Travel Tip 141

Sure, pools don’t look as nice under a cloudy sky, but if the hotel gave you a 50% discount for the rainy season that water will feel so much nicer.

Top 5 Tips for Budget Travel

A quick note before we start: My heart goes out to everybody impacted by the spreading war in the Middle East, residents and travelers alike. To everybody who lives in and around Iran, I hope you can stay safe. To everybody traveling in the region, I hope you have travel insurance and can get an evacuation flight soon.

Besides the growing catastrophe around Iran, I’ve had budget travel on my mind lately. I’ve been working on the update to the Rough Guide to South America on a Budget for the new edition that will be published later this year. I finished the Peru & Chile chapters and am starting on the Argentina chapter next week. (They have more experts to write the other chapters and I’m curious who will write the Venezuela chapter). When it’s published, I’ll post the link on my books & podcasts page.

These five budget travel tips aren’t just for South America.

My Top 5 Tips for Planning Budget Travel

A big part of budget travel is planning ahead, sometimes way ahead. I plan big international trips 8-12 months in advance and buy flights 4-6 months in advance.

1. Know the right time to book

I usually tell people to book hotels and tours as soon as you have your flights – and to track flight prices so you know when there’s a good deal before you buy. However, the economy is in flux and fewer people are traveling, so hotels and tour operators might get desperate to fill rooms & tours two or three weeks before and drop prices. It’s a gamble, like the timing for buying flights is always a gamble, but it’s one to keep in mind as we wait to see how the global economy will be impacted by the war in Iran that is only a week old as I write this.

Tours and transportation in Ushuaia were expensive but I had fun hiking to un-named waterfalls for free.

2. Be flexible

If you bought your flights then didn’t book hotels and tours because you thought prices would drop, what will you do if prices don’t drop, or if they go up? Are you flexible enough to do something else entirely? I recommend picking a destination that has lots of things to do. Hawai’i has expensive golf courses, scuba trips and fancy resorts, but it also has free walks on the beach and cheap snorkel gear rentals. If you’re going to New Orleans and the prices for hotels in the French Quarter don’t drop, can you stay in a different part of the city? Every bit of flexibility can drop the overall price of your trip.

I recommend a savings account at a bank, but if you want to stuff cash under your mattress I won’t tell anyone.

3. Figure out the finances

There are lots of ways to make travel more affordable, but I’m not a financial expert and I don’t push credit cards. My three tips are to have a separate savings account for travel, get a credit card with travel benefits, and figure out how to use credit card points. My credit card isn’t highly rated, but it’s for the airline that I fly 90% of the time. Read what the experts are saying about which credit cards have the best travel perks but also consider if you’ll be able to use all those perks. The Lima airport doesn’t have any lounges in the domestic terminal, where is where I am 90% of the time, so there’s no point in me paying fees for a credit card that has lounge access.

Use all the experts to track currency exchange, but don’t necessarily exchange with them.

4. Track currency & exchange rates

Some currencies are very volatile and if you watch the exchange rate go up and down a lot, you’ll have a good idea when you can get the best rate. I use XE.com to track exchange rates over time. I use Wise to exchange payments I get from companies who buy my writing that pay in British pounds or euros and I wait to exchange those funds until I can get more dollars for each transfer to my US bank.

You can do the same by opening an account with your home currency and the currency of where you’re going. This only makes sense if you’re going somewhere with a volatile currency and if you’ll be spending enough money to really make it worth it or if you go there frequently. If you go to Europe or Mexico every summer, I think it makes sense to get a euro or peso account and exchange your money when the rate is best, even if that’s not when you’re traveling.

Research atm fees and plan ahead to have cash when you need it so you don’t have to exchange in places where you’ll get a bad rate or have to use an atm with high fees. (Hi Liz!)

The other exchange rate you have to watch is when you get to the country and want to exchange cash. Kiosks in the airport tend to have the worst rates, so I never exchange money at airports. In most countries, withdrawing money from an atm will get you the best rate – but not always! In Argentina I got twice as many pesos per dollar exchanging for cash on the street as I got withdrawing from an atm. Research where you’re going on traveler blogs and check social media for people who are there now and ask them. Also watch atm fees. In Peru, Banco de Credito de Peru (BCP) has atms everywhere, but they also charge about $10 USD per transaction. Banco de la Nación has fewer atms but they don’t charge any fees – and if your bank at home doesn’t charge fees then you’re in luck.

Hikes can be less comfortable when it’s raining, but the waterfalls have more water in them!

5. Travel in the off season

The past couple months in Cusco have been very quiet but it’s not only because February is the rainiest month of the year here. There is a global lull between the holiday season of December and January until April. April brings spring in the Northern Hemisphere, Easter holidays in Christian-majority countries and fall in the Southern Hemisphere. The hot summer months in the south are over just as the north’s cold winter ends. April had the most perfect weather around the world – which means February and March are the best time for budget travel.

Pick a place you’d love to visit, anywhere in the world (okay, except Iran, though I’d love to visit someday), and now in March, look at prices for hotels and tours there. Check what kind of last minute deals are available. October is another low tourist season around the world and another great time to travel. So now, in March, look at flight prices for that dream destination for October this year.

Don’t look at prices in July and August, or Christmas and New Year, and think that a destination is too expensive. Look at flight, hotel and tour prices for February, March, October and November.

Bad weather doesn’t always mean discounts. This is Christmas in Cusco when prices are high.

Bonus tips: Find hacks for lodging and eating.

Hotels and restaurants are often the biggest expenses after flights. Look for accommodation alternatives like hostels (they’re not just for 20-somethings) and housesitting. Shop at grocery stores for prepared food or ingredients to cook yourself if you have access to a kitchen. Also, see if there are farmers markets, which usually have some stalls that serve meals.

New book: The Rough Guide to Chile & Rapa Nui

You don’t have to wait until the Rough Guide to South America on a Budget comes out later this year! On February 28, Rough Guides published my update to their guide to Chile & Rapa Nui. It’s got everything for budget travelers, luxury travelers, solo travelers and those who want to bring all their friends and family with them. Use my code AUTHOR0018 for 30% off when you buy from the Rough Guides website. (The website doesn’t name me, but when you buy the book you’ll see my name on the inside cover).