12 Travelling Hacks You Can Use To Save A Ton Of Money On Your Next Trip

Ask a travel junkie and they’d tell you that the size of their savings account is directly proportional to the grandeur of their next vacation. I mean, if travelling was free, that’s all we’d ever do, right? But the sad truth is that travelling costs money and if you’re not careful, you could wind up spending way more than you need to. Smart travellers, on the other hand, adhere to cost-saving hacks that make every penny count.

Hacks like…

1. Download all the videos you want to watch beforehand.

Generously make use of the ‘offline’ feature on various video apps so that you can stay entertained throughout your journey. Of course, without burning your precious data.

2. Don’t carry anything you won’t be bringing back.

Buy perishable things like toiletries, food items, etc. when you reach your destination. This will reduce the weight of your bags and also help you in saving on extra baggage charges.

3. Search for free activities to do at the destination

Who wants to spend 25K on flight tickets just to spend another 10K to get inside the elitist attractions of the place? Instead, consider going for strolls around the city, looking for free-to-enter concerts, paying a visit to a national museum and looking for other free or almost free activities to indulge in upon reaching your destination.

4. Don’t take the prices of hotel aggregators too seriously.

The tariffs you find online are not written in stone. Try calling the hotel directly and see if you can smooth talk them for a better deal. You’d be surprised to know how often this works.

5. Consider vaca’ing during the off season

Visiting a place during the offseason has two major advantages: 1) You don’t have to deal with the seemingly never-ending sea of tourists everywhere, and 2) You wind up saving a mini fortune on flight and hotel tariffs. That’s two darn good reasons to offseason, if you ask me.

6. Don’t buy souvenirs, collect them!

Just think about it; what would your friends care for more, a T-shirt that says ‘I love XYZ’ or something like a sea shell from the beach or a pinecone from the forest. Just think.

7. #Flysmart and book an early morning or a late night flight

Most people don’t like travelling early in the morning or late at night, so these times can often yield lower prices for flights.

8. Make good use of your student ID.

If you’re a student then flashing your student ID card might just get you a decent discount at hotels, restaurants and even on public transport systems.

9. Two words: FREE Wi-Fi.

If you see these words on a board, then make that place your second home. Like seriously.

10. Avoid weekends and start your vacation in the middle of the week.

Avoid weekends and start your vacation in the middle of the week because flights and hotel tariffs are considerably higher during the weekends.

11. Go on an exploration spree on a bicycle instead of spending money on local commute

You didn’t travel all that far to travel more, did you? You travelled to explore new places! And all it takes to do that is renting a bicycle and letting the road take you wherever it wants to take you.

12. Use private browsing to search for flights tickets.

Would you be surprised if I tell you that travel and holiday companies use your cookies and cache to determine the highest possible tariffs they can charge you? That’s why it’s advisable to always use private browsing while searching for flights and booking air tickets.

This post was originally published on Alura.