Saving with traveling.
Is it possible to go on holiday without spending a fortune?
Actually, yes!
Over the past few years, I have acquired several techniques that allow me to go on vacation on a tight budget and I am always looking for new ideas to save even more.
1° Decide the date.
For example: My last trip was on May 24, 2018 for Barcelona. Airfare, hotel and transportation were purchased on April 5.
In fact, booking well in advance makes it possible to obtain a considerable saving.
Tickets (airplanes or trains) with companies like Italo and Trenitalia generally cost much less if booked well in advance.
Trenitalia and Italo offer seatings with different price ranges.
Remember that the low cost rate is always the most requested, so first comes...
You also have to consider that the price varies according to the day of the week, the time zone and the presence of holiday periods.
To remember:
Even a last minute booking can make you save a lot. I generally apply the last minute only for travels to Croatia, where I stay in an apartment and not in the hotel, reaching the place with my car.
2° Use Google.
I understand that the title may be perplexing and make you shout: "She har reinvented the wheel!" Yet it is not as obvious as it may seem.
What should you look for without being forced to go to a travel agency?
There are hundreds of sites like Booking, TripAdvisor, Agoda etc. that allow you to book the hotel and maybe even the flight.
For example: For Barcelona I bought on the site Volagratis.com. Flight round trip plus the 4 star hotel for 5 nights for two people cost us €430.00.
ATTENTION: I got that price by checking different offers of flights (with various companies) on the site Skyscanner.com.
Actually, the trip was done with Vueling with the flight at 16.40 on Thursday while the return was with Ryanair with the flight on Monday at 12.40.
Obviously, I didn’t have a luggage in the hold, but only hand baggage with a maximum of 10 kg and not having chosen the seat I did not pay any price supplements.
3° Do not stop at the first travel site, but check other options.
If the offer you found on a site seems tempting, don’t buy it immediately: Obviously save the search, but try to see the same route with different airlines.
From experience I can tell you that Easyjet made me a great price for the Roundtrip + hotel in Prague for Halloween 2017.
Unfortunately I had not paused to look at other services with discounts on the site, such as the transport service from the airport to the hotel that I bought privately.
Italo and Trenitalia also have the possibility to book the hotel or other services by creating conventions.
This of course will save you money.
I have listed only a few sites or companies that I have used in the last period, but of course there are many. The important thing is to search!
4° What do I do on vacation?
After you have booked the way to reach the tourist destination and the hotel, you have to think about what to do on holiday.
Is it a cultural trip? Are you going to take a tan at the sea? Or do you want to go skiing?
Obviously depending on the type of holiday, you will have to document previously on local attractions.
For the cultural holidays I recommend you to buy tickets in presale, as museums have sites to buy the entrance ticket in advance.
This will blow your tail when you arrive at the museum, and with some offers you can save on the full price of the entrance fee.
For example: There are cards that allow you to visit various museums, to be used in a certain period of time.
What about the seaside holidays?
Also in this case, please inquire previously on the presale for beach umbrellas and deckchairs in the bathing facilities.
Check the full price and if there is a discount for the pre-sale as well as packages of two or more days.
5° Dinner and lunches.
Therefore, after we have saved on transport, on overnight and on attractions, there remains a fundamental thing: eating!
Can you also save on this? I would say so.
There are different forms of thought here.
Who takes an apartment to personally cook their own breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Who uses offers on the Internet. An example?
Have you ever used TheFork or Groupon?
I do and I use TheFork.
TheFork.it allows you to book a restaurant directly with the App. Do not call, but just search the restaurant, READ THE REVIEWS (indispensable: I experienced that the reviews are real), choose from Calendar availability, time and how many people you are.
And so far, it's okay. Personally I find that not having to call is already the best function of this App, but it also reminds you, by sending an email and an SMS, of the date of the bookings.
In addition, many restaurants in Italy and Europe make discounts on booking.
In Barcelona I booked all dinners with TheFork in restaurants that have applied 50% discount on the total or excluding drinks.
I usually prefer to book dinners; I leave the lunches free because maybe I eat something on the fly, while for the breakfasts I stay either in the hotel or in the apartment.
Also thanks to the points collection, for every booking actually used you can get an additional discount.
Groupon.it has a restaurants section, besides proposing offers for holiday, beauty, objects and various services.
Depending on the location there will be a list of restaurants that sell a menu (package) at a certain price, for a dinner or lunch for two or more people (unfortunately the number of people is always equal, ie 2/4/6/8 etc).
When you sign up from your site or App, you'll get a discount code, but twice or thrice a week you may receive more.
I always recommend to check the reviews.
6° Subscribe to the email list and/or Facebook.
Airline companies, booking sites, shops and transportation are forwarding discount codes via email.
Every now and then, the codes also appear on the home page of their Facebook page.
As far as I am concerned this feature is always useful for Italo's offers.
I hope these little tips will help you to save money on your next vacation.
HAVE A GOOD TRIP!
