myLovetripper

Readers Share Travel Budget Tips

In our May contest, we asked readers for tips for saving money while traveling this summer. We got hundreds of responses and every week we'll be running 10 different tips...ones sure to help you and your sweetie plan a vacation on a budget this summer!

1. When traveling overseas it is a good idea to charge via your credit card since you will get the official currency exchange rate. This is better and cheaper than using the hotel concierge or an exchange teller which has lower rates. --M. Perez, Tampa, Florida

2. Eat, buy, and do LOCAL whenever possible. Your experience will be much more unique, and you won't spend money on tourist traps and junk shopping. Try local independent restaurants that specialize in local foods and cuisines, and stay in bed and breakfasts for fantastic service at far lower prices than fancy hotels. More romantic too! – Craig, Toronto, Canada

3. I request samples online throughout the year. When we go away for the weekend, I just go thru my FREE samples and pick out shampoo, conditioners, deodorant, lotions and put them in a ziplock. Saves room in the suitcase and doesn't cost a penny! --Pamela, Coos Bay, Oregon

4. We try and wait until the month before out trip to book air and rooms. Then we aren’t paying the super high early bird fees, and we arent paying the desperate last minute fees. This works with hotels and airlines that are trying to get more people on that particular flight or in rooms that weekend! We also like to do a lot of research before we leave, but we still want to be able to have flexibility with our plans. We look at reviews and pricing for restaurants, events, museums, and tours. Then we make a binder with addresses, directions, phone numbers, etc. This lets us have options that fit into our budget and tastes! We have often sat down in a restaurant and realized too late how much money we were spending! Eeks! Now we keep the binder with us so we can refer to it while we are out and choose places that are close to us. –Leslie & Jon, San Diego, California

5. We like doing 3-4 day weekend trips around our state. Instead of booking a hotel room (or two) for our family of four we now search local condo and townhouse rental sites and often find a house with 3 or more bedrooms AND a kitchen for less than the cost of two hotel rooms. Sometimes we even get our own pool! We bring a cooler and use food from home to cook with to avoid eating out - and any leftovers are not wasted. It feels like a lavish getaway even if it is just an hour from home, and with more privacy than a hotel. And, with more space we now bring the grandparents and are able to do a date night out with built-in babysitters! There are so many rentals available and we've found that owners are willing to be flexible with the number of nights because they want to fill their rental. – Jessie, Saint Petersburg, Florida

6. When dining out, whether on a vacation/honeymoon, don't buy 2 huge plates of food! When you do that, I'm sure that you are like me, and leave half of the food sitting on the plate waiting to be thrown away. Instead, get one large plate to share between you and your spouse. Remember those old photos of the couple sharing a milk shake? Why can't this be just as romantic. Then, you can go out the next night, and do the same thing again....but, for both meals, it will cost 1/2 the price had you both ordered full size plates to yourselves. (Obviously, you can ask for another plate so that you can share.) Also, this allows you to give your fabulous server a great tip! – Josie, Kansas City, Missouri

7. On arrival, seek out local Arts newspaper for calendar of museum exhibits and days of free admission, art galleries, walking tours, and local theater and happy hours. –MMS, Buffalo, New York

8.Always eat a hearty breakfast if one is provided as part of your accommodations. You can have an al fresco snack of local fruits, cheese, and bread for a light lunch and be able to splurge a bit for dinner. – Nancy, Greensboro, North Carolina

9.Look closely at the travel packages and check to see if it is actually cheaper to purchase the things you WANT separately. Many times in those travel packages they include many things you do not need and offer them at a large discount...because many people do not want to use that service. --Matt, Orlando, Florida

10. Whenever we travel, we try to stay in a vacation apartment, especially in foreign countries. It is cheaper, you are not usually in the tourist district, and you can cook with regional food instead of eating out every night and spending too much money. It is a wonderful way to feel more a part of where you visit and paying less! –Babs, Alpharetta, Georgia

posted by Lovetripper.com @ 9:57 AM