One of most common New Year resolutions is the resolve to travel more in the coming twelve months. While many people would welcome the opportunity to visit a dream destination, a large majority don’t do so chiefly because of financial constraints. Many believe that travel costs are too high which consequently makes travel an unwise financial decision.
I used to hold this very belief for a long while and ended up missing out on so many travel opportunities. What many people don’t realize is that there are several proven ways to save money on travel. That trip which seems too expensive might not be out of your reach after all.
Ways you could save money on travel include
Prepare a Travel Budget
The first rule of sensible travel finance is that one must prepare a travel budget. Don’t fall into the temptation that your good sense and frugality will serve you well. You’ll end up burning a hole in your pocket and not have a clue how your money disappeared.
Plan your daily expenditure by aiming to be as precise as possible in your estimates. The goal here is to considerably minimize wastage. In the event budgeting proves to be a little hard, one can always bring in some help.
Be Strategic in Your Timing
The best time to travel is when most people aren’t doing so. Costs are cheaper and there are more discounts for you to take advantage of. You are, therefore, most likely going to travel during periods that aren’t close to holidays and when kids are still going to school.
If you are a parent then travelling during this period can prove to be quite tricky and will require special arrangements to be made. Nevertheless, if you don’t have any kids, pick the most ideal time to travel and have some fun.
Saving Money on Accommodation
It always bugged me that I couldn’t reduce my accommodation costs given it swallowed a huge chunk of my travel budget. Well that’s until I discovered that I could make significant savings by booking directly with a hotel. Moreover, the hotel’s loyalty program always guarantees that you’ll pay less money than its other customers.
What I did next was go through sites that survey hotels, e.g. Kayak.com. This was in order to compare the loyalty programs of various hotels in my travel destination. Hotels with generous savings for customers were the ones that caught my eye.
Car Rental Savings
I was at the mercy of high car rental prices for years until I discovered AutoSlash.com. This website was so successful in slashing costs that car rental companies became more hesitant about working with it. Gone are the days when you’d receive favorable instant pricing.
What happens nowadays is that they send you an email bearing the money you’ll.
AutoSlash.com reduces your costs by using coupon codes to increase your rental discount. The end result is a considerable reduction in price.
Booking Airline Tickets
An article regarding how to save money on Travel would be incomplete without a segment dealing with booking airline tickets. A common misconception holds that there isn’t an ideal time to purchase air tickets at low costs. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Statistics indicate that tickets booked during the weekend cost 19% less that those sold during weekdays. The underlying reason for this phenomenon could be anyone’s guess but facts never lie. There is, therefore, no harm in waiting for the weekend to come around for you to book a flight that isn’t immediate.
Take Advantage of Cashback Programs
You can never be too cool for cashback programs. I certainly am not. Not even when I once received a loan used for travel expenses to cater for all my expenses on a trip.
Make a point of carrying a number of credit cards which offer significant cashback savings. Those point-of-sale savings and reward points will go a long way in reducing the amount of money you have to pay.
Conclusion
The notion that travelling is expensive and, therefore, not worth the hassle is one that needs to be challenged. Adopting the above-stated tips to save money on travel coupled with a bit of initiative will go a long way in making it possible. Additional tips may be found here.
