Let’s start the new year by planning to travel! Travelling is amazing but can be a very expensive activity. So, I always look for opportunities to go traveling – when I can fit it in with studies, work, and family – without spending too much money. This is my guide to save money on travel in 2018! There are couple of steps to go through, to make sure that you get the best deals possible.
Key takeaway: Always check several website for the best price and always look for cashback rewards.
This post contains affiliate links! which means that whenever you click on one of the links and buy something, I will get a commission. This will not add anything to the price that you would have payed otherwise. However, you will get a cash bonus using my links.
Planning to save money on travel
If you already know that you want/need to be in a certain place at a certain date, book in advance. Of course, you can try your luck and hope for last minute deals. But most times you will be a lot better off, having booked everything in advance. Plus you get the added bonus of not stressing out about not knowing how you’ll get there.
If you’re the more spontaneous type, last minute deals will be your best friend and can help you to save a lot of money on travel. However, you might also get lucky and find that prices on flights and hotels haven’t increased too too much. I have been on a couple of spur of the moment travels, and lucky for me, they all turned out great!
My general advice for finding cheap travels, is to always – always – always check and compare several sites, both for flights and accommodation!
Travel insurance
Travel insurance sucks when you don’t need it, but is the best thing in the world when you do… I have an annual travel insurance that covers any “standard” travels (less than 30 days). On top of that I always book using my Mastercard, where you can add insurance and save some money. Even though travel insurance can seem like a waste, it’s honestly the best thing if you’re one of the unlucky ones to have something happen during your travels.
Flights
Always remember to check for flights in incognito mode (unless you’re using cashback-sites since they will not work if you’re in incognito mode)
To save money on travel, researching where to buy your flight tickets is key! I use Momondo to find flights, since I often find the cheapest flights there.
If you want to utilize any cashback services (like Ebates + check out my guide on how to save money on online shopping), there are several other services to use:
Expedia.com (10% Cashback $10 Cashback by using this link)
justfly.com ($8 Cashback $10 Cashback by using this link)
and more, just take a look at the Ebates website.
Accommodation
Accommodation, for me, can make or break any holiday. I spend an extreme amount of time scouring the internet for the right place to stay and the right price. Again, I will always check several websites to make sure I get the best price! There are several options to save money on travel and find the most for the least:
I just found out about Ebates Hotels, which offers you 7% cashback ( $10 Cashback by using this link). Now I checked it against booking.com and found that they matched in price (on the hotels that I chose to compare). Again, always check different sources. These are the ones that I always check before making a booking:
Booking.com: My favorite (when you book 10 stays you’re upgraded to a ‘Genius’ member and get better deals on hotels you get a cashback of 4% through Cashrewards (where you get a bonus of $10 after your first purchase))
Another great benefit is that you can actually book a long time in advance but not pay until right before you leave. However, booking.com also offer non-refundable options which are much cheaper, so if you’re sure about going, I would recommend that option to save money. Just be careful! I have tried booking a stay and then ended up not going.. Money wasted..
Trivago: I always check this website to see if there are offers way lower than Booking.com (including cashbacks).
Package Deals
Package Deals can be really great, both in terms of saving money on travel and in terms of insurance. In Denmark (I have to admit that I’m not sure about other countries) when you book a package deal (flight hotel) you automatically get a guarantee that if the travel company goes bankrupt, you will be refunded part of your expenses.
Expedia.com, which is actually my all-time favorite website to book package deals through. If you’re smart about it, you can actually save some serious money on your travel:
Sign up for Ebates (use this link and you’ll get $10 after your first purchase of $25 or more) and receive up to 10% cashback various offers from Expedia.com remember to add the Ebates button to your browser, because it will notify you when you’re on a website that has cashback.
Sign up for Expedia on the website and get 10% off of selected hotels.
Download and use the app to book your travels and receive double Expedia points, which can be used to book travels in the future.
All in all, you can save a good bit of money on travel using this method.
Car rental
If you’re renting a car to go on a road trip and you know you’re going to stay in one place/city for the first or last couple of days of your trip – consider renting the car from the day that you leave that city/place. That way you can essentially save two days of renting the car including parking fees.
When booking either accommodation, package deal or flights, you are often prompted with offers to rent a car. Instead of immediately marking them as spam, check out their prices – they might actually be fairly good. Other than that, I look at:
Europcar and Sixt (which both offer caskback of 5.6% through Cashrewards + $10 when signing up through this link) or
Carrentals.com, you get 2.5% cashback through Ebates.com $10 when signing up through this link you get 20% or 25% on weekly rentals (time limited offer from Ebates).
When renting a car, pay close attention to the insurance that they will always try to hook you with. I’ve experienced that the price of the insurance (day-to-day basis) compared to the actual payout minus the own risk fee, is often way too much (especially on long term rentals – more than a couple of days)
Food
Food can easily be the cheapest or most expensive part of traveling. I like to eat well, and therefor often spend a little more. However, where I can, I’ll cook the food myself and then splurge once or twice on a visit to a local restaurant. When booking accommodations, I will usually go for either hostels, campgrounds or apartments with a kitchen/kitchenette. That way I know that I’ll be saving a lot on food, since I will be able to quickly prepare some at the hotel/hostel/campground.
Depending on where you are, local markets are often the best and cheapest way to find food. Furthermore, the food there will be authentically local and make for an interesting experience. If you will be driving a lot, get yourself a cooling bag to store your food. Then you can shop for bread, meats, cheese, fruits and veggies for several days and make your own sandwich on the road plus you can buy larger bottles of water or drinks that will be cheaper.
Activities
Activities can be a very expensive and big part of a trip and if you’re looking to save – this will be a very good place to do so. Of course, some activities will cost you money, so unless you can make do with not doing those activities, try to find out if there are ways to save on booking them:
Either book directly from the vendor (or through a travel agency that can offer package deals and might have cashback services) and ask for discounts such as student discounts or non-rush hour discounts. If the activity is offered by several vendors – check their prices and notify vendor 1 that vendor 2 has a better offering – they might offer you a better deal.
Other than that: Prioritize! If there is one activity that you absolutely have to do and you know it’s going to cost you a lot of money – do that activity and then find other activities that are free:
Hiking and tramping
City walks (find your visited city’s local website and Social Media sites)
Public displays, shows and concerts (again look at the city’s local website and Social Media sites)
I hope you enjoyed this post and hopefully got some inspiration and tricks for booking your next adventure!
Travel safe 🙂
~ Josephine
See how you can apply some of the same principles when shopping online – see how here!
Checklist
If you need some travel inspiration, check out my travel blogs (Mainly Australia and New Zealand – for now)
Get ready to travel
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Thanks for sharing this guide. I really should look into this cashback thing. It’s not very common in Austria and I wasn’t aware that booking offers that too. Great guide. Thanks
I know, I didn’t know about it before I went to Australia but it’s and easy and great way to save some money 🙂 Thank you!
Great tips! Love the structured way you’ve presented here.
Thank you! 🙂
I’m also a thrifty traveler. This guide is very helpful. I’ve never use Momondo but I’ll start browsing there then. Thanks for sharing this.
I’m so happy you liked it! Yes definitely try it out – I often get the best deals from there 🙂
These are such great tips and all are so true. People comment all the time to us that we must be rich because we travel so much. I have to explain to them that we aren’t, we just know how to find good deals!! Thanks for sharing your travel wisdom!
Great tips! Thanks for sharing. I also try to travel as much as I can (at least once a month) which can be expensive. I always try to be as flexible as possible and not to focus on a specific destination.
Yeah that sounds very reasonable. I’m hoping to be doing more travels in Europe this year and saving money like this will definitely help me a lot.
I couldn’t agree more – checking several websites for flights, hostels or rental cars is always the best thing to do. Even if they state it’s the best price, you can still find it cheaper sometimes. Happy New Traveling Year!
I know, you have to get a little crafty. But it’s definitely worth it! Thank you and to you!
Great tips! I didn’t know you can get some much cash back from your bookings! And I am definitely one of those people who spend lots of money for food 🙂 I dont like waist time for cooking when I travel and I also dont really trust food stands ( not that I have something agains it, I am just worry about my stomach) plus I do love try local food so all my money goes to it 😀 I am glad there are free activities in the cities and I love walking so at least I am saving my money on it 🙂
I know, you can actually save quite a bit of money. Definitely worth remembering 🙂 Glad you liked it!
I love incognito mode, my favorite travel hack, but I had no idea you could use Ebates for travel! What a great tip!
Glad you like it! Yeah, it’s definitely worth checking out before booking a trip 🙂
Cashback is most definitely my friend…it’s taken me a lot of miles. I hear what you say about the food too. We’ve taken to booking more places with a kitchenette – and as you mention, seeing local shops and eating preferences is fascinating too.
Cooking myself in stead of going to restaurants everyday definitely saves me a lot of money – and is just a lot more flexible.
Perfect timing, yesterday I was making my ‘budget plan’. I never used Trivago, but it’s a good idea to compare prices. Awesome tips, thanks.
Awesome, I’m glad you liked it. Tbh. I always forget to use Trivago, which is why I thought to myself – I have to write all of this down to remember myself. It’s just so easy to save money on booking – you just have to look for it 🙂
cannot agree more on all the topics. Also , I travel overnight by public transport at times to save some money. For the more you save on the travel the further you go! A more minimalist lifestyle is also important for frequent travels. About food, we both seems to be on the same plate!
Ooh that’s a great tip! Yes, I think it’s all about prioritizing what you really want/need as well.
Great tips 🙂 I absolutely swear by cashback whenever I book flights/accomodations and so on ! It’s such a great way to get a bit of money back. I should try and cook more when I’m travelling, would be better than eat cheap sandwich ahah.
Thank you! Cashback is the best, but also easily forgotten somehow.. Cooking is just such a good thing, one of the first times that I traveled by myself for a longer period, I almost ended up being seriously malnourished because I would only eat noodles.. Not a good idea 😉
lots of great trips to save travelers a lot of money. I appreciate your insight, as I always find I prefer to travel without much planning – I’ve only been “stuck” renting a very experience room at a 3 star hotel a few times, most times I always found last minute deals. Thanks for all this great information!
Thank you, I’m glad you liked it! I’ve actually always been against planning – but I’m getting a bit better at it. One time, my partner and I went to Noosa in Queensland, Australia without having anything booked. What we didn’t realize was that it was the Easter holidays and that everyone was in Noosa at that time – so when we arrived, there was no room! Except for the highly expensive hotel, I think it was like $1000 for one night.. So yeah, we ended up sleeping in the car on a lonely street somewhere.. I would not recommend that.. 😉
Great tips! We do a mixture of budget and luxury travel but are always on the look out for more advice and tips to make travel more affordable
Thank you! 🙂 I do the same thing – and tbh I’ve become a lot more picky about where I stay, so finding good deals and making the trip more affordable while keeping a certain standard has definitely become my priority.
There is a bunch of stuff here that I had no idea about! I will definitely need to check out these cashback situations that you highlight. Awesome post.
I’m really glad you liked it! Yes, definitely check out the cashback options – I have saved a lot with those 🙂
I agree that having travel insurance is important! I used to never get it but started to cover my trips last year. It’s worth the investment!
Yes, it’s just the area where it really sucks to not have one when you need it.
I love booking in advance when I can as it does cost a lot cheaper. LOL.. Though I’ll be sure to check out for last minute deals though as I haven’t tried looking for that before. 🙂 I’m currently looking for cheap flights right now for 4th quarter travels and haven’t had any luck so far. This tips of yours are pretty handy especially about the package deals and using incognito mode. 🙂
Yes exactly. Especially if you’re booking accommodation through booking.com where you can actually pay later on, so you don’t have that initial cost. I’m glad you liked it!
I remember when I found out about incognito mode. It never occurred to me that I’d get charged more for returning to the previous search because it signalled my ‘interest’. But I haven’t really explored cashback deals though. Food for thought.
I remember that as well. I felt kind of cheated but am glad that I know about it now!
Loving all money saving tips. Tips on Food and flight have to apply next time 🙂 About accommodation booking.com is always fave one ..
Glad you liked it! Same for me – booking.com all the way!
A great list of websites and ideas! I am loving the booking.com code, I’ve shared my own too and received money back. I also love being a booking genius, I always get great deals! Thanks for sharing 🙂
That is so great to hear! For me too, it is almost never worth it for me to look anywhere else. But of course I still check 🙂
Awesome tips! I use a few of these, but I also was unaware of a lot of them. I really like the idea of getting cash back rewards. I’m going to have to look into this and try it! I’m always interested in the best deals!! Thanks for sharing all of this!
Thank you, I’m glad you think so! Cashback can definitely save you quite a bit of money in the long run.
Some super tips here. I’ve rnever heard of ebates before so I’ll check that out.
Food is where my hubby and I spend way too much. Those yummy shakes add up!! I am going to remind him just how much we can save by cooking a little more
Thank you! Yes, you can save some serious cash. Cooking together can also be quite the adventure 😉
Great ideas! I’ve been meaning to look into Ebates for ages, so will have to give it a go. Thanks for the tips.
Sounds great, I hope you find some great savings!
These are some awesome tips to save money! I had never heard of Ebates, will have to try them next time 🙂 Thanks for sharing. Even we prefer to save money by directly booking from the vendors or doing things on our own than taking tours in the city.
Yes, you definitely should! You can actually save quite a bit on booking your travels 🙂
This is such a helpful post! I love travelling but I don’t want to spend a lot of money on each trip (be thrifty and travel to more places, right?!). I definitely agree with the incognito browsing trick. So sneaky of the airlines though!
I’m very glad you think so. Thank you!
Great tips! I’m a super budget traveller so it’s always good to hear other people’s ideas on saving money! The way I see it is, the more money saved on one trip – the more money left over for the next on!
Haha that’s my thought exactly! Thank you, I’m glad you liked it.
I couldn’t agree more with booking trips in advance if you can and cooking meals. You save so much money that way! I always try and prepare snacks at home before a trip so when I get the nibbles I can have them rather than buying something expensive abroad.
Oh that’s a really great tip, thank you!
So many great cash back/discount ideas! I love stretching my travel budget as much as possible. Thanks for the ideas!
Thank you, I’m happy you liked it and hopefully you’ll be able to save some extra cash for your next trip 🙂
I honestly didn’t know about cashback rewards etc and I also forgot how Expedia etc can offer you the package deals of flights + hotels etc… A great round-up of really useful tips!
Thank you I really appreciate that!
I’ve fallen victim to not taking advantage of booking early and had flights double in price before I’ve become organised enough to booked – I shall be following your tips from now on haha
I’ve done the exact same thing! (too many times..) It really does save you quite a bit of money, but of course you’re not always able to book well in advance – Impulsive traveler’s problem 😉
Excellent advice.
I am always surprised how few people seem to know about the incogito mode thing for booking flights. The airlines must make so much extra money when people forget to hide their browsing!
Yes me too! We have to spread the word! 😉
Great tips you’ve shared! I also use Ebates a lot but mostly for online shopping rather than booking travels since the payout mostly seems to be for booking cruises. Would you recommend booking a package from website or doing the flights, accommodation and potential rental car separately?
Thank you! It depends on the price and/or advantages. Bottomline is that I will always spend some extra time looking in to several options before booking. However, I mostly book separately because looking around and finding different deals and cashback often gives me the cheapest options. But again, it depends 🙂
Another tip for car rental: relocating a car! It’s so much cheaper and you can actually get a pretty good trip out of it!
I didn’t think about that. Great idea!
We also do a lot of cooking ourselves you save money while traveling. Had no idea ebates did hotels too, though. Great tips.
No me neither, apparently it’s a new thing. Thank you!