Five Ways to Travel on a Tight Budget

A lack of funds should never stop you experiencing something new. Read our five handy tips on how to keep costs down when abroad.

1) Book transport as far in advance as possible

If you are planning on moving around when you are on holiday whether it be by boat, train or bus, booking in advance can often produce some huge savings. Take Italy for once example, a direct train ticket from Rome to Venice a day before departure is likely to cost £80 but one month ahead they can be purchased for as little at £19. The situation is similar in Sweden where an adult would pay at least £40 to get from Stockholm to Gothenburg if leaving it to the last minute but as low as £17 if booked a few weeks before.

2) Eat savvy

We all like to sample a bit of the local cuisine when abroad but doing it for every meal can rack up quite a large bill. One of the big expenses can often be lunch with sandwiches often costing at least a few pound in many destinations. Fresh bread however can often be sourced very cheaply so if you have your own filling with you, you can make yourself a tasty sandwich at next to no cost. Jam and peanut butter are great options to carry around as they won’t go off and will provide plenty of servings, just remember to pack a knife with you!

3) Wash your own clothes

When jetting off somewhere, paying for checked baggage both ways can add a lot of money to the cost of the flight, often as much as the ticket itself! If you are going away for 2/3 weeks, packing all your clothes into one cabin sized backpack may seem like an impossible task but there is a way around this. Simply pack enough clothes to last you a little over half the trip. Just before the halfway stage, find a local laundrette or wash the clothes yourself in a sink if your accommodation has some clothes hangers. If picking the second option, ensure you pack a small bottle of laundry detergent and a pair of rubber gloves before you fly out. Make sure to squeeze as much water out of the clothes as you can and a couple of days later the clothes will be (almost) as good as new.

Travelling on a Budget

4) Bring a reusable water bottle (or two)

Drinks from convenience shops or at restaurants are rarely cheap and keeping yourself hydrated shouldn’t have to be an expensive task. Many countries have drinkable water straight from the tap so before you leave your accommodation, fill up your bottles and know you won’t need to add drinks to your list of expenditure. A reusable bottle that won’t leak won’t cost you more than a few pound so the potential savings are substantial.

5) Be sim smart

With roaming charges across the EU scrapped, travellers can use as much data as they like (within their normal allowance) without paying a penny extra. But what if you are travelling outside of the EU? One tactic is to unlock your phone and buy a local sim when you are there. Local pre-paid sim cards will allow you to use mobile data without paying extortionate charges and they can can often be purchased very easily from a range of shops.