Beyond the investment of a plane ticket, accommodations can be overwhelming in terms of finances! Prices of hotels, guesthouses, B&B's (etc.) certainly vary in cost worldwide, however regardless of where you are going, the cost can significantly add up!
Today I wanted to share with you a few tips Kevin and I have utilized to pinch our pennies and maximize our trips when it comes to affording lodging! Here we go…
1. Stay with friends/family members!!
Some of our best memories (and cheapest trips!) have come when we have stayed with friends and family abroad. Not only will your hosts be the absolute best guides around the city (as they are locals!), but you will also see, taste and experience things from an insider perspective (instead of just a tourist!). Most likely they will take you off the beaten path to experience the "real" culture. But the absolute best thing about staying with friends/family is their genuine hospitality and friendship. I can remember last winter when my sister and I visited our cousins who live in Germany. Each night when we got back from site seeing, they would brew a pot of tea, and we would sit in the living room all cozied up, with the music playing, just talking and laughing and playing cards.
Many of my dad's relatives live in Sweden, and so we've been back multiple times! I'm always amazed at the experiences we've been able to gain staying with our family. From milking cows on their dairy farm, participating in a real "crawfish dinner", seeing glass blowers at work, and exploring castles first hand, they are far and away the best tour guides!
Now, you may be thinking "I have ZERO friends and family abroad". I get that.
But...it's never too late to make new friends!!When I taught English in Thailand, I met my Belgian friend Peter on a ferry out to an island. We hit it off as fast friends and have stayed in touch over the years! When Kevin and I were in Antwerp, we stayed with Peter and he showed us the most incredible local restaurants and history of the city!
Blogging is a great environment to connect with new friends all across the globe! Say hi to some new friends in far away places, and begin the start of a new relationship!!
If you are part of a church, check to see if there are missionaries living anywhere around where you are going. Back in the day, when my parents lugged us 4 kids to Italy, we met up and stayed with some fantastic Italian missionaries! It was mutually encouraging to share stories and have fellowship with on another!!
2. Agoda.com
Far and away our favorite booking site for lodging is called
agoda.com. On entering their site, you write your destination into their search bar. Then, in seconds, they will generate a comprehensive list of choices. What we love about Agoda is that every piece of information you need shows up, and you can easily compare hotels to one another. You will see the price, the reviews (which come in super handy!), and where it's located in the city. If you want to be in a specific part of a city, you can choose districts on the left hand side! We used Agoda to book our ENTIRE South East Asia trip, and every place we stayed in was absolutely fantastic!! Plus, sometimes you even get better deals on Agoda than if you were to book from the Hotel's actual website!
3. Air BnB
If you are traveling with an entourage (or just your family!), this is the place to look.
Air BnB showcases open apartments/houses that you can rent. Often times these are people's actual homes, and they open them up to visitors when they are gone on vacation. For instance, this last summer, my mom found a steal of a deal in the quaint town of Delft, in the Netherlands. We are a party of 7 (my mom, dad, 2 sisters, brother and Kev and I!), so finding hotel accommodations for 7 of us for 6 nights could have skyrocketed our bills out the roof! Instead, my mom contacted this sweet Dutch family who had put their apartment up for rent, while they vacationed in Portugal. So, for 6 nights, our entire family stayed in downtown Deflt in the most adorable 400 year old 4-story home. It was INCREDIBLE. There was a huge kitchen and long wooden table we congregated around every day! And to top it off, it was only $100 a night (for all 7 of us!!! what?!?!?). Overall, this site is awesome.
4. Rick Steves
Have you met Rick yet? If not, let me introduce you!
Rick Steves is the ultimate travel tour guide! If you happen to be going to Europe, he's your man!! Buy his book to the country you are traveling to and you will thank me:) What I think sets Rick apart from all other travel books is his ability to sift through what you MUST see verses what you could see. Basically, he builds the best itineraries around, telling you to go to places that are worth your time and money. And for our purposes today, Rick locates some pretty fantastic gems in the area of accommodations. This past year when my family was in France, my mom used Rick's suggestions to book accommodations at a 300 year old farm house along the D-day beaches. What made this stay so unique was that you couldn't book it through a website. Rick had personally gone and visited this farmhouse, and then had put the phone number for the house in his book. My mom literally had to call France to book this place!!! But not only was our stay incredibly historical and outright idyllic, it saved my family bunches of cash compared to staying in the more well known venues in the city. (And not to nerd-out on you, but before we travel, Kevin and I always you-tube Rick Steve's videos about the destination where we are going! Get's us in the spirit!!)
5. Hostels
If you are a student, or someone on an incredibly tight budget, hostels are for you. Hostels are essentially like dormitories where the prices stay generally low. Some hostels are really nice where you could even find yourself with your own bathroom, but for the most part you are packed in on bunk beds, and share a corporate bathroom. My sophomore year of college I studied abroad in Italy. After my term was over, a few friends flew over and together we traveled through 7 different countries in Europe. I think 90% of the places we stayed were hostels! And it was loads of fun! You get to meet people from other countries, and just saturate yourself in such an international vibe! Often times you can get a student discount, or sign up for a hostel card on sites like hosteling international (to become a member, see
here).
6. Couch Surfing
While there is such a hype around couch surfing, I must admit i've never tried it!! Have you? You can check out the
Couch Surfing website, make a profile, and then start looking to crash the couch/guest bed of someone in your destination country. My friend Peter from Belgium, who I mentioned above, is an avid couch surfing host, opening his home almost weekly to people coming to Antwerp. He told us he has met so many amazing people this way. He actually met his significant other through couch surfing!! While aspects of couch surfing seem a bit sketch to me, I've had friends swear by it, meeting great chums in the process! You can be the judge of this…but the bottom line is that it's a free place to stay!
And it can't get any cheaper than that, folks!
7. Google
Okay, okay, this may seem like a cop-out, but it's not, I swear! If you are looking for somewhere off the beaten track, then google it! This past year my brother, who is into brewing beer, found a Trappist monastery called Orval Monastery, in the middle-of-no-where in Belgium. So he contacted the monastery, asking if they had accommodations, and it turns out they had a little chalet they rented out for spiritual retreats. And so, our entire family stayed in a chalet that was attached to Orval Monastery. Friends, it was unreal. Monk lived there…real monks! robes, chanting, bee keeping…the whole nine yards! It was like stepping back into the medieval era, and observing a very simple, quiet and humble lifestyle. It turned out to be a few beautiful days for us as a family, as we attended chapel, did our devotions on the lawn, and walked through the orchards at night after dinner. It was a sliver of heaven, smashed into a family vacation:) And, an added bonus was that it was dirt cheap. And if you know anything about Europe, you know that Europe and dirt-cheap don't belong in the same sentence!!
A few thoughts on accommodations:
1) If you want cheap cheap cheap accommodations, go to SE Asia. I'm not kidding when I say that 5
nights worth of lodging in Thailand costs the same as 1 night in Paris. You can book the most
gorgeous resorts, be pampered and spoiled, and it will still cost less than a basic room in France!
Don't let this stop you from going to Europe (goodness knows there's a reason it's expensive!), but
just keep your expectations real!
2) If you don't plan on staying in your room much (which you shouldn't!!), then choose the basic room
over the one with more amenities. However, if you are traveling to a freezing cold place and plan to
spend ample time in your room, just make sure it has a heater!! (That's my motto!!)
3) Location, location, location! Sometimes it's worth a few extra bucks to stay in a more central
location. For instance, this past summer in Paris, Kev and I could have saved $10-15 if we stayed
further out of the city. However, then we would be paying to buy a metro ticket into town, and it
would probably be a wash, plus the hassle of the time in traveling around. Sometimes, staying
centrally saves you money because you can walk everywhere! Other times, you'll save a TON of
money by staying on the outskirts of town! This is a good option if you have a rental car, and
transportation is not an issue. For instance, when my family went to visit the island of Mt. St. Michel
in Northern France, my mom booked the most impersonal and creepy hotel (it was called HotelF1
for crying out loud! how French is that?!?!?!…and actually became a lovely family joke that my
mother will never live down!) but in her defense, it saved us from staying in the overpriced town of
Mt. St. Michel, and it was no big deal to take our rental car 5-10 minutes into town each day!
4) Sleep in your rental car! No joke…my thrifty parents parked our Italian rental van in a soccer
field one night in Pisa, and told us to fall asleep there. I was quite mortified at the time (like legit
angry!), but now I see it was an excellent plan to save them hundreds of dollars! I literally woke up
with one of my legs out the window…
classy americans, right there!
5) Don't wait till the last minute to book. You may want to seem more "spontaneous" and
"adventurous" but if you'd rather be labeled "bargain backpacker" then book in advance! Especially
during peak travel season when most of the great deals get snatched up fast! It's also a good idea to
book ahead if you are traveling to an area where a major sporting event is taking place…world cup,
Super Bowl, art festivals, Oktoberfest, etc!! One summer in Munich, my friends and I didn't realize
the European Cup was going on, and we were reduced to sleeping in a tent. Not cool! So think about
these things when booking!!
6) Accommodations don't always mean "on land"! Cruises are amazing options, and sometimes can
score you the best deals! Sign up for the Travelzoo deals of the week! We just returned from a 3 day
cruise in Halong Bay, Vietnam {
here}. It was beyond fantastic!!
7) Choose lodging that supports a good cause! Just recently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we stayed at
The White Linen Guest House, which employs women rescued out of sex-trafficking. To see more
of our experience staying at a socially conscious hotel, see
here.
8) If you stay in someone's home (friend, family, or apartment from Air BnB) it's always lovely to bring
a gift. The best gifts are local products made from your home town! My dad is a rice farmer, so many
times we bring his local rice products, or even local honey, almonds, or other produce from our
hometown to give as a thank-you!! And of course, pack thank-you notes in your suitcase, just in
case:) Be a good ambassador to your country:)
Welp, I think that's all I can muster for tonight! If I missed anything…let me know!!
Happy Tuesday friends:)
love Katie
ps- To read the first 4 installments of my travel series:
Part 1- Prioritize your spending
Part 2- Travel Credit Cards
Part 3- Food
Part 4- Teach Abroad
