How am I traveling?

I been working long time on this post and I really hope you can take advantage on it for your following travels. It is going to explain some tips to save money while you are traveling, and how you can easily become part of a new place.

Travel is like a book, if you stay in one place you only read one page…

First save on your air flights:

If you use the big online search engines (like orbitz, expedia or cheapflights) to book your flights, there is a good chance that you are overpaying. Don’t avoid them but surely don’t use them to buy your tickets. If you find a good deal go to the website of the company and buy it from there.

When you have an estimate date and location to travel I recommend you to start looking with low-budget airline companies (there is a list below). You also can search the airport of the region that you want to travel and see which airlines arrive to your destiny. There is a demonstration below how the big online search engines make you to overpay. Take your time to browse and to buy your tickets because you can save up to 40% on your flights (sometimes even much more).

Tips:

• The more flights you take, the more money you’ll spend.
• Flying mid-week is usually the cheapest time.
• Be prepared to fly from other terminals or airports entirely. If you are booking connecting flights, ensure that you are arriving at and departing from the same airport, or that there is enough time for you to hustle to your new departure point.
• If you don’t buy your ticket much in advance, don’t exasperate you’ll find good deals, but be flexible with the departing days.
• Watch the luggage rules. Many budget airlines cut their costs by charging for checked-baggage by weight. If you don’t pre-pay for your checked bags, or if you exceed the limit you paid for, you could face some hefty fines.
• Don’t expect to be dined in budget airlines.
• If you think 10 dollars deserve to sit on the window is up to you.
• In every airport there is a cheap way to get to the city, just ask after you arrive.

Low cost airlines: click here

For the demonstration I arbitrarily decided to fly from London to Barcelona on December 12th, 2009.

Orbitz offered me his best deal for US$ 190 in total however Ryan Air did it for 25 British pounds….. what is almost US$ 42.

Get free accommodations or work for them and some food tips:

One of the biggest expenses for a traveler is accommodation. The difference using hospitality exchanges (like coushsefing, rotary, etc) is that you are a guest in somebody’s home free of charge. The arrangement generally lets you to stay only a few days as opposed to the weeks and even months that a work-trade will give you,

Hospitality exchange websites:

• Couch Surfing
• Hospitality Club
• Global Freeloaders
• Rotary

About couchsurfing there is a lot to do with the platform they have, not only to be hosted or hoster. You can invite people to have coffee or drink, to make short trips and they usually organize weekly meetings. I’ve participated in the meetings of Melbourne and Auckland and both were really good. It is a great way to meet locals and travelers when you are in your city or while you are traveling.

Food tips:

There is a lot of money that can save by virtue of paying attention to how you eat while traveling.

• Buy some basic ingredients from the grocery store.
• Be open to try new tastes, flavors and foods.
• Food is a great way to socialize. If you are alone, and you see someone alone having lunch or dinner at your same place, asked her/him if you can join her/him for the moment, you both already have something in command what is a good beginning for a conversation.
• Want a special meal out? Consider going out for lunch instead of dinner. You often get similar if not identical portions, but for a fraction of the dinner prices.
• Does the restaurant have a beautiful view? If so, chances are you are paying for it with your meal. Instead, go to the restaurant around the corner or take a picnic to where the view is (Stanley Tasmania, hardly touch us about this tip)

Become part of the community:

Keep your eyes open, and get involved! You will discover new doors opening for jobs, places to stay, and places to eat. You will get to know the local culture better, and you will make some amazing friends along the way.

First I’d like to recommend you to go to the public library (usually there is free internet and different great scooping resources), read each whiteboard or news paper that you may find, join the couchsuring or facebook group of the city, became member of a sport team, join a religious group or ask in the universities if you can presence some of the classes.

The photo below shows how Jx and me ¨organized¨ our life groups in Auckland. It was during our first days, finally we didn’t do all what is in the picture but it helped us to become part of our new place and it kept us busy.

Secondly below you are going to find some of the volunteer organizations where you can find positions to volunteer. I believe is better keep your eyes open and if you see a place that probably needs your help just stop by them and ask what you can do for them and how they can help you.

• Idealist
• Conservation Connect
• Personal Overseas Development
• Compathos
• Voluntourism

If you are interested in boot your resume and you prefer an internship, the first step is to start looking for the companies where you see your self working for and then sending them your resume with a nice cover letter (I have some .pdf with models if someone is interested in them). Two important things to have in mind about internships are: visa requirements, which may vary from your country, and that companies are prone to do it but not for less than 3 months, when the volunteer could be do it just for a week.

Don’t buy souvenirs

Couple years ago I was traveling in the north of Argentina with a group of students and one of the girls asked me a questions when I was buying a souvenir… Before you buy any souvenir ask your self: Will you remember this trip by virtue of owning this souvenir or will the person who received it remember me or this trip, by this souvenir? If the answer is yes, buy it, if not continue walking for sure you’ll find it in the next store ☺.

Below are some recommendations:

• Use skype or voipstunt to be close of your people.
• Send postcards, letters or print and send some pictures while you are traveling.
• I sent pictures of: a Louis Vuitton wallet to my sister, a picture with some Ferrero Rocher to my mother’s birthday, an automatic machine of Pringles to a very good friend who loves them and a concert ticket that was really good to my father’s birthday.
• I met a German guy who was collecting shells to make a necklace for his girlfriend,

Travel Slow:

Start being explorer on your own place, enjoy each moment that you will experience and think of your trip as a lifestyle and not just an exit way of vacations or party, even if you are only traveling for a short time, are my last recommendations. Don’t worry about seeing absolutely everything there is to see, just focus.

For all the people who I said: I’m going to post something about how I like to travel this is the mentioned post, sorry for the time that took me to write it. I wish all of you and who is reading this post happy soon travels!!!