Budget travel tips: My pre-travel checklist

All hail budget travel! Honestly, out of all my friends I'm probably the one with the least amount of money, but I'm always the one off somewhere new (pre-Covid I snuck in at least 4 trips a year!). There's no way I'm going to let my finances stop me from exploring the world, so I've become somewhat of a budget travel whizz over the last few years.

Sometimes I get amazing deals, other times I slum it in a bit of a divey hostel: it depends how much I want to visit somewhere. But the point is, I'm not precious, so you'll have to take this checklist as a bit of a pick'n'mix if you are more bothered about where you stay.

1) Be strategic with your flight bookings or see if you can get there by public transport

• So many people I know go to book their flights as soon as they know when they're going - sometimes as soon as the flights come out. Don't do that - I've worked in travel for a while now and have spoken to people working with/for airlines, and they always say this isn't the best time to book. The best time to book is a couple of months before your holiday as they're trying to fill those final seats.

• Use flight search tools like Skyscanner (my fave) as it scans all of the flight sites for you, giving you the cheapest option - now they give the most eco-friendly option too. You can sign yourself up to email alerts for your trip so you can monitor price changes as well.

• Wait for sale days! Airlines always jump on board the sale wagon in January for the post-Christmas sales, and November for Black Friday. When I booked my India flight we waited for the Jan sale and saved £300 on the price we'd found in October, so definitely hold off if you can.

• If you're on a longer trip (or just really don't have the money for a flight) get a coach! You can go all over Europe from as little as £10. I won't lie to you, it'll be long and uncomfortable but just download your favourite Netflix shows and podcasts and it'll be fine.

• If you can't quite bring yourself to go by coach (I feel you, although I wouldn't say no) go by train! Eurostar connects London to so many amazing European cities, and you won't have to cope with the chaos of an airport or pay for luggage. Plus, you can take alcohol and food on board, which is always a winner for me.

2) Don't go crazy on accommodation

• I won't lie to you, if you're wanting to travel for cheap you're not going to be living in luxury. But cheap doesn't have to mean horrible - I've stayed in some beautiful hostels around the world for less than a tenner a night, so you've just got to search for them. The Hostelworld app is the obvious choice, and you can filter by reviews and price so you can figure out where's the lowest price with the best reviews. And of course, the larger the dorm room, the cheaper the price (I've stayed in a 24-bed dorm before...). If you're in a couple - or even a group - and want somewhere sociable, go for a private hostel room or a dorm room together.

• I'm also a huge fan of Booking.com, mainly for the fact you can book now and pay at the property. Again, I've found that sites like this also have sale periods (I got a great deal on NYC on Black Friday one year), but they've got a rewards system in place, and the more you book with them, the better deals you get. You're looking at a Genius Level 2 here, btw (the only time I'll ever be called a genius).

• Roadtripping? Grab a campervan, or just a regular car and find some camping spots. I want to do way more of this in the future! It's so much fun and so affordable. Australia is a great place for camping!

3) Be a nerd: Make a spreadsheet

I didn't do this when I went backpacking, but I was also 23 and didn't know any better. In hindsight, I could have done with a spreadsheet as I ran out of money a few times, so don't be like young me. Be like old-er me and geek out with a spreadsheet.

Add all of the expenses you know you'll have to pay for: flights, accommodation - split per property if you're travelling about, travel insurance, visas, transport, tours etc. If you've not booked your flight, just search it and put the price it's coming up as now, and if you've reserved hostels or other accommodation on the sites above you'll know how much it's going to be when you get there. Then you can research any other additional costs, whether you're buying anything or not, so you can get a good idea of how much the trip will cost you before spending money.

Then just work out how long you've got between now and your holiday, how much you'll need to save per month to afford the non-negotiable expenses, and then work out your spending money from there. Lonely Planet are a good source for money and cost info for each destination, or Numbeo.

4) Don't pre-book day trips etc.

Unless you've been told you need to pre-book tours, or you don't have a lot of time to play with then wait until you get to your destination. More often than not there's cheaper local tours when you get there, and your accommodation will usually have recommendations. A lot of hostels run their own day trips, too. I've pre-booked day trips before and then got there and been told about better, cheaper trips from other people. Or been told that paying for a tour is actually unnecessary as you can do it easily yourself.

5) Pick accommodation with kitchen facilities

Whether that's a hostel with a shared kitchen or an apartment with at least a fridge, it helps to not eat out all the time. Obviously when you're on a shorter trip, you'll probably want to explore and go out for dinner each night, but you can still opt for accommodation with breakfast included, and then store stuff in your fridge for lunch. Longer trips you can occasionally cook dinner for yourself to save on money, too. So many hostels I've stayed in do social evening meals for cheap, so see whether that's an option when you're looking for places.

Shout out to Living Lounge Hostel in Lisbon: they have social evening meals every night, which was perfect for me as a solo traveller as I could eat tasty local food, drink wine and chat to other travellers.

6) Pick cheaper destinations

• My favourite pastime is choosing destinations based on Skyscanner's everywhere tool. If you're not fussy on where you go, but just want to go somewhere new, you can put 'everywhere' into the search bar with the dates you want to go away and Skyscanner will churn out destinations filtered from lowest price to highest.

• Alternatively, go where you know is going to be cheap. Sometimes places with cheap flights are actually not as budget-friendly as you thought, and places where the flight price is a decent chunk are the places where you can eat like a King for £5 a day (Asia, I'm looking at you).

7) Book public transport

Long-haul or short-haul, long term or short term, public transport is the cheapest way of getting around: trains, coaches, ferries... if you're planning on hopping from place to place try not to do it by plane. It's better for the planet, cheaper, and you get to see more of the country you're in. If you're in Asia, book through 12GO Asia, look at Eurail for Europe, or Greyhound for Australia. I can't comment on any other countries, as I've only used these sites so far.

8) Travel in the shoulder season

Shoulder season just means either side of the busy season (typically Spring and Autumn) - the shoulder season differs between countries and continents, so have a search to see when it is for your destination of choice. Typically everything will be slightly cheaper then, with less tourists, while still benefiting from good weather.

9) Get a card that has no withdrawal fees abroad

I use Monzo and love it - I've used it everywhere with no problems so far! I can use it in ATM's across the world and withdraw money in the local currency at the best exchange rate. It's way better than carrying around a wad of bills - there's a daily limit of £200, but I never need to take out more than that anyway. I always make sure to get some exchanged before I go, just in case.

I think there are other banks that have cottoned on to this market, so have a bit of a research and find the best one for you. You don't need to use it as a proper bank account, just use it like you'd use any other travel card.

10) Short stay trip? Hand luggage only

I begrudge paying for luggage, especially when I find a good price for a flight and then realise it's another £100+ for my bags. Ryanair doesn't charge you much to have two carry-on bags, which is perfect for a small backpack and a little case (buy some packing cubes), and other airlines allow a small bag plus a case. It's time to get good at packing light, guys. Treat it like Tetris.

11) Compare travel insurance deals

It's one of those things you never think you need, but think of all the poor souls who thought that and got stuck out travelling during the pandemic. Eek. I always use Compare the Market because it checks loads of sites for you, and at the end you get 2-4-1 meals and cinema vouchers to use at home.

12) Home-stays

I've only ever heard about home-stays in Asia, while I'm already on my trip, but do a bit of research to see if you can find any well-reviewed local home-stays in your destination. This way you get to fully immerse yourself in the local lifestyle and meet new people - and they're always great value for money (some people don't even ask for anything, although then you'd just give them a donation). There are a couple of sites like Homestays and Couch Surfing, but I've not used them yet.

13) Planning a long trip? Volunteer with World Packers

A great way of getting stuck into a destination, while making your money stretch for longer is to set yourself up with some volunteer places with World Packers. It's a site that hooks you up with businesses all over the world that need people to work, and you'll usually get your accommodation and food as payment. I did this in Bangkok, and taught English for a couple of weeks in exchange for a place to sleep and it was a great experience - it allowed me to delve further into the city for longer than I would have been able to if I'd had to pay for accommodation, and it was only a couple of hours a day, a couple of times a week.

14) Discount passes

If you're heading to a city and want to check a bunch of landmarks and tourist hotspots off your list, there'll usually be some form of city pass you can get that'll get you discounted entry to those places. You need to figure out if it's worth it, depending on how many places you want to see, but I did it in New York and saved a lot (it was my first time). Most cities will have city passes, public transport passes etc. In America, you can get national park passes too.

15) Free stuff

I'm a sucker for a freebie, whether that's a free museum, gallery... whatever it is. A simple google search will throw out tons of articles of free things to do and free places to visit for your destination of choice. I'm a big fan of free walking tours, where you just pay a donation at the end: you get to see so much of a place (perfect if you're strapped for time) and they'll usually give you insider knowledge of the best places to go afterwards.

My checklist of budget travel tips has come to an end, but I'm bound to do some more budget travel tip posts (being a self-named budget travel whizz and all). I've already got a couple of other budget travel blogs here, and in the future I'll do some more destination-specific posts. If anyone has any other pre-travel budget tips, please send them my way... anything to have me spending less and travelling more!