Now that I’m back from my trip and have returned some semblance of normalcy to my daily routine (boo!), it’s time to share my favorite tips for how to actually save money on vacations. As an avid traveler and a pretty decent planner, I’ve found no shortage of claims to help me “Save money on your vacation!” and to “Vacation on a Dime!”But more often than not, as I’ve read those lists of simply faaabulous tips, I find myself realizing that you either have to have an incredible amount of flexibility with your schedule or a love of eating rice & beans all vacation long.
While I’m no snob, I certainly want to enjoy the local cuisine of where I’m visiting AND I have 4 jobs to coordinate schedules with when taking time off. Needless to say, I found a need to develop my own set of rules for budget travel and as promised, I want to share them with all of you!
Pay attention to airfare trends.
When I began researching flights to Europe for my trip to Italy, most seats were selling for upwards of $1,400-$1,500. Wham, bam, no thank you, ma’am! By doing a bit of web research on Expedia, Kayak, and FareCompare and closely monitoring my emails from discount airlines such as JetBlue and AirTran, I noticed that flights to were actually decreasing. In fact, the longer I waited, the lower they went! I ended up booking my flight for $312.50 on Delta just a few weeks before leaving.
I also keep a detailed spreadsheet of the various costs associated with traveling–hotel, flight, and package prices I find throughout the year. When I want to book something, I will look over the information I’ve collected to determine some of the best times of year to go to the various locations. It’s sort of like the idea of keeping a price journal for grocery shopping except I do it for travel. 
Have a travel-related “spam” email address.
I have a completely separate gmail address that I use for subscriptions to travel-related deal sites, airlines, tour groups, travel newsletters, etc. While I don’t always have the time to read through this inbox daily, I do make sure to consult it when planning a trip.
Having these emails at my disposal helps me to gauge what the current trends are for more than just airlines. I also subscribe to travel blogs as well, so I can pretty easily search for my selected destination and find a plethora of emails and posts that will provide me with ample information.
Fall in love with TravelZoo.
No, I don’t work for TravelZoo, nor do I get compensated to write about the company. But I know a good deal when I see one thanks to their ingenious “Weekly Top 20″ list that comes to my inbox every Wednesday. This list, which you can view here, is loaded with amazing deals. I booked my entire lodging package for Greece for a mere $499 (plus an additional $19 in airline fees for the flight, which was free thanks to stacking points). This package included 8 nights of 3-star & higher hotels, all ferry transfers between the islands, fees, taxes, etc.
Travel just before or just after “shoulder” season.
If you want to escape to somewhere remote, ignore this step. Otherwise, make sure to book your travel before or after shoulder season–not during! I say this because if you go just before as I did with Greece, Italy and Australia, you can capitalize on the wonderful end-of-season clearances and deals. If you go just after, you can appreciate a higher level of service as everyone has most likely just taken their own vacations or are at least well-rested from the low season’s lessened demands.
Also, shoulder seasons exist for a reason–most of the time the weather is terrible or unsafe (hello, hurricanes and blizzards!), so you wouldn’t want to be traveling during those times anyway no matter how great a deal you can find.
Get off the Beaten Path.
No, I’m no advocating that you get yourselves lost in dark, deserted alleys or ask hitchhikers for the best restaurants for dinner. What I’m saying is that no matter where you go, there are people who are true locals. Find out where they eat, what they like to do–I’ll bet that it isn’t in the typical touristy areas that most places can be associated with.
Furthermore, these places often aren’t all that far from where you may already be! With a bit of an adventurous spirit, you can find yourself having the most authentic food/experience in what looks to be a hole in the wall. It is sometimes best to leave the guidebooks in the hotel room and go where the wind takes you. In my experience, it’s also a hell of a lot cheaper, too!
Make a budget…and stick to it!
I’m definitely guilty of traveling without a budget (in the past!) or at least throwing ‘caution to the wind’ when on vacation by rationalizing that I work hard and “deserve” to spend my money. The trouble is, at some point you do have to return home and enter the real world again–why do it with a pile of bills to pay back?
These are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of ways I cut back on my travel experiences. I will be following this post up later with more ideas including how to save money on souvenirs, how to create vacations memories that last a lifetime, and how to get the most out of each trip you take.
I also have a spam email acct that I use for special deals. It is great! When I travel, I also try to find the non-touristy places. Not only is it cheaper, but it is a better experience overall.
We took a small trip this summer, and by delaying our travel plans by a week, we saved a few hundred dollars on lodging. Playing with the dates on the travel sites helped us figure out when the end of the high season was, based on the plunging hotel rates. If you're traveling for a long time, getting breakfast from the grocery store is my favorite money-saving trick.
I appreciate this list because I'm terrible at budget travel. I love nice hotels and value convenience over savings. But your tips actually sound do-able.
These are some great tips and I definitely plan to put some of them the use(the ones that apply to me and where I live).Definitely enjoyed it so thank you very much.
@20's–I agree about the better experience. I'm all about getting off the beaten path.@Lindy–I LOVE shopping at grocery stores in other countries! I've certainly had my share of "omg, what did I buy??" moments because I couldn't read the labels, but it's a great adventure. I also bring back food as presents.@Julie & Rafiki–Thank you!