In addition to make time for travel, money is usually one of the major limitations. Here are our experiences with how to save money and make the trip cheaper. 

#1: Calculate all expenses in advance

It is easy to focus too much on flight tickets when deciding where to go. “It’s 20 dollars cheaper to fly to London instead of Riga, so London must be cheaper”. If you take into account the price of accommodation, food, transport and everything else, then London is all of a sudden much more expensive. Therefore it is a good idea to make an estimate of what future expenses will be, both to find cheaper alternatives and to have a rough idea of how much you actually have to pay in total.

#2: Check what things usually cost

Coming from a western countries, especially Norway, being one of the most expensive countries in the world, can make foreign prices alien and hard to evaluate. Webpages like TripAdvisor and WikiTravel offer good tips on what to pay for different services. A taxi ride for 30 dollars might be half of what you would have to pay in your home country, but the actual price might just be 7 dollars for those that know what to pay. The price can also be drastically reduced by not looking like a stereotypical tourist.

Another trick is also to say that you have spent some time in a place, even when you have just arrived. If you are new to a place, many will try to offer some crazy prices, but if they believe that you have some experience, they think you know what a fair price is and will try to give a more honest offer.

#3: Haggling

This should be pretty obvious, but still worth mentioning. This especially applies to Norwegians, as we are a shy people and not used to this kind of behaviour.

#4: Use bonus systems

Most hotels and airlines have bonus systems. Even if you aren’t a frequent traveller much can be saved by signing up for the right bonus systems. For example Hotels.com gives you a free night for every 10 night you book through them. EuroBonus gives you a free check in item if you are a silver member, which only requires 10 single flights; in other words a round trip with one connection each way brings you almost half way already. There are also numerous credit card deals, though the availability of these vary much by country of residence, the best offers are usually available in the US.

#5: Hotel location

Hotels near downtown areas are usually booked on city holidays to have as short of a distance as possible to the attractions. But usually the hotel is only used as a luggage storage and sleeping accommodation and all other time is spent everywhere else. We have therefore experienced that it is better to book a hotel that is close to the metro, bus or similar. The trip downtown still takes just a few minutes, but the hotel price is usually just a fraction of the price compared to downtown hotels.

#6: Make your own food

While travelling one usually buys food at a restaurant. But even McDonald’s costs a lot compared to making the food yourself. Most grocery stores sell sliced bread, an combined with a jar of jam you have secured a close to free breakfast and supper.

Many hotels also have kettles. Pre-made meals where you only apply water is way cheaper than eating at a restaurant and bazinga, you now have made all the food you need for a day.

The only exception to this is Southeast Asia, where eating at a restaurant is cheaper than making your own food…