Here’s a quick list of ways you may not have considered to bring the cost of a vacation down, sometimes way down. Enjoy.
Consider Last Minute Deals:
This strategy works well enough with plane tickets; 3-4 days before a flight leaves, they start lowering seat prices to do their best to fill planes up; the savvy traveller can also plan his or her ticket purchases around this.
But don’t think that you have to limit this strategy to just plane tickets! It’s also a great idea to find a late cruise deal ; often you can get a substantial savings and make possible an expensive cruise that would otherwise be completely out of your budget! The same trick also of course works for hotels, car rentals, etc.
Travel During Low Season:
This one is obviously not available or desirable to everybody, but if you can swing it, it can represent an incredible savings, maybe even 70-80% compared to travelling at peak times. Obviously, you can overdo it with this strategy, and wind up in Oslo in January, or Miami in August, so make sure you plan this stuff carefully!
Also keep in mind that peak season may vary from country to country. For example, if going to China, their holidays are completely different from ours, and the last thing you want to have happen to you is to get stuck in China when everybody is on holiday and travelling! For this reason, it’s also a good idea to avoid Latin America during Holy Week, which starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday.
Use The Apps:
Two apps that are indispensable for international travel are AirBnb and Uber. Both are really godsends when you are in a foreign country (Lyft is also good if you’re staying within the US but they have no presence outside the US unfortunately).
The savings compared to traditional hotel rooms are really phenomenal in AirBnb, and you usually get to do things that you can’t do in most hotel rooms, like cook up your own food (eating out all the time is not only expensive, it can be unhealthy). And Uber allows you to get from A to B painlessly and more cheaply in many cases than taxis, and in addition they eliminate 99% of the language barrier.
Avoid The Traps:
Meaning, of course, the tourist traps!
You will find that places are much more interesting when you get out of the tourist areas. Not only will you get much more of the “real” experience of being somewhere by going to areas where the average resident lives and eats and parties, etc, you will find that it’s much easier on your pocketbook.
This even applies in many cases for areas snooty people consider to be “dangerous”. You will find that people all over the world are nicer, friendlier and more honest than they are given credit for.
If an organisation and more volunteering structure is preferred, there are many affordable options, the UK based volunteer sending organisation Original Volunteers offer organised low cost placements from as little as $17.50 US per week ($24 NZ Dollars) such as their teaching and community project in Cambodia.