Tips about low budget traveling

I think by now people are starting to think I’m rich or that I won the lottery. Sadly, none of that is true.

I try to travel low budget and because many people by now asked me how I did that, I’ll explain it to you in this blog post.

Let me make something clear before we hit all the tips. If you want to travel for a year, you will most likely not travel the same way as when you go on an all-inclusive 2-weeks holiday. If I would spend my money the way people are spending it during such a holiday… my trip wouldn’t last long.

Basically what I’m trying to say here is that you might be disappointed if you were hoping I had some huge magic tricks. Of course I have some tricks, but most of them are based on common sense.

Obviously the biggest expenses during any trip are: transport, food and accommodation.

It would be easy to go to any travel agent and ask them to plan a trip for you. Planning my trip is part of the excitement of the trip for me. I like looking for plane tickets and dreaming about the location I’m about to visit.

Transport

Transportation is definitely one of the bigger expenses during any trip.

Car

Of course traveling by car is usually cheaper than traveling by plane, although that might depend on the destination and the amount of people who will be traveling with you.

I met many backpackers in New Zealand. About half of them are traveling by bus and the other half have their own car/van. Some of them are hitchhiking. Of course, hitchhiking keeps the budget down.

I found traveling by van in New Zealand to be cheaper than traveling by bus. The bus prices aren’t extremely cheap in NZ, neither are the fuel prices. But traveling by car gives me the opportunity to go where I want, when I want. Also if you have a van, you don’t need to pay for a hostel.

The cheapest hostels are about 25$/night/person. A reasonable campground coasts 15-18$/night/person but there are many good enough campgrounds for 5-8$. Depending on the area you are traveling in, you may find a couple free campgrounds. They don’t have a shower and only a long drop toilet…. But I can live with that. Usually I go 1 night free camping and the next night I go to a (cheap) campground with a shower. All in all I think it’s cheaper than traveling by bus and going to hostels.

Plane

Traveling by plane can get pretty expensive.

On my way to New Zealand I made a stop in Hong Kong (and Macau), Singapore, Bali and Sydney before arriving in Auckland.

A one-way ticket to Auckland would have cost me +/-600€ at the time. The price for the plane tickets of the above itinerary was +/-750€. To me that was worth it :-)

Finding cheap plane tickets is time consuming. Here are some things to keep in mind when looking for plane tickets:

Be flexible with the location
Sometimes it’s cheaper to fly to another mayor city first
Why not visit that place as well? :-)
Be flexible with your departure and arrival dates
Book at the right moment
I use Skyscanner or Google flights to search my flights. With Google flights you can keep an eye on the prices of the plane tickets you would want to book. Because of “cookies” the prices of your flights might raise because somehow the machines behind all of these know what flight you are interested in. I’m not sure if this works, but I try to mess with my cookies, haha. I am currently watching the prices of 34 different flights :D
Usually the right moment is about 4-8 weeks before departure. It freaks me out to wait that long and sometimes it’s worth it but sometimes it’s not. With Google flights you can check the prices of plane tickets. If you are for example flying to a popular destination, the price if the plane ticket might go up because of national holidays of because of a high demand for tickets. It might just be the other way around and the prices might drop because the airlines want to have their planes filled.
The price of shorter flights within Europe or Asia usually doesn’t change much. Longer flights on the other hand might rise up to double or triple the amount if you wait too long.
Be prepared to take non direct flights
Lay overs are annoying. Nobody like long flights or waiting 8 hours in an airport. These are the things that make you tickets cheaper though.
Sometimes it’s cheaper to book with online “agents” (Joker, Connections, …) than booking directly with the airline. That really depends on the flight.
Be aware that some airlines provide really cheap flights, but luggage fees aren’t included. Perhaps check out the seconds hit on your search in Skyscanner/Google flights.

Food

Now this is an interesting topic :-)

Keeping your budget for food low depends on how you travel.

When traveling with my van, I have no refrigerator meaning I can’t keep my food cold for a long time. When I go to a campground (with refrigerator/freezer) I put my food in the fridge and I put one bottle of water in the freezer. The next morning the bottle of water is frozen and I’ll use that to keep my food cool.

Another option is to buy frozen vegetables. You can eat the vegetables in the evening and during the day they kept your food cool :-). You get inventive when traveling on a budget, haha.

If you’re traveling by bus and going to hostels then the other problem might be that bringing all the food is too heavy or that it takes too much space. Staying in a hostel for a few days might help because then you can make 1 meal for a couple of days, which will lower the amount of money you need for 1 meal.

Basically buying a bigger amount of something, also keeps the price down.

Many backpackers live on minute soup or noodle soup. You also see many backpackers in KFC, Burger King and McDonalds because sad but true; these places are cheap to eat and they provide free Wi-Fi.

Sometimes food parties appear out of nowhere in hostels. It’s great to see some people making a meal for a group of people and then sharing the price.

Accommodation

Hostels

Hostels are generally cheaper than staying in a hotel. Although that does depend on the country you’re traveling in and the amount of people traveling with you. If you are traveling alone, a hostel sounds like a good idea because it’s cheaper but also because you can meet other people (who are traveling alone) in the hostel. You might end up with some great friends.

Try checking out these websites: booking.com, hostelworld.com

Sometimes you can get membership cards, which provide discounts in hostels of a certain group. In New Zealand that would be: BBH or YHA.

Camping

As I already mentioned, camping is usually cheaper than staying in a hotel or hostel. If camping isn’t your thing, well then try out hostels?

Woofing

If you Google “wwoofing” you’ll find the website of the country you are willing to visit. For a small price you can become a member for a year and find hosts who are willing to host you. You’ll work on a farm (cows, pigs, alpacas, bees, grapes, …) in exchange for food and accommodation and on top of that, you might bump into very sweet people and have a great experience!

Travel guides

I’ve figured out that buying a travel guide is not really necessary and as a backpacker it just “extra weight” in your luggage. Almost all cities have a visitor center/information center and even hostels/hotels provide information about the area. Who knows better what to do in the area than locals? Travel guides are nice to read, but not necessary to have.

Peak season

It’s pretty obvious that you’d have to avoid peak season if you can. Prices of hostels and plane tickets can drop immensely out of peak season.

Pick the right destination

Traveling to countries such as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are definitely cheaper than countries as New Zealand, Singapore or Australia. If you really want to live low budget, then pick the right destination.

Stay for a while. Travel slow.

Quickly moving one from one place to another might actually raise the price of your trip. Sometimes you can get a cheaper rate at a hostel or campground if you stay for a longer period (1 week, 2 weeks). Not only will you get to know the location better, you will also find out the best quality/price restaurants in the neighborhood. It's also more eays to make friends.