Simple Tips To Help You Get Good Value When Traveling
We are going to share some easy and simple tips to help you get good value when traveling. However the term value needs to be defined because not everyone has the same definition for it.
Most people consider value to mean the right price for something, but you can also get good value for your time as well. Many situations in life come down to what you think is more important between your time and your money.
A person who has a lot of cash in the bank and a busy schedule is going to think his time means more to him and will want to pay for convenience. Someone who doesn’t have much money and plenty of free time is in a situation where he doesn’t need to pay for people to do things for him.
Thanks to the internet there are many ways to save yourself time these days. They will cost you a little bit of money to do so, but if you fall in the first group from above that isn’t a big deal.
These simple tips to help you get good value when traveling will help out people who fall in both of the above categories. Use the advice you read here when backpacking around Asia or Central America and save even more money.
Booking Cheap Flights
One of the biggest expenses you are going to have when traveling is actually getting to your destination. Depending on where you are going you may be able to save a lot of money by taking a bus or train instead, but of course you will lose a lot of potentially valuable time doing so.
There are many sites out there to book cheap flights like:
Plus many more. However if you book through them you might not actually be getting the cheapest flight possible. To save even more money find out which airlines have the cheapest flights on these sites and then head to the airlines web page.
Search there and you can often save some money, don’t forget that generally the earlier you book the flight in advance the cheaper it will be. You also should always try to remember to fly through travel hub airports, often times taking a layover will save you hundreds of dollars.
For some people an additional 3 hours of travel time may not be worth $200, for others it certainly will be. When trying to find good value when traveling there are many personal decisions you will need to make.
Booking Hotels Or Apartments
This is not an easy section to write for a few reasons. The first is many people will be reading this and the lengths of their vacation may vary greatly. Some people may only be taking a weekend trip while others might be on a year long backpacking adventure.
If you are just on a short trip then you should probably find a place as close to the main area of town you will spend the most time, for many guys reading this that will mean the main nightlife district.
Often times that will cost you a little more money but it will save you plenty of time, you won’t need to pay for transportation if you are walking distance, and it will maximize your chances of hooking up if that is your goal. Or if you are on a business trip or something try to be as close to the area you expect to spend the majority of your time.
There are many good sites to find cheap hotels like:
Another reason that this section is hard to write is because depending on which city you are in or which hotels you are dealing with you might get a cheaper rate depending on how you book. For instance in Singapore you absolutely have to book online or you will pay as much as three times as much for the walk in rate.
But there are other cities around the world where it will be cheaper to contact the hotel directly and book through them. If you are on a budget trip try doing both to compare rates and choose the cheaper option.
If you do want an apartment of your own make sure you tick the right box and aren’t just renting a room in a place where other people will be staying. Most countries will have apartment listing websites and you can often get the local price by contacting agents in that way.
It will take some time to do, so once again when you travel do you value your time or money more? If you want to turn a trip into your new life here are some good cities in Asia to live on a budget.
Getting Around Town
Depending on where you go transportation might be so cheap that it doesn’t really make a tangible difference which form you choose, or it could be very expensive. In cheaper countries you can take a taxi all over the city for $5 or even less in many cases.
Somewhere like the US a 10 minute taxi ride might cost you $15-$20. We mentioned before to try and get a room near the main area of town you will spend your time, another good tip is to get a room near public transportation if the city has any.
Using the trains can definitely save you a lot of money. Uber is almost always going to be cheaper than a taxi and in many cases can be more convenient also.
Other apps like Grab are available in certain countries. You can get around town a lot faster on a motorbike taxi than you can in a car, for major cities with horrible traffic this is a good option because it saves you both time and money.
Good Value On Food When Traveling
Food is the last traveling essential we will discuss. Showing up in a new town without knowing where to eat can be fun in some ways and unnerving in others.
Some people like to walk around and pick a random restaurant and roll the dice. Others will hop on a variety of local food blogs and have meals planned out before they even arrive.
The closer you are to the touristy area the more expensive prices will be. However this is also where you are most likely to find different foods from around the world that you might be comfortable with.
If you are traveling in a poorer country and want to try and sample some cheap local street food try and find a place that does a lot of business. If you walk past two restaurants and one has a line out the door and the other has zero customers maybe there is a reason for that.
Are Dating Sites Good Value?
The last section is going to talk about using dating sites when traveling. This is yet another time versus money situation, as most of the best dating sites are going to cost money to use.
Right off the bat many guys are going to completely write the idea of paying for a dating site off. Why pay to meet girls when there are so many other ways.
For some that may be the right way to think. It is true that there are many free dating sites and apps out there, plus you can go out to a bar or club or meet women anywhere during the day.
One of the benefits of using online dating sites when traveling is that you can meet girls before you even arrive in town. That way you can line dates up on your first nights instead of using those nights to try and meet girls at bars.
But then some will ask why you should use paid dating sites instead of free ones, and this is a personal decision. The main reason to use the paid sites is because you will get a lot more value for your time on them.
Lets quickly compare a hypothetical free site to a paid one. Both sites have 10,000 male members and 5,000 female members, we all know that there are always bad ratios in pick up situations.
So on the free site there are 10,000 men fighting over these 5,000 girls, but in reality only 5% or lets be generous and say 10% of the girls are getting much attention. That means 10,000 guys all sending messages to the top 10% of girls.
These girls will have full in boxes in no time and so many messages that they can’t come close to replying to all of them. And that is just replying, let alone meeting, you really are going to need to stand out to get their attention.
On the paid site there are still 10,000 guys but only the guys who pay matter. They are the ones that can send out messages, the others are just dreaming. At most 5% of the guys on the site are paying members so that means you have 500 guys to message the 500 attractive girls on the site.
A 1 to 1 ratio is certainly a lot better than the 20 to 1 you deal with on paid sites. You can still meet some hot girls and get laid using free sites, but the paid sites will take much less effort and give you much better results.
There are many great international dating sites around that will help you hook up when you take trips all around the globe. Hopefully these simple tips to help you get good value when traveling were helpful to you.
