How Do You Afford To Travel?
How do you find the money to travel? Travelling is so expensive. I don't have the money.
Does this sound familiar to you? If you could relate to this, great! We are in the same boat. If not, this is what I often heard, especially from people who wish to travel, yet can't afford to go. Hence, I am here to share the truth and maybe some tips that would help you to save money.
Know Your Priorities
Image by Glenn Carstens-Peters.
If travelling around the world to gain new experiences is your top priority, then I have a piece of important news to share. It's going to cost you a bomb. Travelling is an expensive hobby. For the past 3 years, I travelled to 7 different countries on average per year, and the number excludes going to Malaysia. I spent around SGD 15k on average per year just on travel. The expenses include air tickets, meals, travel insurance, shopping and all the misc charges. So, if you want to travel once or twice a year, you can allocate a much lesser budget. Unless you plan to go to 2 exotic countries, such as Africa and catching the Northern Lights, then SGD 15k may just be enough to fund those 2 trips.
Save Money
Image by Sabine Peters.
Seriously, save the money and go for the trip! If you want to spend money on other areas, then, you would not have a sufficient amount to travel as many times as you wish. There is no need to spend $30 on a meal if you really want to go for a trip. Imagine eating a $30 lunch for 6 times in a row, that's $180 in total. You can purchase an air ticket from a budget airline with that same amount of money and go to Bangkok. You have to weigh what’s more important to you. So, don't complain about not having enough money to travel.
Now that you heard the truth, I would now share with you some tips on how to save money on air tickets and accommodation! These are the 2 main areas that you would spend the most. It's good to know how to scrimp and save a little on each portion, then put aside the “savings” for shopping!
Content
1. Air Tickets
Image by Nicole Geri.
1.1. Sign up for all the airlines' newsletters
I mean it! Signed up for all your favourite airlines’ newsletters. You would receive their promotional deals. When you receive such deals, you can start to sieve through the promotions. Based on experience, you can get a good promotion deal if you purchase air tickets 6 months in advance.
Here are some of examples:
Return air ticket to Hong Kong via SQ: SGD 258
I bought a year in advance.
Return air ticket to Bangkok, Thailand via SQ during peak season: SGD 228
I purchased 2- 3 months in advance.
Return air ticket to Osaka, Japan via SQ direct flight: SGD 900
I bought this air ticket 4 months in advance, but this was not the best deal.
All prices were inclusive of taxes, and the timing of the flights were reasonable. And, you would realise that I flew with Singapore Airlines most of the time. I do subscribe to the budget airlines, such as Scoot and Jetstar, marketing materials as well. However, once I include the option of meals and luggage, the difference between the a full-fledge carrier and budget airline is not too much. Most of the time, I am willing to top up SGD 100 to SGD 200 for a full-fledge carrier for long haul flight because:
You have the full service on board.
The timing of the flight is better.
You would land at a better airport, this makes a whole lot of differences to your travel experience.
Most importantly, I want to collect my miles!
1.2. Purchase your air ticket at the very last minute
I managed to purchase 2 air tickets to Penang 3 days before the trip, and 1 ticket cost less than SGD 120 inclusive of tax. It's was a full flight, but I was betting on a few guests will cancel their flight at the last minute, which was the main reason why I got 2 tickets at a very cheap rate. To do this, you would want to be mentally prepared that you are not guaranteed a seat, and you maybe bump to another flight.
The other time I try the same trick and purchase an air ticket to Melbourne a week before my trip, but it didn't work, as seats were still available on the flight. I got the Qantas’ air ticket for about SGD 1000.
Sometimes, you just need to try your luck.
1.3. Be open to a budget airline
Image by Ramon Kagie.
If you are travelling to nearby places for 3 - 5 days, and you know that you are not going to bring more than 7kg of luggage or do any form of shopping, you can easily opt to travel via budget airline. The add ons like luggage, meals, entertainment for such trip is not a need.
Here are some examples:
Return ticket to Phuket, Thailand via Jetstar: $97
This is the cheapest ticket that I ever purchased.
Return ticket to Cebu, Philippines during peak season: $313
It was the most economical, and we got our air tickets from 2 different airlines.
1.4. Opt for different airlines’ tickets
Sometimes it's better to buy your to and fro tickets from different airlines. Some airlines provide better timing of their flights at an affordable rate. So, if the timing is as important as the cost of the air ticket, you may want to some research here. I don't usually buy my tickets from different airlines because I do not like to spend too much time researching.
1.5. Use Skyscanner
Well, this should not be a surprise! Skyscanner is indeed one of my favourite place to look at the rates of air tickets. You can simply use Skyscanner for point 1.2 to 1.4.
Airline promotion may not appear on Skyscanner. At least, that was what happened to me. It's cheaper to purchase from the airline directly when they host their own deals. Keep this in mind when you are doing your research.
90% of the time, I would get my air tickets from the direct airline. 10% of the time I would get it via Skyscanner. It is because the cost of the fare shown on Skyscanner is normally the same as shown on the airline page. So, I would go through the airline page to purchase the air ticket and clock the miles too.
I am done with the tips for air tickets now. Next, we would go through the tips for accommodation.
2. Accommodation
Image by Christopher Jolly.
2.1. Compare prices of the original hotel site vs third party website
Just like what I explained in the earlier section, you would need to compare the prices on both the hotel and third parties' website, such as Agoda, Hotels.com and etc. I know HotelsCombined can help to compare all the third parties websites rate, but I don’t usually use that website. You have to view more options to look out for the best rate when using HotelCombined. Feel free to use HotelsCombined for this step and you can save a lot of time.
Sometimes, it's cheaper to reserve a room with the hotel directly, especially if you want to include hotel breakfast. It's crucial to read the terms and conditions when you are booking through third parties' website because the total cost may not tally with the number of people staying in the room. Meaning, you have 4 people staying in the room, but the package only includes breakfast for 3. At times like this, it's best that you book with the hotel directly.
A. The number of people in a room would affect the cost of the room
Next, the number of pax staying in a room would affect the price too. It's a marginal difference of a few dollars. Although this does not happen frequently, it did happen to me. Do read the terms and conditions! Some hotels do charge a surcharge for every additional guest which is not listed on the booking form.
B. Check the hotel price once in a while even though you have secured a room
Assuming that you have booked your accommodation via a third party website, it's good to randomly track the prices once in a while on other sites too. Most of such sites have "lowest price guarantee". So, if you can find another website that provides the same room with the terms and conditions with a cheaper rate, take a screenshot, email the organisation's customer service which you purchased the accommodation from and negotiate for a price match. Once again, it happened to me before, and the price difference was around SGD 20 per room.
2.2. Check if the issuing bank of your credit card has any promotion
Banks tend to provide promotion for their credit cards. I like to use credit cards that allow me to clock miles. So, generally for such cards, they have some travel-related promotions available. They do have a partnership with third-party websites as well. So, if you go through the bank's link to book your accommodation, you could get 5 - 10% of the additional discount. I tried this before, and it worked! You get to clock the points and save on accommodation.
2.3. Try Airbnb
Image by Dan Gold.
If you are travelling in a big group, Airbnb could be the right choice. You can book the entire house, buy some groceries and cook for some meals. You can save quite an amount of money with this method. Alternatively, if you are looking for other options other than a hotel, and you do not mind staying under the same roof with the owner of the place, Airbnb is a good choice. I had met good hosts, regardless if I get a whole house and a private room. I did my cooking in the house too. My experience has been excellent, and I do not have any horror story.
2.4. Sign up for hotel membership if you frequent the chain regularly
Some of the hotel chains, like IHG and Accor, provide membership for regular guests. They have many benefits available for their members, which you can read up on their website. I am not a frequent flyer, so I do not any experience to share. If you ever become a frequent flyer and you like to stay in a specific branded hotel, this is for you. Hotels do provide membership so if you regularly travel to Europe and tend to stay at ibis chain, apply for an Accor membership. So far, I only had 1 membership with a hotel chain in Japan, and it provide a lifetime membership. I would get a discount as and when I stayed at their hotel branch. I only used it for 1 time, so I can't offer any feedback at the moment.
And that's all my tips for the booking of accommodation.
Now that you read all the tips about saving cost on air tickets and accommodation, I hope this article would encourage you to plan and go for the trip that you have been dreaming about. You just need to plan well and if the time is right, just get the big-ticket items first. Once the purchase is completed, it's time to countdown to your trip.
x, Esther
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