These
ideas may not work on people who have a different take on their travels. In my
case, it’s a shoestring backpacking trip. Hence, cheapest possible or the value
for money.
1.
Book
your tickets in advance / Schedule your transfers
Aside from accommodation,
plane tickets and train transfers are the biggest part of a trip. I suggest you
decide on your route and how long you plan to stay in a city or country then
book your airplane or train tickets in advance. Also, decide whether to take
the plane or train. In my case, I decided on my country transfers even if I
didn’t have my detailed itinerary per city yet. Yes, there may be instances
that I wish I could’ve stayed longer or shorter but marking these dates is very
important to get the cheapest ticket possible. I tell you, you can save a lot!
You can even save time not queuing up for tickets! Just make sure you are not
left by your train.
I regularly check tickets
online to see if the flight tickets already changed. In my case, I got the
cheapest deal for Lisbon – Paris (Beauvais) ticket from Ryanair. I booked my
Ryanair ticket more than 2months in advance and it was worth it. I only paid
55Euros (Php 3,135) per person included the 20kg baggage allowance. Had I book
it just a month earlier, I’m sure I would have paid more!
I got the best deals on
our train rides. Since train fares are like plane tickets already, the earlier
you book the flight, the cheaper you can get it. I booked all our trains online
on the first day it was available online. Haha! I made sure to be the on the
queue. Lol.
Just to give you an
example, normally the bus ride from Madrid – Lisbon is cheaper than the
overnight-sleeper train but since I booked it early, I got a cheaper ticket on
the train. And yes, we were able to lie down on a full-flat bed. Yay!
In Italy, I got our
Frecciarossa high-speed train tickets for only 29Euros (Php 1,653) per person
for our Milano – Firenze and Firenze – Roma trip. By the way, it was business
class! Haha! Had I gotten the ordinary seats, it would have just cost me
19Euros (Php 1,102). Like I said, I book it early. If I got my tickets on the
travel day itself, the tickets were already 43Euros for ordinary and
63Euros for the business class. I saved
a lot! Now, you see what I mean for the value for money -- I paid 29Eu for
business class rather than buying it on the spot for 43Euros and it’s just the
ordinary seat.
2.
Get
good hotel deals / Airbnb / Couchsurf / Overnight trains
The other major expense in a trip – a place to stay. It would
be a big saving if you have a good friend to stay or find a couch. But if none,
better plan this as well before your trip because it’s a big
consideration. Try checking out Airbnb
or hotel website for good deals. Consider taking an overnight train as well to
save on hotel costs, sleep on the train and once you arrive, you are already in
a new country. Yay!
A very good example for this was our transit from Paris –
Milan – Firenze. We took the overnight train from Paris – Milan arriving in
Milano Centrale at around 6AM. Waking up to a new day in a new country! We
actually didn’t have hotel in Milano because we were scheduled to take the 2hr
night train to Firenze so we just left our luggages at the station and roam
around the city. At night, we got our things back, off to Firenze and
checked-in in a hotel there. A well
planned transfer, indeed!
 |
| Overnight train. LOL! |
3.
Get Tourist
/ Commuter passes
Most of the countries in Europe have their tourist pass –
Paris has the Paris Museum Pass, Rome has Roma Pass while Lisbon also has
Lisboa Card. Research on each card’s feature and see if it is useful for your
visit in the country. Also, check the deals they have. It might fit your
travel. Check out the commuter pass as well – NaviGo Decouverte week pass
instead of Paris Visit Pass if you are staying in Paris for more than 3days
(hopefully I can write another post on this one). Yay!
In our experience, we got the 1-day Lisboa Card and 2-day
Paris Museum Pass. The 1-day Lisboa card was very useful because it includes a
24-hr unlimited ride in the city so it was worth it for us because we can
maximize the 24-hr unlimited ride and at the same time we visited quite a lot
of attractions. Our Paris Museum Pass has both the good side and the bad side.
For the bad side: it cost us 42Euros (Php 2,394) but we only spent around
31Euros (Php 1,767) had we bought the tickets in every attraction that we visited.
But the good side was that we didn’t line up to attractions and monuments that
we visited because we there was a special pass for the Museum pass holders.
Hence, we still saved time! Also, in our itinerary, we planned to go to more
museums but decided to go to another place that was not part of the pass.
4.
Eat
away from Tourist Spots
Obviously, restaurants near the tourist spots are pricey! Take
a stroll further and you might find a cheaper restaurant. Sometimes, its even
more delicious and bigger servings! Yay!
A very good experience was our dinner near the St. Peter’s
Square. The Italian owner whose has a Filipina wife convinced us to eat in
their restaurant and forget this very important tip not to eat near tourist
spots. We ended up paying 36Euros (Php
2,052) for pasta and fries. Had we walked further, we could have found cheaper
restaurants. Don’t forget! This is very important!
5.
Shop
in the Supermarket
Like in the Philippine, it is way cheaper to buy snacks, water
and even your food pasalubong in the supermarket. I suggest to go to a
supermarket or mini mart – buy your snacks, chips, water, cola or eenergy drink
because you can save a lot by doing this. Don’t forget your goodies! It’s a
perfect place to shop! Live like a local J
Case in point, the 1.5L water in Paris costs around 0.55Euros
if you buy it in the supermarket. However, if you buy water in some tourist
area, it may go as much as 2.5Euros for 500ml water. Cola, on the other hand
costs 1.30Euros for 1.5L in the supermarket while 4Euros for 500ml outside.
Ripped off! I suggest buy both big and small water bottles and just bring a
small bottle enough for your entire day’s trip.
 |
| One of the supermarkets in Paris |
These
tips are very simple based on my experience from my recent trip. It may or may
not work for you. But for me, it was very useful. I didn’t regret doing these
things to save up not just money, but also time exploring the city!
Tell
me your saving styles as well :)
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