Welcome back to the three-part Budget Travel Tips: The In-Depth Simple Guide. This is the final post in the three-part series.
- If you missed part one, start from the beginning and read this: Budget Travel Tips: The In-Depth Simple Guide (Part 1)
- To read part two, check out: Budget Travel Tips: The In-Depth Simple Guide (Part 2)
Exploring other parts of the world and satisfying your wanderlust doesn’t have to be expensive or out of reach.
Budget Travel Tips: The In-Depth Simple Guide (Part 3)
We touched on the first six tips in the previous two blog posts. If you missed them, go back and read them first.
If you’re new to budgeting for travel, check out How To Budget: The Ultimate Guide to Save for Travel.
Once you are ready, grab a beverage and a snack, wrap up in a blanket, and prepare to save with the final three tips!
- Know Before You Go: Plan Your Trip
- Consider the When
- Deal or No Deal? (Hint: We Want Deals)
- Choose Your Accommodation Wisely
- How You Travel Matters
- Be Free
- Don’t Eat Your Budget
- Find What Matters the Most
- Sharing is Caring
Budget Travel Tip #7: Don’t Eat Your Budget
Food can be one of the biggest travel expenses. It adds up quickly and quietly if you’re not careful. Eating at restaurants or getting takeout is a significant weight on your budget and sometimes on your health.
As with the other budget tips, this requires a bit of time researching and planning but is well worth the conscious effort.
- Eat Street Food
- Cook Your Food
- Pack Snacks
- Keep It Simple
- Do Your Research
Eat Street Food
Street food is the best. Some of the most delicious food you will ever eat while traveling is sitting on a street corner in an unassuming cart. You will find anything and everything ranging from simple delights to complex flavors and sensations. This is also where many locals eat their daily meals and socialize.
Street food can have a bad reputation stemming from a belief that they are not as hygienic. Although this is sometimes true, it’s not always the case. When it happens, it may be because of a lack of knowledge or resources to follow strict food safety rules.
Nonetheless, don’t rule out street food and potentially miss out on one of the most delicious, authentic meals you can have. There are even some street food stalls that have Michelin stars!
Eating street food is a great, cost-effective, and convenient way to make your budget last while getting a true, authentic, unforgettable travel experience.
Cook Your Food
We love to cook our food when traveling for several reasons, the major one being the cost. Depending on where you go it’s cheaper to buy food from the store and cook it yourself than go out to eat. This is why we try to find accommodation with a kitchen or kitchenette, as I mentioned in tip #4 above.
It doesn’t have to be only foods you are familiar with or regularly cook with at home. This is a great opportunity to visit the local markets and stores and try your hand at some new cooking techniques or flavors.
Even if cooking isn’t your thing, you will often find cheaper grab-go items at local markets or grocery stores than at restaurants and cafes.
Pack Snacks
I am a snack person. I have a fine line between being slightly hungry to so hangry I can no longer function. We carry snacks with us everywhere we go. And trust me when I saw: when we forget, we regret.
Carrying helps you stave off the dreaded hanger. But it also prevents you from spending unnecessary money at the expensive café attached to the attraction you’re visiting.
In addition to snacks, bring reusable water bottles with you. There are fill stations almost everywhere or you can fill them each morning at your accommodation. We always bring two 1L bottles with us everywhere we go. If you’re traveling somewhere with questionable water quality there are various tablets, powders, or devices to sanitize your water.
Keep It Simple
This one isn’t always fun to stick with but it does make a difference.
I’ll use our love of coffee as an example. We love coffee. I also love a fancy latte here and there. But when traveling we generally stick to basic coffee, espresso, or an americano. Good coffee will always be good and you don’t need all the added fluff of a latte.
You may disagree and that’s fine, you have different priorities. Recognize where in your daily eating habits you can keep it simple to enable you to splurge elsewhere.
Do Your Research
This last tip regarding food is to come prepared and do your research. Utilize the websites and social media of the places you want to visit. Check their menus and pricing, search Google, read reviews, and look for “cheap eats” blog posts. There are many resources to make an informed decision regarding the food price.
Budget Travel Tip #8: Find What Matters the Most
This next tip is part budget, part general life hack: discover what’s most important to you, and do that.
Do what makes you happy.
Prioritizing what’s most important to you not only helps you in budgeting for travel but also in general life.
There may be a specific event or attraction that is very expensive but so iconic you feel like you have to do it. But, do you? Does this particular thing enrich your life? Are you happier doing something else? Will you stress over the price of it and be unable to enjoy the experience anyway?
When you know what makes you happy and what matters most you prioritize these. Which, in turn, maximizes your budget, your time, and your life.
Traveling makes us happy. So much so, that we wrote an entire post on it: 10 Reasons to Start Traveling Now (And Why We Will Never Stop).
Budget Travel Tip #9: Sharing is Caring
This one might be a bit of a mind-shift adjustment as it requires you to leave your comfort zone.
If you stay at a hostel, guesthouse, or even hotel depending on the vibe, you may be able to make friends to share experiences and costs. Tours offer discounts for groups, the more the merrier.
Meeting your fellow travelers is also a great opportunity to learn more about the destination and build life-long friendships.
Something Luke and I always implement, mostly because I always want what he has, is to share food, snacks, drinks, etc. where possible. This is great for me as I get to try two things I was interested in instead of each sticking to our meal. In addition, we avoid overeating and food waste. Our eyes are often bigger than our stomachs and you can usually buy more if needed, but you may as well share and start small and see where that takes you.
YOU DID IT!
I am thoroughly impressed you’ve read this entire three-part budget travel blog post series. If you’ve reached the end, comment below with “still here” and give me some of your top-budget travel tips.
By implementing a variety of these tips (and more) you’ll be able to travel more, follow your dreams, and achieve your financial goals. It only takes a little time and effort to make impactful, long-lasting changes.
