Here, do what I say, not what I do.  It’s very important, vitally important, to your long-term travel schemes that you learn to do post-trip math.  Basically it’s easy, just take a plastic zipper envelope with you when you travel and always ask for receipts.  Stick them in the envelope and keep them for later.  Once you get into the habit, this is the easy part- if they can’t give you a receipt, just write a note of the total and what it was for.  Also make sure that you write on the receipt what it was for if it doesn’t automatically print.

Once you get home is the hard part.  Pull out your computer and open Microsoft Excel or a new Google Spreadsheet.  Input all your receipts with the amount, the date, and the category.  Make the categories broad, things like sightseeing, food, lodging, shopping, etc.  Once you’ve done this, you can create a total for each category and each day. 

It’s painful.  I know.  Especially if you’re like me and constantly go over-budget by a bit while traveling.  But it’s vitally important.  Once you’ve got this post-trip math down you can figure out where you over spent, what was worth it and not worth it, and how much your initial budget was off.  Then you can prepare better next time.  Once you’ve paid back the credit cards that is…

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Ok, so you’re traveling.  Congratulations!  Now what do you do?  You know you want to see the ruins of Bath, the town of Shakespeare’s Birth and the Loch Ness monster, but how to make it happen?  Do you strike out on your own or take a local tour company’s trip?  How can you get the most bang for your buck? 

I’ve had many different experiences with taking local tours but most have been very positive.  If you’re naturally independent, it can be fun to try and find your way around alone, but mostly it can end up being frustrating if you’re on any type of a tight schedule.  If you’ve got any sorts of time restrictions, I have found that choosing the right local tours can help you see the things you want while allowing you to still travel independently. 

Of course, the trick comes in choosing your own local tour company.  When you’re in Los Angeles, there are thousands of street hawkers offering tours of the ‘Star’s Homes.’  Which one to choose?  I always look for the following:  Inclusion of admission to the site in your tour price.  Knowledgeable and interesting guide.  Reputation (look for fliers with listings of their tours in other cities) and stability as a company.  Good transportation (find a fun-looking bus, but be wary of the boat-looking busses!).

If your tour company includes the admission fees to sites and the transportation fees it is frequently less expensive to use a local tour than to arrange transportation and entrance fees yourself.  They can include both because they buy admission in bulk from locations for their customers so they get a discount (not that they’ll tell you this) and therefore they’re still making money.  Plus, if you get a good guide you can get some free sight seeing and information in that you wouldn’t have gotten in otherwise.

Also, there are several sites that you can check out before you go for great reviews on tour companies.  Kango.com has a whole ‘what to do’ section that is immensely helpful.  Viator.com will actually book your tours ahead of time for you.  Lonely Planet.com has reviews from other travelers.   

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Ok, so flights are one of the biggest parts of any travel budget.  It doesn’t matter how much you can skimp on your room and board if you can’t get to where you’re going in the first place.  So here is how I get cheap airfare when I need (read: WANT!) to go abroad:

10. Shop around. Use the internet, call travel agents and call airlines themselves to check prices.  Frequently one might have access to a better fair than another.

9.  Flex your days. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are the cheaper days to fly anywhere because business travelers and weekenders aren’t flying them.  All airlines and travel agents can check these dates for you and now many search engines can as well.

8.  Fly location specific airlines.  Air Lingus frequently has the cheapest flights to Ireland, but not to Saskatchewan.  Which makes sense. 

7.  If you’re flying within a country or region find out what airline the locals fly.  Many times these airlines don’t list their flights anywhere but their own websites, for instance if you’re flying in the western part of the United States, Southwest Airlines is a very cheap way to fly but you’d never know that they existed checking Travelocity or other airlines. More »