Travelling can be tough. And it can be really, really expensive. With the airfares soaring almost every week and airlines adding more and more hidden charges, it can indeed cause a great deal of grief if you are bitten by the travel bug. (ALSO READ More stories on Trip Planning) But what if we told you traveling needn’t burn a large hole in your pocket if you simply follow these basic (may we add commonsensical?) hacks? Got you interested? Read on!
Most people travel over the weekends, for obvious reasons. Think of it, even if you’re taking a week-long break you will most likely book a flight on a Friday evening and return on Monday morning. You are, obviously, not the only one doing that and jacking up the ticket prices in the process. Ticket prices tend to fall during the weekdays, which is why professional travelers don’t usually fly on weekends or Fridays or Mondays. So plan your next holiday from, let’s say a Tuesday or Wednesday. And don’t forget to thank us later.
Travel expert Ansoo Gupta says there’s nothing such as a bad time to travel’. She argues that if you pack well for the season there’s no reason why you cannot enjoy the beauty of any place. After all it is not like people don’t live at those places during the lean seasons. Of course, we needn’t list out the virtues of visiting any place during the non-peak season: hotels are cheaper, getting around is cheaper and you get all the attention because there’s no one else to shower it on!
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This one might be a no-brainer but it never ceases to surprise us just how many people land up in a place without doing any research whatsoever. Spend as many hours as humanly possible researching about the place(s) you are planning on visiting. And we don’t just mean the monuments and attractions but also accommodation and local transport. Visit travel forums, ask questions and check if there are any couchsurfers who are willing to host you. Chances are you may just get a free accommodation! Which is a few thousand rupees saved right there!
This is perhaps the best piece of advice I have received. Traveling like a local would help you in more ways than you can imagine. Not only does it save you money (yay!) but it also helps you get to know the place and the people more intimately. A caveat here though: do your research well. Public transport in India can tend to be unreliable and sparse and there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself wasting hours if you don’t research well.
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It is amazing how much you miss when you whiz past in an air conditioned car. So, consider walking around. The slow, easy pace is bound to lead you to places that may not be listed in the tourist trail. And what more can you expect from a journey than discovering something new?
When most of us travel, we carry things we think we may need during our journey. (I am guilty of carrying more shoes than are needed.) If you can go the entire distance with just one pair of khakis, don’t bother packing another one! If you can wash and re-use your (t-)shirts, carry just as many as you’d need. Ask yourself just what is it that you really need and not what you may need in your travels. And then throw out the rest! It really is that simple because an extra bag may not just translate into extra money on your ticket but also time spent at the carousel (and we aren’t even going into the nightmarish possibility of lost luggage).
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When you take overnight trains you save on the hotel stay for a night. Multiply that by two (or three or four) and you’ll be surprised how much you’ll end up saving! Several Indian cities are also connected by sleeper coach buses. Consider those too.
Most hotels/homestays offer complimentary breakfast. Look for such places. Have a really, really heavy breakfast and let you next big meal be dinner! And yes, there’s no shame in pocketing a few loaves of bread from the basket for the journey. You’ll be surprised how many people do that!
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Meals have a sneaky way of blowing a hole in your pocket. So, if you absolutely are dying of hunger, consider visiting a grocery store and buying local produce. It could be something as little as a bottle of jam for that bread you sneaked out of your breakfast table.
Have you ever stopped to consider how much you end up spending when you buy gifts for your loved ones back home from your journey? Shopping for return gifts is one of the biggest expenses on any journey. Cut that out and you’ll save some for your next trip!
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