From kitting yourself out to deciding where to go, you can save a lot of money before you go. Research is key – don’t book or buy the first trip or sleeping bag you see; compare everything from destinations to insurance policies.
Book airport parking in advance You can save 50% by booking your parking spot before you arrive.
Sign up for newsletters Many airlines and tour operators only announce their sales and offers online, or certainly give email subscribers early notice. www.travelzoo.co.uk sends out a ‘top 20 deals’ newsletter every week.
Buy malaria pills on prescription or online Check whether your GP does NHS prescriptions for malaria tablets (a few do). Otherwise consider buying online to save; Stratford Pharmacy offers good prices and isn’t dodgy.
Review your annual travel insurance policy If you have an annual policy, don’t assume that renewing with your current insurer will give you the best deal. Many insurers include a new customer discount on the first (and sometimes second) year of a policy, so savings can be made by switching every year or two. At the least go back to your original insurer with any cheaper quotes to see if it’ll match them.
Seek out a specialist insurer If you are over 70 or have had a serious illness, find a company that offers specialist policies, for example Insure Cancer, Age UK (formerly Age Concern) or Saga.
Get a better deal from your mobile provider The big providers offer free add-on packages for customers going overseas that will reduce your costs. For example, on O2 ask for ‘My Europe’ and you’ll be charged 35p a minute to make calls overseas and 18p a minute to receive them. Alternatively, consider buying a global or local SIM card – try Go SIM or SIM 4 Travel.
Get a Nationwide FlexAccount debit card You don’t get charged withdrawal or transaction fees for using it overseas.
Compare rates for foreign currency Don’t forget to include charges and fees as well as exchange rates. Check out the Travel Money Maximiser.
Avoid single supplements If travelling solo, find companies that don’t penalise lone travellers (eg specialist operators and small-group adventure companies that pair people up). Also, consider travelling off-peak or booking late – operators will be more open to reducing single supplements to sell trips. Check out specialist sites too – try Solo Travel and Singular Travel.
Download Free guidebook info onto your mobile phone for free, rather than buying
a guidebook; eg City Mobi is a database of 600 free city guides.
Travel off-peak Huge savings can be made by travelling when few others want to. For example, save by going to Egypt in April/May (not too hot) rather than the winter peak (Bales Worldwide’s early May departure for its In the Footsteps of the Pharaohs is £606 cheaper than the December trip). Other ideas include Kenya in early November – before the ‘little rains’ hit, and the start of the return leg of the Great Migration.
However, sometimes there’s a reason why a season is off-peak – India in the monsoon (July-September) is hot, humid and generally unpleasant, unless you’re trekking in the Himalaya. Consider the ‘shoulder season’ – the period just before the peak season starts or just after it ends will have similar weather conditions but will cost you less.
Beg and borrow Kitting yourself out for a trip can be expensive (particularly if
you’re fond of often overpriced ‘technical’ clobber). Ask friends and friends-of-friends if they have a sleeping bag/rucksack you can borrow.
Choose a great value destination
Whether it’s because the local currency is weak, the cost of living low or the country rebounding from a war/disaster/dip in popularity, choosing a cheap destination is one
of the biggest ways to save. To make the most of your pounds when converting, remember: dollars good, euros bad. Here’s our pick of the bargains:
1. Bhutan Controversial. This US$200-a-day (US$165 in the off-season) Himalayan idyll isn’t conventionally economical but, given that the cost of living in the UK has catapulted in the past decade, the basic cost of the cheapest trips to Bhutan has remained the same (priced in low-value dollars to boot), this makes the cut.
2. Bulgaria According to Teletext, Bulgaria is the best-value destination around – on average, a beer costs 49p, a three-star double room £45 and a three-course meal £7.
3. Central America With Panama’s currency pegged to the flagging dollar, it’s getting cheaper with every close of the stock market. Costa Rica is still good value, though prices are creeping up; Nicaragua is the emerging budget alternative, with the cheapest prices in the region – and fewer tourists.
4. Ecuador In 2007 Mercer Cost of Living survey rated Quito the world’s third-cheapest city; Ecuador also has a dollar economy, potentially making Galápagos trips (at least, those booked on the ground – especially at the last minute) a bigger bargain.
5. Indonesia Bursting with temples, rice terraces, orang utans and dragons, Indonesia has always been dirt cheap. But it’s still suffering the aftermath of the Bali bombings, the tsunami and ferry frights, making it even cheaper.
6. Kenya Marred by the riots at the end of last year, travellers have been turned off – gate receipts in the Masai Mara are down 80%. In response, many operators are offering great deals to entice travellers.
7. Morocco This is the place to splurge. Truly gorgeous riads can be astonishingly good value.
8. Paraguay Home to the world’s cheapest capital city, Asunción, according to the same Mercer survey.
9. Sicily Markedly cheaper than the rest of costly Italy, and better served than ever before by low-cost flights.
10. South Africa A combination of low prices and a plummeting rand have made now the time to visit SA – in a recent Post Office survey, a basket of ten travel essentials cost nearly half as much there
as in the UK.
