Sometimes, traveling on a budget may take away the magic from the entire experience. Living in an odd hotel and opting for the slowest and most uncomfortable modes of transportation might contribute to making the trip a disaster rather than memorable. When it comes to the glam part, you obviously miss out on Instagram worthy moments.
However, even if you have thousands of dollars to spend, there are high chances that you will lose all of them if there’s no end to your expenses. It is very important to have stability while spending, especially when you’re not in your city. Even if you have little money to spend, it can prove to be a great experience as it lets you think like a local and devise creative ideas to enjoy.
As soon as you set a travel budget for yourself, you must also think of various ways to keep yourself glued to it. The foremost requirement for this is to create a realistic budget, which in no way will bring down your traveling experience. Let us share with you the rest of the tips on how to stay on this realistic budget throughout the trip:
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Download a Budget App to Track the Expenditure
One of the best ways to save your money while traveling is to track each cent spent and record it somewhere. The easiest is to download a budget app and jot down all the expenses in it to get detailed travel expense reporting. This will also let you know if you are spending is in control or not.
By the end of the day or week, you can add up all the expenses and check where all your money goes. This will help you in staying focused on your goals and find out the areas where you need to improve to stick to a budget. Having all the numbers right in front of you gives you a direction on how to alter your spending habits.
Travel on the Public Transport
Traveling through local transport can prove to be the biggest fear, especially if it’s your first time in developing countries. But if the locals can do it, then why can’t you? Consider it to be a joyful ride where you can truly connect with the roots of the city, and get to mingle with the locals and ask about the interesting places which you should be visiting.
It sounds very uncomfortable to ride on a bus filled with people but it can be very entertaining as well! You will not be able to enjoy such hilarious stories and would find yourself in seclusion if you choose to travel by taxi or other private transportation. If you’re more adventurous than this, you can even try hitchhiking.
Eat at the Local Joints or Cook Yourself
Planning out your trips beforehand can play a very important role in sticking to the budget as you travel across a new place. This doesn’t imply that you need to plan each and every meal you are going to have on the trip as this might take away the experience of trying exciting local foods.
However, we do think that already having in your mind what you might want to eat will play a significant role in saving those dollars. Try to eat at the local restaurants – not only do they provide authentic tastes but are easy on the budget too. For times when you don’t feel like eating out, you can always cook yourself so try to live in a place where they provide access to the kitchen.
Choose a Reasonable Accommodation
The accommodation makes up for the biggest daily cost in any traveler’s expense. In certain locations, it is quite easy to drop a few hundred dollars extra just to stay in a lavish hotel room. This will prove to be counter-productive for your long-term travel goals as not giving up on this desire might limit you to only one trip in a year.
Moreover, traveling is all about going out so instead of spending money on where you are going to stay, you must spend it on wandering around and exploring the place. By doing research beforehand, you can easily find a great place at a reasonable cost. Also, if you’re booking in advance, you may be able to find some awesome deals on hotel rents.
Do Not Indulge in Excessive Shopping
Souvenirs and gifts take up a huge chunk of travel expenses. Until you visit the place and find out about the actual prices of the products, you cannot have a clear picture of how much money to keep for them. It is better to search online for the average prices so that you can keep enough money aside for shopping.
Your best attempt should be not to buy anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. This doesn’t mean you cannot get anything at all, just try to stick to the essentials and hold yourself off from impromptu purchases. Another way to save a good sum of money is to shop at the local market where you can find everything of need at a cheaper price.
Conclusion
A wise idea is to set the budget on a daily basis according to your expectation of expenditure on each day and the length of your stay. Your budget should be according to the type of trip you would want to have. There are times when you’ll go overboard with the budget while on other occasions you’ll try to save some money – the takeaway is to discipline yourself according to your traveling expectations.
If you have a traveling partner, ensure that your budgets are on the same line otherwise it might get quite awkward at various instances. Most important of all, you must always have extra money with you for emergencies so that you don’t feel financially helpless when caught in a situation in an alien space.