we are going to list down more hacks that you can use once you embark on your journey.

But before that, keep in mind that these tips are highly dependent on the countries you are going to visit.

For instance, it’s safe to drink tap water in most European countries. Hence, you can save money by refilling your water bottle instead of buying bottled water.

On the other hand, if you are visiting countries such as China, Mexico, and Brazil, it’s not advisable to drink from the tap. Bottled water would be the safest option.

Food

Food make the core of your travel experience. The buttery croissant you had in Paris, the masala of paneer tikka masala you tasted in Jaipur, and the sting of the spicy sambal from Indonesia will stay with you longer than you could imagine.

So, by all means, avoid bringing ready-made food from home when you travel. Yes, while it is the easiest way you can save money, it is simply not the best since you will be missing out on local cuisine and culinary experiences.

Instead,

Ask the locals around you the best dining options. Anyone from your hotel's front desk receptionist, to your Airbnb host will let you into details of local places that serve tasty local dishes. In fact, the best people to ask about food are the Grab and taxi drivers who know the area inside out!

Often, they are affordable and gives you an insight to how the locals live in that part of the world.

Besides following the locals’ words, you can also do your due diligence and research.

All you need to do is Google “Cheap places to eat in Australia” and you will have a long list of suggestions from bloggers, travellers and tourism sites.

Another interesting way to make food affordable is going to the farmer’s market (for countries that have this culture). You will be able to grab fresh produce at a highly affordable price as well as get a glimpse of the local culture.

Sight-seeing

It would be easy to hire a car and whizz off to tourist spots. It would be easier to pay a tourist guide and follow him. But, these will add up to your costs and frankly speaking, they are boring!

Instead,

You can opt for free walking tours often found in popular cities. You might even find thematic walking tours such as heritage walking trails, and food trails.

Alternatively, you can take your map out and explore the city all on your own. To add more fun to your exploration, hire bikes (some hostels give it for free!) and go cycling around the city.

You should also opt for tourist passes often available in metropolitan cities. The tourist passes offer public transportation at reduced cost and sometimes, free entry to popular attractions around the city.

For instance, Visitor Oyster Card in London, New York Pass, Eurail Pass, and Singapore Tourist Pass. A word of caution: Make sure you opt for these passes only if you are staying long enough to fully utilise them.

Look for days when entry to popular attractions are free or discounted. If you look hard enough (Google is your best friend!), you will be able to find this information fairly easily. For instance, you can visit the Louvre in Paris for free on 14 July every month. And if you are under 26, the entry is also free as long as your present proper ID.

Adventures and experiences

While you may have booked for your day trips during the planning stage, leave some slots free to fit in some ad-hoc activities while you are there.

If you are opting for backpacker hostels, enquire the receptionist if the hostel organises any interesting activities for tourists. Often, backpacker hostels organise cultural exchange activities such as bonfire night, day hikes, camping, musical night and so on.

Opt for activities that wouldn’t cost you much. For instance, hiking and camping are relatively cheaper than shopping and speed-boating. If you have nothing planned for the day, get a bottle of local beverage from the supermarket, go to the seaside/lake promenade/the viewpoint and enjoy your day, instead of sitting in an overrated and expensive café.

You should also try to connect with other travellers to see if you can join them for any activity they have planned. This way, you would enjoy the activity with like-minded people and you would be gaining travel friends.

Take advantage of your credit cards

There have always been two types of opinions when it comes to using travel credit cards while travelling. Use it to have maximum fun! OR Don’t use it, you‘ll end up spending more than your budget!

However, credit cards can be a great plus if you plan and use it wisely.

There are travel credit cards that give you reward points when you use it abroad. Collecting these reward points will be of use later on when you can exchange those accumulated points with items from the rewards catalogue.

For instance,

You will also get to enjoy 2x complimentary plaza premium lounge worldwide access.

With the HSBC Visa Signature Card you will earn up to 8x rewards points on overseas and local spending with e-commerce purchase protection coverage of up to up to US$200.

The card also provides up to 8x reward points for every RM1 spent overseas and 6x complimentary plaza premium lounge access.

Using the RHB Rewards Credit Card will reward you with up to 4x points for overseas spending.

You also stand to gain up to 2x points for every RM 1 spent on for health, insurance & shopping. While overseas, you can get up to 4 Reward Points for every RM1 spent.

Use your connections

Know your friend’s cousin’s fiancé who is living in Turkey? Or your best friend doing postgrad studies in Europe? Or your uncle’s friend who has settled in the US?

Go get their contacts, throw your reservations out of the door, call them up and see if they would be available to host you or simply to bring you to their favourite hole-in-the-wall dinner place.

At the most, you would be saving up on accommodation cost. At the least, you will get a glimpse of their home away from home.

More so, if you have friends who gallantly made an exit during the farewell saying ‘Hit me up if you end up in Australia’ or ‘Plan a Europe trip and crash at my place’, it’s time to remind them about it!