Kia ora! Hello!

I’ve had the opportunity to travel a variety of ways and my absolute favourite memories are from when I have been backpacking! From those travels I have many stories about hostels, tour groups, visiting sites and keeping the cost to an affordable budget.. Which is why I have put together 4 of my main tips that I highly recommend and do my best to stick to when planning to travel.

BOOK ALL CONNECTING TRAVEL IN ADVANCE:

Booking in advance not only gives you more options as there is more availability, but by doing so you can get some good deals especially if you book for return. Eg. When I was in London we booked a coach 3months prior to go to Bath, and because we booked our return at the same time for a week later, we got the return for $0.

SUPERMARKET SHOPS FOR SOME MEALS AND SNACKS:

I am an avid snacker, and I want to try all the sweets - this is costly. Therefore I highly recommend heading to the supermarket to get some fruit or museli bars to keep you going throughout the day which means you could go out for breakfast or dinner that day. Ideally only going out to a cafe or restaurant no more than once a day to keep the costs down. Also, who doesn’t love a supermarket trip in a foreign country?! That is where I have found some flavours of crips or candy that I would never get back here in Aotearoa.

BUY ONLINE TICKETS TO THE TOURIST SITES:

Save yourself the time of waiting in line! When you are backpacking you tend to squeeze in as much as you can so spending up to 2hours in a queue is not a good use of time. If there are time slots to choose from, I also recommend doing a google search for the tourist site to try book for the least busiest time of day.

MY PERSONAL BUDGET GOAL - $50 FOR ACCOMODATION PER NIGHT, $100 TO SPEND A DAY:

This is not a goal to max out everyday, but when planning my travels I use this budget framework to figure out how much money I have to save in advance. It goes in roundabouts and sometimes you may need to spend more in London each night for accomodation in a hostel, but when you go to Budapest you can get a whole week for $100. If you are traveling with a friend, I also recommend looking at the private room options as we got a room in Prague for a couple dollars more but it meant we had our own space for a few days.

Haere rā! Goodbye & happy budgeting!