| 10 More Tips For Traveling On The Cheap And Saving Money |
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 1) Can you rely on the ATM?Don’t make the mistake of just expecting your money to be accessible and easy to get at through an ATM at your destination. Before you leave on your trip, check out this site: http://www.google.com/search?q=atm+locator and it will give you most of the skinny on each country’s ATM machines. Even then though, it’s good to look at a guide book or chat to someone in the know about how easy it is to get money at your destination. If you get there and then realize you’re in trouble it can cost you a fortune in fee’s and commissions to finally get access to your cash stash.
Here’s a small hint: try out an ATM at the airport when you arrive in a new country. That’s an easy way to see how it works (and gives you a heads up in case you need to make other arrangements). Here’s an example. In Japan (at least as this is being written), most machines won’t accept the Cirrus Maestro card. Without a little diligence, you might not have found that out until you were standing in the middle of the Ginza trying to buy some sushi.
Also be aware of the charges that you’ll get for getting cash out overseas. Its best to get a lot out at once because you’ll get hit with this fee every time you use the ATM (usually your credit card will charge a variable fee (an extra 1% seems to be pretty standard) which can still be ok when you factor in the convenience factor, the safety factor (of not carrying around huge wads of cash) and the extra frequent flyer miles you earn)
2) Speaking of credits cards…
… They can be a traveler’s best friend, especially if you’re visiting places with currencies other than your own. Most credit card companies will actually hold payment for a short time, waiting for the exchange rate to hit the lowest possible point. This could save you a great deal of money. They are, if protected, safer than carrying cash and often more accepted. They can get you out of all sorts of jams when you run out of cash or need to pay for things like hotels or big purchases.
3) Use senior citizen discounts
Hey, no one said this guide is just for the under 50 set. And you’re only as young as you feel! But there are a great many discounts for the more mature. There are actually Senior Hostels, designed to cater to older travelers, and virtually every airline in the world (and every hotel, every bus company…) offers a Senior Citizen Discount, or whatever you want to call it. In our mind, if someone is willing to put up with all you have to do in order to travel on the cheap, he or she is not a senior citizen. He or she is a badass traveler. But that would look funny on the card. If you’ve got the years, take advantage of them.
4) 100 things to do before you die
Some of the most jaw dropping, enchanting and enthralling travel experiences that you can have while traveling are the annual festivals and ceremonies of the world. There’s the running of the bulls in Spain, Carnival in Rio, The love parade in Germany, The New Orleans jazz festival, the world Cockroach racing championships in Australia, The illuminating of the pyramids in Egypt, and so much more. They are incredible experiences if you can get there but the problem is they are kind of hard to find. Especially the not so well known
ones.
Get your hands on this great little guide book to adventure called ‘100 things to do before you die’. It lists the worlds’ festivals for you all in one place with all details of costs, dates and other useful information (like whether you’ll have to book accommodation in the place 5 months before hand to get anything) and you’ll be able to browse through all of the worlds festivals with full details about each one. Yeeeehah!
Another interesting one that we like is ‘1000 Places to See Before You Die’. This one is packed with recommendations of the world’s best places to visit, on and off the beaten path. It has great write ups on the worlds’ best beaches, museums, monuments, islands, inns, restaurants, mountains, and more.
5) Knee defenders
Here’s something that will be a blessing to anyone who is slightly taller than average or anyone who just likes to eat a meal or have a beverage without having it slammed back towards you. We are very aware that some of you taller folk are putting out extra money for a business class seat just because you need the extra leg room Well this can help you get back to the economy fares in no time – and at very little cost.
It’s a little controversial –but highly effective…
Go to www.kneedefender.com and you’ll find information about a simple little device that clips on to part of your ‘in flight’seat to give you the extra legroom you require. We have tried it and it works. This will make sure you don’t have to worry about the little tyke in the seat in front of you playing with the reline button.
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