For example, GPB is a strong currency at the moment (despite the betrayal that is Brexit), whereas the New Zealand currency is weak, meaning that prices will generally be available for cheaper. However, make sure you use a no-foreign-transaction-fee card to avoid extra charges. 

CHANGE THE URL 

Similar to booking with a different currency, changing the URL of an airline site (such as from .co.uk to .fr) may also help bring down the price, although don’t expect it to be by much. 

Airlines typically offer a 24-hour period where they will exchange your ticket if you have made a mistake or got the date wrong. However, it is also worth checking after booking if the price of the airfare has fallen, because if so then you can easily cancel and re-book without penalty, saving money. 

BE FLEXIBLE

If any of these points have been helpful, and now you’re going to use me to save money, let me know in the comments below!

A couple of days ago it was my friend’s 20th birthday, and so we decided to take a trip together to Paris for a few days to celebrate. The idea of Paris has never appealed to me (gasp), mainly due to the fact that I don’t like London at all, and everyone told me that Paris was basically London but with more dirt and baguettes and truffles. However, I decided to visit Paris for the first time – and the result? I fell completely and utterly in love.

Imagine, little old French ladies with perfect hair and make-up carrying teensy chihuahuas under their arms, with men that oozed sultriness and seduction, imposing and ornate buildings on every corner, guys playing accordions and xylophones on the metro, delivery boys with massive bouquets of bright blue flowers going to the cream-coloured houses with the shutters on the windows. I couldn’t fault a single thing – and even the beggars sat on their corners with little rabbits in their laps. We went into French cafes where we ate crepes, and roamed the streets where we bought quaint velvet bags and macarons, and spent the evening in restaurants where they brought out pasta and salads with grapes in and orange juice they added bottled water to (a delicacy apparently). We took photos with Mona Lisa, and saw Paris from the top (the best view was from the Centre of Pompidou – you’re welcome), and gazed at the Eiffel Tower as snow started falling around us. Reading this, you’re probably counting dollar signs in your head, working out how we could afford such a luxurious trip to one of the most famous countries in the world. The truth? It came as easy as breathing. 

A lot of the time, if you’re going away somewhere for a short trip then one of the most expensive compulsory buys are the travel to and from the country. In regards to Paris from London, most people will automatically think of taking the Eurostar, the train that runs between the two cities. However, considering you’re likely to get tickets at £90 minimum for one person one way, it can easily add up, especially if you’re not travelling solo and don’t have that sort of money for the travel alone. Ferries and driving are another mode of transport to and fro, but it’s a pretty long journey and petrol can be dear, and if you go by coach, get ready for 15 hours of not being able to move (but you can get journeys for as low as £20 if you use brands like Ouibus). And so, the cheapest and most practical way of travel, for my friend and myself anyways, was to fly. 

For this, I scoured a couple well-known budget airlines, and eventually found that EasyJet and Vueling offered the cheapest flights – £80 for one person, return. However, if we had waited a couple days more, we found that the prices had easily doubled. Lesson? If you find an incredible deal, it’ll get snapped up just as quickly as you stumbled upon it. 6 – 8 weeks is the best time to buy according to most airlines, and if you’re willing to travel from smaller airlines, like Heathrow or Stansted or your country’s equivalent, then you can easily save. Also, look out for airlines that offer loyalty schemes such as Vueling with their Punto programme, as if you spend £500 or the like on flights (easily done when you travel as much as I do) then you can get free flights and other perks – making it completely worth it. Also, you get to fly! I adore flying, and on the way back I witnessed the plane being cleaned whilst on it for the first time – suddenly there was a loud noise, a burst of Spanish, and foam started running down the windows. It was kind of awesome.

Hotels in Paris are surprisingly cheap, especially if you use the ‘sort from lowest price’ filter on Booking.com, my go-to site for booking accommodation abroad. I found several hotels for around £25 for two people per night (literally insanely cheap), right in the centre of the city. However, my friend and I settled on one place for £45 because it was right by the Oberkampf metro, fifteen minutes away from anything a tourist could ask for, with all these adorable shops and cafes right next to us. We found the hotel to be quiet and clean, even if it didn’t offer a blanket when it was -2 degrees outside. I probably wouldn’t recommend the hotel we stayed in, hence why I haven’t linked it, but that’s simply because of how misleading some photographs were. And so – always always always read the reviews on a site like Trip Advisor, in order to make sure you don’t get scammed or lose out on money or anything.

In regards to excursions, we visited the Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Centre of Pompidou, and wandered past little gardens and churches and the Seine, and everything was free. No guidebook I read explained this to me, but if you’re a student or under the age of 26, you can get entry into all these art galleries and museums for free! A lot of this doesn’t apply until after 6pm, but even so, these places may not close until around 10pm. This means that if this applies to you, you can easily save your money for other things. Otherwise, I would have spent around £30 on excursions, which isn’t bad either (considering a lot of places – like the Notre Dame – are free).

In regards to the Eiffel Tower, it is possible to go inside and look out over France from it, but after much research I realised that it simply wasn’t worth the money, and you could get much better photos of the city from other places – that actually have the staple tower in view. For this, my friend and I went to a place called the Centre of Pompidou which was filled with all these beautiful art installations and the like, and we could go to the top of the building for three if we followed the little pipes up around the building. From the top, you can get one of the most beautiful views in all of Paris, of little squares and opera houses and churches, and you can also see the Eiffel Tower in the background. For view and value, this is definitely the best place to take landscape photographs – and you can look at some Pablo Picasso whilst you’re there.

FOOD – £90

My food expenses ran to turn out to be pretty cheap considering location and quality and the sheer amount I eat – for example, on day at breakfast I had an omelette and then some crepes and two different drinks, coming to around £35 when my friend and I ordered the same. All together, I would say that I spent around £90 on food in Paris, including on those little Milka chocolates you don’t get in the UK, food at the airport, dinner out, etc. So whilst food can be pretty cheap, it can also add up pretty easily, so you definitely need to watch out for that. 

My favourite place to eat at was a little place called Cafe Ragueneau, where they brought out these steaming dishes of goodness. God, it’s making me hungry just thinking about it. And the staff were so insanely friendly, giving off the feeling that you were just being served by some old friends, with the waiter that we had joking and laughing with us. The atmosphere was that of a home, with chatter and warmth and featured decorations that added an extra feeling of comfort, and just everything fell into place to make it a wonderful place that made you feel welcome and safe whilst you ate some gorgeous French food. Honestly, I can’t recommend it enough, but I’ll sure as heck try.

Another place that I have to recommend is a little cafe called Rendez Vous Germaine, which was a small place by Cluny Sarbonne on the Metro, a small walk to the Notre Dame. We stopped there for breakfast one morning, and it was a typical French place with croissants on the side and posters in French and the woman who worked there having to consult a waiter whenever she wanted to talk to us because she didn’t speak a word of English. The food was wonderful, and it was decently priced also. All in all, it’s the sort of place that will make you feel welcome and give you it’s undivided attention when you arrive, and I fell in love.

And so, my trip to Paris wasn’t filled with filth or snails or rude people or any of these other misconceptions people told me were true, and was instead filled with food food, beautiful buildings, and so much love for a place so seeped in history, art, liberation, and absolute divine allure. The people were so helpful and friendly also, like one time we got lost and a dude showed us a map on his Mac behind the shop desk, and then whilst buying tickets at the Metro the woman at the booth next to us realised how bad we were at it (it had basically no buttons, just a little silver revolver) and did it for us. And then there were the shop keepers giving us free magnets and guys in museums telling us the stories of the paintings and ladies on the trains who pointed out French words to us. 

Honestly, the whole chill yet helpful attitude of the place and its locals was such a stark contrast to London that it made me never want to go back again – and so, ten days later, I was booked to go on a trip to Poland.

I adored my trip to Paris, and if this post has helped or inspired any of y’all, let me know below!

BUT BEFORE YOU DO – WHY NOT SHARE THE LOVE AND PIN THIS POST?

As Christmas season approaches, holiday prices skyrocket, and those of us who have an undying urge to travel and get away for the winter are left in, well, crap. For my fellow budget travellers who sacrifice luxury in order for longer, cooler trips on a regular basis, these holidays can be pretty tricky to work around. Do you not go on a sojourn to India, or do you not eat for a week? Priorities, priorities. However, with this handy little guide, you should be able to flourish away from your home country on a budget, even if only for a weekend. Happy holidays!

FLIGHTS

First things first, you need to actually be able to get to the country you want to travel to. Whilst you might automatically look up flights to get to your destination, there are many viable options for travel, such as taking a coach. Coach companies such as Megabus (who I often use to travel cross-country, primarily to Wales) offer journeys for as low as £1, with a little stop halfway through for food and drinks if the journey is long enough. Whilst it may take twice as long to arrive at your destination, you can save an abundance of dollars which you can then spend on fun excursions out, and you also get some quality you-time, which I always adore. However, if spending hours alone with yourself or a pal on a coach sounds horrible, why not travel through the night? And bam, suddenly you don’t even need a hotel.

If you are a bit more traditional in your sojourns and really really want to travel via aeroplane, I recommend the super incredible website Skyscanner, where you don’t have to do anything other than enter in some basics of what you want, and then the search engine finds the cheapest options out of like FIFTY different airlines in order to make sure you get an insane price. If you’re not too fussed about dates or even the destination, change the filter to suit and suddenly, you can fly to the centre of Paris for £18 return. It’s mad. I h-i-g-h-l-y recommend.

ACCOMMODATION

If you’re a budget traveller, the first thing people tend to recommend is always hostels. But why should you sacrifice quality for price? Why would you want to share a room with 13 other kids when you can have a luxury room with an en suite (as much as meeting random travellers with incredible stories is great)? I tend to head straight over to Booking.com to find the cheapest hotels, as if you add a few filters and aren’t particularly picky about the exact location you can get some really great deals. I once found a three night trip to Amsterdam for four people for like £45, and needless to say, everyone I knew was pretty impressed (do you blame them?). However, if you’re a bit more adventurous, going for a homestay or even just couch-surfing might be an option – with the latter you can literally stay somewhere for as long as you want for free, just so long as you’re willing to stay with complete strangers on their sofa.

EXCURSIONS

Blank those people who offer “the best deals” on the street, because I can tell you now that the prices are upped by at least 40% so that they can make a decent profit. Instead, I find that asking the woman at the hotel front desk (they’re there to help, know their stuff, and also won’t be making extra money from recommending a company they genuinely believe in) what’s best and budget always works – unless she ends up trying to plug her brother’s boat business. Also, look out for little deals like half price Fridays or free rush hour trips to museums and the like, as these can offer pretty cool experiences for little to no cost.

FOOD

Like I always say, eat where the locals eat! Scrap the place that offers food for homesick holidaymakers, and go for the one with the queue full of tanned locals, as I can bet it’d not only bet oh so much better, but it’ll also be a fair bit cheaper, too.

TRANSFERS

Ignore the transfers offered when you book your tickets abroad as again, they’re out there for the profit. Instead, sites such as Travel Supermarket and Skyscanner are pretty reliable sources for cheap transfers, along with local comparison sites suited to your destination. Also, hey, I hear bunging a £20 to a boat captain could also get you a cheap transfer (but having never done so, don’t blame me if it’s not an actual thing people do).

If you’ve listened to my advice and followed my small guide to getting the main parts of your trip at a budget price, then you should easily be able to tailor it for primarily a weekend away (tends to be cheaper than a month or whatnot for obvious reasons), but also long-haul trips. I was, ever so sadly, unable to travel abroad this month (may have been because I recently bought two holidays, with another two booked already, but hey, who knows), and so I thought that I might as well help y’all who are able to – even though I’m insanely jealous that you get to travel. Let me know what you think in the comments below,

BEFORE YOU GO – WHY NOT SHARE THE LOVE AND PIN THIS POST?

Due to the fact that I’m still only 17, and this is the first international trip I’d taken without a family member, I had a strict budget to stick to – £150. Now I knew that this budget could be pretty difficult to stick to, with hotel rooms and food out, but I managed to do so, simply by asking around and figuring out how I could save the pennies. As it turns out, it’s easy to get a 5* German experience.. if you know where to look. .

I already briefly mentioned the flights and the fact that their cheapness was the reason I went to Germany in the first place, but I didn’t mention why they were so cheap. It was because not only did I book at the prime time for flights to Dusseldorf (a little research with your chosen flight company will likely give you information on the best time to book), but I also chose one of the least reputable companies to fly with – Ryanair.

Now I’m sure you’ve all heard the horror stories about the tiny planes and added charges, but honestly, if you research beforehand you can save all that hassle. For example, I only realised after researching the company that you have to check in via the app before you fly, otherwise they will charge you extra at the gates. Also, I managed to avoid extra fees by going economy class and not buying any extra baggage allowance, because one bag was enough for me for three nights. Saying this though, it is true about the lack of legroom (sorry to my tall friends) – but for an hour’s flight, that didn’t bother me all too much.

This includes food, drink, trips out, and magnets, with the majority of the cost being taken up by lots of little things like Kinder Eggs, ice cream and waffles, because frankly, I wasn’t missing out on any German food.

Once we arrived in Dusseldorf, a friend called Emily recommended that we try a Bretzel (big German preztel), and I’m so glad that I did because it was insanely delicious. We found that food was incredibly cheap out there, like you could get a big oven-baked pizza for £3, or a big vat of pasta for even less. My favourite places, however, were the Fritten Piet, a small shop that sold sausages and fries, and Pia Eis, an ice-cream shop that we went back to everyday because 1, it was incredibly delicious, 2, it was very cheap (£1.50), and 3, the lovely blonde German lady gave me a bowl-worth of ice-cream each time. Also, the wafer cones were to die for.

The Rhine Tower, situated upon the river, was the best thing I spent money on (other than a giant marzipan rabbit at a place called Heinemann), as for £7.50 you could go up the 600ft to the top, and overlook the town. My friend and I went just as the sun was setting, and it was amazing. We had a 360 view that looked all the way out to Cologne, with music playing from the bar and the sky slowly turning pink. Also, can you see the circular glass at the top of the tower? Well that’s where I leant all the way back on the glass, feeling like I was going to fall through and dive to my death. It was both terrifying and brilliant at the same time.

As it turns out, Dusseldorf is just crammed with things to do – and all for free! Some of my favourite things were;

The marina and the Neue Zollhof and Gehry buildings are probably the most famous parts of architecture in the whole town – even my companion studied them during an art course! When walking down to the famous Rhine Tower, we happened to stumble upon them, and whilst they’re not something I would have gone out of my way to see, I still found them super cool and I’m glad that I did see them.

The third most expensive thing turned out to be travel – via coaches, trams, buses and trains, but again, I managed to save precious euros on that. As I briefly mentioned earlier, on our first night in Dusseldorf, my friend and I met two Malaysian students studying in Germany, who were super friendly and offered to take us around. They turned out to be brilliant, by advising places to eat, things to see, and of course, how to save on travel. They said that the best way to travel around is by trams, and boy were they right. They also said that as we were travelling as a pair, we could get a paired ticket rather than a bunch of singles, saving us euros every time we travelled.

However, the morning we left we had to get a coach, which was £15 each (the same as a single flight) and very irritating, as it was slower than a tram would be, and yet our only form of transportation to the airport. Because of this, I would recommend trains and trams as a main form of travel, and you can save even on those if you’re part of a group, or a student, or anything of the like.

Also, bear in mind that a percentage of this cost was spent on my companion who conveniently forgot their wallet at times when we were getting the more expensive methods of travel.

Some of the most famous parts of Dusseldorf are in this shot – the Rhine River, Rhine Tower, Neue Zollhof and the Gehry buildings

The view from the Rhine Tower, which was beautiful, was also pretty damn scary if you leant all the way across the glass

Walking down the Promenade was one of my favourite things to do