15 Ways to Save Money While on Vacation This Summer
We all love going on vacations. We want to explore our own countries in the ultimate road trips. We book flights to foreign countries, hoping someone speaks our native language, and visit sites like the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, or the Taj Mahal in India.
Whether you’re one of the 114 million Americans planning to vacation this year or you’d rather keep things closer to home with a staycation, getting out and about will cost you some money. Learning to save some green while at it is always helpful.
To that end, we’ve created a list of our most helpful tips for saving on everything from gas and groceries to travel accommodations and overnight hotel stays.
1. Seasonal Travel Work
One of the most remarkable ways to fund your travels is through seasonal work. Hostels, ski and beach resorts, restaurants, and other hospitality services are always looking for seasonal workers for their high-traffic seasons.
If you love to travel and are tight on funds, working overseas for a season is a fantastic way to live in and explore a new spot. When the season’s over, you can travel back home or find a new place to travel and start over again. Workaway and Wwoofing have many opportunities to experience cultural exchange and learn from traveling to work in foreign spaces.
2. Early Morning and Late Night
The middle of the day is the busiest travel time for most people. Therefore, booking your flight early (before 6 AM) or late at night (after 10 PM) can help you save on your flights. Whether booking a one-way or a round-trip booking at these odd hours, you can save yourself a bundle over the busier travel times.
Booking in advance is also another way to save. For domestic flights, it’s recommended that you book 28 days out from your preferred travel date. Doing so can save you up to 24% over booking at the last minute (within six days of traveling).
3. Budget Your Vacation
It’s so easy to want to do all the fun things while you’re away from work or school on vacation. We want to see all the sites, eat out until our stomachs hurt, and be wild, crazy, and spontaneous. Unfortunately, that mentality will blow through your money faster than flushing it down the drain. Creating a spending budget (with limits) for your vacation ensures you have plenty of fun and can still afford to make it back home.
Food, lodging, necessities, emergencies, and the like all need to be carefully considered before you get on your flight. Double-check that you have all your paperwork, like your passport and visa (if you’re staying a while). Once you’ve made a detailed budget, you’ll be set to enjoy your time away without the worry associated with overspending.
4. Hostels or Hotels
It’s convenient to do a quick internet search and book a big, overpriced hotel. However, it’s not very cost-effective. Hotels can easily cost you into the thousands, depending on where, when, and how long you book a stay.
Instead, consider staying in a hostel in your host country while visiting. Hostels are community-based travel lodges that offer communal sleeping and hangout areas. Their bookings are unique to their specific setup, so you’d want to consider that before requesting space. Some also have age limits that might hinder your stay if you’re traveling with smallerchildren or are an older adult.
5. Free and Discounted Sightseeing
Traveling to foreign places can be fun, exciting, and intimidating. If your budget doesn’t allow for extravagant spending, finding free and low-cost activities is essential to maximizing your experience.
Free walking tours are commonplace in most tourist cities, although a tip is customary in such situations. These tours usually focus on cultural and historical areas of significance inside the country and are excellent ways to learn more about the places you’re visiting.
6. Thirty-Three For The Price of One
One time and money-saving tip is to purchase an Interrail Pass from Eurail if you plan to visit anywhere in Europe. With this one pass, you can visit up to 33 different countries. This vast network of rails makes it easy to move from country to country, enjoying the nuances of native living while keeping your transportation accessible.
Once you’ve got your pass in hand, you can use an interactive map to create the travel route you’d like to take, which works well with the budgeting tip from earlier.
7. Credit Card Fees
Credit cards are essential to traveling, especially if you’re going outside your native country. Choosing the right one can be the difference between fun and financial stress.
When deciding which credit card to use for your international trip, choose one that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. These fees are unnecessary and will only use up more of your credit limit, making it pointlessly more difficult to pay off your balance. For reference, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, and the Platinum Card from American Express all fit this category.
8. Travel Insurance
It might seem counterintuitive to pay for travel insurance, but given how often things can go wrong, it’s advisable to look over policies that may benefit you in the long run. Each policy is different and covers different incidents you may encounter while traveling.
Travel insurance offers reimbursement for non-refundable deposits on flights and travel accommodations if a covered incident prevents you from traveling or causes you to cancel your trip. It may also provide coverage of purchases you had to make because of a covered incident. Be sure to read and understand the policy information carefully before purchasing so you’re not unexpectedly financially strapped over an incident your insurance doesn’t cover.
9. International Phone Plan
Using your cell phone in a foreign country will incur extra calls, texts, and data charges. On average, you’ll be charged$1.50/minute for a call, $.50 for texts, and $20 for each megabyte of data you download.
To combat these extraneous fees, you can either purchase an international SIM card or an international phone plan while traveling. Confirming that your phone will work in the countries you plan to visit is a good idea. From there, adding international calling, texting, and data access to your plan is a fairly easy process.
10. ATM Fees
I’ve heard good and bad about using ATMs (automatic teller machines) in foreign countries. However, some argue that even paying the extra ATM fees is cheaper than having your currency exchanged at an exchange booth in the country you visit.
You could always have your currency exchanged before you leave, which is advisable because it makes for an easier transition should you end up at your destination after business hours. If you’re exchanging more than $200, the exchanged currency amount can be shipped directly to the bank of your choice. However, shipping may take some time, so plan accordingly and have your exchange done well before you leave. If you travel frequently, you can always keep some at home so you can grab and go if your trip is last minute.
11. Don’t Use American Money
No matter where you’re traveling, using and being familiar with the local currency is a good travel policy. While several places accept US dollars, the exchange rate might be less than honest and can quickly deplete your native currency faster than you planned.
By using the local currency, you can save as much money as possible when purchasing hotel rooms, restaurant meals, or trinkets to take home.
12. Pack Light
One seasoned traveler says that packing light is the key to ensuring baggage fees don’t ruin your fun. Airlines are notorious for continually increasing their checked and cabin baggage fees. Learning how to squeeze all your goodies into a carry-on bag can save you considerably in this area.
Being able to pack light and only take what you need is how you get away with just a carry-on bag. By doing so, even if you have to practice, you’ll keep your costs down on fees that only steal your cash before you even get on the plane.
13. Compare Prices
With the introduction of sites like Expedia and Travelocity, comparing flights, rental car, and hotel prices is easier than ever. You can check out reviews for restaurants and other businesses that will allow you to make the best pricing decisions on every step of your travel experience and get the lowest cost-to-perk ratio possible.
Be sure to consider prices and reviews before booking a flight or hotel. Cheap flights and hotels aren’t always a good buy if they’re poorly managed. On the flip side, the most expensive places aren’t always worth the extra expense, either. Compare both to get the best deals available.
14. Eat out for Lunch, Skip Dinner
One of the most unique parts of traveling abroad is the exquisite food. Tasting the cultural fare of a foreign country can be one of the best memories you will have when you return home. However, knowing when to splurge on eating out is essential to stretching your food budget. Lunch is considerably cheaper than dinner and should be your first choice if you want to try a restaurant or street vendor.
During the dinner hour, especially in highly trafficked tourist stops, a premium is tacked onto each meal. Even if what you purchase at the dinner meal is the same meal you bought for lunch, you’ll invariably pay more for nothing.
15. Hidden Gems
Everyone wants to visit the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. However, finding the tucked-away places and the hidden gems of a country will pay off much more in the end. Not only are they less crowded, but they’re also not likely to be surrounded by vendors looking to hawk their wares. You can visit places like MontMartre’s Sinking House or one of the French Statues of Liberty.
Unique stops like these offer a new and exponentially more expressive look at a country. You’ll have incredible stories to tell your family and friends, especially when everyone expects you to gush about the “hot” destinations.
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