Adventures..on a budget.

I love to travel. Nuff said.

Ever since I was a teenager I have flown off to various exciting and new places.

I do not do holidays however. I like to explore. New cultures, beautiful places, create fun memories. For me, lying on a beach all day with a book if just not fun. But I totally appreciate the majority like this sort of thing.

You see, I have itchy feet.

We now have built up the tradition of not just going to one destination. We see what's next to our destination and go there too. Two for the price of one, no?

A lot of people say its all well and good travelling, if you have the money. But we aren't rich. We just use my good old bargain-hunting tricks to spend as little money as possible.

Tip number 1;
 Don't be scared to book cheap accomodation.

Now we have the Liz-meister we have to be more careful about where we stay and where we go. But in the old days I would just look at reviews on trip advisor. You cannot believe all the negative reviews however; some people are just never happy. So you have to take them with a pinch of salt. The majority of the time, we have stayed in lovely, clean and spacious hostels and self-catering apartments. And paid next to nothing for them. As long as you aren't expecting 5 star luxury, and are realistic about what you paid for, you will be good.

However, that is not to say that over the years we have not read accurate reviews and stayed in pretty
 dingy places. I illustrate;

But we look back on those times and laugh. We could laugh because we only stayed there one night.

But as I say, most places have been fantastic value for money. Which leaves more money for exploring!!

Tip number 2; 
Use discounted websites such as lastminute.com and try and book your flights and accomodation together. This tip works best for international flights. We managed to get return flights to Orlando plus accomodation for 2 weeks for all the family for £1000. This may however mean you have indirect flights and waiting.

Oh, the fun!

Have I sold it to you yet???

Tip number 3;
Find a supermarket!! You will be surprised at the kinds of places you can find a supermarket. We found them in the centre of Venice, Rome, Iceland etc. The prices the locals expect you to pay for things like drinks and ice cream are ridiculous. 4 euros for a drink? Get on your bike! We just pop to the local supermarket with the locals and buy a huge carton of apple juice for 1 euro. Or a tub of ice cream for 1.50 euros.

Good times!

Tip number 4;


Go off the beaten path.

Often the touristy places and attractions are the most expensive. But sometimes the free experiences are the most fun.

This was cave/lagoon thing we found in Jamaica totally by accident one evening. There was no-one else around and we just had the most amazing time watching the sunset. And discovering some strange sealife creatures!

Dressing up coconuts anyone?

Cliff-diving?

Some touristy things are also free, and most travel desinations have websites with free things to do. For example, the Staten Island Ferry in New York. Scary puppet thingy not included.

So, that concludes my travel tips. Anyone else have any things they do on holiday to save money?

Happy holidays!