We just came back from an overnight trip to Niagara Falls and so I thought why not share some of what we do with you guys. We love a good vacation but there is always an element of guilt whenever we stay overnight or multiple nights. Here are some of our frugal travel tips:
Accommodation
- We book our accommodation slightly in advance – Booking your accommodation earlier may result in lower nightly rates. As someone who spent four years managing hotel front office operations, I can confirm this to be the truth in most cases. Of-course, hotels do at many times drop their prices one or two days if their inventory is open. But we generally avoid waiting last minute.
- Awareness of Off-Season times – Some months are bound to be a lot more expensive. Consider researching off-season prices and see if you can book accommodation in advance. If yes, you’ll be able to save pretty significant dollars on both the flight and accommodation.
- Consider alternatives to hotels – I really like Airbnb as an alternative. For introverts like us nothing beats replicating the feeling of truly being at home while on vacation. I also like that Airbnb can be quite economical when travelling with family when you need separate rooms but still want everyone together. Airbnb is particularly more attractive to me when we’re staying for more than a night
Transport
- Flights are cheaper on certain days of the week – A FareCompare article states that Tuesdays are the best days to book flights. An Expedia article I’d read said this to be Saturday. Thursdays and Fridays are considered the worst days to book a flight. I have seen this to be true myself. Nothing scarier than seeing your budget go for a toss while tracking flight prices.
- Connecting flights can be cheaper – It might not always be the case and the numbers would depend on several other factors. But we have seen that connecting flights are cheaper compared to direct flights for most of our travel plans. Time is a big constraint however in deciding to go direct.
- Be smart with your Fueling if driving – With gas prices at an all-time high, we are careful with when fuel or top-up. I’ve seen that fuel prices generally increase over the weekend in recent times. Our preference is fueling mid-week if we have a longish drive planned in the coming weekend.
Meals
- Check if you can you get an all-inclusive deal – This largely depends on where you’re headed. Often times, hotels offer all-inclusive packages that might come out to be a lot cheaper if you choose to dine at the hotel itself anyways.
- We pack at least one meal if we’re driving – Its true. We always have our lunch or dinner prepped from home whenever we’re out on a day trip or an overnight visit.
- Redeem F&B (Food & Beverage) points – Nothing more enjoyable than getting a discounted or free coffee or sandwich. Personally, we bank some points with our favorite coffee shop and then redeem it for a couple of coffees during vacations.
- Breakfast is usually our least expensive meal of the day – If we’re Airbnb’ing, we usually get some bagels or breads from the grocery shop. In our experience, we also find that Airbnb hosts are generally happy to keep some coffee at the booking site. If you’re in a hotel, check if the breakfast can be included with the room. If your breakfast is not included consider brunching instead.:)
Experiences
- Look for free things to do – TripAdvisor and Travel Blogs can help here. This could be a supplement to the must-do touristy things. An example is churches or smaller trails and parks that can be visited for free.
- Consider using all-day passes if using the local public transport
- Look for City Passes – A lot of times, you can find city passes that enable you to visit many attractions at significantly reduced prices. We’ve done this a few times and coupled with free things to-do (#1) this works out great.