My excited to introduce Maya! We agreed to exchange some guest postings to share our travel knowledge. I am so happy to have her insights on my blog, as I use a lot of this in my own travel!

I have added a few of my own details (which I have marked as My Open Passport Side Notes).

There are so many ways of traveling on a budget. I hope you find Maya’s and my side notes useful!

PLEASE NOTE: This post contains some promotional content for Maya in terms of her own blog as well as her new eBook. These links will take you to her site which may contain more affiliate links that she may or may not receive commission.

Guest Posting from Maya:

If you know me and me and my blog (travel-by-maya.com), you will know that I love traveling (and that is also the main reason I’ve opened my blog). 

But if you really know me and my blog, the number one thing I love more than traveling is to traveling on a budget more, how much I can, and paying less!

Another important thing I need to point out is that when I say “travel more, pay less”, or when I am talking about traveling on a budget, I don’t mean that you need to sleep outside on a bench, eat $1-$3 meals at Mcdonalds three times a day and skip all of the attractions in the city that costs money – oh hell no!

When I say traveling on a budget, save money while traveling and get to a point where you can travel more and pay less, I mean it by staying at a nice but cheap hotel/Airbnb apartment, eating whatever you want, and not missing out on anything.

Just because you want to travel more and save money on your trips, doesn’t mean you need to skip everything and stay at a crapy place.

Today I am going to teach you how traveling on a budget be more possible, by paying less! or in other words – how to travel on a budget.

1. Where And How To Find Cheap Flights?

My favorite websites to book flights are Skyscanner and Agoda.

Skyscanner:

When I am looking for flights, I first check out what is going on in Skyscanner. 

I love this website, it shows you all of the flight deals that are currently on the market. 

When I use Skyscanner I can compare flight deals between different sources online. 

I have a full guide on how to book cheap flights on Skyscanner, so make sure to read it!

Agoda:

After using Skyscanner I also like to check out Agoda’s flight deals. 

Sometimes they have some very good flight deals.

Honestly, usually, I book flights through Skyscanner, it is my favorite flight booking site, and I have booked many cheap flights through their site!

A few tips to know about booking flights/hotels:

* The flexible you are, the better

If you have a flexible schedule, you are more likely to find better deals on flights and hotels. 

You could find out on Skyscanner when is the best time to travel to a specific destination, or when you should travel to on a specific month or dates. 

This way you could adjust yourself to the flight and get good deals!

*The best days to book flights on

Not a lot of people know, but the days you are searching, and especially booking flights on, are pretty important and you must know this tip in order to get the best deals.

The best days to book flights are through Monday-Wednesday when Wednesday is the cheapest day to book a flight!

Why? on the weekend you are more likely to find expensive flights. Because, who wants to go on a lovely weekend getaway? YOU DO ! and how knows you want to go on a small weekend getaway ? all of the TOURISM SITES online!

So through Thursday-Sunday, the prices in any flights/hotel booking sites will be the highest.

From Monday the prices will go down, but they will be the cheapest between Tuesday-Wednesday.

2. Where To Find Good Hotels Deals?

My favorite hotel booking sights:

* Hotelscombined.com – the first website I like to look at when searching for a nice & cheap hotel, is hotelscombined.com. 

This site shows you all of the offers that are out online on a specific hotel. 

Same idea like Skyscanner, but on hotels. 

So first, when I am looking at where I should stay in the destination I am visiting, I like to check this website and see the price range at that destination.

* Agoda.com – I’ve talked about Agoda when searching for flights, but I mainly like this website for booking hotels. 

First, they have a whole SALE page with great deals, and even if there isn’t any special deal, the prices are still cheap! I LOVE this website. 

I find amazing deals there!

Agoda just offers amazing and cheap deals on really nice hotels. I love booking hotels through their site and I highly recommend checking them out! 

* Booking.com – I don’t think there is someone that isn’t familiar with Booking.com. It is one of the most famous hotel booking sites out there. 

Well, like everyone else, I also like this site. Sometimes they have good deals on different hotels/apartments, even hostels. 

* Airbnb – If you are not a huge fan of hotels, or if you are trying to save more money, you could book an Airbnb apartment! 

Side note from My Open Passport:

Airbnb’s are great if you are not a fan of hostels either as you can share it with your travel companion(s). I stayed in an Airbnb in Venice because even hostels were expensive.

But, be sure to check out hostels such as:

Hostelworld– my go-to site for hostels! It has pictures and reviews. Booking.com also has some hostels as well.

3. How To Save Money While Planning Your Trip

If you have the time and desire to plan a full trip by yourself (if you don’t just skip to the next tip, I have two amazing and helpful tips for you), I have a great tip for you for planning your trip and willing to save as much money as possible.

Two words – ATTRACTIONS PASS

What is an attractions pass?

it’s a pass you pay a certain amount of money, and you get access to a variety of attractions in the city of your choice. The best part is that the price you paid for the ticket is much cheaper than buying an entrance ticket for each attraction separately. 

And who doesn’t love DISCOUNTS huh?

This card is such a money saver during a trip and I recommend buying one for your next one. 

The card is cheaper than buying each entry ticket to every attraction in the city you are planning on visiting individually.

How does it work?

You buy a pass that includes entrances to a variety of attractions around the city. 

The attraction card has two options:

First option – Choosing a certain number of attractions you want to visit (2/3/4/5/6/7/10 or 12 attractions from the list). The pass is valid for 30 days from purchase, so you can buy it in advance from home, and saving unnecessary hassles while on vacation.

Second option – Choosing a few days (1/2/3/4/5/6/7 or 10 days) where you have an unlimited number of attractions!

A good thing you would like to know, some cities gives you unlimited tourist bus rides, or even free public transport in the city, while buying this option, which is another huge money saver, since public transport takes us quite a lot of cash.

My Open Passport (side note) did this as well in Napoles, Italy called the Napoli Artecard.

4. How To Travel When You Don’t Have The Time To Plan Anything?

I want to introduce you to Trova Trip. It provides curated group travels and provides all the planning, transportation, as well as hiring amazing local guides to guide the tour. 

What makes this company stand out from other travel companies, is that they offer customizable trips for great prices. 

They customize the trip according to your preference and pair you up with other like-minded travelers that have a similar mindset as you, and are interested in similar things as you do! how cool is that?

You can choose from a wide range of beautiful, amazing destinations and they will tailor an authentic 10-day trip for you. 

Also, the groups are pretty small, 8-20 people per group. 

They choose very well, authentic local guides who can provide you a truly deep tour of the destination you choose to visit, and give you a local point of view on the place, as well as providing some great insider tips!

And, don’t forget, we’re all about saving money here, so you must know that Trova Tips offers great payment for those who are joining them. 

With a Trova Pass you can pay only 99$ a month for a whole year, or 198$ a month for 6 months! Sounds like a pretty nice money saver to me.

Here are a few reasons you should go on a trip with Trova Trip:

* Not needing to take care of anything, just packing a suitcase and traveling. The company plans everything out for you. They arrange everything, as well as taking care of the transportation and travel plan, where you stay and what you do. 

* You can spread your payment for a small 99/198$ for a year on 6 months. Huge money saver, you don’t need to pay everything in one month like you do on a regular trip.

* Meeting new & great people, that also likes similar things to what you do! who doesn’t like meeting new people?

* They provide an experienced local guide, that provides you the deepest tour of the destination you are living at, showing you a local’s point of view on the place and giving you all of the local’s tips and secret.

 Basic Things To Do When Traveling On A Budget:

* Use a travel reward credit card

If you want to enjoy traveling on a budget and want to help yourself getting closer to an airplane soon, a credit card with travel rewards is a MUST!

You can get travel points from all sorts of everyday purchases such as buying groceries, filling gas in your car, paying your bills, shopping – any daily activity you do – pay with your travel rewards credit card and collect points that will help you earn free travels, achieving elite member status with hotels and airlines, and many other travel rewards!

* While traveling, eat out less

 one of the biggest expenses we make as travelers is buying food and drinks during the day. 

And when I am saying buying food and drinks, I usually mean eating at restaurants.

 Well, how could we save money and eat and drink? 

– Eat at a restaurant once a day. Choose which meal is going to be eaten at a restaurant.

– For the other two meals, and snacks during the day, go to a local supermarket and buy some goodies you can make sandwiches from, buy some fruit as snacks, or even buy something to cook and cook it at your apartment/hotel.

 I did it when I visited Prague last April, and it was a big money saver.

Side Note: If you would like to see more specifics on Prague: check out My Open Passport’s restaurant suggestions, itinerary, and traditional foods to try.

* Search for free things to do!

Find free things to do in the destination you are staying at. 

From visiting a museum on a day that tickets are free, or even going hiking somewhere. 

Just search online and find out what things you could do in that destination for free, and do it!

* Use public transportation instead of a taxi

I don’t like taxis while traveling especially when traveling on a budget. Usually, they take advantage of me being a tourist and ask for way too much money for the ride from what it should cost. 

So, I prefer either Uber or just using public transportation – buses, trains, the Metro/Subway. My Open Passport Side Note: In Asia, there are things called Tuk Tuks, which are even cheaper than taxis.

Public transportation is the cheapest, much more than Uber as well. 

Also, you have another way to “live” like a local and get an insider look of living in the city. 

I can tell you that I really enjoyed using Manhattan’s Subway. I met so many people, saw the “real life” and felt like a real local. Highly recommended.

So these were my tips for traveling on a budget. 

If you want more in-depth tips, and really learn how you can make traveling on a budget possible without missing out on anything – I highly recommend reading my “Secrets to Traveling Like a Pro” ebook that teaches you my own steps and travel hacks for traveling on a budget multiple times a year with not much money, and not missing out on anything!

For long term travel notes and programs to long term travel and reasons to travel solo, check out My Open Passport’s articles.

If you would like more of my content, come visit me on my blog www.travel-by-maya.com

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