It is not a secret that money is one of the most important elements of every trip. Sometimes, it takes quite a while to save enough money for your dream trip, so you want to be careful how to spend them and to make a good budget plan. As part of Mastercard’s travel tips campaign, I already shared with you some travel tips for carefree vacation. In this post, we are focusing on money saving travel tips.
I asked 11 travel bloggers – the best example of frequent travellers, to share their best money saving travel tips they learned from experience. Here’s the result:
1. Ask yourself if the thing you’re about to buy will really make a difference in the long run. An ice cream after a nice meal and a perfect sunset isn’t going to make much difference to your happiness, probably better to save it for a day when you’ve missed your flight and lost your luggage – or something similar!
Laura and Tanbay, Travelling Weasels
2. Make sure breakfast is included at your accommodation and skip lunch. That’s a lot of money you’ll save over a few weeks!
Heather Cole, Conversant Traveller
3. Gosh, I am the worst person to ask this. I really don’t pay too much attention. I eat what I like, I stay where I want, and if I want a souvenir I also buy that. I generally follow the rule of being sensible: if I would not spend that amount of money at home, I will not spend it while I travel.
Claudia Tavani, My Adventures Across The World
4. Food is one of the most expensive things in a trip, apart from flights and accommodations of course, but once you managed to save with these two, food can be costly. Choosing carefully where you eat is important, street food is a great alternative to restaurants, and buying at supermarkets even more. In case you’re staying in a self catering apartment, always try to cook instead of heading out for each meal.
Allane Milliane, Packing My Suitcase
5. Our top tip for saving money while travelling is to decide on a budget and stick to it. Remember that you’re travelling and not on holiday so you want your savings to last as long as possible (but don’t forget to include fun activities in your budget!)
Sandy Kul, Brit And The Blonde
6. A travel expense app! I live and swear by TrailWallet, my favourite budget and expense tracker. Whenever I buy something — even if it’s a one-dollar-juice on the market — I put the expense in my app, which then tells me how much money I still have left from my daily budget. If you go over the budget, the app throws some terribly sarcastic comments at you, like “Who needs money anyway?” or “Are you kidding me?!” or “Yolo b*tch” (okay, maybe not this one, haha). This really puts my feet back on the ground!
Olga Rabo, The Russian Abroad
7. Good organisation, detailed research of the local places and finding accommodation months in advance.
Stanislava Encheva, Sun And Sany
8. I’ll be honest – I’m not the best person to answer this! While I always look for ways to save money when booking a trip, on the actual trip I’m more reckless when it comes to spending. What I do however is look for budget restaurants or cook my own meals if I’ve rented an apartment.
Vlad Mateescu, Eff It, I’m On Holiday
9. I don’t eat 3 meals a day in restaurants when I travel – I usually eat only a couple of meals, just to get the taste of the local cuisine. I try to choose accommodation sites which offer access to a kitchen, so I can at least have my breakfast “at home”. One can also save a lot by not purchasing all kinds of souvenirs (magnets, postcards). I tend to print some of my own photos for friends and family instead, and they often appreciate it more than a fridge magnet.
Adrienn Takacs, City Of The Week
10. Walking and free tours! It is great to explore the city and its small streets that you would otherwise miss if you use only the public transport. So I would advice walking when you can! Free tours are usually based on tips so you can pay what you can. They are great value because of the young locals passionate about their city that can give you great information and advice.
Sianna, EO Stories
11. Pay with a card when you travel and ask your bank about additional discounts or saving tips. If you use your Mastercard abroad, always pay in local currency to get the best conversion rate. Mastercard also have a zero-liability policy protects you from unauthorized swipes. Also, how many coins and small change you have left after every trip? I call those ‘lost money’. You can avoid that by paying with a card.
Maria, Travelling Buzz
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Jenny | September 21, 2018
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All of this advice is really helpful. I didn’t know that if you paid in local currency on card the exchange rate was better, that always confuses me when I’m away ><
Jenny | localleo.co.uk
PolLY | October 9, 2018
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Great article and advice. I never really pay by card when abroad, instead I exchange money in advance to the local currency and this often saves me a bit of the exchange rate. But I might consider paying by card next time that I travel.
Petit | November 11, 2018
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Yes, paying with a card is a great way to optimize your budget and not waste money! And a lot of people think it’s quite the opposite… Breakfast being included is a huge plus as well, that’s a given (and most hotels that call themselves a budget hotel do serve it – but you better get to know more about its quality!) I would not focus on cutting back on the food too much, though – it’s a flavor of the place you’re visiting. In my opinion, budget is best conserved on accommodation, and spent on everything your destination can offer!