The Biggest Costs of Traveling & How to Cut Travel Costs

Traveling is not cheap, however there are ways to mitigate some of those costs. We go through the largest costs to traveling abroad and talk about ways to reduce those travel costs. How to develop a travel budget.
Great for determining and extending your travel budget for backpacking, package tours and more.
Filmed in Vienna, Austria
Copyright Mark Wolters 2014

[tosht]

Tip #1: Flying on Tuesday or Wednesday is usually cheaper than Friday or Sunday which are the two most expensive days. If you have flexibility, always check mid-week flights. Tip #2: If you do book multi-cities, remember to check the rate for the reversed itinerary. For my upcoming trip to Europe, I was pleasantly surprised that my tickets were $220 cheaper when I flipped the arrival and departure cities.

[Cambell]

AirBnB: do research and book a whole apartment for the price of less than a hotel room. There you can prepare your own meals bought at the local market(s) at the kitchen. That makes TWO discounts in one.

[MrsKim]

We just sold our hotel so I have some knowledge of pricing and I have to disagree somewhat with him saying " Book early" to get a deal. That is not how it works. You can call and try to get a discount with a longer stay, but days are priced almost a year in advanced. It is estimated on last years and the years before average. You will get a higher price if there is an event going on in the city also. There are seasons and seasons are priced accordingly. Summer is always going to be higher unless you go near a Sking area in the winter like Whistler, in Canada. That is their money time and you will pay, summer will be a bit cheaper because it's seasonal. Each day hotels are still flexing the price if they did not sell out like they thought they would. They will adjust the price down to get pre-bookings. Not saying every Hotel works that way, but the majority will if they are not a crazy high-end hotel. Happy Travels everyone. Either way, He does have the best travel channel on youtiube. I've been watching for days. Keep up the good work.

[roastedham]

A tip me and my family has been using for years when in France is to stay at campsites instead of hotels. We rent a static caravan and it's a lot cheaper than a hotel and we get a lot more space and you also get lots of facilities like pools too. Finally, you can cook your own food, which is great for saving money.

[paulhartson]

Most grocery stores in Europe like coop sell inexpensive hot meals like a cooked chicken leg and thigh for $2 to $3. Grocery stores are way more fun than museums.

[michaelscott]

If you're after cheap accommodation during the summer months some Universities open their dorms up for bookings. I've booked rooms in Central London for 1/3 of the price of what you'd expect to pay for a hotel and had breakfast and WiFi included.

[lenocman]

I always prepare sandwiches and fruit, snacks etc the night before I travel to save me having to buy expensive food at airports etc. I do the same before my journey home, making burgers or sandwiches after a trip to the local supermarket in the country I'm in. You save so much money!

[pennywhitaker]

I see that this video is 4 years old so that may be why this wasn't mentioned in saving on flights. Use google flights you can set up alerts on any tickets you're interested in. I did this approximately 10 months in advance of our travel dates. Within a month got an email showing the flight for approximately $300 less than it had ever been so bought the tickets then so 9 months in advance . Round trip, no stops Chicago to Paris on American for $ 478!😊😊

[robpyatt]

Must say I love your videos Mark. Over the last couple of years now that my wife and I are able to travel with out the kids, they're all grown up now.  We've been traveling a lot and I always make sure to check your videos before we go.I've found the best ways to save money that I've found so far have been.1. Don't have your coffee and pastry right next to the landmark, fountain, square etc. You always pay a massive premium for that pleasure. Go to a café a street or two back and you'll pay so much less for what is normally better food and drink.2. Don't be afraid of public transport. Weathers it's the metro, subway, trams or waterbuses. Find out quickly how to se them. Most big cities seem to do a multi travel card or ticket that mean that you can get to further destinations really quickly and cheaply.3. As Mark said, use the Supermarkets. They're very in expensive, have a massive selection of very good meats, cheeses, breads, fruit and drinks. This way you can cheaply eat your lunch in front or the land mark or on the beach.Hope these help some body out. Happy trails

[marley]

You allways pick the best camera shot locations everywhere you travel as your backdrops, Great work! Love your videos!

[kraftdinner]

Another flight tip: 
If you are travelling from the United States or Canada and you are flying to Europe, try booking your flight to Oslo, Stockholm, or Copenhagen. The prices are unusually cheap as the cities not in direct flight path with heavily used Europe flight paths (i.e to France, Germany, Belgium, etc, ...). 
Then just travel from the Scandinavian city you land in and you can save a lot of money. It helps me especially to go see family.

[windyellard]

Great info. Also check if more than one airport to fly into-one can be less than the other. Summer 2017 we flew to London from Florida and way cheaper to fly into Gatwick than Heathrow and more flights offered as well.

[billsimonis]

I have 2 tips:1) I stay in airbnb when possible. it is typically cheaper and usally nicer that the budget hotels2) fly out of alternate airports. I live in San Antonio and flying out of SA is expensive, so I tend to fly of Austin  saves about $300-400

[haoranzh]

hi mark, great video! i highly recommend using airbnb, because it's usually much cheaper than hotels and you can cook. if you don't have anything to cook with, you can buy organic canned soups and put them in a sink filled with hot water. in 15-20 min, the can heats up to a reasonably warm level, and you can have a warm meal. in US, organic soups are about $4-5 per can, and the can is quiet small, so you have to buy breads and other stuff to get yourself full.

[emiliogp]

Excellent Tips! I may add the following:
1.- When possible get hotel rooms with a basic kitchen and a fridge. This way you can take even a bigger advantage over the tip on getting groceries. For example, in Cancun I stayed in room that was more like an apartment with a huge kitchen.The supermarket and mini-marts where at a reasonable walking distance from the hotel. I cannot tell you how handy this can be when you have kids, rainy days or both. Another example: in Paris there is an hotel in the 6th Arr. (i.e. in the very middle of the city) with a basic kitchenette. It is a few blocks from Rue de Buci, a shopping district where you can find a supermarket, boulangerie, a surprisingly good frozen meals store and of course great wine vendors :). Think about the money you can save by making your own snacks or meals so you can eat on the go!

2.- Speaking of meals: a kind of hack is to pick a restaurant you liked and ask if they have take-out options. This way you might have the real deal of local food experience and enjoy your food in a nice spot in the city (like a park or plaza) or in that nice hotel room you got, without any surprise service fees or settling for what you have in your hotel (or nearby).

3.- In addition to Tip 4, you can get similar experiences from kind of the same "attractions". For example, in Paris, instead of spending your precious time and money going up the Eiffel Tower you can go up to: a) Sacré-Coeur, it’s free and the highest hill in town, b) the top of the George Pompidou Museum (can be done for free) you can get decent views, or c) the top of Tour Montparnasse (this one you have to pay but is not as busy as the Tour Eiffel and costs the same), or do all three for the same time and money plus a bus pass. Or in places like Venice, New York or Bangkok you can use the public transport (vaporetto, ferry or barge-ferry) to get a “tour” on the main waterways and enjoy the sights from another perspective.

[michelleduc]

Mark, tell your mother I do the same thing as her, visiting supermarkets in my travels. Believe me, it's very educational and also fun at the same time.

[christinaonthego]

I must say tho being on top of the Eiffel Tower was worth it. The feeling was just amazing. Picknicking under the Eiffel tour sounds great too I'll definitly put it on my to do list for next time :)

[tosht]

I'll be visiting Schönbrunn Palace next month. Thanks for all the great tips.

[stevemorton]

If you want to save money and time in Paris, go to Tour Montparnasse. It is the tallest building in Paris. There is an observation deck on the roof which gives you similar view you would get from the Eiffel Tower. I am not sure what the cost is for a ticket is, but when I went there was no line. It's easy to get to and the views are great.

[vangrails]

The Eiffel tower is 5 euro per person if you take the stairs instead of the elevator, you can reach the second level by stairs.