In my opinion, budget travel does not mean staying in dirty, seedy or repulsive hotels. Budget travel does also not mean travelling to the back end of nowhere, where there is nothing appealing. For me, budget travel is simply being efficient with your finances. This can lead to many more travel opportunities. Why? You either have more money to spend on other trips. Or you can book that trip you didn’t think you can afford. I’ve spent the last couple of years travelling this way. So, I have noted the best budget travel hacks and tips for you.

You will find 9 of the easiest ways below. These can help you transform your travel and make the most of your wanderlust. Make sure you look out for the bonus budget travel hacks along the way.

Budget Travel Tip 1. Travel Light.

Be honest, do you really need all of the stuff you’re trying to take on holiday? Usually, the answer is no. So, If you want to travel for less, especially on short trips, pack only what you need. This way, you can avoid paying for extra luggage. All airlines allow you to take a rucksack or a large handbag as hand luggage for free. Alternatively, you may have to pay £10 – £20 each way for a 10 KG cabin bag. Remember, budgeting is simply about efficiency and you’ll be surprised how much you can fit into the right bag. Especially with the numerous options there now are for bags specifically made to fit within the airlines measurements.

I use the bags made by the amazing team at CabinMax. They have a wide range of different bags, all of which are made to the size requirements of different airlines. So, the first thing you can do to start making your travel more efficient and affordable is invest in one of the bags here.

Bonus budget travel hack – make sure you don’t select your luggage options at the first chance when booking online. You need to first click that you do not want to add any luggage and then wait. Then, as you go through the rest of the booking process, they will usually offer you the same options for less money. Sometimes you can save 40% on your luggage by doing this.

2. Find Flights not Dates.

Genuinely, this is the worst thing you can do when you’re trying to travel on a budget. If you choose the dates you are going to travel and then look for flights you are at the mercy of the prices. Please stop!! Obviously, I understand that some people are somewhat constrained by work. Yet, there is no reason you have to have Monday to Friday as your weeks holiday. Alternatively, you could go Tuesday to Tuesday and save yourself a bunch of money! The best thing for you to do is to find when the cheapest flights are and then go and ask for your holiday for these dates. I’ve seen flight prices vary from £40 returns to £150 returns just by choosing different days within the same week.

You will also usually find that flight paths will have the same days throughout the week that are the best to fly. For example, if you find cheap flights on a Tuesday, they will usually be cheapest every Tuesday. But remember, this is specific to each individual flight path.
 
Bonus budget travel hack – You can find everything you’ll ever need to save money on your flights in my expert flights guide. It’s now on sale and you can get an extra 25% off using the code BLOG at the checkout. Grab yours right here, right now and transform your travel instantly.

3. Live Normally, Not Like a Tourist. 

To be honest, this comes down to the kind of trips you enjoy doing. So, if you want to go somewhere to be in a nice hotel, eat at nice restaurants every meal, have the convenience of taxis and forget about boring life tasks for a week or two, then this may not work for you. But, for budget travel, you need to reframe your idea of a vacation/ holiday/ travel. Specifically, start seeing it as time for exploring another country and simply, live like you normally do.

Firstly, you need to find accommodation in local areas rather than tourist areas. You can also benefit from staying somewhere with kitchen facilities so you don’t need to eat out all the time. Then, you can ask locals where to eat so that you get suggestions away from the overpriced tourist spots. Finally, you should use public transport to avoid taxi fees or rental cars.

Obviously, these examples are a mere few and the main point is to live more like you normally would, wherever you go. If you want to go on holiday and relax in a resort, that’s up to you. But, if you want to make the most of your time and money, this is a much better choice.

Budget Travel Tip 4. Cost of Living.

The best thing you can do for budget travel is to visit countries with a low cost of living. Why? Because everything is so cheap! I will show you a comparison. So, I went to Sri Lanka where you can find a home stay, with a private bathroom and breakfast included, for under £15 a night. However, when I went to Perth, Australia, the cheapest home stay was £50 per night, for a bedroom and a shared bathroom. Equally, a meal out in Sri Lanka was £12 (drink, starter, main, side) but, in Australia, the same would be £50+. Therefore, if you consider these costs across a whole trip, the difference is drastic!

Bonus budget travel hack – South Asia, South America and Eastern Europe are some of the cheapest places to visit in the world. You can check out some of the cheapest destinations from each continent here.

5. Avoid Tourist Traps.

Do you really want to travel to the same places as everybody else and pay a premium for doing so? Honestly, holiday destinations with a tourist reputation or places known to be ‘desirable’ or ‘trendy’ to visit are not the most exciting places to go. They are also definitely not made for budget travellers. Almost certainly, you will pay more because establishments can just charge a premium knowing the holiday makers will still come. I also don’t particularly enjoy having to battle my way through overcrowded areas and spend hours queuing for attractions. Of course, if you really want to go to see certain things, there is no judgement here and I understand the appeal. Equally, there are so many places around the world that have amazing things to offer without the crowds and premium pricing.

Bonus budget travel hack – If you do want to see some of the touristy places, you still can. Simply find somewhere you can stay outside of the popular area and spend a couple of day trips travelling into the tourist hot spots to save a bunch of money.

6. Using the Right Websites/ Apps.

Today, you have so many apps and websites at your disposal. For example, budget travel accommodation options like Homeswapper, Homestay and Couchsurfing. Also, budget flight options like Google flights, Skyscanner and Skiplagged. Finally, let’s not forget transportation apps like Blablacar. Honestly, options are everywhere. Equally, a lot of them are well hidden, which is no good to people trying to find budget travel options. So, for further help with finding these websites, sign up to my free weekly newsletter to get my future blogs sent directly to your inbox. If you’re on a mobile device, scroll down to find the sign up form, or if you are on a laptop or PC, you can find it at the top of the side bar on the right side of this page.

Budget Travel Tip 7. Spontaneity.

I know this isn’t a luxury afforded to everybody. However, if you can manage it, being spontaneous can save you so much money. You can literally turn up to the airport and ask to what flights are available. Or, you can just search the whole world on Google flights and find a destination that is good value enough to book the flights without too much planning.

Bonus budget travel hack – you should learn your workplaces sickness policy. Honestly, you can work out how many days sick you can have without any disciplinary action being taken. Obviously, you can’t post about your holidays if you’re supposed to be sick but it can help with being spontaneous!

8. Home Comforts are for Home.

We all get so comfortable with what we know. But this can lead us to miss out on so many opportunities to explore the true wonders of the world. Every home comfort you ‘need’ when you travel is an added expense. Often, you will find cheaper accommodation, cheaper flights, cheaper baggage options, cheaper food and cheaper activities if you leave some of your home comforts at home. Every bit of money you save on things like that means you have more money to extend your trips or, have more of them! As I mentioned above, this includes unnecessary luggage, using taxis and much more.

9. Read More.

There are too many budget travel tips to list on one blog. Whether it’s flights, accommodation, food, activities or transportation, you can save money everywhere. So, take some time to glance over the other posts in my budget travel section and learn the tips and strategies that I implement every time I go on a trip. Also, don’t forget to join my email list for future blogs sent straight to your inbox, I post a new blog twice a week so there is a lot more to come!

Conclusion

We can save so much money with just a few minor tweaks to our choices when we travel. For me, these are the easiest budget travel tips that you can implement straight away to save yourself some money. My aim is to help you travel more by giving you ideas of how to be more tactical and efficient with your holiday funds. Obviously, the more you can save on each vacation, the more vacations you can go on. Hopefully these tips can help you fulfil your wanderlust as much as they did mine!

Which ones of these have you used before and which ones are you going to try next time?