Four Tips for Frugal Travel
| Tip 1: Skip a Restaurant Meal at least Once a Day | |
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As we begin to plan summer getaways, let's think about ways we can save money on those trips without sacrificing fun, comfort or safety.
Are two expensive sit-down meals really necessary? Should you pay full price at an empty motel when all you want is a few hours sleep? Consider four ways to lower your travel bills. |
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Many travelers find it isn't dinner that kills their food budgets each day. The culprits: those other meals and impulse snacks.
I firmly believe that sampling the food of a culture is as important as visiting its museums and markets. The occasional splurge at a nice restaurant with the best local cuisine is a must--even on a budget trip.
How can it be done?
Start by taking breakfast at your hotel, motel or hostel if it is offered. In Europe and other places, it often is included in the cost of the lodging. If not, find a place that offers hearty eating at a modest price.
This leaves two meals in the day: lunch and dinner.
Some budget travelers prefer to have their big, relatively expensive meal at lunch, where there is often a better value. Others want the experience of dining nicely after dark. Whatever your preference, make a promise that you'll choose one for a restaurant and the other for low-cost alternatives.
These "other" options are not necessarily going to be spartan. What they will offer is a big relief from the profit margins of a full service restaurant. Here are a few suggestions:
- Visit the supermarket (or open-air market) and pack a picnic lunch.
- Eat a light snack with fruit or cheese at midday, especially if the breakfast was large and filling.
- Find a carry-out style pizza place. Pizza tends to be filling and inexpensive so long as it isn't a specialized variety. This works well for dinners overseas if money is running short.
If you can limit your travel expenditures to one restaurant meal a day, or at least eliminate one restaurant meal daily, you'll see a savings on the food totals that could make a big difference.
After all, food is often among the biggest expenditures on a trip. Lodging is another.
| Tip 3: Take the Train | |
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Readers who live in Europe will wonder immediately what is novel or insightful about recommending train travel. They've been doing it for years without giving it a second thought. Americans are another story. Many view train travel as old-fashioned and inefficient. In some places, they're probably correct in that assessment. |
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But trains everywhere offer budget travelers some key advantages:
You'll notice a number of these advantages involve time. It is a precious commodity on any trip. Business travelers thrive or fall on efficiency. Vacationers usually have fewer days than they would like, and want to make the most of their limited opportunities. Overnights on a train are not always restful--often quite the opposite. But a bed (or seat) on a train is almost always cheaper than the same amount of padding in a motel. You wouldn't want to do it every night, but a few carefully selected train overnights will help your budget. Consider the discounts offered with a BritRail or Eurail pass. You pay one price for unlimited mileage within your desired area of travel. There are "companion" fares that can save 40% or more over a conventional ticket. At times, Amtrak offers some incredible promotional fares and passes, too. Check their Web site for current offers. Passes are available on U.S. and Canadian lines, too. You must decide if those (or any) passes save significant money or time over a conventional ticket. The point is to make the comparison. Try it!
| Tip 4: Don't Follow the Crowds | |
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Theme Park "A" is opening a new ride this weekend. They expect long lines and capacity crowds. Fifty miles away, theme park "B" will not open a new ride. City "A" is staging its annual marathon tomorrow. Twenty thousand runners and scores of spectators are coming to town. City "B" is nearby and uncrowded. |
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The fairly obvious budget travel choice in each case is "B."
But many of us are drawn in by the hype surrounding a certain city or event and we "just have to" visit at that time.
If the new ride or the marathon are important to you, no one is suggesting you shouldn't attend. But if they are not a top priority, stay away!
Do not ignore special events, just avoid them if possible. The recent Jubilee 2000 was a good example of why this advice is valid.
Jubilee 2000 was a series of religious events that no doubt had profound spiritual significance for those in attendance. Many events were staged in Europe.
Locales removed from the epicenter of the Jubilee 2000 plans faced a drop-off in summer tourism without some good financial incentives for potential visitors. Bargain hunters in the year 2000 took advantage of those deals, whether or not they attended the Jubilee events.
Another strategy: find the places where tourism is down and plan a visit.
Travelers willing to go to New York or Washington, DC soon after the terrorist attacks reaped tremendous bargains. Some might view that as gain from another's misfortune. But most in both cities saw those bargain-seekers as honored guests rather than vultures.
Is a Caribbean destination struggling to recover visitors after a devastating hurricane? What about exploring that inland city that is less-visited and less-expensive than its coastal counterparts?
One final thought that takes us back to the theme park: the new ride will be there next year, too. It might be even better. The lines will certainly be shorter.
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