Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. This past summer my best friends and I saved up and then spent all of our money on a month and a half backpacking trip around Europe. Even though those were the best few months of my life, I spent all of the hard-earned money I had made during the year. We quickly discovered all of the shortcuts and hacks to saving every possible Euro, so I thought I would share!
1. Fly on the Cheapest Possible Airline
If you are traveling anywhere outside of the US it is most likely going to be a long and uncomfortable flight anyway, so may as well save money by picking the cheapest and most obscure airline. The difference between flights with popular airlines like United in comparison to less common, no frills airlines such as Flybe or Air Norwegian can end up saving you a few hundred dollars. It may mean making a sandwich to take on your flight because these airlines don’t usually feed you for free, but it is worth it!
2. Buy Breakfast in Bulk!
We quickly realized that we couldn’t afford to go out to breakfast every morning so we decided to go to a grocery store instead. We stocked up on bread, nutella, and bananas and all of this would usually last us for a couple of days. This all totaled up to the cost of what one breakfast would be at a restaurant, and we were able to split it between at least three people. This is still such a yummy breakfast, but it’s just so much cheaper!
3. Use Public Transportation!
Public transportation is relatively cheap and reliable everywhere in Europe — however, just make sure you know the time tables and don’t miss the last bus like we mistakenly did one night. Using public transportation is really helpful if you can’t afford to stay directly in the city or town where you are visiting, because buses often have routes from the center of town to the outskirts and even cheaper towns nearby. Also, taxis are extremely expensive and usually try to rip you off so don’t be scared to just hop on the bus or a train!
4. Airbnb and Hostels
We stayed in the cheapest possible Airbnb’s and hostels all throughout Europe and, although we had to do a lot of research and comparing of prices on the Hostelworld and Airbnb apps, it was all worth it. In major cities we booked places to stay in advance so that we could guarantee that they would still have beds available. We discovered that in some places, splitting an Airbnb between multiple people ended up being cheaper than staying in hostels. Airbnbs were nice and almost a luxury because we were able to have our own space and did not have to constantly live with (potentially weird) roommates.
5. Travel Long Distances Over Night
This is a super helpful tip because you not only get to sleep and make the time pass by quicker, but you also don’t have to pay for accomodation for your night of travel. This can ensure that you don’t lose a day of exploring a city or town too. It may mean taking night trains, or setting up a “bed” on the deck of a ferry, but it is worth it for an extra day in a city and the extra money you save from not paying for a hostel.
Every Euro or dollar you save can be used to lengthen your trip and let you splurge on little treats throughout your travels. We used all of these tricks throughout our month in Europe and without them we would have been scrambling for money at the end of our trip! So with all this new knowledge about traveling, save up and go see the world!
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