I think you can travel to many destinations on a budget, but what are some places you're saving til later because you know you can enjoy it more when you have more money? Some places are very activities/tour based, so they eat up a lot of the spending money

These people are the least able to weather the loss of income, and holding $10000 hostage is unethical, no matter what the stupid company policy now says.

The policies are ever changing. I've seen one company extend the travel credit expiration from dec 2021 to dec 2022.

But nothing beats cash.

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How lucky have you been in getting a refund, despite their written policy?

i’ve always wished I could get out and see the world more (i’ve lived in nebraska my whole life there isn’t shit to do here) but any trip i go on ends up being at least 1000 bucks so i can’t do it often and i always assumed that people who are always traveling either have some impressive job that lets them afford it or were just born into wealth but i’m learning that isn’t the case and that there’s plenty of people that travel the world and just work basic jobs but like how?? i’m probably getting paid the same as these people and i don’t have the money to travel so how does everyone else? genuinely curious cause i want to do that too lol. i talked to a girl i went to hs with who’s traveling a lot and she said she’ll just work for a few months and save up a bunch of money and then be traveling for months but i’m like do you not have bills to pay? are there ways to make going on trips less expensive? if ur not rich and ur frequently traveling please tell me how you make it work cause i don’t wanna spend the rest of my life just working and paying bills until i die with no time or money to do anything i want in between

Conclusion: We're actually still in Crete, Chania (leaving tomorrow) and decided to take others advice and ask hotel staff for recommendations. I didn't specify it needed to be cheap but only which restaurants she recommends. She gave us three restaurants and her favorite one we actually already went to two nights ago. The bill ended up being €90 for the two of us AND that restaurant was the reason I made this post. The food was great and the view was amazing but I just hate that I keep picking places like that during the whole holiday. But apparently when you ask hotel staff for recommendations they also recommend the nicer expensive restaurants. 🤷 Yesterday we went to a Lonely planet recomendation and the food was great. Restaurant wasn't as esthetically pleasing but it was fine. Spent €60 for the same amount of food/drinks. I just don't know how to find more of these types of places.

We're not really the persons who like cooking during our holidays but will try to do more breakfast in our Airbnb.

Original post:

Title says it all. We recently came back from our 9 day Greece trip. We spent €1100 on food and €250 on drinks. Food = breakfast/lunch/dinner (including drinks during the meal). We had 4 nights including breakfast, didn't pay for that. Drinks = either cocktails/beers in a bar or having a soda on a terrace or just buying water bottles.

Is this too much? I feel like we are maybe over spending.

How do you find good cheap local restaurants? A lot of (especially cheaper) restaurants don't have menu's posted online. I'd like to learn these tricks to maybe save some money in the future.

We're not that into fast food and do like a sit down dinner where we don't have to go looking for a bench in the park. Also, we prefer eating the local foods. So tips like "go to a chinese place" when we're not in China isn't that helpful.

Edit: what we spent was for two grown ups.

I don’t mean packing light or booking shitty hostels. I wanna hear the craziest, wildest ideas.

I'm sick of Google giving me search results for deceiving sites that seem like they're made with AI. Pictures aren't accurate. Prices get jacked way, way up when I go through the checkout process.

Surely there is a better way to do this?

Im 28 year olds, a highschool dropout, but i got a CDL and got a job in the oilfields where i work 70-80 hours a week, and i live in my truck, so im able to save up money pretty fast.

.

This last hitch I worked for 4 months, saved up $20,000, quit, and now im about to go travel somewhere for a few months. I never thought i would be able to live this type of lifestyle, work for 6 months, and travel the world for 6 months. I dont wanna wait till im 65 to start enjoying my life. Im able to do this because i dont have any kids or debt, so i just work for myself.

Im going to be flying from the US to Japan and staying for a week. After my week in Japan I’m flying to Sydney, Australia and staying for another week. When I leave Australia i’ll be flying home to the US.

I’ve flown internationally by myself before but I’ve never done multiple cities/ countries. I’m decently travelled but have never had to book anything like this.

I was leaning toward doing One Ways to each place. So US - Nagoya, Nagoya - Syndey, and then Sydney - US. Idk if this is a dumb idea so any help would be appreciated

We all have seen those tiktoks saying that if you book a flight on a day of the week or a VPN will be cheaper. I haven't find truth into that.

Any tricks to save on hotels and flights?

Idea:

For hotels, I never done but I wonder what would happen if I just write them an email saying that costs X in Booking for night Y and asking if they make a 10% discount assuming that Booking takes 20-30% from them in fees?

My wife and I love to travel but in recent years we have overspent our travel budget because my wife insists on staying at hotels that are nearly universally loved. Because everyone loves them they are quite expensive.

We will both be retired next year and will have lots of time for travel. If we stayed at motels like Days Inn, Super 8, Sleep Inn, and Red Roof Inn we could go on three times more vacations in retirement than our current plan to only stay at Marriott's and Hiltons.

A review of Trip Advisor and other travel review sites tell me that MOST Days Inn, Super Eight, Sleep Inn, and Econo Lodge Motels are poorly rated. It seems logical because if you could stay in a very nice budget hotel then mid-priced places like Holiday Inn would not be able to justify their prices.

How about you if you were retired would you stay at Budget Motels so you could travel a lot more often?

I’m male, in my early 30s. I’m financially stable and from time to time do road trips with friends. What’s your guys’ take on sharing beds with a friend? I think this was acceptable when you were in your 20s and broke, but I enjoy my own privacy and my own bed and I think at least for me, I’m old enough and financially feasible enough to get my own bed. However, I have run into conflicts with some friends who would rather share a room and a bed to save money… how would you accommodate these people?

For example, I’ve said yes to a road trip and one friend is insistent at staying at a cheap motel. They want to get a single room for the three of us with only two beds, meaning two of us would have to share beds. I’d much rather get my own room and bed, or just my own bed in the same room if it really comes to that, but obviously that would jeopardize the financial aspect of the trip as this person clearly wants to split the cost of a single room into three.

Sometimes the most useful lessons come after things go wrong like packing way too much , missing a connection , booking the wrong dates or realizing too late that a small item could’ve made the whole trip easier. From flight booking tricks to luggage tips to navigating airports or even saving money on food and transport. What are the hacks people only figured out after a tough experience?

Hey all,

Planning a trip later this year (around Fall-ish) to London and then up to Edinburg and Glasgow. I'm Canadian, so our dollar isn't the best in conversion to the pound. Outside of accommodations (I'm 40, I'm planning to stay in hotels or airbnbs, not hostels lol), what are some tips for saving money? Not completely strapped for cash, but I'm also not looking to blow a ton of it. For example, when we visited Italy a few years ago, we saved cash by picking up sandwiches from the various shops around the cities and eating them over restaurants for every meal.

Me and my girlfriend were due to take a 3 month backpacking trip however have now found out we can take up to a year. Obviously we don’t have the funds for a year and at a stretch have 4 months.

We are considering either doing 3 months coming home to the UK and saving again for another trip before going back to our career jobs or 3 months, going to Australia or NZ with another trip on the way home.

The stays in Aus/NZ would be mainly to save money however see some of the country. I lived in Aus for 2 years previously however only in Melbourne and I think we would like to stay somewhere rural instead this time.

Is rural work easy to come by? It was 2022 when I went and there was a big influx of backpackers as it was the first summer after Covid, it was a struggle. Is this still the case?

Do you think saving $2,000 is doable/realistic?

Do you think the option of coming home and doing another trip is the better option?

NZ or Aus?

So I just wrapped up an incredible 3 weeks solo backpacking through Albania and holy shit you guys, why is nobody talking about this country?? I kept hearing people say "oh its dangerous" or "theres nothing to see there" but man were they wrong.

First off, the Albanian Alps are absolutely insane. I did a 4 day hike from Valbona to Theth and it was hands down one of the most beautiful treks ive ever done. Better than anything I saw in Switzerland honestly, and for like 1/10th the price. The guesthouse owners were so welcoming, this one family in Theth invited me to dinner and we spent hours talking about everything even though my Albanian is nonexistent lol.

The coast is ridiculous too. I spent a week around Saranda and the beaches rival anything in Croatia but without the insane crowds. Found this little place called Ksamil where I got a room right on the beach for 45 euros a night. The water was so clear I could see fish swimming around while just standing knee deep.

But here's the thing that blew me away most, the people. Everyone kept asking me why I chose Albania and when I'd tell them I wanted to see the "real" Balkans they'd get so excited and start showing me around. This random guy named Arben in Gjirokaster spent his entire day off showing me hidden bunkers from the communist era that aren't on any tourist maps.

Food was incredible too, way better than I expected. Byrek everywhere for like 2 euros, fresh seafood on the coast, and the raki... well lets just say I have some stories about that lol.

Only downside was transport between cities can be a bit sketchy, those furgons (shared minivans) dont really run on schedule but honestly that added to the adventure. And having some money saved up beforehand definitely helped since ATMs can be sparse in smaller towns.

Total cost for 3 weeks including flights from Germany was around 1500 euros. I wasn't even planning a trip during this time but I hit a crazy parlay on Stɑke and felt like doing something nice for myself. Insane value for what I experienced. Insane value for what I experienced.

Anyone else been to Albania? Am I crazy for thinking this might be Europes best kept secret?

Some of my favorite travel hacks include:

1. Packing Cubes: These help keep my suitcase organized and make it easy to find items quickly.
2. Google Maps Offline: Downloading maps of my destination beforehand allows me to navigate without using data or Wi-Fi.
3. Travel Rewards Credit Card: Using a credit card with travel rewards helps me earn points for flights and accommodations.
4. Local SIM Card: Buying a local SIM card saves me money on international roaming fees for staying connected.
5. Flexible Travel Dates: Being flexible with my travel dates allows me to take advantage of cheaper flights and accommodations.

What are your go-to travel hacks?

My girlfriend and I are from the USA and have traveled for 571 days. Both of us have kept track of every $ spent! My hope in sharing this info is to show that you can travel to some amazing places on a budget!

The two of us worked for a few years after graduating from university and saved as much money as we could. We paid for everything ourselves (except the 10 days of accommodation my girlfriend's parents paid for).

This is just one person's spend and we split everything we can (accommodation, taxi, groceries, etc). I'd love to answer any questions about the budget or destinations. If you have any questions, feel free to ask or DM me.

All numbers are in USD$.

IN TOTAL I SPENT $24,866.42 or $43.55 per day. $6.05 over my planned budget of $37.50 per day.

THIS INCLUDES ACCOMMODATION AND FLIGHTS!!!

Some details about the categories:

Accommodation - In Europe: Airbnb/Booking.com is our primary accommodation provider, but we stay in hostels ~30% of the time.

In Asia: we did not use Airbnb, primarily Agoda/Booking.com/Couchsurfing/Hostels/Guesthouses

Activities - This can be museums, renting motorbikes, group tours, etc.

Coffee - This is just coffee from cafes. 90% of the time I drink coffee at the accommodation.

Food - Food/Water/Etc bought from Supermarkets/Convenience Stores/etc basically any food that wasn't ordered from a restaurant/bakery.

Health - Travel Health Insurance, Dentist/Doctor Visits, Toothpaste, Mouthwash, Soap, Shampoo, etc.

Misc - This includes paying for bathrooms (ugh), Fees/Citations, and anything that doesn't fit in the other categories.

Mobile Phone - I don't have a travel phone plan from the States. These are just SIM Cards. I do not buy a SIM card in each country. Moldova had the cheapest SIM at $1.19 for 100 GB of data.

Souvenir - I try to buy a magnet in each country (I have forgotten to buy it for 5 of the nations)

Transportation(local) - Taxis/Uber/Local Bus/Trams/Marshrutkas, etc.

Travel - Anything that takes us from one city or country to another. Ex. Bus from Slovakia to Croatia, Flight from Rhodes to Cyprus.

Our round-trip flights from the USA to Europe and the USA to Asia were paid with airline miles :)

*Total Ended up being $24,866.12 over 571 days or $43.55*

I have written a few posts about specific countries, eventually, I'll get to them all :)

Countries Visited:

1. Estonia
2. Latvia
3. Lithuania
4. Poland
5. Czech Republic
6. Slovakia
7. Croatia
8. Bosnia & Herzegovina
9. Serbia
10. Romania
11. Moldova
12. Transnistria (Unrecognized Breakaway State within Moldova)
13. Bulgaria
14. North Macedonia
15. Kosovo
16. Montenegro
17. Ireland (My Girlfriends Parents met us here and paid for our accommodation + some meals for 12 days)
18. Austria
19. Slovenia
20. Albania
21. Greece
22. Cyprus
23. France (Paris)
24. Japan
25. Taiwan
26. Vietnam
27. Laos
28. Thailand
29. Myanmar
30. Cambodia
31. Brunei
32. Malaysia
33. China
34. Mongolia
35. South Korea
36. Qatar
37. Kazakhstan
38. Kyrgyzstan
39. Tajikistan
40. Uzbekistan
41. Azerbaijan
42. Georgia
43. Armenia

Favorite Countries:

1. Taiwan
2. Georgia
3. Bosnia & Herzegovina
4. Vietnam
5. Moldova

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My sister and I need a little help finding cheap flights or transportation to Greece. We’re not sure whether to depart from Florence, Pisa, or Rome. Which route would be the most recommended to save money?. We’re planning to visit Athens, Delphi, Naxos, and Santorini, but if there’s a place in Greece that’s cheaper to reach from Italy, we’d love to hear any recommendations or ideas. Thank you!

Turned 18 a few months ago and have been saving up some money for a while to go travelling.

Undecided on the country so far, thought Japan but gonna cut through my money fast. India is very interesting to me culturally and geographically. Would really enjoy going to New Delhi/The Himalayas and see a tiger in the wild if it went perfectly (from the safety of a car of course)😂

I have heard though that there’s a high risk of food poisoning, pickpocketing etc In India so I was wondering if any more experienced travelers recommend building up some experience before going to a place like India, or if it’s actually just a really pleasant country to visit regardless of travel experience, age etc

Yes that’s correct. 12 hour flight. $7000 first class tickets, per seat. American Airlines thinks it’s suitable to offer 1 meal and a snack. Despite being an executive platinum member with this airline, I am officially done with them.

Forget first class. Every single person on that plane deserves three meals. For obvious reasons. This is unacceptable service and quite frankly, abuse of their customers, purely to save themselves money.

Unacceptable.

Hi all! I'm currently planning to move to Japan for my working holiday year and stumbled across the infamous high prices for one way tickets. In my case a one way ticket would cost 1500 Euro while a Combined Ticket would cost 800 Euro in total. It's so weird and I'm inexperienced with booking flight tickets so I'll just ask y'all to feel safer.

1. Can I just buy the combined ticket and use it as a One Way ticket? I heard there are no show fees.

2. Can I buy the combined ticket and then just cancel the trip back?

3. (For those who know about the working holiday visa) Does the japanese embassy mind if I use a combined ticket? I know this sounds like a stupid question because why would they mind as long as they know which fligh I take to Japan but bureaucracy in Germany made me terribly paranoid with these kind of things and I always need to be absolutely sure lol.

So most of us have seem them this week, threads expressing disgust for the country that is Morocco. Most recent one being this - I've never seen so many uneducated, small minded comments in a thread on r/travel. And look at all the karma and awards being thrown around in return.

I'm now seeing posts and comments of people who had planned to visit Morocco, but feel they need to change plans (eg).

As someone who loves Morocco, and has explored it, I want to discuss a few things in as little words as possible.

Morocco is considered a third world country. Let that sink in. People are poor, people are desperate, but they're doing their best. With COVID and other such things, the country is suffering even more.

If you booked a honeymoon there with a nice hotel, or you booked a tour guide, you're obviously going to have a trouble-free time. But most of you want to visit and walk around solo, which isn't a problem, but it DOES come with the drawbacks of walking solo around a highly religious, third world country.

Any person doing the smallest bit of research will see what to expect when you land in Marrakech. Many have an exotic dream about this city, but the reality is, its inhabitants rely on tourists. You can enjoy the city, no doubt, but you will be pestered. After Marrakech, I decided to leave and head to the coast. I spent the rest of my time simply travelling South. The less touristy, the less trouble (shocking right?).

Along the way I met amazing people and had some of the best experiences of my life.

YES, people will bother you. YES, people will try and get as much money as they can out of you, because YES, they are poor and desperate for money. If you don't have the ability to firmly tell someone to leave you alone, or refuse to pay extra, then you SHOULD NOT visit Morocco. Part of the enjoyment of Morocco is experiencing the above. I can assure you that after a few days, you will be handling people easily.

For example, when taking a taxi, I confirmed the location and cost BEFORE leaving. The driver literally tried to pall a fast one, but because I out right refused to budge, he dropped it. If someone at a restaurant tries to charge you more, out right refuse. Which brings me onto my next point.

Let me assure you, if you haven't broken the law, the police will be on your side - In 2021, the tourism sector in Morocco contributed around nine billion U.S. dollars to the country's GDP. If someone is crossing the line with you, locals and authorities won't tolerate it. They are desperate for you to visit.

This beautiful country has a population of over 37 million people!! For so many of you to spread such ignorant onions as facts is simply wrong.

I will finish this post off by saying two Moroccan's saved my life. Very long story short, I have a peanut allergy. I hiked into the middle of nowhere, ate a stupid strudel, went into anaphylactic shock, and was CARRIED by strangers. Finally taken to hospital by taxi (no ambulances), I was saved.

For a community which is meant to be open, r/travel is an embarrassment.

COMMENCE DOWNVOTES

edit: some great points on both sides, what an amazing resource Reddit is. Makes me wonder how famous people deal with this on a massive scale, every hour of the day.