5 Top Tips to Travel Cheap

A how-to guide on getting the most "bang for your buck"

One of the best parts of exchange is the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time travelling. Unfortunately, this is often the most expensive part of exchange. There are a few tips and tricks that can greatly decrease the price of a trip that I wish I had known before I went on exchange.

Tip #1 - Skyscanner

This is literally the best website EVER!! Skyscanner is a highly reliable website for booking and comparing cheap flights from all major airlines and online travel agents and finding the best airline tickets to your favourite destinations.

EXPERT TIP: If you use the desktop version of Skyscanner, you can search by cheapest flight from any destination. So you can easily find the cheapest weekend getaway from the airport closest to you!

Tip #2 - Hostelworld

Hotels and Airbnbs can be expensive; if you opt to stay in a hostel, I highly recommend booking using the Hostelworld website. Hostelworld allows you to select any location and find exactly the type of hostel you are looking for. Its advanced search options allow you to filter hostels by price range, distance from the city centre, room types, gender allowance, and more. Hostelworld also has an extensive review section going back decades, so you can be sure you have full transparency about the hostel before booking.

Tip #3 - Bring your student card everywhere

Tons of museums and sights have discounts available if you can prove that you are a student. Before you pay to go somewhere, do a quick google search and see if you can get a cheaper rate!

Tip #4 - ESim

Having to get a new sim card and phone number while on exchange is such a hassle. But using the app Airalo you can download an esim card which allows you to keep using your current phone number while abroad. Also, this plan works across all of Europe, so you never need to worry that you’ll arrive in a country and your phone won’t work!

EXPERT TIP: I bought the plan of 100gb of data for $100, and this was the perfect amount to have for four months. You’ll want to have a lot of data because you never want to be lost somewhere and not have access to google maps!

Tip #5 - Get extra Ryanair bags for free

Ryanair is super stingy about extra bags on their flights, and often adding even just a carry-on bag will cost more than the flight itself. Over my exchange, I have perfected how to bring more stuff without having to pay for it. In addition to my backpack, I always filled a pillowcase with soft items like clothes because everyone is allowed a pillow on a flight, and if the pillowcase is filled with something soft, no one will question you as you board the flight. I often doubled the number of clothes I brought using this trick!

International Exchange is without-a-doubt expensive

These tips can push your weekend-travel budget a little bit further!