How To Travel Like A Wanderlust Backpacker With Greater Savings

Start brainstorming for your next destination:

1. When: Make a decision on the maximum days you can be away from your work or school for this trip, even though the traveling dates might be slightly changed in order to get the cheapest flight available.

2. Where: Figure out which country you have always wanted to go or if you have a list of places for your growing wanderlust, link the neighbouring ones on a map and finalize them sensibly. You can save more by traveling to a list of countries in one go than visiting on several trips later.

3. Flight: To kick-start your flight tickets research, use fare comparison websites to do your preliminary search such as SkyScanner or Fare Compare. Look out for special promotions on the budget airlines’ websites or Facebook fan pages, where you could save significant amount of money to book much earlier. Always choose to buy flight tickets at least 1 month before your departure date for greater savings and avoid taking flights during weekends and peak hours as they are substantially more expensive.

4. Accommodation: Either if you are travelling alone or with a group of friends, staying in a backpacker hostel is not as terrifying as you think. Hostel World will be a good website to start with. For a better overall staying experience, choose only the ones that have ratings as high as 80 and do adequate research on the location using Google Maps. If it is near to your planned visiting spots with a location rating as high as 85, you’ll save on local transportation costs and be able to just walk and see more along the way.

   If you are not comfortable with sharing a room filled with bunked beds, you can try Booking.com to find a wide range of options including cheap hotels. The other option is to stay in the home of a local person, this can be done by searching on Couch Surfing or Air Bnb. Always read the reviews of the host’s profile and select the hotel or hostel carefully and see  if it is widely acknowledged for its good ambience and services.

5. Itinerary: Your trip will be much more rewarding if you give yourself some flexibility. You can start exploring your destinations using Viator or Trover to summarize the must-see places. If you’re a food lover, explore and dine out using Four Square to get the best tips and avoid from being scammed. Good preparation will give you more time to cover places at ease and you will always get to know more when you arrive by talking to the locals.

6. Local transportation: Mingle with the locals by using trains and buses during your trip. Alternatively, cycling or walking will get you close to feeling the vibes of the foreign cultures. Take some street photos spontaneously, plan your route cost effectively and walk with your most comfortable pair of sports shoes.

Traveling Tips:

1. As a backpacker try not to check in any luggage. You should consider buying a 50L Deuter backpack or a Quechua backpack for a cheaper option. It’s much cheaper to get these online than from the local retail shops. Be sure to check the dimensions of the approved size from your flight’s hand carry luggage policy.

2. Check the weather forecast so you can plan ahead but do remember to bring an umbrella with you since these can be more expensive to buy when it’s raining.

3. Get the schedule of the local shuttle bus or train from the airport so you can save money from getting a cab to get to your hostel.

4. Share your stories with other backpackers you met. Things that you will remember for a long time are not just the beautiful sceneries but the people who you met along the trip.

5. Keep your money safe with you at all times.

How much would it cost you for a 10 days trip to South Korea (Busan, Jeju, Seoul):

The costs above do not include additional budgeting for food, public transportation and other travelling expenses because these costs vary widely for each person. However, you can expect to spend no more than RM3,000 in Busan, Jeju and Seoul for 10 days if you travel like a backpacker based on our suggestions.

Conclusion

By using the same ideology, you can travel to Bangkok for 7 days for less than RM1,000 or Europe (Spain, Denmark, Germany, Hungary & Italy) for a month can often cost no more than RM8,000. We have tried these ourselves, so why pay more with your hard earned money if you can travel on a budget as a backpacker? After all, the more you can save on each trip, the more trips you can take in future!