Congratulations on finding the official Low Budget Travel Checklist! This clear and easy-to-use overview will be a tremendous help when planning your budget-friendly trips. The checklist will be updated frequently so be sure to check back to this blog post from time to time! Contact us and let us know how this overview helped you, or if you have any additional tips and tricks we can share together! – PepTheWorld

Flights

Cheap flights

• Best timeframe for booking cheap tickets
  • Most convenient: 7-5 weeks before departure date
  • Alternative: 10 months or more before departure date
  • You can look into the existing last-minute deals if you have no fixed destination in mind, but don’t postpone buying your ticket hoping for a better deal!
  • Book your travels in the ‘low-season’ if possible, find out which times are peak travel moments for your destination and avoid too many tourists and higher prices!
• Best booking sites
  • Skyscanner
  • Momondo
  • Google Flights
• Compare the prices on different days of the week! Weekdays are normally cheaper than the weekend!
• Be mindful of hidden extra flight costs such as excess baggage. Travelling ‘hand luggage only’ can reduce costs & save time-related stress.
• Don’t get ‘cancellation insurance’ unless you feel you might need to use it.
• Don’t pay for ‘seat selection’ unless you want to sit together with a big group. During check-in you will normally still have ample opportunities and otherwise you can always talk to other passengers and switch!
• For frequent travellers or those who travel a longer period: chain cheap flights from low-budget airlines to go all around the world!

Free flights

• Reward Stacking – Receive airpoints and other travel credit that can be used for booking free flights! Learning this principle will take a bit of time, but the return is amazing.
• Turn your layovers into long-term stopovers so you are able to visit multiple destinations for the price of one ticket!

Accommodations

Cheap Accommodations

• Hostels: cheap lodging in bunkrooms, hostels offering other low-budget aid as well (such as a kitchen). Check out the HostelWorld link for the best hostel prices!
• AirBnB: stay with locals and get decent rooms at low prices. Click on this link for free credit when creating a new account!
• Booking.com: Sort the prices ascending to find great deals in every possible destination. Click the link for get even better prices (additional partner discount) in the chosen location.
• Be mindful of the location of your accommodation: going too far from where you want to be can increase your transportation costs!

Free Accommodations

• Couchsurfing: Stay with locals for free and maybe even make a friend for life! They can show you around or give local advise as well.
• Stay with locals: ask them for a room in exchange for a helping hand.

Transportation

• Car Rentals : Compare not only the display prices but read reviews. Car rentals can have bad reviews and turn out to be much more expensive in the end! Be aware of the ‘fine print’ on your contract.
• Buses: a cheap way to travel, and you can see the country. But they are usually a bit slower, and can strongly deviate from the schedule.
• Taxis: can be expensive and risky. Be sure to agree on a predetermined price or ask the driver to turn the meter on. See if you can share the cost with others going to nearby destinations.
• Uber services (car – scooter) will usually be a cheap alternative and you can even compare different apps to get the best price.
• Walking is the cheapest transportation method, healthy as well but be smart about the efficiency of your trip. Don’t tire yourself out if you can experience much more for $1.
• Bicycles are a great way to go around some cities. In some countries city bikes can be found everywhere!
• Hitchhiking: suitable only in some countries and for some travellers, research in advance! You can offer to share the fuel cost.
• Scooter Rental: Perfect and a cheap way (both rental costs & fuel) to visit some cities, be sure you can drive a scooter properly and avoid some dangerous traffic situations.
• Try to combine transportation and accommodation by using a sleeper train or overnight bus!
• Compare sailing times for ferries and different companies!
• Sometimes local fishermen will bring you to your destination much cheaper than a tourist boat.
• Want to do something interesting and not low budget? Try a hot air balloon, helicopter or segway.

Food

• Eat where the locals eat: lower prices and often better and more authentic food.
• Visit local markets, great atmosphere and you can sample foods at a cheap price.
• Eat from supermarkets: don’t eat in restaurants too frequent. Buy premade meals, snacks and drinks in the local shops.
• Buy ingredients and cook by yourself or with a group if you can!
• Make sure you have some snacks and drinks on you at all times, this will ensure you never have to pay the overly expensive ‘only offers’!
• Bring foods onto the airplane, don’t buy them there as they will be expensive.
• Drink fountains: in some places you can save a lot by using the ‘drinkwater fountains’.
• Use a Filtered Travel Can: these filter and purify water to make it drinkable. It is cheaper, more safe, and better for the environment!
• If you want to drink alcohol: wait until happy hour for better prices and atmosphere!

Other Valuable Tips

• Don’t withdraw money too often to avoid stacking service charges. Calculate how much you’ll need and plan ahead. Don’t withdraw everything at once and keep your money separated for safety reasons.
• Compare banks and ATM’s because service charges can differ or there might be no service charge at all!
• Before taking an additional travel insurance, be sure to check your other insurances to see if you aren’t already covered!
• Vaccinations: while you should not save money on these if they are recommended, be sure to read the safety guidelines and regulations of your destination to avoid unnecessary vaccinations.
• Souvenirs: are precious memories of your travels, our belief is that you shouldn’t save too much on them.
• Backpacking will stop you from buying too many souvenirs as you will not have a lot of room for them and need to carry everything with you, unless you collect and send them home.
• Be sure to compare prices and quality as usually souvenirs will be sold by multiple vendors and often at very high tourist rates. Ask locals for advice and be sure to bargain if the culture allows it!
• Don’t go TOO FAST or try to do TOO MUCH at once during your travels. FOMO (Fear of missing out) is a big issue for many people (including myself) but rushing a trip will make you miss out on really experiencing the destination and faster travel will usually cost more too!

I hope you found all these tips helpful! If you have any additional tips and tricks that we can add, be sure to get in touch! Together we will make this checklist the key tool for planning budget friendly travels! Thank you for reading and be sure to check out the other amazing content on this website. – PepTheWorld