Hello travel friends! You want my help to plan a trip and save money? You are a couple, a family, friends, or a solo traveler? This post is for you! I know that planning a trip can be really difficult, booking flights, finding the best deals for hotels and activities, plan a budget, make the itinerary…
Organizing trips is something that I really love. I always track the best deals and try to plan our trips in advance! Today I will give you all my tips and tricks to plan your trip and save money! Read on!
How to plan a trip and save money?
1 Choose one or several destinations
Firstly, step one is to pick one or several destinations you would like to visit. If you really want to visit a particular destination pick this one. But if you have several ones in mind it is easier to be able to find a good deal!
The prices of the plane tickets, hotels and activities can really depend on the period you are going to a destination. Usually, we pick 3 or 4 destinations we would like to travel to. And we decide which one is the best at this period after following these steps!
2 Decide a flexible time to travel
Then, decide a time to travel. Which month or week do you want to travel? If you are flexible on the dates it is easier to be able to save money! You may already know that airline companies and hotels are run by yield management. So the prices will depend on the offer and demand on the market.
Indeed, if a company has a high demand on a particular day, the prices will increase. Sometimes the price of a flight can be half the price a day after. So it is really better if you are flexible on the dates to save money. You can always find a better deal in leaving a few days before or after.
If you want to have more information about how to save money to travel read our post here!
3 Check the season and news
Don’t forget this step it is really important. Before buying your plane tickets and booking hotels, check if it is the right season to visit this destination. A trip can be sploit by bad weather conditions. Be careful of the wet and cyclonic seasons, especially for the islands. You can check on the Lonely Planet where is the best place to go for each month of the year. Here is a short summary:
✔️ January/March: Thailand, Cambodia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica
✔️ March/ May: Morocco, South Africa, Mauritius, Japan, Cuba, India, Perou, Brazil,
✔️ June/ September: Italy, France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Caribbean islands, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia
✔️ October/December: Jordan, South Africa, Mauritius, Finland, Oman, Cambodia, India,
But remember that unfortunately with climate change, there is no rule. Unfortunately, the weather is changing. You can check the current weather online before booking. Also, before planning your trip don’t forget to check the news, and be sure there are no current problems in the country you are planning to visit.
4. Compare and book your flight
The best way to find a good deal is to compare airline companies‘ offers and dates when you are flexible. In this way, you can find the best deal for you. Skyscanner is a really nice online comparator. Most of the time we are making our researches on this website. It helps us to find different combinations of several airline companies or different combinations of intern and extern flights with the same companies.
Travel tips: sometimes it is cheaper to fly from a country close to yours! You can find a flight to this country and then another flight to the final destination. Also, it is often cheaper to leave on a Tuesday or a Thursday than on the weekend. And to buy your tickets on a Tuesday than on a Saturday. But it is really depending on the demand, so check and compare!
5. Book your accommodation
When booking your accommodation, compare with your travel dates the different options. If you book in advance you will have more choice and it will be easier to find a good price-quality ratio. We often book our accommodations on Booking because it is really easy to compare the different hotels and B&B.
Also, if you prefer you can book an apartment on Airbnb. If you want a more authentic experience and live like a local.
6. Book activities in advance
Also, you can book activities and entrances tickets online. This can often help you to save money. Also, check online the different prices, you can find different packages for several days. For example, in Jordan, you can buy a pass online including the visa for entering the country + an entrance for Petra.
7. Budget consciously your trip
I don’t know if you are more a spontaneous or organized traveler but I am a very organized one! hehe. By the way, I really love organizing all our trips. I advise you to make an excel file with all your expenses to plan your trip: flights, hotels, activities, and food. In this way, you can not have bad surprises on your bank account after your trip!
8 Plan your itinerary
Oh no, another excel file? Yes! And I promise you it is very useful! You should plan your trip day by day. You should write what place to visit and what activity to do on which day, or which part of the day. It is the best way to make sure the activities you want to do and the places you want to visit are available on the days you are supposed to do them. Make researches to plan your trip accordingly to the activities planned. Also, it permits you to evaluate how much time do you need for each place/activity.
For example, in Jordan, we can only visit Petra by night on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So we planned our itinerary according to this.
But keep some freedom on your trip and accord you to change your plans a little bit. If you really like a place, you will be able to stay a little more. Also, if you have an unforeseen event, you will be able to change your plans and adapt to the situation!
For example, when I was in Bali, I planned to visit the Gili islands in the first 3 days. But, due to the bad weather conditions, the boats were canceled. No problem, we went first to Nusa Penida, and we went to the Gili islands at the end of the trip.
To organize your itinerary, you can use “my maps” it is really useful to pick all the places you want to visit during your trip. And to know how much time you need to go from a place to another.
9. Plan your clothes and luggage
Make sure to plan to take the right clothes in your luggage! Always take a jacket/ pullover even in warm destinations, it can be really cold in the mornings/evenings. We have already found us in Grece in September with very cold temperatures in the evening with only summer clothes!
Also, if you are going to hike and do sports activities don’t forget to take sneakers and gym outfits. You can check the current weather forecast to see the average temperature and pack accordingly!
You can make a list of everything you need and check each item when you are making your luggage. In this way, you can not forget anything important! 😉
Are you planning a trip soon?
If yes, we hope this post will help you to plan a trip and to save money! Let us know in the comments where you are planning to go!
We are going to Jordan in a few days and we can’t wait to visit this new destination! Follow our adventures on Instagram!
