We firmly believe that travel is not luxury. Planning, avoiding agents, taking local options can help manage travel budget to a significant extent, making travel accessible for all
We didn’t come from a family with inherited riches or very high paying jobs, hence managing budgets for travel is a top priority for us. My dad always believed in spending money on experiences, not assets like homes or too many appliances/ gadgets. When I got my first job, the first 2 years went by just paying loans, hardly leaving anything for travel. After that when I just started travelling in India and a bit outside, Covid hit, pausing travel for 2-3 years. It was a good way to save money, in hindsight
I do spend significant amount of money on travel now since I am not married, and I have no need of saving money for kids. For most people, I am putting out a few tips that can help
Planning
- Carve out a % of your salary for travel. This allocation varies for many. For me it is 25-35%
- Automate rest of the savings, leaving out expenses, so that you build for retirement, emergencies and other goals. Mutual fund SIPs work well
- Start small. We travelled within India, then Southeast Asia, then beyond so that our funds accumulated faster. Believe me, there are thousands of places in India that are world class and cheap
- Choose location basis budget. Do not take personal loans for travel since they are not assets that appreciate over loan duration
- Book all the elements of travel with no cancellation fee and live it out, almost like a dry run of the itinerary. This can help point out inconsistencies like too short travel time budgeted, or hotels booked on incorrect dates given flight landing time in a different time zone
Funding
- Use credit card points or other loyalty points for flights and hotels to the extent possible
- Use zero fee forex cards
- Do not exchange less prominent currencies beyond USD/ GBP / EUR in India. Always convert in the destination country to avoid bad exchange rates
- Never convert currency or withdraw from ATMs in the airports
Flights
- Book 6 months in advance to get best deals, availability and seats on flights
- Use comparison sites like skyscanner to discover best flight connections
- Check directly with the airline website once you have decided on best flight for you
- Choose semi-refundable fares. Fully refundable fares are expensive. I have mostly booked refundable fares to be on safer side but have never cancelled any flights so far. It is almost like paying a fixed fee to the airline whether you travel or not- as higher fee on refundable fare if you travel vs. cancellation fee if you don’t. Weight in your probabilities. Non-refundable fares run risk of incorrect booking or visa cancellations
Hotels
- Book hotels in advance in locations where it makes sense e.g., Japan Cherry Blossom season. Monitor price drops and rebook later if the drop is significant, as hotel books are typically on zero cancellation fee
- Choose hotels excluding breakfast where you know you need to start early on some days
- Stay in private rooms in hostels- they are clean, travel oriented with English speaking staff, at better prices than 3 star+ hotels
Tours
- Choose group trips vs. private travel- they are more fun. You can book day trips instead of booking an entire tour with an agent
- Go direct vs agents in India. You end up paying 5% GST, getting TDS deducted which locks up funds for more than a year, paying 20-30% commissions
- Go direct vs. Viator/ Tripadvisor since the portals have higher prices for foreign tourists. Fee/ Option for locals is never listed. Use these portals for discovery of options. Look at the operators and reach out to them directly through website/ Whatsapp. They can help customize, provide better pricing. Go through a portal if you want better terms on cancellation fee, if you are ok with higher fare
- Reach out to local agencies through Instagram. Most of them are very active. We got best deals in Uzbekistan by contacting on Whatsapp/ Instagram
- Use local equivalent of Uber for cabs. Each country has a different #2.
Entry fee
- Buy entry tickets online if there are discounts. You can buy them on spot too
Others- Anti Tips!
- Spend on travel insurance. This is not money saving tip, but lifesaving tip in case of emergencies. I used to buy them only for visa purposes, but now I do even if there is no requirement for visa issuance. I have ended up claiming once for baggage delay
- Spend on local economy while travelling like food, transport without too much haggling- their lives depend on it. Of course, fight out cheating and over charging
Above all, travel for your heart’s yearning and contentment, not to compete with others. We never post travel pics from personal accounts since we have so many friends and relatives who cannot afford them but might be urged to do so. We also don’t get too many/ high value souvenirs which are typically just lying around. There was a time when we felt bad about not being able to afford international travel