5 Tips to Keep Your Travel Budget Under Control. Besides the cheap flight tickets and accommodation there are still quite a few things you can do to keep your budget under control, especially when travelling to places with higher cost of living.

1)    Eating Out

Dining out in the local restaurants is definitely a big part of a travel experience but even a slight control over this could end up saving you hundreds of Euros. Those with the skill-set of Gordon Ramsey could look for apartments with kitchens rather than hotel rooms when booking accomodation – preparing the food yourself with the local fresh produce might turn out to be an even greater experience.

When staying in a hotel consider wandering about looking for local cafes before settling for the 20€ breakfast at the hotel or an obvious one – book a room with breakfast included.

2)    Car rental

When renting a car online the car selection itself is usually the most straightforard bit, once you’ve picked your Fiat with automatic transmission you hit the next button and here comes the list of possible insurances. Make sure you do your research based on the destination beforehand using travel forums or tourist boards. It is rather common that the rental fees themselves end up being less than the total cost of the insurance package. The worst you could do is book the car, turn up at the rental agent at the airport unprepared and have them convince you to agree to all the insurances on offer. In some cases your credit card scheme might have a cover for at least the basic insurance, some of the rental firms offer an all-inclusive fares etc. Opting to go with a dodgy rental firm is usually a recipe for a disaster – it is not that uncomming that travelers get conned into various insurances or get charged for a dent that was there all along.

3)    Picking the destination

As for the most famous tourist spots the following saying is usually true „Everything that shines ain’t necessarily gold.“ It is definitely worth it to consider the alternatives. Lets use Thailand as an example – thousands of islands out there but for some reason majority of the people end up in either Phuket or Pattaya – taking a ferry to another island might end up saving you money on food, accomodation and entertainment, not to mention getting to experience the real Thailand.

4)    Currency exchange

The best tip as for exchanging  foreign currency is to keep in mind the standard rate before leaving home just so you have a point of reference when selecting the exchange stand at the destination. Also it is highly advisable to withdraw money from an ATM in a safe location such as a shopping mall or a bank.

5)    Transportation

The transfer between an airport and a city, which is more often than not quite a way away, can also drill a hole in your budget hence it is always beneficial to research alternatives – buses, trains and such, not to mention some of the mobile apps out there that help you in finding a ride share.