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In most cases, cutting costs is related to a lack of convenience. For example, it costs money to drive to your local supermarket to do your grocery shopping each week.
If you were to have your weekly grocery shop delivered, you would pay a charge for the convenience
. If you had time to walk there and back, it might take twenty minutes each way, but you’d have saved fuel costs and paid for it with time and effort instead.
For this reason, convenience is often considered an added expense, especially when traveling around the world.
Some hotels may allow early check-in to a hotel room, for example, reducing your wait time in the morning but charging you a fee for the privilege as their cleaners prioritize preparing your room.
This begs the question, are there win-win outcomes to find here? Could it be that cost-cutting can provide us with the convenience we want, especially as travel is considered one of the most expensive pastimes we could engage in?
In this post, we’ll discuss where we think a few of these outcomes could lie.
Luggage Storage
Luggage storage can give you the flexibility to head from place to place without necessarily booking conventional hotel rooms or needing to wait around for your room to be ready before you store your items.
You can also arrange for storage to meet you in distinct travel areas, such as luggage storage Paddington Station. This allows you to book a trip out without needing any long-form accommodations at all.
This can inspire you to travel further, head out into new and novel areas for longer, and to spend less on accommodations that you might not have needed.
Of course, ensuring your property is taken care of will be its own form of good planning and cost-saving. Replacing essential items lost to theft is never a worthy alternative to good planning.
All-Inclusive Trips
All-inclusive trips might seem more expensive to begin with, and that’s true if you choose trips like cruises that head to several countries along a coast.
But the truth is that full package holidays or vacations have often been designed to cost-cut the price all the constituent elements would require otherwise. They are designed to help you save money.
You may be surprised just how many worthwhile all-inclusive trips are out there. From food tours to cultural explorations to getaways to the countryside, finding something you might love is easy.
Moreover, convenience comes from having all of the pre-requisite plans taken care of, like what you’ll be doing on each day, and having vital necessities, like catering, already paid for.
Some people consider all-inclusive getaways to be beneath them as if this wasn’t the “true way” to explore. But, there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy the benefits they’ve been designed for and all of the extra energy you get from letting someone else make those plans.
This type of added convenience shouldn’t cost you more either!
Pet & House Sitting While You Are Away
There’s no shame in asking a friend or relative to help you make your travels cheaper and more convenient.
Asking a neighbor to come over and water your planets can be a good place to start. If you feel like saving money on placing your cat in an unfamiliar temporary shelter, then you might give them the comfort of home while welcoming a trusted friend to take care of them.
You might even let them stay in your house, which can help it look lived-in while you’re away. If they park in your driveway, that can potentially deter thieves. Pet and house sitting allows you to avoid having to pay other people.
Cheap & Delicious Dining
Most people know that you don’t have to eat in the best restaurants in the world to enjoy a beautiful and tasty meal.
That’s also true when you’re traveling. You’d be surprised how a cheap deli, a street food place, and a local Ma & Pa-run restaurant with big portions and a lot of love can fill you up.
The secret? You just have to ask where the locals like eating. They’ll know how to avoid the biggest tourist spots and instead focus on the smaller, more authentic areas worth your time.
Cheap and delicious dining requires a little planning and care to stay away from the overpriced menus. But, with a little planning, you’re sure to find the less touristy areas that taste the best.
But how does this improve convenience? Well, when you’re able to grab a bite to eat cheaply, use travel discount codes on food delivery apps, and pre-plan the best places to eat, then you don’t have to worry.
You might also find that your hotel has a good included breakfast for a reasonable price. Or you could go fully self-catered and bring along a few ready meals and snacks from home to tide you over before you go out to eat.
DIY Accommodations
Camping and caravaning can be excellent methods of saving money on your trips. A plot on a campsite can be up to ten times less expensive than a hotel room. But how does this provide you convenience?
When you go camping, you prepare for it. You have a cooler full of refreshments, clothes for all weather conditions and outdoor gear to cook with. You even have your tents and other accommodations like airbeds and blankets.
This means that one campsite plot is relatively similar to the next, provided you know where the nice businesses are.
That allows you to drive from place to place, to visit different towns, villages, and cities, to head to the coast if you want. It also means you can alternate your trip halfway through.
In other words, it’s lovely to get out there and enjoy DIY accommodations. You may be surprised just how worthwhile this approach can be. It will help you save money but also be a fun experience.
Last-Minute Travel
Last-minute travel deals might not seem that convenient. After all, convenience is about enjoying events on your terms, not having to dance to the tune of another or be rushed.
That said, a last minute deal can sometimes help give you the outline of your vacation anyway, so you don’t have to worry about planning. You just go with what looks good and is cheap.
This way, you might be able to enjoy cheaper hotel rooms, theatre tickets, landmark access, and many other benefits.
If you have time you can spend in advance, like a week free, or can do a weekend getaway, or perhaps you’re in retirement then this will work. Last minute deals may provide so much in savings, that you can actually spend more on what you do during your trip.
You can make the most of your flexibility and find the kind of win-win we’re looking for.
Conclusion
To conclude, we’re willing to bet that you know how to identify savings.
But identifying and accepting convenience, well, that falls on your shoulders. Depending on your lifestyle, the people you vacation with, and the kind of trips you like, one convenience may sound great but another might not.
For this reason, it’s okay if you only find use in one of these tips, or perhaps even all of them.
It’s also fine if your idea of convenience changes over time – for instance, you might just hope to vacation to your local coast this year instead of going to a brand new country.
With a little care and consideration, you can have a budget-friendly vacation that is still amazing. We wish you the best of luck on your travels.
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