After traveling throughout Asia and Europe the past few months I decided to share some tips on how I was able to do it on a budget and avoid inconveniences like buying separate sim cards each place I went.
1. Use flight deal sites to find the best price and be patient.
Part of traveling on a budget involves patience and scouring flight deal sites. I don’t mean orbitz/kayak/expedia. I’m not a big fan of those because you often don’t get to choose your seats. I like to use www.theflightdeal.com and www.secretflying.com. Between these two sites I was able to book my trip to Hong Kong/Shanghai/Tokyo for $675 and to Stockholm for $600.
2. Get Global Entry and TSA Pre✔.
There’s nothing I hate more than waiting in lines. With Global Entry and TSA Pre✔ you’ll get to coast through the security and immigration lines in the U.S. Also, you don’t have to take all your clothes off or remove your electronics just to go through security. My advice, get Global Entry. It’s $100 for five years and you get TSA Pre✔ for free.
3. Use Scandinavia as a gateway to Europe.
Traveling to Europe can be expensive, especially during the summer. If you’re lucky enough to live in San Francisco, Orlando, or Los Angeles you can often find super cheap flights in and out of Oslo or Stockholm on Norwegian. By super cheap I mean $350 round trip cheap. Other airlines also provide cheap flights in an out of those cities, but I wouldn’t recommend staying there too long. Both Oslo and Stockholm are extremely expensive, but you can find cheap flights to the major cities in Europe.
4. Stay at an Airbnb over hotels.
I’ve gotten over the age where I want to stay at a hostel. Sure they’re fun and you get to meet a lot of people, but when I’m traveling with a significant other I just want to have my own room. I used to be a fan of www.hotwire.com to find good deals on hotels, but now I’m finding Airbnb is a much better option. They are cheaper than a hotel, have more amenities like a refrigerator, and if you get lucky you may get one where you meet your host and can get some local guidance on where to eat and go out. So far I haven’t had a bad experience, but I also only book rooms with someone who has plenty of positive reviews.
5. Get T-Mobile.
One of the inconveniences of traveling abroad is cell service. In many countries you can get by with using internet at bars and cafes, but why risk it? T-mobile has free international roaming. I visited five different countries in Europe and didn’t have to bother buying a separate sim card each place I went. If you’re not on T-Mobile, you can often find a deal on their website for a $.99 sim card and ask a friend to add them to your family plan. It ended up being $30 with activation and taxes, but it beat buying a $15 – $30 sim card each place we went.
Although the data roaming is free, the speed is throttled. Even with the speeds throttled, I was still able to navigate using Google maps, search local places, upload photos to snapchat and using a messaging app like WhatsApp. What else could you really need abroad?
6. Buy your museum tickets ahead of time.
Most attractions you’ll want to visit will require a ticket. If you’re traveling through Europe I highly recommend you purchase them ahead of time. Places like the Vatican Museums, Colosseum, and Anne Frank’s house consistently have long lines. However, if you purchase your tickets ahead of time you can bypass the line.
7. Get a Charles Schwab checking account.
There’s nothing I hate more than paying a fee that I don’t have to, especially when it comes to converting money. Any time you exchange cash for another currency you’re getting screwed, unless you’re in Argentina and you’re trading it to someone on the street. One time I exchanged $300 in Berlin and received the equivalent of $240 in euros. My best advice is to get a Charles Schwab checking account and take money out of an ATM once you’ve landed at your destination. Charles Schwab refunds any ATM fees and will give you the best conversion rate.
8. Get a credit card with no foreign transaction fees.
Like I said before, I hate paying unnecessary fees. Most credit card companies charge a 3% foreign transaction fee. There are plenty of choices out there for fee free cards, but most charge a yearly fee. I carry a Barclaycard Arrival Plus card but I have many friends that like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Barclay also has a no fee version of it’s card but gives you less points per dollar. I would recommend during some research online to see which one fits your needs bests.
9. Use The Man in Seat 61 for your train itinerary.
If you’re traveling through Europe by train it can get a bit daunting to figure out the best way to get around. I found www.seat61.com to be the best resource on the web. This site gives you multiple options for how to get to a destination and links you directly to the travel site to book your tickets. I wouldn’t have known about the Bernina Express had I not used this site. Like booking a flight, be patient as there’s usually deals on train tickets where you can get first class tickets for only a few more dollars than second class.
10. Don’t plan everything you’ll do.
I’m the type of person that has to have everything planned. Many of you aren’t like that and I applaud you. However, if you’re like me and have to plan everything out, try to leave some space for the unexpected. I had planned our transportation, housing, and wrote down some sites we wanted to see in Europe but let the environment dictate what we did. If we saw a cool street we wanted to walk down, we did it. If there was a cute square where we wanted to sit and have a drink, we did it. We couldn’t have done this if we had had a strict time table, so leave some time for the unexpected.