Everyone desires to travel around the globe. Travel is an activity that none can resist if you call for a kid of 7 years old or a grandma of 70 years old. Everyone desires to travel to their favourite domestic destinations like Ooty, Valley of Flowers, Gangtok, Andaman & Nicobar, Rajasthan, Kerala, Sundarbans, and a long list of travel spots. A few people desire to gain international experience, such as listening to Opera at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. There is more zeal for adventure, mainly in the younger fellows who have time & energy too. I remember in my teenage day’s and bunk lectures to hit a tourist place in my lovely city, New Delhi. These bunks and small excursions moulded me with various Hack to Travel with a Limited Budget.
We are obliged to Incredible India! Campaign and many tourism campaigns throughout the world. It’s become really easy to travel around the globe. The airways, roadways, and railways which cover one nation to another nation, a little town to major cities around the world benefit millions of travellers. Even though in a tourist-friendly nation like Thailand, you will discover that travelling costs are very nominal. You will explore a variety of mouth-watering food as the food culture changes every 100 kilometres especially in India.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE RICH TO TRAVEL WELL
– EUGENE FODOR
Merely the most common issue which I face and you all also face too is a limited budget. There is the most common myth that travelling asks for a handsome amount of money. In order to avoid that we search on the internet, ask for advice, asking hacks, how to travel on a limited budget. We were disappointed as don’t get any legit answer. In this blog, I am going to share my personal experience on Hack to Travel with a Limited Budget.
Let’s board on our journey without wasting more time, Hack to Travel with a Limited Budget:
ALWAYS RESEARCH BEFORE TRAVELLING
Doing research is very important! As the name hints, before visiting any tourist place, always research that location. Whether it is the city/country tourist-friendly or not? Its political stability and govt laws for tourism. What are the places to visit in the city and their accurate location and distance from your stay? What are the fares of public transport, entry fees of tourist spots and so many? This kind of information will directly help you in saving your hard-earned money. After deep research, you will receive a clear picture of the cost of the trip, the number of days required in that city or country.
If the nation’s government is tourist-friendly then it will sail out your safe travel. The supportive government means less scam, reasonable cost, safety, and most significantly developed infrastructure that will help you in your budget trip. The tourism industry is one of the largest contributors to the Nation’s Economy like Italy and Thailand.
The most important features to research — The most suitable time to travel to the location, the most accessible way to reach that location, the most desirable area to stay in, the attractions to cover up, connect to the tourist spot, entry ticket, and other expenses. It assesses all your expenses and yields you a rough picture that helps you in saving hard-earned money.
MAKE A TRAVEL SITE MAP BEFORE TRAVELLING
When you are done with destination research, now you may have an idea of all the locations you want to travel to in the city. You have to add all the destinations on google maps and arrange them in chronological order. You will observe that they have made a circle or a firm itinerary, as you can see above image. One needs to follow that itinerary and nothing else. Believe me or not! In the end, it will save a lot of money. It is also a hack to travel with a Limited Budget.
I pick an example of Jaipur to elaborate on your behalf. The main attractions to travel to in Jaipur are Amber Palace, City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Jal Mahal, Nahargarh Fort, and Hawa Mahal. The main tourist area to stay at is Rambagh in Jaipur. If you visit Jal Mahal first and you are going to travel the City Palace afterwards. It will be more expensive as you are passing over the City Palace, where you can hit on the way to Jal Mahal. There are chances you may skip significant destinations without proper research. Hence, you have to pay more to travel to them.
You can carry a travel site map for any destination. Believe me or not! It will certainly help you cover all attractions more fruitfully and economically. I shared my experience and a travel site map of our trips to Nainital and Vrindavan. Just have a look into them as you get to know about my travel site maps!!!
MAKE TRAIN & BUS YOUR BEST FRIEND
Every famous tourist spot is easily connected by either airways, railways, or roadways. I know travelling through the air gives ultimate chills and experience. Nevertheless, it will hit your tight budget as hard as air travel in India is not so economical. You have a limited budget, prefer Train/Coach to travel to your desired spot. If you desire to travel to the hill stations of Himachal Pradesh or Uttrakhand take an overnight train or bus to your favourite destination. Believe me or not! This way you will save your exploring day by travelling at night and pulling through a good amount of money.
We are obliged to Indian Railways, which cover all India through their largest extended network in the World. If you live in big urban centres like Delhi and Mumbai you can board Jan Shatabdi to travel economically. Travel through the road also gives you the chance to hit en-route cities without spending a single penny.
FEET ARE YOUR BEST ALLY
If you are a fast walker or have a good walking capability. Congratulations! You have accumulated a pile of money. In most of the hill stations, all spots are mainly one-kilometre radius, and you can walk there easily. Nowadays, if you are thinking of hiring a cab to reach there. Red alert my friend! You are going to waste loads of money by hiring a cab. In hills stations, cabs charge way too much, and even they are costlier more than enough. It will certainly hamper your budget.
We had our long walk to our destination. Believe me or not! It would be a lifetime experience walking in the woods, enjoying the surroundings, and chatting with your allies. You will never know when you reach your next travel place. As you prepared your itinerary so you already have an idea of what the place is lying in between your way to the endpoint. You can visit them on a route as easily. It will also grant you a chance to perceive the local culture.
INSTEAD OF HOTELS, BOOK HOSTELS
This is the most important hack to save budget during travel. You need to book a hostel instead of a hotel. The hostel is the best way to salvage money on a trip. A travel hostel is budget-friendly accommodation in which one can stay. It sticks with the B&B (Bed & breakfast) concept. You will be allotted one bed/bunker to rest on and one locker to hold back your belongings safe. It possesses a common bathroom and living area. Traveller hostels are trending among travellers all over the Earth. In India, this drift is also picking heights. You can easily notice this in Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai and so many.
In my belief, the traveller’s hostel is best as you can interact with so many other travellers. Besides, these hotels are located in local areas, so you are enjoying the almost local aura of that travel spot. You can also possess a common kitchen and cook your food if you don’t want to eat outside. As you live to travel and to explore so it’s illogical to spend money on luxury hotels just to sleep and keep your kinds of stuff. These hostels also arrange community activities and free local city visits. So you can join them and preserve your money.
TRY STREET FOOD INSTEAD OF FANCY RESTAURANTS
This is not only a hack to save budget during travel, but also to get the real vibes of the place. In each city or hill station, there is at least one street that is renowned for its local cuisine and dishes. Live and have your dinner at that location. In this way, you will find a chance to try the local street food. Imagine, giving way to a hill station and visiting a fancy restaurant. Charge!!! You just slammed your budget as they are starting to charge you insanely high. As considerably as that they have to offer you. All restaurants have Dal Makhani, Shahi Paneer, Naan on their menu card.
On the other hand, street food is cheap as they don’t charge highly to travellers. Second, you are getting a chance to taste something new. Exploring the real culture of the place, not the later one. This is what makes travelling such a pleasure! Explore new places, encountering people, and having different cuisine and dishes.
USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT RATHER THAN PRIVATE CAB
Use public transport!!! Public transport is your budget saviour on your trip. The popular destinations have rebuilt and have a perfectly connected public transport network. Booking a whole cab will inevitably charge you high as you are paying for all the seats instead of just one. In this, your research will ease you. As you already know where your favourite spot is and what is the best budget hack to travel to our next attraction.
You can easily board a metro/bus, book a shared cab, or can walk there. In hill stations or at a famous tourist spot, various tourist agencies or personal car drivers run cab & bus services which offer a package of City Tour in your budget. They will help you visit far destinations also at a very reasonable rate. You can also pick up a story with other travellers too.
HACK BEFORE BOOKING YOUR FLIGHTS
Alright! You are travelling to the International destination or other parts of your country. We have to reserve a flight to reach the desired location. It will be going to hit your budget as on an international trip 30–40% of the budget are running only for flights. Now let’s talk about hacks to travel to your favoured destination. Always look for flight rates on the incognito window. If you search for your account multiple times, it will give the signal to the airline that there is traffic on this itinerary and the fare will increase. Don’t search multiple times too. Don’t book too late & too early. If you’re booking too early there are probabilities that you are getting pack price not price on demand/supply. Booking too late, you will get way too much praise as airlines left with very few seats and they want to earn some extra profit.
Use VPN (Virtual Private Network) while reserving your flight will also save your budget. Clone yourself where you want to journey to the destination. Sometimes airlines run special destination prices, and you will be at once benefiting from it. Fly in low-cost carriers like Air Asia and Malindo Airways. It will save you a large amount of budget as you are paying only for the aerial services. You may also search on google for various coupons that help you to save extra bucks. As well, always stay flexible with dates.
PACK LESS, PACK SMART
Believe me or not! Packing less will also Hack your travel budget. Just carry only the necessary items which you need on the trip. While travelling, you bear to travel fast if you want to cover all destinations. Sometimes you will fetch a car to reach the place or sometimes you will get a scooter. You may likewise need to walk to the destination. Now imagine holding a 20kg bag with you. Lol!!! You may need to arrange additional support for your luggage which will hamper your budget.
While flying, you may also have to face extra baggage charges at the pretty huge airport. You might be travelling from a low-cost carrier and as many people are not aware these flights only provide 7 kg check-in baggage. You possess to pay extra for any extra luggage. Thus, try avoiding it by travel lite.
TRAVEL DURING OFF-SEASONS
Travel in off-seasons will save your budget. Not merely this, but you may also explore the location more potential than in peak seasons. During peak seasons, all hotels, passenger vehicles, and flights will hike their price and you will end up giving more fare than the original. There are many spots where you can visit anytime and try to travel to them. In the low season, you will find various deals like free room upgrades, meal upgrades, cheap flight fares, tour package upgrades, bonfires, and a lot. You will get less crowd on famous streets and spots. Less ticketing queues & less waiting time. You may also be able to experience the original culture of the destination. So this not only hacks your travel budget but also helps you travel to the full.
AVOID BEING AN EARLY BIRD TO DESTINATION
This is the most common mistake people do while travelling to any seasonal destination. There are many destinations that give real vibes when visiting at a specific time. Let’s suppose you want to do river rafting and you straight away head to Rishikesh at the starting of September. It will cost you high as it’s the beginning of the season and everyone wants to gain some extra profit. As a few days of seasons pass by and more people start visiting the place, the price will get nominal. And so, you will get some amazing deals. It will ultimately aid you to hack your travel budget.
Besides, starting everything is in the settling stage so you will not be able to enjoy it fully. As the crowd increases, the real vibes of the location will refresh and you can sense the real aura of the spot. Besides, more people, more friends to make. More stories to pick up.
ESTIMATE NUMBER OF TRAVELLERS WITH YOU
Last but not least. It’s essential to estimate the number of travellers you are travelling with. Some locations are meant to be travelling solo if you want to preserve your budget. But sometimes, you need your co-traveller with you to tailor the various costs with them. Same if there is no hostel available you need to stay in a hotel. No sharing cab available, you need to book a private cab for yourself. In the above scenario, your partner will ignore the cost and help you in hacking your travel budget. And if there is a hostel available, sharing transport available, etc. You can go solo as easily as in a group. Simply in some places, it’s expensive to visit alone.
So, These are the hack I have used to travel. They are simply an outline to travel in the budget. Get through it and you will get an idea of what to do on the trip and what to avoid. Use them according to the destination you want to travel to. According to the region, the spot lies in, resources available to you & at the location. Make out your research and mould these points accordingly.
Thanks for Reading!!!
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Composed By: Mayank Aggarwal