Holiday Season Travel: 3 smart ways to minimise your vacation costs | Mint

A December vacation is an expensive ordeal. Its peak travel season and both cold and warm destinations are sought out with equal fervour. Thanks to social media and YouTube there are a lot of tips on how you can get those flight ticket bargains, use your card points and travel cheaply.

While travelling cheap is light on your wallet, it isn’t always an uplifting travel experience. In trying to get the bargains and the deals, you may not be able to make your vacation a comfortable and memorable one.

Afterall, if you are going to cook breakfast every morning in your shared holiday accommodation, what’s the point of stepping out of your home? Aren’t holidays meant for relaxation and recreation? Wouldn’t you like to leave behind the regular routine chores and spend time doing what vacations are meant for, having fun.

At the same time, it’s fair to be concerned about the budget and over spending. What if I told you a process to follow which can help you enjoy a vacation at a new locale, have fun and discover the unique culture of the destination you are headed to? Read on.

Stay away from FOMO

Have you noticed how each year, be it summer break or the Christmas break, your social media sprouts up with posts from different friends but of the same destinations. Last year everyone I knew was travelling to Japan, the year before that it was Kenya for the jungle safari. Now many are making a short trip to Sri Lanka and then there was that time when absolutely everyone travelled to Turkey.

Before you approach the travel agent make sure you have already decided on the place you want to visit. Whether you throw a dart on a world map and choose or do some research and arrive at the destination, have it in place beforehand. Not doing so, will lead your travel agent to simply recommend the most popular place or the destination where the discounts are the highest. You will be following what everyone else is doing rather than going to a place your heart truly desires. When you do this, you care less about the destination and the experiences, because neither was a conscious choice and more about the bargains.

Don’t follow the herd, choose your own route. This will guarantee a good start and maximum fulfilment from your vacation. The bargains can be sought in that destination, rather than where the world is flocking to.

Book in advance

The planner in me would not be satisfied till the vacation destinations for the next five years aren’t chosen and booked. However, that’s not how it works and so I have to be content in booking holidays a few months in advance.

Advance booking allows you to get reasonable accommodation at a good price and good accommodation at non peak prices. Travel costs and living costs are the two main aspects of a holiday budget and fixing this in advance will allow you to travel well without spending a fortune. Plus the choice of where to stay is also greater when you give yourself some time to book in advance. Else you end up booking whatever is available and that may or may not be the most value for money.

Even flight routes get booked quickly, so here as well you can benefit by planning just that little bit ahead and booking your tickets.

One pro tip, book your stay before you book your flight tickets. It’s easier and simpler to change the stay option rather than altering your flight tickets. Wait for a week or two after you have booked your stay and then book the slight tickets. This gives you the opportunity to change the original destination you have chosen in case you find something more tempting.

Both flight tickets and stay options can be as much as 30-40% lower in prices when booked a few months in advance rather than waiting just a few weeks before departure. Now you can also book any sight-seeing or other experiences you like beforehand on a travel website, you will get discounts and a structure to your itinerary.

Eat and travel local

While the trend says to search for a Michelin star restaurant in your chosen destination, food and experience is usually most invaluable in the local street cuisine and small eateries. Avoid the guide books on this one and go with your gut. Eat out more than eating at your hotel. Even for breakfast, it helps to find a local café nearby, you can experience the food rather than cooking in your room and save on exorbitant rates in restaurants frequented by tourists.

The best way is to walk around in a chosen neighbourhood or the area where you are out sightseeing and go to a place which has more locals than tourists. This will give you an experience which is true to form and also it will most likely be easy on your pocket. Restaurants frequented by tourists are quick to raise their rates. Another way is to snack a lot on local street food rather than eating a few heavy, expensive meals.

Similarly, choosing local transport like buses and metros is a good way to get around. Walking is the best and costs the least. As long as you avoid taxis and private transfers, it’s a big saving. Using the local transport also gives you a glimpse of the daily way of life in your chosen destination.

Your vacation travel has to be about satisfying your soul rather than ticking the boxes. Next time you are planning one, be sure to take the route which may not be the most tried and tested, but the one that you desire the most. Plan ahead, be local and walk a lot, good for both your health and wealth.

Lisa Pallavi Barbora is a financial coach and founder of moneypuzzle.in