Editor’s Note: Subscribe to Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news on destination openings and closings, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest on aviation, food and drink, where to stay, and other travel developments.
Mademoiselleosaki.com — Just as we were emerging from a long period of lockdowns and entry restrictions, world oil prices spiked.
Now interest rates are rising around the world to combat inflation, including with hotel prices rising 10% or more in many popular destinations.
However, these effects are not felt equally and currency changes can amplify or diminish them.
If you’re making US dollars, the whole world is for sale right now. However, if you earn Japanese yen or British pounds, you will spend more than you would have spent a year ago in most places outside your own country.
However, no matter what’s going on in the world of macrofinance, savvy travelers can find a way to travel well for less by adjusting their strategies.
By following these tips, you can still keep your travel budget in check for that much-needed vacation:
Find a great flight deal, then choose your destination
Open to new experiences? To save a few bucks, let the flight deals guide the way to your destination.
ozmen/Adobe Stock
Many vacationers pick a destination they want to visit, without much research, and then try to fit the prices they discover into their current budget. A much better strategy is to find out where the cheap flight deals are, and then make one of those choices your vacation destination.
There are many companies that specialize in finding deals, such as Scott’s Cheap Flights and Secret Flying. These require you to throw yourself into temporary opportunities. The on-demand way to do this is to put your origin airport into Google Flights, choose a date, and leave the destination blank.
A world map will appear with the initial price of the flight to any part of the planet. You can play around with the dates or choose a flexible option to find the optimal time to fly.
Picking a random week within a month, I found round-trip deals like Denver to Miami for $314, London to Marrakech for $81, and Mumbai to Bangkok for $263.
Go to a place that has historically attractive prices
Europeans who have seen their currency fall will still find rates lower than a year ago in multiple destinations, including Laos.
andrii_lutsyk/Adobe Stock
Certain destinations around the world are cheaper than ever thanks to currency devaluation or other financial problems. You can visit Istanbul and Cappadocia in Turkey, explore Patagonia and Buenos Aires in Argentina, or sail down the Nile past ancient ruins in Egypt.
The savings will be more drastic for Americans in a broader list of countries, but Europeans who have seen their own currency fall will still find lower fares for travelers than a year ago in the countries above plus Hungary, Laos and South Korea. South. (A great way to measure this is to check historical exchange rates with a site like FXTOP.com.)
Keep your fares to a minimum while traveling
When using your credit card, decline offers to convert charges to your local currency. You will usually get the best rate using the local currency.
Vladimir Vladimirov/E+/Getty Images
Avoid the “death by 1,000 cuts” that can be inflicted by the world’s financial institutions when you use a credit or debit card on the go.
Make sure you have at least one credit card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, and ideally use a debit card that doesn’t charge an ATM withdrawal fee.
Some debit cards, like those from Schwab, Fidelity, and Capital One, will even refund local fees. Others, such as some from Scotiabank, HSBC and Citi, are part of international networks where account holders can use affiliated ATMs abroad without double commission.
In most cases, you’ll get the best rate if you use a credit or debit card in the local currency (decline any offer to convert charges to your local currency).
However, keep in mind that the rules are different in Argentina, where there is a street “blue rate” for fresh dollars or euros that is much more advantageous than the official rate.
Play the game of hotels and apartments for rent correctly
Additional fees can add a lot to the cost of a vacation rental.
Giselleflissak/E+/Getty Images
Sometimes hotels offer the best deals; sometimes vacation rentals do. So shop around.
The advantage can vary quite a bit depending on the location and whether you really need a kitchen.
Some cities add a lot of fees for rentals, and in some countries (such as Thailand and Vietnam), it can be cheaper to eat out every meal than to cook yourself.
Whichever route you choose, pay close attention to what previous guests are saying, especially with services like Airbnb and Booking.com, where only customers who have stayed there can leave a review.
Compare transport prices
To save on flight costs, it may be cheaper to fly to a nearby country and then take a train to your chosen destination.
Leonid Andronov/Adobe Stock
The proliferation of budget airlines around the world has made it much cheaper to fly within a region, such as Southeast Asia and Europe, or within a country with a lot of domestic air competition, such as the United States and Mexico.
So it might make sense to find a reasonable long-haul flight to one place, and then take a budget airline (or in Europe, a train) to the next country you really want to go to.
Search around instead of accepting the most obvious route as the only one you’re stuck on.
Get out of the tourist areas at lunchtime
To eat cheaper, it is usually better to go outside the tourist areas.
Gary Yeowell/Digital Vision/Getty Images
If you want to eat what the locals eat and pay what they pay, get out of the area where all the tourists are and start exploring.
Simply walking for 15 minutes in any direction or taking the subway a few stops can make a world of difference in any city full of foreign visitors, from Prague to Venice to Puerto Vallarta.
You’ll likely spend less and enjoy more authentic dining and experiences.
Load an app like Google Translate on your phone and you can also decipher the menus in another language.
Try to travel outside of high season
Remember: it is never high season everywhere at the same time.
Fokke Baarssen/Adobe Stock
Avoiding peak season is easier said than done if you’re a family dealing with school schedules, but it’s never peak season everywhere at once.
Vacation time in the southern hemisphere is at a different time of year than in the north, first of all, plus some tropical destinations are slower in the summer because there is more rain.
Popular destinations like Mexico, Belize and South Africa are less busy between June and September than in the first quarter of the year.
The ideal time in many popular places is the “off season”. That’s when the weather is still nice but the hordes aren’t in town, like May in the Caribbean or October in Europe.
Play travel hacking game for free flights and rooms
Credit cards can help you earn free flights and hotel stays.
d3sign/Moment RF/Getty Images
What do you receive when you charge items to your credit card?
Most airlines and hotel chains have a branded loyalty card through Mastercard, Visa, or Amex that allows you to earn enough just by signing up for a free flight or multiple hotel nights.
Then the points keep adding up as you use the card. These benefits can dramatically reduce the cost of a vacation, even if you’re only spending what you’ve always been spending by running bills and regular expenses through the card (and paying for them).
Americans have the most options for this “travel hack,” but Canadians can take advantage of multiple airline and hotel programs through Amex, CIBC, or Scotiabank.
Europeans have bank card options with various airlines such as Iberia, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and Air France.
Australians have access to cards that earn points at Cathay Pacific, Qantas and others.
While inflation, fuel prices, and currency exchange rates will always change, these travel savings strategies will help you get away when you get the chance, without blowing your budget in the process.
Featured Image: Caye Caulker Island, Belize. (Matyas Rehak/Adobe Stock)
Source: news.google.com