Keeping Vacation Costs Down Before You Leave

When you’re planning a trip, whether at home or abroad, you are likely to be looking for ways to cut down your costs. For many trips, once you have booked your travel, accommodation, travel insurance, and packed your bags, you can easily have spent a lot of money, meaning that there isn’t a lot of budget left for your actual trip. So how can you look to cut costs down? You don’t want to blow all of your budget before you’ve even set off. Here are a few different ways to travel, and how to cut down costs.

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Travel by Car

If you are planning a road trip, then there are a number of ways that can help you to keep costs down. Although travel by car is usually going to be one of the cheapest, there are still things that you can do. For example, there are apps like GasBuddy to help you to find the cheapest gas stations where you are. If you’re going to be driving to somewhere new, it can be really helpful if you’re not sure where stations are. Then you can choose the ones that will set you back the least amount of cash. You should also think about traveling light when in a car. Having a car packed full of heavy things can use up more gas than it would if it were lighter. So it is something simple that could make a difference.

Travel by Plane

If you are traveling a little further, then travel by plane is likely to be your travel method of choice. However, there are a few tips and tricks that can help you to not pay too much for your flights. One of the best things to do, where possible, is to not check any baggage. For a number of flights, checked bags will cost you extra. So if you don’t need to, then it can make a difference to the overall cost. 

When you’re looking at booking flights, it is a good idea to use comparison sites like Kayak or SkyScanner, as they find the very cheapest flights for you. You may also find that it is much cheaper to fly indirectly. Believe it or not, you can get some bargains if you make a stop along the way. You should also look at sites like SMARTY, as SMARTY gives you tips around finding cheap airport parking, which is a must for travel by plane. You don’t want to spend all of your budget on a taxi to the airport or on your airport parking, before you’ve even got on the plane.

Travel by Train

If you are choosing to travel by train, then there is a really important trick that can save you money. Much like flying indirectly can help you to save, the same can be said of train travel. Not only that, but if you book the same seat, but break up the journey into two tickets, rather than one ticket, then you can get a better price. It doesn’t make a lot of sense why, but it does happen. So shopping around to get the best deal on tickets is a must. Taking your own food on a train will help you to save too, as the choice can be costly on-board.