As the conventional wisdom goes: sometimes you have to spend to save. I manage my travel budget strictly so that I have room to accommodate the “fun stuff” when it shows up unexpectedly, so my instinct is always to find the cheapest thing and book it. But sometimes the cheapest ticket adds other costs, like additional travel time, stress or inconvenience.
If the cheapest choice is miserable enough, it can end up outweighing the financial benefit of your budget purchase. But how to tell when to splurge and when to spend?
Well, I already wrote an article about the top 8 travel spends you won’t regret Today I’d like to talk about “splurges” that can actually help you save your pennies.
There’s wonderful category of “splurges” that seem luxe, but they actually save you dollars in the long run. Budget travelers who get stuck on finding the cheapest sticker price sometimes lose sight of the big picture, and make decisions that cost them more by the time the trip is over. Here are a few places to spend in the name of saving:
1 Spend on Location. Most cities have a downtown or ‘walking district’, and while hotel and hostel prices are sometimes more expensive in this area, paying to stay in the thick of the action will often pay you back. Transit can be expensive (especially if you’re going to various tourist hotspots), and if you stay in a bustling area, you might be able to connect with other travelers to ride together, or join a shuttlebus traveling to your destination.
This math doesn’t work everywhere – in some large cities central accommodations are so overpriced that it even if you factor in travel expenses, you’ll still come out ahead by staying on the outskirts. But it’s often worth spending a little more for a central location. For solo travelers, there is also the comfort of knowing that you can will be able to meet people, enjoy local nightlife, and return home late at night without needing to use public transit or pay for a cab.
2 Buy An Indestructible Travel Mug. You know what’s expensive to buy on the fly? Water. It’s also totally unnecessary. I realize that carrying a water bottle is common sense at this point, but if you also like a hot morning beverage, invest in a good qualilty thermos that can double as a hot beverage container. Swell makes an amazing spill-proof thermos called The Traveler that keep cold stuff cool for 24h and hot stuff hot for 12. This is where the spend to save philosophy comes in: if you can skip buying water, coffee and tea as you travel, you’ll be making money in no time.
Bring your empty bottle through airport security, and fill it at a fountain before you reach your gate. When you leave your hotel before traveling to a new destination, take full advantage of that continental breakfast by taking some extra coffee to go.
A good travel mug is also handy if you’re an adventure traveler who will have limited access to hot water, because you can make sun tea anywhere. If you need your morning coffee fix, the modern world has blessed us with Cold Brew Pods (like teabags, but for coffee), or you can do it the old fashioned way: dump grounds in a mesh sleeve or sock with a full mug of water, and let it steep overnight.
3 Take Cooking Classes. Skills-based classes are almost always worth the splurge while you’re traveling, but cooking classes are especially worth the spend. You will always meet other travelers, and some of them will be able to give you good advice about how to enjoy your destination. Many cooking classes take you to the best local markets, and you’ll know where to shop for inexpensive local food for the rest of your stay. Once you’ve learned how to prepare the local cuisine, you’ll sit down and enjoy a big meal with your cooking class compatriots. For the budget traveler, a big hot meal can be a luxury, and it’s included in the cost of the class. This makes cooking classes worth the spend (and sometimes they send you home with leftovers!)
4 Get A Travel Rewards Credit Card. I have to be honest: for a long time, I wasn’t a huge fan of credit cards. I try to spend within my means, and it’s easy to rack up significant credit card debt fast. However, when I saw what how extensive the benefits of my current card are, I had to sign up. My go-to travel card, The Chase Sapphire Reserve, waives foreign transaction fees, includes primary rental car insurance, offers lost luggage reimbursement of $100/day if your bag is delayed more then 6 hours, and trip delay reimbursement of up to $500 if your flight is delayed 12+ hours. The card has a $95 yearly fee, but the security of knowing that I can stay in a nice hotel and order room service if I get bumped from my flight makes the fee well worth it.
5 Pay Someone To Do Your Laundry. Sending your dirty laundry away in a bag and having them reappear washed and neatly folded seems like a huge luxury, but it’s actually a practical expenditure on the road. If you follow my advice and bring one week’s worth of clothing an any length of trip with the expectation that you will wash it as you travel, you will be able to travel with a carryon, and you will save huge amounts of money in checked bags.
If you’re not into the idea of someone else handling your laundry, I recommend investing in a Scrubba. This portable washing system is genius: it’s super lightweight and tiny, makes clean and drying your clothes while traveling a snap, and it can also double as a dry bag.
6 Upgrade to a Room with “Perks”. If a different hotel or upgraded room class offers free wifi and a reasonable breakfast, it might save you more money than it costs you. Just check the reviews, as “breakfast included” has a wide variety of meanings, varying from “there was coffee a few hours ago” to “please enjoy a full spread on our rooftop veranda.”
Some hotels and hostels also offer free transport to and from nearby airports, and it’s often worth the extra up-front spend now to avoid taxi fees on departure. It’s also worth seeing if there are any location-specific benefits to staying at a slightly upscale hotel. Do they do their complimentary tours of the area for guests or have local connections that can serve you?
Once, when choosing between staying another night at a cheap hostel in Morocco with unfriendly service and a more expensive hotel, the concierge at the nicer hotel I was considering mentioned that he could arrange my transit to my next city for me, and the rate he offered me was so much lower than any of the rates I’d been offered at my hostel that it moving to the nicer hotel the CHEAPER option!
I hope you found something in this list that made you realize you could be saving more money. And if I missed anything, let me know in the comments!
PS: Hey babes, just wanted to be transparent that the above post contains afflilate links. This means that I receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) from your Amazon purchases. I do not receive items for free and am not paid for recommending them… everything I suggest is something I use, love, and think you might love too!
