Guide to cheap travel abroad Where did the idea come from? Because you keep asking 🙂 “How do you travel so much, how do you get your trips cheap?” Probably the questions I get the most. And "where do you get all this money?" There is a question that should be the subject of another article.
If you travel constantly like me, it is necessary to calculate three times five. The savings I make on one trip provides a budget for the next trip. Otherwise, instead of going somewhere every month, I take a trip once a year and follow people who travel a lot, unhappy.
I know everyone is waiting for a secret formula. Let me give you a formula so that all the trips come cheap. Unfortunately, there is no such secret formula. On the contrary, there is a lot of blood and tears. Joking aside, it takes a lot of time and effort to make travels cheap, unfortunately, no one offers you cheap travel on a silver platter, I wish they did...
Come on, let me explain to you my tips for making cheap travel abroad, pen and pencil, and my own methods!
What You Will Find In This Article
1) Making International Travels Cheaper – Cheap Flights
For me, the biggest cost item of travel is transportation. If it's going to be a long-distance trip, of course, a plane ticket. Finding cheap flight tickets is one of the things I spend most of my time on. I am explaining the websites and methods I use for this one by one, take notes.
To follow discount campaigns
One of the easiest ways to find cheap flight tickets is to follow the campaigns of airline companies or flight ticket comparison sites. My formula here is quite simple: I subscribe to airline companies and flight ticket comparison sites.
- When you become a member, campaigns start to come to you as e-mails. I take a quick glance at each incoming campaign to see if there are suitable destinations for me, and if there is a place that interests me, I look at the date options to look at the price details.
- Now, with the development of technology, you can be informed about the campaigns with the "notifications" coming from the mobile applications of the companies, without waiting for an e-mail. In order to be aware of these notifications, you need to "allow notifications" while downloading the application. If you did not give permission while downloading the application, you can update your notification settings later, do not panic.
- Following the accounts of airline companies and price comparison sites on social media also helps. Campaign announcements are also made on social media, you can catch them there. Thus, you can be informed about the campaigns without waiting for an e-mail.
To follow special days/periods
During periods such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Black Friday, which activate the entire world of consumption, airline companies also make campaigns. Be sure to follow these promotions. We bought our Mexico ticket from Air France's black friday campaign at a very affordable price. Every year, THY used to campaign for 1 TL for the second ticket on Valentine's Day (I guess it didn't this year). Such special occasions are the best times to catch discounted tickets.
Creating a price alert
Many airline ticket comparison sites now have a "price alert" feature. I Enuygun.com I use the site's price alerts a lot. If I want to go somewhere and I have a floor/ceiling price in mind, I am notified by e-mail when the ticket price changes.
Being a member of "opportunity" groups on Facebook
It is not an easy task to become a member and follow the websites of all airline companies. You can start to ignore the messages that come to your e-mail box after a while. There are many groups that follow the campaigns and share them on Facebook. I follow the “Travel Opportunities” group.
Being a member of reward and loyalty programs
Almost all airlines have loyalty programs. Like Pegasus' Bolbol, THY's Miles&Smiles… When you become a member of these programs, you earn a certain point/reward from each of your flights, and when these rewards reach a certain level, you can buy a flight ticket. Membership to these programs is not subject to any fee, so be sure to become a member of the programs of the airlines you use frequently.
Reward programs are not only available to airline companies, price comparison sites such as Turna.com also have reward programs. You can invite your friends to become members on Turna.com and you can earn points/awards as they buy tickets. You can support me by signing up using the link below.
Become a member of Turna.com and follow cheap flight ticket campaigns!
Buying miles earning credit cards
Slightly more advanced versions of rewards programs are available on credit cards. Flight miles, there are many credit cards that earn points. You can use the points you earn from shopping with these cards to buy plane tickets.
Credit cards with the most miles Check out my post!
If you are not a member of the Miles program or do not have enough @pointship.int You can share miles with members who have enough miles through the application.
What you do via Pointship in the first transaction, in the service charge get 10% discount a pointship Your Promo Code: COCG-2021. Click to take advantage of the discount!
Being flexible on flight dates
Many employees prefer to make their vacation schedule exactly to cover their leave dates, as it is very difficult for them to take their annual leaves. For this reason, it is almost impossible to find cheap flight tickets during holiday periods such as holidays and New Year's Eve.
The solution is to stretch your departure and return dates. If the start of the holiday is Friday, it's like leaving the day before and departing on Thursday and returning on Friday instead of Sunday. When everyone wants to fly on the same dates, the price does not decrease when the demand is high. But if you buy tickets before people leave or after they return, you will have a serious price advantage.
- Weekday flights are usually cheaper than weekends.
- Mid-day flights are cheaper than morning and evening flights.
- If the departure airport to a country and the return airport city are different, it usually becomes more expensive.
You can easily see how prices fluctuate on Turna.com, Skyscanner.com and Kiwi.com applications.
Getting to your destination in low season instead of high season
In which season do you go to Antalya? I'll go in May at the latest. So I don't have to put up with the crowd, the heat, or the high airfares of Antalya during the summer months.
In general, I go to the places I will go when transitioning from high season to low season or vice versa when going from low season to high season. Thus, the prices are not high at the destination, as well as the flight tickets.
Maybe you don't want to go to the Far East during the monsoons, but we went to Indonesia at the end of the dry season, at the beginning of the rainy season. Except for 1-2 days, we did not get caught in the rain at all. There are many questions about where we will find these seasons. You can easily find the right results if you Google it to include your destination, such as “best time to visit Thailand” or “best time to visit thailand”.
act early
It is not for nothing that they say that the early riser will make the way. I usually buy long-distance flight tickets, which can be expensive, 6-8 months in advance. You are more likely to catch a campaign when you have time, and the earlier you buy, the cheaper you can buy/find tickets.
Evaluate connecting flight options
Of course, on long flights, the most comfortable way is to fly directly, but it is also the most expensive method. If you stretch your flight connections as you do the dates, you can find a much more affordable flight ticket.
The connecting flight options should be evaluated in two categories.
- A connecting flight with a single airline: although this method is more economical than a direct flight, it is still not the most economical method.
- Connecting flights with different airlines: this is where you will find the real price advantage. However, since you will not find this option in airline companies, you should definitely make use of flight ticket comparison sites. Kiwi.com is my most preferred site for this option. The issue you need to pay attention to in this option is the transit visa issue. Transit visa applications Be sure to check out my post.
With Kiwi.com's Nomad feature, you can find very cheap tickets if you have a long-term multi-flight trip.
Researching alternative airports
There are 3 airports in London, 2 in Istanbul, 3 in Paris… Therefore, if you look at a single airport, you will not find all flight options. Again, price comparison sites offer a super solution for this. Instead of choosing an airport, you can choose a place, and you can even choose nearby cities. Thus, you are not confined to a single airport.
Evaluate Train + Airplane, Bus + Airplane options
Usually, the problem is getting out of Turkey when looking for a plane ticket. After leaving Turkey, the opportunity to find cheap tickets increases. To take advantage of these options, it may be an option to go to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, by train or bus, and then go to other countries by plane. It is useful to consider such combinations when looking for tickets.
Searching for tickets from incognito window
The browsers you search on your computers keep your search history. If you constantly search for airline tickets on the same site, you may have noticed that the ticket prices do not decrease but constantly increase. This user will definitely go to Germany, so price search engines are mostly trying to increase the prices. So if you're going to search for a flight ticket, search for it in the "incognito window" section of your browser.
Let's say you applied all these methods and found the cheapest ticket. Always consider the possibility that flight times may change, there may be delays, and flights may be cancelled. Unfortunately, if you have planned a connecting flight and the airline companies are different, you cannot claim any rights if you miss your other flight in case of delay or flight cancellation. Therefore, plan the transfer intervals of at least 3-5 hours.
2) Making Travel Abroad Cheap – Cheap Accommodation
Accommodation is the second largest expenditure item in travel. It is necessary to deal with cheap accommodation options by dividing them into titles:
Free accommodation: Couchsurfing
“Free accommodation, how about?” I can hear people saying. Couchsurfing is an international platform, those who have a suitable place in their home are included in the system and welcome those who are looking for a place to stay in their homes. The system works entirely on a voluntary basis. There is an evaluation system for both hosts and guests, it's up to you to approve or disapprove of those who want to stay at your home by reviewing their profiles and looking at the comments about them. The opposite is also true, when you want to be a guest in someone's house, you can make a decision based on that person's comments and evaluations in order to be able to trust them.
“Why do people open their homes to people they have never met?” The question came to your mind. Traveling is a great way to meet people who love to travel and to learn about new cultures. I also have a profile, if you want to review; Couchsurfing
Hostel Accommodation
Especially if you are traveling alone and for a long time, hostels are one of the best ways to make friends and stay cheap.
Generally, hostels with shared kitchen, bathroom and toilet in dormitories for 8-10 people are one of the cheapest methods of accommodation. Mostly hostels also have a kitchen area, so you can get food cheap. As it is thought, hostels are not only preferred by young people, but also preferred by travelers who travel the world for a long time.
What you need to know about hostel accommodation You can find much more in my article.
Hotel Reservation Sites
If I am traveling with my wife or friends rather than alone, my preferred accommodation method is renting an apartment or hotel accommodation.
The site I've used the most to search for hotels for years has been Booking.com, and it has never disappointed me. I fully trust user reviews and service quality. If you use Booking.com for a long time or make frequent reservations, after a while you will "Genius“members. As such, it's for you Genius discount deals is showing. These discounts can vary by 15-40%. I take advantage of these discounts a lot.
Also, a "last minute dealsthere is i. Hotels that cannot fill their rooms can offer special discounts on the last day. Don't risk this option during peak periods, but if you've been to a place during the low season, you may come across last-minute discounts. We went to stay in a tent in Iceland, but when the storm warnings came, we found a very nice hotel for 65 euro from last minute deals. 65 euro is a good price for Iceland 🙂
Click to become a member of Booking.com and find cheap hotels!
In addition, these sites may have different campaigns within the scope of their loyalty programs. For example, Hotels.com offers 10 accommodation for every 1 accommodation. Booking.com, on the other hand, gives you a certain percentage of their reservations as a commission when you invite your friends.
airbnb
Airbnb is an apartment rental system instead of a hotel. You can also choose the airbnb system to stay in the comfort of your home at a more affordable price than the hotel. The advantage of staying in Airbnb homes is that you can also benefit from the kitchen, allowing you to reduce your meal expenses. When we stay in apartments, we shop at the market and have breakfast at home. We handle a meal this way, and it's much cheaper than eating out.
For Airbnb, hostel and hotel accommodation; If my stay will be long, I usually use a tactic like this. When I book the first night online and go, I ask if I want to stay longer and if they can give me the commission they gave to the hotel reservation site as a discount. They usually accept and give a discount of around 20%.
Tent Stay
Every way is permissible to make travels cheap. If the season and geography you go to are suitable, the tent is much cheaper than many accommodation types. Having a tent on top of the car we rented during our Iceland trip gave us both flexibility and a significant cost advantage.
I wrote a detailed blog post about how we made our Iceland trip cheap, there is everything from accommodation to food and drink. I leave the link, be sure to check it out > Iceland trip cost
Hotel Stay with Mile Programs
As with flight tickets, you can book your hotel accommodation for cheap or even free by making hotel reservations through mileage programs for hotels. This is not a method I use a lot, but my dear friends Gökçe and Steve stayed in wonderful hotels in different parts of the world in this way. I have linked Maldives videos, watch the video if you don't believe me.
Sleeping at the Airport
If your plane arrives at your destination late at night or you have a long-term transfer; Sleeping at the airport instead of paying for the hotel gives you a night's stay. I had the opportunity to sleep at the airport in different countries such as Norway, Iran, Dubai, Singapore and France. Some airports have areas called “Slience Rooms” that are really good in this regard, and you can sleep comfortably in chairs like sun loungers where you can lie down with your feet stretched out. To see which airports are eligible for this Sleeping in Airports you can check the website.
Taking a Night Journey
If you are going to travel from one city or country to another and you do not have a plan to watch the scenery, traveling at night will save you a night's hotel expenses. For night travel, you can choose options such as airplane for long distance, train, bus and ferry for shorter distances. Sleeper buses in Vietnam, super comfortable buses in Peru and Bolivia, night trains in Norway are some examples that saved me many days.
Norway trip cost In my article, I explained how I gained a cost advantage by spending nights at the airport and on the train.
3) Making Travel Abroad Cheaper – Cheap Food
Another big expense item abroad, especially if you're heading west, is food! I made a small introduction to the topic of food above, let's go into some more details.
Take your food from Turkey
The era is now completely economic era. Especially if you are going to expensive countries; You might consider bringing as much food as you can from Turkey. Such as canned goods, dry foods, vacuum-packed cheeses.
We took a 18 kg bag of food on our way to Iceland. The squeegee suitcase in the photo below was our lunch suitcase. At the time we went, a soup was 100 TL, and as such, we had almost all of our meals with what we brought from Turkey.
Don't take breakfast outside!
If you have chosen a house or hostel from the above accommodation options, have your breakfast before you go out. I usually take something like pastry or pastry with me for the first days. In the following days, we shop at the market. Do not be afraid, you can find cheese, olives, bread, tomatoes, eggs almost everywhere. I usually throw in my bag some of the instant coffees or the disposable filter coffees I've just discovered.
Give street food a try!
Street food is delicious in many parts of the world. If you eat one of your meals on the street, it will be less than half what you would pay in a restaurant. You should eat hot dogs in Europe, fried rice in the Far East, and tacos in Mexico on the street. Street food can be both much cheaper than restaurants and rich in variety.
In countries such as Mexico and Vietnam, which are known as the best cuisines in the world, the places where you need to taste the food are actually street stalls.
Let the market be your biggest savior in expensive countries!
If you do not want to move from Turkey, it is much cheaper to shop at the market in the country you are going to, compared to eating at restaurants. You can cook your own meals in hostels, airbnb or camping places.
There will be countries where you won't find street food, like Iceland, Norway. Life on the street is cold, street food is expensive. Then what do we do, we shop at the market. Especially in Europe, there are ready meals or meals suitable for heating in the microwave oven, which you can eat without having to cook too much in the markets. Whichever you choose, it is very, very cheap compared to eating at the restaurant. You can also buy your drinks from the market and drink them in beautiful parks.
If there are dishes specific to the country I go to, I definitely try to try them. But if we tried the food and got my enthusiasm, now my priority is to make an economy. I use these solutions more and more, especially as the prices increase as I go to the north of Europe. But although food is cheap in Mexico, when we got up in the morning, we could not find an open place to eat early in the morning, so we had to shop there the previous day. Our solutions may differ depending on where we go.
Benefit from the amenities of the hotel you are staying at
If you're staying at a hotel that includes breakfast, you may want to consider throwing a sandwich or fruit into your bag from breakfast to make up for lunch. Norway was very expensive, but we found a hotel in Bergen with breakfast included at an affordable price. There were also very nice sandwich breads for breakfast. We made ourselves huge sandwiches and spent the day with him.
Make it a habit to carry a Flask and Thermos with you.
Flask or any water bottle will allow you to fill water from the fountain wherever you go. Tap water is drinkable in many parts of the world. While researching your destination in advance, you can check whether the water is drinkable or ask where you are going. In addition, if you have a water canteen with you during the flight; There are drinking water fountains in many airports, you don't have to fill your water bottle from here as soon as you land and pay a lot of money for water at the airport.
The thermos will allow you to reduce your tea and coffee costs. If there is hot water in the place you stay (it usually happens), you can fill your morning thermos with your tea or coffee and drink it whenever you feel like it. Or you can just fill up with hot water and take tea/coffee with you and make it fresh whenever you want. For example, many cafes in Norway fill your thermos with hot water free of charge (due to when I was there). Even if you save 5 euros a day, it makes a big difference, I remembered the euro rate again 🙁
Follow discount sites or apps
There are sites/applications that offer discounts/coupons in many countries abroad, such as group shopping sites in Turkey. You can research before you go.
In addition, there are sometimes hourly discounts on the Trip Advisor site, and you can catch good deals by following them.
Also, especially in Europe, restaurants prepare “lunch menus”. Soup, main course, drink included and much more affordable than the normal price or dinner. This is how we tried the rabbit stew in Malta, and we managed with a much smaller menu in the evening.
Enter the back streets
Instead of touristic places, the main streets of the city, the most popular spots, you can choose back streets and restaurants where locals go. If you ask where to find them, you can easily find them by asking the locals. Just ask the staff at the place you are staying, the tourist information office staff, or anyone you have a chance to chat with on the street.
As a final word; Of course, traveling means getting to know new cultures and this includes food culture. Don't forget to try the dishes that are unique to the place you go, just because you're going to make an economy.
4) Making Travel Abroad Cheaper – Cheap Countries
We do not lose hope, even though countries that used to be very cheap for us due to the depreciation of the Turkish lira are now returning to normal levels. There are still cheap countries to continue traveling, although not as much as before. Moreover, some do not even need a passport to go. Giving priority to these countries while making a travel plan will enable you to make an economy.
Countries still cheap for Turkish Citizens Check out my post.
At the end of each trip, I definitely share the cost of that trip on my Instagram account and the "how did you cost so cheap?" I have prepared this article to answer your questions, I hope it will be useful to everyone.
Add your own formulas to the article as a comment, and we will create a good resource for those who read my article.
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Stay on track!
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It is an article that contains information that we can really benefit from. Congratulations and thanks
Thank you Gratitude, love