Rookie Traveler Budget Mistakes - Best Budget Travel Advice Ever

Want to travel the world and not sure how to make it work financially? Well here are some of the biggest budget mistakes travelers make, from when they buy tickets to how they get money out, to how they choose destinations to travel to. We cover dozens of travel budget mistakes that even seasoned travelers make.
The best budget travel advice you can get.
Filmed in Lisbon, Portugal

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Copyright Mark Wolters 2023

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[jezanne]

Good advice Mark! But I will add one on plane travel: Don’t hesitate to pay a little bit more for direct flight. The super deal with a long layover may seem great but there is two caveats: 1. You lose time for visiting 2. You will likely spend money during that layover, even a sandwich is expensive in a airport and more likely you will go to a sit down restaurant and have a drink to help spend that time. You could easily spend 100$ just there.

[paulallen]

I think the best budget thing I've been doing this year is rebooking hotel rooms. Book the hotel room you want with free cancellation. Then when you see a better deal, or promo code, book it again and cancel the original booking. You get the same hotel, but for less money.

[russmeans]

Part of a fun learning experience is going to a foreign supermarket. It was money saving, but such a unique way to see the every day life of another country.

[priscilabee]

my best tip is to book a hotel that allows you to do most sightseeing by foot instead of being stuck in the metro without seeing anything. Even if the hotel is more expensive then a hotel far from the center, what you save in transport and in stress of figuring out bus/metro routes in a place you go for the first time makes it worth it.

[captainfreshpants]

I would add a caveat for buying a plane ticket from site other than the airline directly. It might save you 5-10 dollars, but if something goes wrong with the flight, you will have to fix it through the site you bought it from and that can take forever. You can get assistance more quickly directly from the airline if you buy direct.

[ericleszkowicz]

Love these tips: One thing I did during lunch was to watch where the construction workers were heading to eat in Germany and found a great little sausage stand.

[DAshby]

The grocery stores are one of my most favorite parts of travel! Seeing the different brands, food types, and not knowing what half of what im getting is. Its the best! Not to mention a HUGE money savor! and you're really are eating like a true local! Most locals aren't eating at $30 a plate every day. They have the $3 box meal from the supermarket. Do the same. It adds so much to the experience!

[danieldumas]

For International travel, I book through an Agency. When the airline decides to change your flight without your consent (or even knowledge), the Agency will have more clout to fix the situation.

[triciarie]

I can recommend a budget friendly destination - Budapest, Hungary. Budapest reminds me a lot of Paris - the same look of the 5 story apartment buildings - the Danube going through the center rather than the Seine - beautiful Cathedrals - great food - excellent public transportation. In addition Budapest has thermal pools. But it's a fraction of the cost.

[sahilanant]

Hey Mark! So the incognito trick might not really be worth it because the point of sale (PoS in revenue mgmt terms) remains the same; it doesn't think you're in a different location. So afaik, prices don't inflate because you keep seeing them. They are always controlled by us in revenue management where we handle inventory. A VPN could perhaps help to buy from a different PoS. I work in a BA short-haul where there are just two points of sale (UK and the Rest of Europe) so there's not much difference between the two in terms of fares as the willingness to pay is roughly the same, but it can differ in the rest of world scenario.

The faster the lower fares sell (always look out for the selling class when you book a ticket; this is just a single letter such as K, L, etc., and is different from your cabin, which is economy, business, etc). Each of these classes is stacked in the form of a ladder (increasing classes at the top of the ladder, the topmost being fully flexible), and we just open and close classes to reduce/increase fares. In the inventory, the system jumps to the higher classes by closing the lower ones depending on how much demand we've forecasted in each fare class (the lowest open class at the time is the fare you see on the website). This is what eventually inflates the fares. We could always intervene and open a lower class if the demand for a flight slows down (these last-minute deals are due to this), closer to departure, and reduce the fare. A full flight, or a 90-100% load factor for the routes we manage is almost as important as maximizing revenue for us. Demand and supply. :)

Low-cost carriers are only low-cost when it's low season haha. Trust me, we have easyjet and Wizz Air as our competitors lol. Also, 1 pound fares dont include carrier-imposed fees and taxes, which make up the major component of what you pay anyways.

Hope you are well!

[goingawayguide]

Great video! I'll add one more - when booking hotels/airbnbs, don't look at just the price of the room, but also the location. If you book a cheaper hotel that's outside the main area you want to explore, you'll have to pay to get there and back each day, and that might wind up costing more than if you'd booked a more expensive hotel/airbnb in the main area you want to explore; plus you'll spend time traveling there and back!

[diamend]

For the phone plan issue, I would recommend getting a local SIM card. In Italy I was able to purchase an Italian SIM Card for $30 for 15gb of data and that meant we had a local number to be able to contact local businesses. It was very convenient and then I was able to turn on my hotspot so my husband could just piggy back off my cellular data. It was cheaper than adding the international plan.

[rydiggydawg]

FamilyMart and 7-11 convenience stores were a lifesaver when I traveled to Japan. Not only affordable but you can find some really tasty and healthy snacks.

[mypradasatthecleanerss]

Just to add to data plan tip-be careful about having your data on when you haven’t done yet arrived in your destination. I was on a ferry from England to The Netherlands (at the time both in the EU) and so I left my data roaming on as it was included in my plan for the EU. Went to sleep and woke up to quite a big bill because somehow I’d picked up signal in international waters.

[PLBizon]

Traveling off peak time is a great tip. I traveled to Spain in October and indeed the weather was great and no lines to museums and other attractions. Thank you Mark for another great video.

[ttqueenie]

For meals.. we research supermarkets and purchase items for breakfast and make sandwiches in our hotel room. We also look for cooked meals in the supermarkets. At the hotel we boil water and let it cool by morning and bottle for the day. We also make our coffee and tea in the room and walk with.

[marytapia]

I love how you keep it real. You’re speaking to the people ! Thank you

[davesaunders]

I always get a local sim card for my cell phone from the first stop in Europe I go. For like 10-20 Euros you can have a local number and enough data for a 3 week trip using Google maps every day and I use wifi in accommodations at night. It also usually works fine without roaming fees in most every country you may go through.

[JimandVal]

Traveling off season is our thing!!!! Went to Amsterdam in January 2020 and it was affordable and we got lucky the weather was amazing the whole time!!! We rarely travel June-Aug.

[aniveed]

SO happy to see you back in my favorite city! Spot-on tips as always! I always go (on the first morning) to a store of some international celphone company and buy a SIM CARD for that country, (in Lisbon it was only 20 Euros and good for a month) and then have them insert it in my phone (their eyesight is better than mine! ), keeping my chip taped to the inside of my case for back home, and then I have phone service for anything, anywhere, not just where there is Free WiFi. Being able to call an Uber anywhere, anytime is a big plus, especially in Lisbon where Uber is super cheap, and good for chatting with the driver and getting local tips and recommendations for food and activities.

We travel a lot (at least 3 international trips per year) especially as we get older and know we won't always be able to walk as much as before, and we bought a ONE YEAR travel insurance policy. It covers all our travel to wherever for any trip up to 30 days. About $400 per person.