You want to travel cheap otherwise you wouldn’t clicked here right? well, very often people ask me What the “#!”# I do to travel so much, and the truth is that I am not rich nor money rains on me, I just work hard and save a lot, but mainly I travel cheap and simple, very simple. Actually travelling it’s very cheap and easy, if you propose yourself to do so, in fact, I believe that it’s more fun and more enrichment. I had the chance to travel through most of my country México, Europe and some South American countries, with a very LOW budget. That’s why I decided to write this article.
- ¿Where can I get a cheap flight?
Actually, you find very crazy offers, but you have to find them. If one night you don’t have anything to do, search, the best trips are the ones that aren’t planned, you will find some destination that can get your attention, but if you already want to go to a specific place, then there are many platforms to find cheap flights, I will write some of them i used already.
Guru de Viaje – These guys are genius, you will certainly find some incredibly cheap flights
Kayak – Very good platform, you can see a monthly or weekly calendar so you have a bigger scenario of what are the good prices and dates to fly.
Sky Skanner – I recommend the phone app its easy to use and also has a calendar its great! better than the website which is not as good.
- The housing can be free you know?: CouchSurfing.com
Thousands of people use Couchsurfing every day if you don’t know it, Couchsurfing its a platform for travellers, where you find housing and offer accommodation for free. Its easy to use, you have to make a profile where you describe yourself,what your age, occupation, hobbies, languages, the city you live (if you want to offer a couch) upload photos etc.. So, for instance, you travel to Guadalajara, you will find profiles of people that live there whom you will ask for housing. There is no charges or fees! usually, the only reward is the satisfaction to have helped a traveller on his trip.
The central idea is not just to fina couch to crush the night, but to share experiences and your own culture with the person that invites you to his place, because he will do the same to you, its always a good idea to see the city from the point of view of a local and not a tourist like you in that moment are. It’s like an exchange of favours, at the end you will probably like the idea and set your profile back home to receive people. So when you try to find someone ALWAYS, look the reviews, and the answers of the reviews, the description of the person, be careful, you don’t want to end up with someone that you don’t share a thing.
- More free housing? YES!! Worldpackers
Imagine travelling to any destiny you want doing the best you know, taking pictures, painting, giving language classes. Worldpackers its a platform for travellers that exchange accommodation for work. So you can stay for long periods of time while you travel cheap without paying for housing and doing what you like!. Who was the genius?
- Fun fun fun = hostels!
If you haven’t had the luck to find a couch, hostels are always a cheap option, and a fun one too! You will find people from all over the world, pretty much like you, travellers and more travellers. There are “many” ways to find a good and cheap hostel, but more importantly centric. Sometimes you want to save in the hostel, but end up wasting more money on transport. Watch out!
HousingBMG it’s a platform that works only in Guadalajara, Jal. México. so if you want to stay in an exchange experience, you might want to look at the amazing housing they have to offer, the good thing is that they go and check every one of the options, so you know that there is no fake information.
- Ask people that already know!
Friends, family, friends of friends, HousingBMG, facebook pages, friends of your family, friends of HousingBMG, pretty much everyone that have already travelled to the destination that you want to go, he/them can give you good bits of advice about their experiences. The little details might help and you probably will save some money cause of that.
Well without jokes, if you know the “Be my Guest” staff you will understand what I mean, they know a lot of people who have travelled around México, they are also travellers themselves so go and ask them, they know more than what they seem to haha.
There are some websites where you can ask people that travelled around, some of them speak English!
There also exists an app called Triposo in many countries and in many cities in specific. There you can find the historical and touristic places, where to eat, a map that will help you with your route which works without internet (very useful) money exchange, dictionary etc. for me its a complete app for travelling.
- Low budget = Eating cheap
Eating it’s a biologic need, you have to do it, please, do it. Eating while travelling can be or very expensive or very cheap, depending on you, I know! the food no! but you want to travel cheap right?.
If you already have a strong stomach after all the tacos and tortas in Guadalajara, you can play a little cheaper game eating on the streets and not restaurants. But the cheapest way of eating, it’s going to the supermarket and cooking at your hostel or house. Mexico has very cheap food like rice, pasta, tortilla, egg, bread, jam, cheese etc.. so you don’t have to eat only junk food while saving a lot of money. Try to eat things that fill you up quickly and also that gives you a lot of energy, like chocolate for example. Eating in restaurants its a luxury that travellers like us cant afford, unless the food of the place its very special and has to be eaten, still if you want to eat the proper food of the place (try to find a local and cheap place) no touristic. Ask the local people, or check our post about eating in Guadalajara! it might help you out!
If you are in a hostel with breakfast included, never miss it, EVER. and take some fruits so you can eat some stuff through the day.
- The bottle everywhere.!
The same than food, there is water which is basic. Remember that in México the tap water is not drinkable so don’t attempt to do so, you will get sick, or not; still, I wouldn’t recommend it. The secret though its to have a bottle with you all the time and fill it up where you see opportunity, hostel, restaurants, even drinking spots, it doesn’t matter, but avoid buying water it’s very expensive.
- How to transport yourself…
Transport it’s always an expensive part of travelling. On the city you should use a bicycle or walk, the bus and the metro also works, but only in daylight, at night its better if you use an UBER because you might be either drunk or lost, or both, so don’t put yourself in danger and just go home. From city to city its another story, the buses are always the same price, we don’t have companies that lower the prices on the high and low season, but travelling by aeroplane it’s different, that you have to search and find the cheaper.
There is the other option which BMG also recommends (ask them if you don’t believe me) and that is “hitchhiking” or “autostop”, everywhere you go, you will hear from people that its crazy, and dangerous, but it’s not, on DAYLIGHT!, México it’s not a dangerous place, but don’t push your luck and try to avoid being late at night on the high way. If you don’t have luck, take a bus.
- And what happens with the BUZZ!?
That’s a dilemma, if you like buzz but you don’t want to spend to much money on it, well in México we have the “precopa” which it’s about going to a friend house to start drinking normal price buzz, beers, tequila or rum whatever you like its cheap outside the bar, once you in it, the price sometimes it’s ridiculous, in Guadalajara HousingBMG tries to make a good community where “precopear” its something you do every weekend.
Now, if you are women and you are reading this, as you might have noticed that we have a little advantage and that there is always someone that wants to buy us a drink at the bar.
JUST BE CAREFUL!
BONUS.
If you want to travel cheap, look after yourself. (you are more important than money)
If you want to travel cheap, make friends and have fun. (don’t miss chances of doing cool things, even if sometimes it’s expensive)
If you want to travel cheap in Mexico, learn about good places to eat, we actually wrote a post about that here. (“LA VENGANZA DE MOCTEZUMA!!”)
Don’t be a tourist its the best way to travel cheap, anywhere.
