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6 Tried and Tested Ways to Travel Cheaper

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Looking for ways to travel cheaper?

Check out these 6 top tips – they will all help get the most from your travel budget.

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How can I travel cheaper?

Set a travel budget and make sure you maximise every part of it. Get the best flight and hotel deals. Buy food from the market or street food. Enjoy free museums & attractions. Use public transport.

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Travel Cheaper by Using a Reverse Flight Search

Skyscanner is a great site for finding cheap flights, and it is very easy to use. However, there is a great way to put together interesting trips based on cheap flights.

It’s a reverse search. To do it you just need one destination in mind that you want to travel to.

Let’s use Budapest as an example.

In this example, I have put Budapest into the ‘from’ search box on Skyscanner.

postpicturebudapesttravelcheaper

For the destination start typing everywhere in the ‘to’ box or just click the blue box when it comes up.

Then go to dates and select the month you want to travel in.

For this example, I am selecting March for the departure and return.

At the bottom select if you want direct flights only, and for nearby airports to be included in the search results.

travelcheaperbudapestmarch2023

Click the ‘search flights’ green button and wait for your results (exciting!)

You will then see the list of countries in your search results and you can easily find the cheapest prices.

In these search results, we can see there are flights to Saudi Arabia for £25.

That could make an interesting two-destination trip combination.

In the search results, there are 20 destinations with flights under £50 from Budapest.

destinationstravelcheaper

Using this reverse search was how I put together a trip to Azerbaijan. I found flights from Istanbul to Azerbaijan for £30 each way. My whole trip, including flights from Inverness to London, London to Istanbul, Istanbul to Baku, Baku to Istanbul, Istanbul to Kyiv and then London to Inverness was less than £500. That also included 7 nights’ accommodation!

Check out my 6 Flight Hacks post for more tips and tricks to help you travel cheaper.

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Don’t Pay Luggage Fees!

The joy of finding a cheap flight can quickly disappear once you start to add on all the fees. Everything from booking seats to checking in luggage. Before you know it a cheap flight is not such a cheap flight anymore!

Checking in your luggage also means you have to wait for it at the airport and of course, there is a risk it might get lost. With some clever packing and the right size luggage, there is no need to pay any checked luggage fees.

Easyjet gives quite a generous luggage size for their included luggage. It’s 45x36x20cm. This must include all the wheels and handles. This luggage must fit under the seat in front of you. If you want to put luggage in the overhead locker then you need to pay for that by reserving a premium seat which has this included.

With some clever packing, a 45x36x20cm case is enough for 3-5 days depending on where you are travelling to.

Check out my packing tips for how to make the most of this space.

The great thing about not checking your luggage is that you can go straight through security at the airport. An under-seat case or bag is a great option because it also means you have everything with you when you fly.

Check out my review of a great 45x36x20 cabin bag that’s ideal for Easyjet

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Always Check Package Deals

Sometimes a package holiday deal can work out cheaper than just booking the flights on their own. There is also the added bonus that your whole trip is protected in the event of any issues or delays.

Loveholidays is one of the biggest travel booking sites and it’s easy to find some great deals.

Simply put your departure airport. You don’t have to choose a particular airport – this search is for any Scotland airport.

travelcheaperanyscotland

Then select the date of travel. You can select a specific date or slide to select a whole month.

For this search, we are going to search for March 2023.

travelcheapermarch2023

Select your destination and then the number of nights you want to travel. Select how many people are travelling and how many rooms. Then hit the green search button to get your results.

For this search, we are using 4 nights and 1 person travelling. The search results give 23,711 results which is a lot so we are going to use filters to narrow them down.

For the filter, I have used 4-star hotels, with a Tripadvisor score of 4 or more and a budget per person of no more than £250.

The search results automatically come up sorted by ‘most popular’.

You can easily switch this from ‘price low to high’ as it will still include your preset filters.

The results show 124 holidays that match the filters

travelcheaper124holidays

Click on one of the results to bring up a calendar which shows the costs and the flight details.

One thing to watch about Loveholidays is that sometimes the results depart from and return to different airports. That can be quite a faff.

If you click on the ‘alternative fights’ button you get more flight options and times to choose from with the total costs updated too.

travelcheaperalternativeflights

By clicking alternative flights I can see that there are flight options going to and from Edinburgh (Glasgow is available too but the Edinburgh times suit me better).

Go to Loveholidays and start searching for some deals yourself 🙂

travelcheaperedinburghflights

Travel Cheaper – Get Annual Travel Insurance

If you are going to be travelling regularly then annual travel insurance is going to work out much cheaper than buying cover each time you travel.

Here is a quick comparison of single trip versus annual travel insurance.

Here is a quote for single trip travel insurance. It’s with the company I’ve used for a number of years for my travel insurance, Coverwise. I find their prices really competitive and their coverage very good.

The quote is for a two-week single trip to Europe.

travelcheapersingletrip

Here are the prices

travelcheapersingletripprices

Now here is the same quote for annual travel insurance for Europe. So just to be clear that’s as many trips to Europe as you like in a year!

cheapertravelannualeuropeprices

Yes, you did read that right – an annual policy is actually cheaper than a single trip policy!

Here is the price for annual travel insurance for anywhere in the world – again these are multiple trips.

cheapertravelannualworldwide

Go to Coverwise and get a quote for your annual travel insurance

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Get the Cheapest Airport Lounge Access

Airport lounges can be a great way to upgrade your airport experience. If, like me, you are a nervous flyer then they can be a great way to make sure your journey gets off to a more relaxing start. It’s more difficult to be nervous about flying when you are busy choosing what snacks and drinks to have!

If you are a regular traveller then you might be wondering which is the cheapest way for you to access an airport lounge.

Worry not! Just take this quick quiz and you can find out the cheapest way for you to access an airport lounge based on your travel plans.

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Use a Map Search to Find Cheap Hotels

Hotels are likely to be a big part of your travel budget, so it makes sense that saving money on your hotel will make quite a bit of a difference to your travel budget.

It can be difficult sometimes to find where the cheapest hotels and to make sure that you are not ending up in some out of the way location.

That’s why a map search can be really handy.

On the maps below just hover over the hotel to get the price, while also keeping an eye on the location. It makes finding a bargain super quick and easy.

Barcelona

Paris

Albufeira, The Algarve

You Might Also Like

If you have found my 6 Ways to Travel Cheaper article useful you might also like

Cheap Hotels – 4 Hacks to save money

Airport Lounge Membership Comparison – find which is the best airport lounge membership scheme for you

The Best Time to Book Hotels – when to get the best deals

Find more guides, tips and hacks on my Travel More and Spend Less page

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