Travel smart not expensive is something i like to say when it comes traveling. Depending on your priorities and budget it might not always be possible to travel far, exotic and expensive. There, however, is a way to travel exotic and far even on extremely tight budget.

I made this entry to show how i turned 942 Eur luxury trip to Palma Mallorca to affordable 178,94 EUR 7 day trip. I saved 763.06 Eur from the tour company offer.

Traveling On a Budget

Point of this entry is to show how people can travel using a faction of money you would have to spend if they used tour companies. These simple tips you can use on all traveling destinations. Depending on your wishes you might even travel on as small budget as 50 Eur.  

MONEY IS A FACTOR

To many not having enough funds is the main reason for not traveling. This is the main reason for me as well.  It is advised always to think of your funds first and calculate on how much money you are willing to use for traveling. I personally don't like to go above 200 Eur since i have many other priorities.

On average, traveling agencies  charge you around 400 -1000 Eur per person for a nice trip to exotic summer destination which includes tight sightseeing schedule and not that much your own time. 

If you travel smart  you can shave this cost down almost as much as you want.  Keep in mind traveling agency is a middleman company in is run on additional fee they charge you for their services as well as they often get cut from their partners in traveling destinations. 

WHY WE TRAVEL

There are many reasons for traveling. Here are some of the main reasons, in my opinion, why people travel

• Visiting a place
• Relaxation and getting away from everyday stress
• Search of an adventure
• Having fun
• Business trips or research

When traveling on a budget you have to keep your goal clear. Most likely it's a combination of many. Most common reasons are to escape boring routine, have an adventure and have fun. If this is the case you can apply some of the finance thinking to have even more of an adventure while traveling. Doing much of the preparation yourself will make it even more rewarding.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

There are certain factors you should think about if you really want to save some money on these kind of trips. I have divided everything in 6 easy categories which should help to structure your research and thinking.

• Your personal budget for trip
• Destination and timing
• Accommodations 
• Sightseeing plans
• Food
• Budget calculations

GAMEPLAN

Personal Budget

On budget means you save money but still have to spend something. You can have plenty of fun under 100 Eur if not going far and spending just couple of days. 100 - 200 Eur will land you either a fantastic weekend getaway or reasonable trip to some good place. Anything between 200 and 300 Eur might be a bit too much to consider trip to be on the budget, still, this might give you over the top week with some fun activities.

 

Destination

It is an important decision and time schedule might be even more important. It is not advised to travel on tourist season which is May - September for most of the time. This is because more expensive overall pricing.

It is smart to have open mind about destinations. If you have several places you want to visit be willing to choose whichever is most affordable. To do so i strongly advise you to plan your trip multiple months ahead of time. It will give you best chance to score cheap flight. 

Use internet sites like Skyscanner or Cheapflights to see how much plane tickets would cost to different destinations.  Sites like Flysiesta offer a list of cheap destinations from your location. I am sure your country also have these kind of sites.

 

Accommodations

Hotels are single most expensive thing when traveling. Here is a secret to highly affordable long haul trips. Always check destinations where you have somebody you are known with, a friend, school buddy or somebody from work. 

A lot of times your friends would be happy that you are visiting and offer you a nice stay on their couch. World is getting smaller.  

If you dont have anybody there always is a chance to book a hotel. When you travel and want to save budget is it better to reserve a room early. The two heavyweights Air BnB and Booking should be your No.1 choices when searching for a place to stay. 

Try to find cheap place close where you will plan your activities. This way you might save time and money on transportation. Keep in mind you travel to see places and wont be at your room for most of the time. Be willing to sacrifice some of the luxury for cousy place, it might even be more romantic.

A special trick is to reserve a room with free cancellation and no deposit. It will allow you to reserve a different place after time and cancel previous. This way you might work your way up to very decent place with low cost.

 

Sightseeing mapping

Checking out sights is often overlooked. Always check out the homepage of city you are planning to visit. Almost all tourist cities have a special homepage dedicated to tourism. 

If staying over at friends you might even have a free tour of the city so that would work in your benefit. Checking the internet is easy and you can find good insights just typing "what to see ..." in Google.

To keep the costs low concentrate on what you can do for free first.

• Walking around the city and checking out the buildings
• Taking photos of the city, nature, people and so on
• Visit beach
• Go hiking if possible

After that plan some of the things you find worth seeing. Travel agencies will put you on many boring tours you will lose time on. This way you might concentrate on stuff you actually want to see.

• Look for cheap museum tickets
• Check for outdoor activities like bicycling, rock climbing, diving. They might have a discount going on
• Look for something extra cool you have always wanted to do.

Main point of this is to try to fill up your day with things but keep the cost low.

Food 

Best way of saving money on food would be not eating out but buying food from local food shops. Buying something from a supermarket will be a lot more affordable than eating out on often overpriced tourist locations. 

Plan one or couple eating outs to experience the local culture but have most of the nutrients from cheap meals from store. Try to be full before visiting expensive joints so you don't have a feel to eat more. 

 

Budget calculations

This is important step as you want to have a precise number in your head for most important parts like tickets and accommodations. Keep in mind also your sightseeing places. Many of them are free, but some like museums or surfboard rentals cost money. This must be included in calculations.

First think about buying tickets and look for a place to stay. Then, while there still are couple of months before the actual trip try to leave some money on the side to spare for other activities.  This way of traveling is almost like having a down payment system.  

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE

I saved over 700 Eur on my one weeks trip to Palma Mallorca. Here's how.

As promised i would like to show how these trip plannings work in reality. I will now prepare for my potential trip in autumn. I am about to use the method of planning from above to plan a very reasonable trip.

I don't have a specific destination and i feel open minded. I know i want to visit a plane with cultural heritage, beach and place to hike mountains. And i want this destination to be somewhere in  Europe.

Personal budget

I know i don't want to use more than 200 Eur so i would have to have either very tight exotic or decent local trip.

Destination

I am checking  Flysiesta which shows me a the best deals for flights for this summer and autumn.  I immediately get offers for the cheapest, cheapest long haul or cheapest holiday destinations. 

Summer is too short where i live so would enjoy an extra week at some place warm. I have always wanted to visit Malaga or Gran Canaria but this is not the cheapest thing here. I think Palma Mallorca would be a great for me since it usually cost a lot more. 

Checking out the trip i find it is 7 day trip ath the end of the summer. This is good enough for me as last week on August is not that warm anymore here and it would still be lots of summer action in Mallorca.

 

Accommodations

Friend's place

It is highly important to travel to places where you actually know somebody you can stay with. This will save you a lot of money. 

I have a Spanish friend from the Erasmus student program. He studied in my class and lives in Mallorca now, running a cafe business. This is great for me, of course, and one of the main reasons for choosing Mallorca. 

Always contact your friend before buying tickets. I know for a fact he is going to be happy to let me stay with him.

Hotel

I would also like to show how the search and mindset of hotel search should be.

Now i am more about the hotels so i will use Booking  to find a place to stay. Personally i find it safer to stay at hotels. 

Having most luxurious hotel is not my priority. I will be satisfied with good conditions and free wifi. I got multiple hotels and average 150 Eur for 6 nights. It is on average 25 Eur a night which is very cheap considering this is a tourist destination still in late summer season.

I opted to go for this. Hostal Terramar. It has good reviews and a balcony view in my room. This place is registered with Free Cancellation so if i search further find something better i could simply reserve my stay at the other place and cancel this for free. This is a smart way and by the time you actually go on a trip you might worked your way up to 4 - 5 star hotel.

Sightseeing mapping

Now i have never been to Mallorca and all i know there are cool beaches to check out and hiking trails in cliffs.

Mallorca is an island. Having a friend there is great for giving a free tour or giving a tips on places to visit. Also some party with his friends might be amazing. Since i would save money on hotel i would like to use it to have some sort of fun activity. 

• Day 1: Travel and meet with my friend
• Day 2: Free city tour with my friend and taking photographs
• Day 3: Water event and beach hangout
• Day 4: Hiking in the cliffs
• Day 5: Beach hangout
• Day 6: Small road trip with friends car
• Day 7: Travel back

I checked out Getyourguide to find info about paid tours i might have a go in. Since i am on very thigh budget, remember the idea of this blog, i wont be going for most of the things they offer but since i saved money on hotel i might not cheap out on Catamaran tour for around 60 Eur. 

I will also reserve 30 Eur for random tickets.

Food ideas

I am going to visit supermarket and food store to have something cheap. I am willing to not eat as much as at home. Pricing in Mallorca is not much different from home so i will not feel big change.  Since no difference i won't have it as additional price. 

Budget calculations

Now lets see the totals and how my trip looks

• Direct flights -  84.40 Eur (Usually above 250 Eur)
• Housing for me is FREE!
• Catamaran ride - 64.54 Eur. Half a day on water
• Sightseeing tickets - 30 Eur

This is a grand total would be 178,94 EUR. This is for weeks trip to sunny Palma Mallorca with pretty fun schedule.

TIME TO PAY

Here is the catch. It seems a lot but you font have to spend this all on the same day. Plan your expenses.

First, buy plane tickets and confirm stay with your friend. Also reserve a hotel room without deposit. Next month put down half of the budget and a month after that put down the other half. This way you have downpayment system and you still have one more month to save.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I am looking forward to make this trip and i feel you might use a lot of stuff i mentioned here. Many people are often surprised how much you can save if traveling smart.

On my local traveling agencies homepage this kind of trip, more luxurious though was advertised as 942 Eur trip now discounted to 676 Eur. 

This is a difference of 497.06 Eur today. If no discount was available it would be a crazy 763.06 Eur save.

I hope you enjoyed my view of this topic and will enjoy your own more affordable trips. Maybe some will change their views on traveling since it might be much cheaper.

Information: My own experience and tricks

Images:- Pixabay; Booking; Flysiesta; Vanilla Travel;