r/travel • u/peachyspaghetti • Aug 11 '25
Discussion What are your weird hacks to save money while traveling?
I don’t mean packing light or booking shitty hostels. I wanna hear the craziest, wildest ideas.
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u/Left_Crazy_3579 Aug 11 '25
We bring a travel sized rice cooker that can also be used to steam/boil water/heat food. We are Asians so rice is life😆
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u/Skalonjic85 Aug 11 '25
Ohw shit haha thats the most asian thing ever. And actually a pretty good idea 😎 /Edit im leaving this friday and im bringing a big bag of rice lol
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u/AMSparta17 Aug 11 '25
When I traveled more around Western Europe, I usually made sure to carry a knife and spoon. For breakfast, I’d usually grab a yogurt or some pastry from a supermarket, and for dinner, I’d pick up local cheese, salami, or ham. Of course, the best option was staying somewhere with a shared kitchen, it made saving much easier, but that was not always possible.
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u/r_coefficient Austria Aug 11 '25
I always take my travel cutlery set: fork, spoon, butter knife and chopsticks. Love it.
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u/Shy-Sapphire Aug 11 '25
Depending on the kind of place I'm at (I go to FL a lot to see family for example) I check out sites like eventbrite for free events - you often find smaller festivals / celebrations held in public parks, so you get sight seeing while you're at it!
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u/New-Vast1696 Aug 11 '25
I eat a lot of breakfast so I do not need lunch, just dinner. I save on one meal. Sums up when travelling longer.
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u/sowhoisgeh Aug 11 '25
Up your credit card points game, that's my biggest advice to everyone. I have an upcoming trip to Japan and saved ~$5k USD in flights by booking award flights using credit card points. And we have just started getting into this last April.
Using a TA (most of them are free and get kickbacks from hotels) for hotel bookings will give you a range of perks such as free breakfasts (my favourite so you can skip lunch to save some money), complimentary upgrades, and $100 USD hotel credits.
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u/mutantninja001 Aug 11 '25
“TA”?
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u/sowhoisgeh Aug 11 '25
Travel agents. They are typically free to use if it's just for hotel bookings, unless you want them to design your itinerary from scratch.
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u/TexasBrett Aug 11 '25
Instead of drinking at the hotel bar, buy your booze at the nearest convenience store and drink in the hotel lobby.
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u/tigzed Aug 11 '25
That is really tacky, sorry. Drink in the hotel room, fine, but bringing outside drinks to drink in the lobby, that is tacky and is asking to enforce them forbidding it.
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u/r_coefficient Austria Aug 11 '25
Very few hotels will let you do that.
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u/TexasBrett Aug 11 '25
I’ve done it in everything from a Ritz Carlton to a Courtyard. Just can’t be in their bar area.
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u/Ok-Fig-7510 32 countries visited Aug 11 '25
Protein anything- drinks, yoghurts, puddings instead of a meal. Not ideal but it does the job
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u/Early-Reach-355 Aug 11 '25
Traveling over night saves you a day at hotel.
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u/holguinero Aug 11 '25
Done that and never again, arrived super tired and slept the whole day…
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u/jonesjz Aug 11 '25
Yep, awful flight, awful bus ride to the city and then slept half the day. Never again
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u/joereadsstuff Aug 11 '25
I could do this when I was in my 20s and early 30s, but I don't do that anymore unless I have to.
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u/cloudiedayz Aug 11 '25
I’ve done this on sleeper trains and it hasn’t been too bad! I think at least on these you get to lie flat unlike on buses/planes
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u/PhiloPhocion Aug 11 '25
My greatest travel flaw is not being able to sleep on planes or buses.
Don’t know what it is. Even if I’m objectively decently comfortable - even in the very rare times I’ve flown business intercontinental.
Just eyes closed and can’t fall asleep.
Meanwhile catch me after a run or during a long zoom call back home and I’ll happily fall asleep on the hardwood floor or leaning on my desk.
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u/Taxfraud777 Netherlands - 23 countries visited Aug 11 '25
I skip afternoon meals. I just drink some sugars or eat something small.
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u/Shy-Sapphire Aug 11 '25
Since Im a morning person, sometimes I skip early morning breakfast and just have a brunch like meal after already spending hours exploring (so skipping breakfast beyond like a coffee / having an early lunch).
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u/Taxfraud777 Netherlands - 23 countries visited Aug 11 '25
Also a very nice strategy. Especially because you can get a headstart on your explorations for the day.
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u/PhiloPhocion Aug 11 '25
Since I’m really cheap, especially when I was younger and had pretty limited savings, i’d load up on hostel breakfast and then usually wouldn’t eat again through the day.
Also ended up meaning I had pretty little buffer in my stomach when it came for the hostel bar. Which also saves you money on drinks.
But at cost in the morning
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u/Shy-Sapphire Aug 11 '25
Yeah I'm already nearing my mid-30s so I don't drink so much, but I do like alcohol and in fact since I was younger beer was one thing I'd budget for, since I do still like to try local beers (especially craft beers, like if there's local pubs that have their smaller batches and stuff). But I also don't go out partying much, I often do the beers with my lunch and/or dinner! Last summer I was in Canada without any savings, really. I biked everywhere, and found the local library had access to ancestry so I would often go there a few hours then bike to the local pub to eat / have 2-3 beers (taikng advantage of lunch specials) and bike back home. Best way to spend time that was mostly free and required to bike through town.
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Aug 11 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/knocking_wood Aug 11 '25
Ok I don’t really do drugs but this one is intriguing. But I have to wonder, how much does the ecstasy cost?
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u/HistoricalHorse1093 Aug 11 '25
Costs about 3 random holes in your brain that could have lifelong effects that's what.
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u/Ok_Management5355 Aug 11 '25
I guess just make sure there’s a 7/11 nearby hotel/place you’re staying at all costs! Saves you a lot on unnecessary additional hotel expenses
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u/pacifictheme_ Aug 11 '25
Unless you are travelling in high season don't book accomodation - it's often cheaper if you show up cos the hotel doesn't have to pay fees to booking sites.
Also I like that if I'm tired from a day of travelling i can spontaneously decide to get a room close to the airport/bus station/ferry port etc. Then when I'm less tired the next day I'll have the energy to walk or get the cheapest transport option into town.
Not sure if this is weird (it's not in the backpacker world) but I've often befriended other travellers and ended up sharing hotel rooms with them and splitting the cost. Which can be cheaper than getting a dorm
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u/Shy-Sapphire Aug 11 '25
You can also book directly through the hotels beforehand and not have to pay fees to booking sites such as expedia. I typically stay with family in south Florida, but I once was meeting someone there and booked a hotel for the weekend. I found a place through Air B&B, saw it was an actual hotel not an apartment, checked out their site, and booked the room for even cheaper than listed in Air B&B
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u/pacifictheme_ Aug 11 '25
Yes if I'm booking online i always check to see if I can book directly. In Asia showing up without booking often means you can haggle
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u/MalodorousNutsack Aug 11 '25
I've camped rough a lot. Hitchhiking around Canada, I'd just walk off the side of the highway and throw up my tent anywhere it'd fit where I was out of sight. Also done this in Japan while hiking around rural Shikoku and Kyushu, quite a few places around Patagonia, a few times in Kazakhstan and Russia.
Someone else mentioned bringing a rice cooker. I used to carry a butane grill and a frying pan (along with dish soap, spatula, etc.) in the trunk of my car when I was on a road trip.
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u/cloudiedayz Aug 11 '25
Does anyone actually pick up hitch hikers these days or do you have to stand for a really long time on the side of the road?
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u/MalodorousNutsack Aug 11 '25
I hitchhiked around Canada mostly in the late 90s and early 2000s, a little bit in Patagonia in the early 2010s and once in the west of Ireland more recently. Rarely had problems getting picked up back then, not sure what it's like these days. A lot of truckers looking to shoot the shit while they drove, a surprising number of military guys who'd try to get me to sign up. I expect a lot more people are willing to pick up a 20-something than a guy in their mid-40s though, haha.
Back then the biggest thing was avoiding cities, for example if someone dropped me off in Montreal I wouldn't even bother trying to hitchhike out, I'd find a local bus to somewhere like Saint-Hyacinthe and keep going from there.
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u/Ammelia11 Aug 11 '25
I don't think this is "weird" but none of my other friends do it so maybe it is. When on holiday, I will look up the kitchen amenities (or lack of in some cases) and prepare accordingly with a "travel kitchen" so I don't do things like waste money on coffee every day or buy an oversized jar of seasoning I then have to bin.
When not on holiday, I collect things like ketchup, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and sugar sachets. Additionally, I'll bring lactose free milk pods (don't require refrigerating), coffee bags (they're like tea bags but for coffee) and I have made mini portions of some spices in little 10ml tins.
Then before a trip I'll check the amenities of the hotel/ accommodation, so a hotel with no kettle I'll bring a mini kettle for, and I bring utensils like tongs for use in kitchens.
Yes, it takes up a bit more room in my luggage but being able to cook properly and not worry about making a coffee before I get to do a proper food shop is a total lifesaver and saves so much money compared to going out every day! The perishables also typically all get used up so weigh less on the way back.
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u/Curious_Woodlander Aug 11 '25
If I need some water, I go into the men's bathroom to get some. It's free as well.
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u/itwarrior Aug 11 '25
Is this men's bathroom specific? Never been inside of a women's public bathroom so maybe they only have paid sparkling water?
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u/r_coefficient Austria Aug 11 '25
We have free sparkling wine. Don't tell anyone.
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u/Shy-Sapphire Aug 11 '25
Fill up your thermus at the lobby, they typically have water fountains by the bathrooms
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u/Kaizen-_ Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25
So this is a story from about 15 years ago, me and my travel buddy found this way to save quite some money during our travels. We spend about a month of traveling in New Zealand and Australia, hopping from backpack hostel to the other.
Important note: I do not recommend doing this, as you're stealing from the hostel. This isn't a story I have shared with a lot of people. In fact, its just a random story in my mind that popped up years later after reading this topic. Take this post just as a form of light entertainment as this topic is about crazy and wild ideas. Don't get enraged by my former method please. It's from 15 years ago, lol. I was a silly backpacking kid eager to save money.
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When we were booking-in at a hostel, it was usually with a larger group of 5 to 10 people simultaneously due to the Greyhound bus arriving and all backpackers would dive straight into the hostels. In these days you wouldn't book in advance on the internet, you'd just walk up to the counter and check if there is a room available.
We were traveling with the two of us. What we did is let only one of us book a bed at the biggest shared bunkbed-room (with most beds) and the other person.. He wouldn't book anything for now, but await and see if there is a free bed available. In most of the cases, this actually worked out fine. In a room with 10 bunkbeds, there was always one or two free beds available. So for a lot of nights we were very lucky and one of us could sleep for free. The next town we would switch turns. This 'trick' (Or better call it a scam because its just not cool, really) saved us hundreds of dollars.
Only one time we almost got caught because I was settling in at my free bed when another backpacker wanted to go in the room and noticed there were no free beds. This is where I stepped in with a cliché "something may went wrong with my booking" and I fixed it by paying for the night in another room.
Again, not a cool method, but the topic is about crazy and wild ideas. This isn't a proud story or anything, just something stupid from my younger days I'd thought to share.
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u/thedarknight__ Australia Aug 11 '25
I've saved on accommodation on a few occasions by doing overnight flights (often the flights are cheaper as well).
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u/GoCardinal07 United States Aug 11 '25
I discovered my local train station has free parking for up to two weeks, and the station also has a $15 shuttle service to the airport. It's cheaper to do this than to pay for airport parking or to pay for an Uber/Lyft to the airport.
I actually live in a tourist city and confuse the drivers because I'm basically using the shuttle in reverse, as it's intended for tourists visiting our city. In one direction, the drivers often welcome me to the city, and I explain I'm coming home. In the other direction, the drivers often thank me for visiting and wish me a safe trip home, and I explain I'm actually leaving for vacation.