Travelling Tips: Make travel affordable using these go-to tips and tricks

Travelling is about getting to know yourself and your surroundings better. Hop on a plane, train, or bus and head to a destination of your choice looking for peace, solace, and adventure.

Do you remember your last trip? The wooden cottage you were staying at was surrounded by an envelope of greens with a breeze softly brushing against the window panes. Catching up on the sunrise and losing yourself to the beauty of the night stars are memories you cherish even today.

Wouldn’t you love to travel to places like these often? Do you see any problem in doing so?

Well, it can get a little challenging to plan cost-effective travel. Here are a few handy tips to help you save smarter on your next travel expedition.

11 Quick tips to make Travel Affordable

1. Bet on “Off Season” Travel

Are you considering a family or solo trip to the Himalayas? That is fantastic. Your first instinct would be to experience snowfall in the Himalayas, build a snowman, and throw snowballs at one another. You would opt for the peak period between December and February.

A fun fact here is that most travellers think on similar lines. This means you will now be paying a fatter sum for your transportation, stay, food, and sightseeing. You can play your cards right by planning to travel smart.

 Be wise and plan your visit to the place of your choice when tourism is at its all-time low. This allows you to enjoy the same services at slashed prices.

2. Book your Flight “Cheap”

Avoid peak hour travel by keeping your travel timings flexible. To reach your destination, board a 4 am cost-effective flight over a 4 pm expensive one. You can always catch up on the lost sleep later.

Keep on comparing between different carriers until you find a lost-cost alternative. What you may not know is that flights come cheap when booked offline or in incognito mode.

All you need to do is get rid of your booking history, especially if you are repeatedly surfing for flights. You are likely to see higher flight prices when you continuously look for flights. Save yourself the trouble by booking smart. Smart booking also means getting your flight tickets booked with Cleartrip. Just a few clicks and your booking is through. Not to mention, the plenty of discounts and offers you get to explore! Flight booking could not have gotten any easier.

Furthermore, if the place permits, you can even opt for train or bus travel over a flight.

3. Bag an Internship or Volunteering Role

Travelling to multiple destinations around the year is no short of a blessing. There is only one problem though. You may be short on funds.

The good news is that there’s a solution to this. Simply pick out your favourite travel destination and start looking for places that offer internship or volunteering roles.

Say you are travelling to Gulmarg. Find a homestay or hostel where you can intern by the day or volunteer for a few hours. What do you get in return? Of course, free accommodation and food.

Keep the evenings for enjoying a river walk or going skiing. The best part about such opportunities is that they allow you to stay longer in the place of your choice. 

4. Save on Stays

Comfortable and convenient accommodation is all you need to enjoy your trip. Don’t confuse comfort with luxury.

 Save on your stay expenses by booking hostels or homestays that charge nominally. At times, you may even get a shared kitchen facility to roll out your food.

 A pro tip here is that you can have a word directly with the property manager or owner. You can surely bag some lucrative discounts in case the occupancy is low.

5. Know your Travel Itinerary

Pre-planning your travel itinerary is an equally wise thing to do. For instance, you may be heading to Hyderabad. List out the best tourist places like the Sudha Car Museum, Golconda Fort, and Ramoji Film city along with the other places you would like to explore.

You can then choose a stay facility that is easily accessible from these tourist spots. This would help save on transportation costs. Want to get more details about such wholesome stay facilities? Cleartrip shall come to your rescue.

 It would be an added advantage if there is public transportation around so that you can travel to sightseeing places without spending much.

6. Opt for all-inclusive Packages:

Package deals are everyone’s favourite for a reason. Such deals come with inclusions like transport, stay, and meals. You save yourself the stress of making constant bookings. You do not have to worry about the last-minute hikes with pre-planned bookings.

 Are you planning to head to your favourite destination? Make sure to check out some lucrative packages in the city beforehand. 

7. Say No to Roaming Charges

Visiting a foreign land is an enticing experience. When you are away, you would like to stay in touch with your friends and family back home.

The urge to speak to your mom and let her know what you had for lunch can cost you a heavy price. Roaming charges are indeed on the higher side.

To avoid finding yourself in such a situation, buy a local SIM card. If this is done right; you need not worry about making multiple calls back home. When there is an easy option available, why take the expensive route. 

8. A Table for Two is always Great

While travelling solo, you need to bear all your expenses single-handedly. Even if you wish to travel to any tourist attractions, you need to rent a scooter or car for yourself.

 If you are getting a quick meal, you will have to pay in full. Is there a way to curb such expenses? Yes, there is by going around with a friend. This friend could be someone you just met at your hostel or the last coffee shop that you were visiting.

Getting such a travel partner will help split your stay and food experiences. This shall work as a cost-effective bet for both of you, so the other person is likely to agree. 

9. Talk to the Locals

You may make the best plans to ensure a cost-effective trip experience with friends and family. However, nothing can beat the expert advice you gather from the locals.

Make it a point to get talking with the locals. Find out places where the locals eat. Persuade them into shelling out some quick tips and tricks to enjoy a budget-friendly trip.

Sometimes, the most authentic information comes from the locals.  Make sure you tap on this opportunity. 

10. Discounts always feel great!

Discounts and offers are a saviour every time you proceed with your travel bookings. At times, you might book a prominent flight or a reputed stay facility purely because you were aware of the ongoing discount offer.

 Avoid hurrying up with your bookings. Get the necessary information. Give yourself enough time. Carry out a comparative study between options.

Speak to someone who has had a budget trip to the destination of your choice. Gather information, introduce discounts, and enjoy a budget-friendly trip. To avail some mind-boggling discounts, head to Cleartrip right away. It’s always raining discounts on flight tickets, hotel stays, and more.

11. One trip, multiple destinations

Another way of making the most out of your travel is covering multiple destinations. Say you take a flight from Mumbai to Goa. You can now visit different tourist spots in and around Karnataka, a 2-hour drive from Goa. It is a great idea to club destinations.

Now if you skip going to Karnataka, you will have to re-plan your Karnataka itinerary sometime in the future. This only means an additional expenditure, which you can drop by planning one long trip instead of multiple shorter ones. 

Budget Travel is the way ahead

Do you remember the last time you wanted to travel? You must have looked up the web for multiple domestic and international destinations.

Addition, subtraction, some more permutations, and combinations, only to find out that the trip is going over your budget. This is usually followed by silent sulking and the “there is always a next time” agenda.

With travel opening up avenues to rejuvenate and revive your tired self, you for sure need to start working on your next travel itinerary. You can now travel on a budget by putting some of the above-mentioned tips and tricks to use.

FAQs

Q1. How to book cheap flight tickets?

Ans: You can search for flight options in offline or Incognito mode to avail of cheap air tickets. 
Opt to travel during non-peak hours.

Q2. Is off-season travel cost-effective?

Ans: You can save considerably on transportation, accommodation, and local activities during the off-season.

Q3. What’s the best hack to save on solo travel?

Ans: You can make huge savings on solo travel by making new friends and sharing expenses.

Remember, you can save money by sharing transport and meals.

Q4. Do pre-bookings help?

Ans: Booking in advance can help you avoid last-minute price hikes making travel affordable.

Q5. How to use internship opportunities to save on travel?

You can save on travel by volunteering or taking up an internship opportunity at your desired place of stay. 
You work by the day, enjoy a free stay and meals, and explore the city during the next half.