Budget traveling in general

I get asked a lot how I afford to travel, since I don't work full-time, so I have decided to share a secret: I budget travel. Semi-hardcore budget travel. People, being soft and flaky, don't usually understand this concept.

So I will explain it.

Sleeping

Most Hardcore: Camping/sleeping in train stations or airports

You should do this if you are only staying in a place for one night or are catching an early flight. There is no shame in this. You are saving the price of 1 nights accommodation! It is a thing to be admired. Just sleep on a pair of rolled up socks or your backpack and drape a sweater over yourself. Also, by doing this you may be able to get a really cheap flight since the cheapest flights always leave before 7 am and there is usually not a cheap way to get to an airport that early. Killing 2 birds with one stone!

I have done this several times, most noteably in Morocco where I slept in the airport to catch my 6 am flight. Of course, my flight ended up being delayed for 10 hours, but that's a different story.

You can also take a night-bus/train and this saves on accommodation as well. This kind of sucks though if you can't sleep on buses. Try to take a Gravol or a sleeping pill, keep your cash close, bring ear plugs and an inflatable pillow and you should be fine. Trains are much better then buses for this since you are less squished. I did this when for the 12 hour journey from Tangier to Marrekesh and I was nervous the whole time that someone was going to rape or kill me but it turned out fine and everyone was very pleasant. I also went on a night bus from Seville to Madrid and it arrived at 6am. I had to wander in the dark to find my hostel and then ended up sleeping until noon anyways.

Semi-hardcore: Crashing on couches.

If possible, sleep at a friends. If this isn't possible, try couch surfing. I know lots of people who have done this and are still alive! If you don't feel comfortable sleeping on a random person's couch, find a guy or girl at a bar, seduce them and sleep at their place. Not only is this free, but it may also come with breakfast.

A little Hard-core: Sleeping in weird places in the Hostel
Sometimes if you ask hostels have places that you can sleep that are cheaper. Once in a hostel in Greece I slept on a rollaway cot in a bathroom that was much cheaper then the full rate.

Not-Even-A-Little Hardcore: Sleeping in the Hostel Dorm
For 10-40$ you can sleep in a hostel dorm. This is what most people do most of the time, but remember that there are other options! Seriously, even not sleeping in a hostel twice on your trip will save you around 40$ that can be spent on more valuable things, like museum admission.

Food

Traveling is a great time to go on a diet. You won't feel hungry because you will be to busy DOING things. No eating out of boredom when you travel! The cheapest things to eat are street meats, like Kebabs and Gelatos. Once for 30 days all I had was one Kebab and 1 Gelato every day and I lost 10 lbs! And I felt full and satisfied every day because, man those kebabs are filling.

Or try the baguette and nutella route. The first day go into a grocery store and buy a squirt bottle of Nutella. Every day buy a baguette for one euro and then just squirt some Nutella on it when you feel hungry. You can augment this diet buy buying bananas or apples whenever you run into a grocery store or market. I usually do this in Amsterdam because Nutella is an excellent food for munchies. You can get buy for a week on a budget of less than 5 euros a day for food with a little planning if you are a girl. I usually eat a LOT and I have no problem with this. Guys tend to eat more so it may be a few euros more.

If you feel that you won't be satisfied by these options just try to hit up the grocery store a lot. You can buy some great sandwiches in grocery stores for half the price you would pay in bakery.

The worst thing you can do for your budget is sit down to eat. The best thing you can do is buy stuff in the grocery store and cook it in the hostels kitchen. Pasta, couscous, bread, Carbs are definitely your friend when your traveling because they are cheap and fill you up!

Coffee

It is essential not to buy coffee out every day. This adds up REALLY fast. I have a lot of trouble with this since one of my favourite things to do is shop while drinking coffee. Instead, buy a small bottle of Nescafe Instance coffee with the red label. This tastes great, is portable and is only 2.15 euro. Just add a tablespoon to some boiling water and you can have morning coffee for a fraction of the price.

Alcohol
You MUST pre-drink. Or order beer at the bar, often in Europe beer is under 3 euros. Hard alcohol is always more expensive and not worth it. Often the beer is a specialty of that region so you are also being cultural. Remember, The more you drink beer the more you like it! This isn't that hard since if you are a student you are probably used to budgeting alcohol.


Attractions

Its hard to get around this, most attractions cost money. If you can try to get the youth rate. Lie and pretend that you are 17. It can't hurt to try. Sometimes you can save 10 euros by doing this. Or go to the tourism website and check out the Whats On section and it will always post things that are free to do in the city. For instance, for London I checked out www.visitlondon.com and now plan to go on free Halloween tours.

By watching where I sleep and what I eat I can travel to way more places for way cheaper. I have been known to search for hours for a diet coke that is a quarter cheaper though so it is definitely possible to go overboard. But I really think that with less money you will almost always have a more adventerous trip.

Nevertheless it is always hard to stick to the budget so it helps to save on the big things (flights, accommodation, food_ so if you go overboard on the smaller things (like shopping or souviners) it won't hurt you too much.