Seven Steps to Travel Overseas Cheap and Budget

Seven Steps to Travel Overseas Cheap and Budget

When we started our food and travel blog, it was a challenge for us as we needed to travel for contents. Before the sponsors and advertisers come in, we had to travel cheap and budget.

We prefer to travel overseas as we wanted to learn, to see and experience different culture, food and destination.

Many people feel that traveling overseas is expensive but actually it is not. In fact, we have many friends who constantly travel abroad without breaking the bank.

There are no secrets in traveling overseas cheap but there are proper steps. We listed down seven simple steps to travel overseas cheap and budget. It applies to everyone and this are practical steps. We are not asking you to get loan or joining contest to try your luck but simple realistic steps to travel cheap and budget.

The seven steps to travel cheap and budget are:

1. Set your dates

Set your dates mean locking the dates you want to travel. Plan ahead like a year ahead. Lock down the dates such as public holidays or weekend holidays so you can plan your annual leave properly.

Prepare a few dates so you have option to choose. Festive dates are okay if you plan way ahead. You will understand more in the next few steps.

2. Destinations

Once you locked down on your possible dates, set the few destinations you want to visit. Please be realistic and don’t set destinations like Europe or Americas. Traveling to places such as Europe or Americas is not cheap so set your destinations within the region.

Why set a few destinations? When you want to travel cheap and budget, you have no choice. The price sets the destination and not you. Some of the ideal destinations are countries within ASEAN or Asia.

We know sometimes you can purchase cheap air fares to Europe but with the high exchange rates, it is not feasible in our opinion.

3. Create a group

Create a group of four or six and share your travel plans with them. Why create a travel group? It is always fun to travel with a group of friends or family. Choose the team members who are friendly and easy going. Read on you will understand why traveling in group is important.

Never create a huge group as it is tough to travel together and harder to control too. Transportation could be a problem in certain places.

Make sure everyone is on the same page for the dates and destinations. If you love to travel alone or in couple, you can neglect this step.

4. Set a budget

Once you have your team members, set a budget which fits everyone. Let everyone gets the idea how much they going to spend for the trip. When everyone agreed on an estimated budget, you can move on the next step.

For example, you can set budget of RM 1000 for Thailand, RM 1500 for China, Macau or Hong Kong, RM 2500 for Australia. We travel to Japan for 5 days 4 nights for RM 3000 per person including shopping and passes. It all depends on how you set your budget.

5. Get Cheap Airfare

To travel overseas cheap, you must get cheap airfare. Wait for airlines promotions regardless of which type of airlines. Most of the time budget airlines offer the most attractive fares but sometimes non-budget airlines do offer competitive fares.

Why fix your dates, why choose a set of destinations, why create a group and set a budget? The reason is you can choose your dates and destinations based on the air fare. Locking down the group means you know how many tickets you need to purchase and for budgeting, you will know how much you plan to spend for your airline ticket.

Getting the air fare is the first proper step to travel. Once you purchase your airline ticket, you are one step ahead. By purchasing your airline ticket way early in advance means you have the time to save for your trip.

Another of getting cheap airfare is by converting your credit card points to airlines miles points. However, you still need to pay airport tax after redeeming the flights. Wait for the airlines miles points promotion, you will get  a better deal!

6. Find Cheap Stay

Once you purchased the airline ticket, you have already locked down the dates, the destinations and the size of the group. The next step is getting accommodation.

We love a proper place to stay so usually either we booked with Agoda.com or AirBnb.com. Of course there are plenty of other websites out there. It will be cheaper if you stay in a dorm but it is entirely up to you.

In finding a cheap place to stay, do check out the reviews and location of the place. Make sure it is near public transport or in the city. Remember to check the location properly and always read the terms and conditions before you book.

There are great deals in Agoda.com from time to time so you need to check often to get the best deals.

When we travelled in Europe, we booked with Agoda.com and Airbnb.com. Of course there is also other backpacker website or coach surfing sites. It entirely up to you but we prefer Agoda.com or Airbnb.com

7. Sharing is Caring

Lastly, sharing is caring. Why we advise you to travel in group of four or six? If you travel in group of four or six, the party can fits into one or two taxis. Thus, it can be van or minibus or you can rent a MPV or Van for self drive.

When you have a group, you can share food. Thus, you can taste more dishes too.  Instead of ordering two to three dishes for two, you can share it among four or six persons.

Same goes taking taxi to the airport. With the increment of ERL, it is more worthwhile taking a taxi or Uber or Grabcar to the airport. You can easily share it in a group to save cost. Sharing is caring!

There are no secrets in traveling cheap but just simple steps to travel cheap. Like we mentioned, we had many friends who use the steps above to travel cheap. Be it Thailand, Macau or Australia, they managed to do it cheap. It is time consuming but if you want cheap, you can’t complain right?

We do not advise unpractical methods such as joining travel contest, buy Magnum 4D or Toto, blow your credit card and borrowing money to travel. Know your limits and we know some might not agree with our steps and we would love to hear from you by commenting below.

Wilson Ng