G’day adventurers! 

I know many people give me many excuses about why they can’t travel.  However, by far, the most common excuse I hear is money. It is true that you can travel first-class and stay at 5-star hotels, but you can also travel quite well while indulging without breaking the bank. So I’ve asked one of my peer travel writers, Sacha, to outline five travel tips on how you to can travel well without overspending.

Enjoy these five budget travel tips!

If you’re going on vacation soon, but don’t fancy spending all your cash this time, then there are many tricks that you can do. A lot of people tend to overspend while away because it’s a lot harder to say no. You’re in a beautiful country, surrounded by beautiful things, so you’re worried about missing out – but you don’t have to.

Here are the tricks of the trade.

Check what’s included

When booking online, check out all the deals and offers. We tend to overlook them sometimes because we see them as random adverts – but they’re not. They actually take off a whole bunch of money as part of the deal, so read what they say. Airlines, hotels and even transport all pair up nowadays, and the deals that they offer are well worth looking into.

Travel card

If you know you struggle with money, then get yourself a qantas frequent flyer travel card. This will put a limit on what you spend, decided by you. So create a realistic budget to see how much you are likely to spend, and then transfer that money onto the card. You can use it just like a debit card, and when there’s no more – there’s no more. – You’re not risking overspending, and it forces you to pay close attention to how you deal with your money.

Go grocery shopping

Eating out is lovely when you’re away, but it doesn’t have to be every single day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So get a few bits and bobs from the supermarkets. Most hotels have a mini fridge and a microwave, so even if you just get some fruit and cereal, and whatever ingredients you need to make a sandwich – this will save you a lot of money because you won’t feel the need to keep snacking when you’re out exploring.

Go outside the walls

Tourist areas can be real fun, as everything is catered to your holiday, but this also means that prices are a lot higher, because that’s how the residents and businesses make their money! So have a wander outside the walls, and have a peek at the everyday life. Not only will the prices (of pretty much everything) be cut in half, but you’ll get to see a more realistic light of the country and how people live.

Befriend the locals

This is great because the locals will have all the intel you need on everything! Whether that be a really good restaurant that’s affordable, some fun activities to do in the area, or even the hidden gems, like secret beaches and amazing cocktail bars. Plus you may end up making genuine friends that spend the day with you, taking you on all sorts of adventures and showing you the food markets, along with all the interesting things to try.

Now you see it’s nowhere near as difficult as you thought it would be. You can have a fabulous holiday away, without having to worry anymore about what’s coming out of your account every day.

Remember, you don’t have to overspend to indulge.

**Guest post contributed by peer travel writer, Sacha Johnson from Melbourne, Australia. Her next adventures include Bali, South Island New Zealand, and L.A.