My best advice when backpacking on a budget.
I choose to collect memories instead of things.
January 4th 2017 was the day I started my trip - all by myself - on the other side of the world, in both Australia and New Zealand. I don’t know if you have been following me for that long, but today I want share some of my secret backpacking and traveling tips when traveling abroad on a budget. This is a way for me to honor my experience but also possibly help and inspire some of you to get out of your comfort zone and travel and experience more in the future. You may not dare to do it by yourself for the first time, but these tips are for you who are going to travel no matter with or without company.
Traveling backpacker style for a few months is incredibly rewarding in many ways. You see and experience new things, you get to know so much people, but above all, you learn a lot. I’d say I have had rather much experience of traveling since before, so when traveling to Australia by myself I can’t say I felt completely lost. So today I want to share my tips on how you can travel more economically or how you can be more “travel smart”. This list is most targeted if you mainly go to Australia, but can to a large extent also work in other places:
Flights can often be better than busses. I didn’t ever travel by bus for more than 2 hours when being in Australia. Why? Yes, because I did my research of traveling by flight, compared and realized that it was so much more worth traveling by flight than by bus. For instance: I wanted to travel from Brisbane to Airlie Beach, and checked to travel with the known bus company Greyhound. The bus trip with them would have costed 235 dollars and take me approx 20 hours. Instead I traveled by flight though, since it was so much more worth it. I payed 120 dollars including bagage and I arrived in Airlie Beach in 1,5 hours. Most of the backpackers I had met while backpacking was traveling with Greyhound, and I realized just more and more while traveling how happy I was choosing to travel by flight instead. It is cheaper, it is so much more time efficient and at the same time you don’t waste your time sitting in an uncomfortable bus.
This post was written years ago and the things I had written did not take environment into consideration so the things I am writing are not always seen in a more environmentally friendly perspective. Don’t hate.
Organized trips are more comfortable and “simple” but not necessarily cheaper. Before starting my trip I checked out Greyhound whether or not I want to travel with it. All the bus trips and hostels would have ben included in the price… but, I wouldn’t have the freedom to do what ever I wanted to, I wouldn’t “take care of myself”, I would waste a lot of money and spend lots of time sitting on a bus. For instance; like mentioned in the previous post, I realized that traveling by flight was a lot better (both economically and time efficient) than when traveling by bus, and when booking my hostels by myself I actually got good prices after all. Greyhound IS expensive to travel with, so take into consideration that it is nice to actually fix everything by yourself. Of course, there’s more for you to be in charge of, but this also gives you more freedom of choosing exactly by yourself what you want your trip to look like.
AirBnB isn’t always more expensive than hostels - especially not if you are more than one. I lived in AirBnb once which was very nice after been living on hostels for some weeks. And no, Airbnb doesn't have to be more expensive than hostels. Airbnb have so many variations and the rooms you are renting are most often with a double bed, meaning that if you are two traveling you only pay half per person. What is also good when traveling Airbnb is that laundry and internet is included in the price, which means that you don’t have to pay extra for it like you often do on hostels.
Keep an eye on discounts, offers and “try on”. For instance; I had missed working out incredibly much and I wanted to hit the gym. By a coincidence I saw that one of Australia’s best gyms, Fitness First, gave out “try ons” if you got registered on their website. In every big city I visited in Australia, which had Fitness First, I took advantage of this. This gave me approx 6 cities x 3 days try on, and I saved as much as 28 dollars per working session! Except this, many hostels also hand out free VIP-cars to clubs and bars so you don’t pay entrance. Ask in the reception where you live.
Groupon, Letsdeal, Bookme or other website with discounts. Speaking of finding offers and discounts, there are many websites in respective country you visit which has great offers to offer. For instance; when I went Australia and New Zealand I often checked Groupon or bookme. There you can find lots of great offers on restaurants, trips, products, accommodation or adventures like skydiving, rafting or bungy jump.
You can save a lot of money if you think smart, practical and sustainable with the choice of food. Buy food from the supermarket rather than eating in restaurants, take advantage of the “free food shelf” the hostels have, split the food and food bills with your travel buddy and keep an eye and try to understand to see what foods are cheap in the country you are visiting. But maybe the best advice is - eat vegetarian food. Meat is expensive!
Take as necessities as possible with you, even if you can buy it in the country you are visiting. I had read in many guides that you shouldn’t bring schampoo, body lotions and sun screen with you from Sweden since you could buy it in Australia. I didn’t follow that tip, because why spend so much money on this necessities if I can take most if it with me anyway - for free - from home? You will buy it anyway. Also, if you bring your own, for instance, schampoo you don’t only save money (yes, every single penny makes a difference when you are on a budget), you can also pour the schampoo into smaller or more practical traveling bottles.
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