How to make your money last while backpacking
One of the most common questions I am asked by aspiring backpackers is, “Do you have any tips on how I can spend less while traveling?”. I have devised a list of ten rules that any budget backpacker or tight-walleted traveler should follow while out on the road to make sure that their hard-earned cash takes them as far as possible.
Do not buy cocktails or mixed drinks
Hostel bars and restaurants directed at tourists will put a premium on their cocktails or mixed drinks. Stick to local beer when in Asia. It will cost you somewhere between €1 and €3 depending on the country and the quality of service and surroundings of the establishment. Wine is not cheap either because it is imported from Europe or Australia. The quality of the wine is generally low so I would opt out of ordering it. If you are really craving a whiskey sour or a cosmopolitan, take note of happy hours (which are never an hour long!) I remember sipping on a delightful amaretto sour every night while we were in Moalboal in The Philippines, and it only put us back €1.30 a glass!
Travel slower
Whenever you analyse your expenses while traveling the top cost category is often transport. Getting from A to B can be expensive as transport companies take advantage of backpackers and charge more to travel between popular spots. I recall a bus and boat packaged journey from Bangkok to Koh Tao costing nearly €40. If you have an open-ended route and you are flexible I would recommend staying no less than three nights in any location. The ‘travel slow’ philosophy is one I have heard time and time again from seasoned travelers, with some settling in to certain popular spots like Arugam Bay in Sri Lanka or Koh Phangan in Thailand.
Use Google Search to minimise accommodation costs
I have a few tips in the accommodation category, this being the first. Some backpackers prefer Booking.com, some Hostelworld, some Airbnb. Through trial and error, I have discovered that there is no one platform which consistently offers the best deals. However, there is a trick to ensuring you are always getting it. First find an accommodation which suits your needs on one of these sites. Then put it into Google Search for the dates you will be booking. Google Search should return with some rich results where you can see prices in those places across each popular online booking platform. You’ll then know if Hostelworld or Booking.com has the best deal and you can book accordingly.
Prioritise using Booking.com
This may contradict my last tip but allow me to explain. Booking.com rewards loyalty better than all of the other platforms from my experience. You can gain points with each completed stay which build up and allow you to become Genius Level 1, 2 or 3. Genius Level 3 rewards can give you benefits like 20% off a stay or free breakfasts or an upgraded room for no extra cost to you. We racked up our points very fast while we were walking the Camino de Santiago across Spain which paid off hugely when we were backpacking South East Asia a few months later.
Bring a partner or a friend
Traveling is cheaper when you are sharing it with someone else. Oftentimes we booked double rooms in gorgeous homestays with en-suites and it was much cheaper than a single bunk in a 12-bed dorm. Not only are your accommodation costs going to run cheaper (and you are going to have additional comfort, sense of safety and privacy), but your transport costs should too. Whenever we took an Uber tuk-tuk or a long-distance taxi in Northern India, the cost was halved.
Buy medications when abroad
It might be tempting to stock up on important medical supplies before heading off. We found that we could make a huge saving by purchasing medications abroad. However we learned this the hard way. Only when we were replenishing our first aid kits we realised that we had spent €150 – €200 each without even needing to. India, especially, was so cheap for medication. Some tablets only set us back a few cents. In Asian countries you can ask the pharmacist to sell you only the amount you need, meaning no wasted packaging or tablets.
Use the local transport system
It is obvious but travelers often shy away from using local transport links due to language barriers or lack of information online. Lean on your accommodation for advice when it’s not easily available online. In the Philippines we hopped on a Jeepney, a half-jeep / half-bus vehicle which date back to World War II. They burn through more diesel than a 52-seater air-con bus and only seat 16 people at best and believe me, there is definitely no air-con provided. It cost us a few cents to get from one part of Manila to another on the Jeepney, and it was a story and a half to tell!
Limit your backpack to under 7kg
This might be my favourite piece of advice for budget-conscious travelers. Most airlines will limit you to a 7kg bag to bring on board inclusive of your flight ticket price. I witnessed so many backpackers haul around a 60 – 70L backpack on top of their 7kg. I understand if you’re on an extended world trip which involves a range of climates why you need to pack heavy, but if you’re backpacking tropical climates you can fit everything into a 7kg backpack for even a six-month long trip. Why do I think this is possible? Because I did it. You will save yourself a small fortune in airline baggage fees, particularly if you’re flying between a lot of countries or within island nations.
Do free walking tours
Some of best experiences I had while traveling were on free walking tours. The guides work solely for tips so I would recommend that you give them €10 worth. That €10 can go an awful long way in developing countries. We always booked through GuruWalks.com because of the high-quality of the tours they offer. They have an app too and it is really easy to book your tours, communicate with the guides and receive any updates through it. We will never forget the backstreet tour of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) we received from Nana, or the food crawl of Hué we shared with Linh.
Don’t travel to places just because you feel like you have to
You’ll do a lot of research before a big trip (or at least you should!), and you’ll read about a lot of places you just HAVE to put on your list. From my experience, not all of the “top spots” are worth visiting. Oftentimes destinations become popular, tourists flock to them, and then they fall prey to becoming tacky, expensive, overrun and full of scammers. Instead of deciding to visit a place just because you saw it on TikTok, read some reviews on it in advance. Research the cost to visit, quality of the accommodation available, whether it is targeted at backpackers, families or couples, quality of the food and drink available and how busy it is. We made this mistake when we were visiting the Thai islands. We did not like Koh Phangan or Koh Samui because there weren’t our vibe but you still find them on every single Thailand backpacking route.
BONUS RULE! Invest in a travel credit or debit card that has free ATM withdrawals
I had never considered this until an Aussie couple shared this hack. Before their year-long European tour, they decisively joined a bank that would refund them any international ATM withdrawal fees. They said it saved them thousands of Australian dollars over the course of their trip. If you are going away for an extended period of time, it might be worth investing in paying a bit upfront for one of these debit cards. Oftentimes fintechs like Revolut will offer this type of a service for their paying customers. When you’re paying €6 extra for every withdrawal in Thailand or €5 extra in the Balkans during the summer season, it can really add up.