Traveling inexpensively involves using your imagination. Here are five ways you can travel cheaply which you might not have thought about:
Hiring a car
Hiring a car is likely to be prohibitively expensive if you are traveling alone, or in a pair, but if there are three, four or five of you to share the cost it can work out much cheaper than public transport, ie as little as £50 per week off-season in Spain or Portugal.
Buying a car
This may be a possibility worth thinking about if you are planning a longer trip and know a little about cars. If you buy something old and cheap there is every chance you will be able to resell it for almost as much a few weeks later. If you do this be sure to take out motor insurance as well as ordinary travel insurance as often this does not cover you for medical treatment if you suffer an accident whilst driving or traveling in a motor vehicle.
Working as an air courier
This is ideal for backpackers as you are allowed to take cabin baggage (a medium-sized backpack will fit the cabin baggage limits of most airlines) but not hold luggage. If you are interested in this contact one of the many courier companies for details. Contrary to what you might have heard air courier travel is rarely free. You usually have to pay something on most routes. (In some cases this may not be much less than a discount ticket.) Also, if you are traveling in a group it can be difficult to get three or four courier tickets on the same flight.
Sharing expenses
If you are starting your trip with a fairly long journey then it can be worth placing an advertisement in your local paper, stating your destination, and offering to share expenses with a car or lorry driver who is going the same way. This could lead to a door-to-door trip at a considerable saving.
Using package holidays
Always investigate the cost of an air, rail or coach package holiday to your chosen destination before a travel-only ticket. You might find that it is actually cheaper to buy an inclusive package tour than just a flight since these holidays make use of group booking rates. For example, there are off-peak deals to Spain or Greece for £99 most years and you get a week’s accommodation too. Take a look at the hotels in Chania Crete. There is nothing to say you have to use the accommodation or the return transport.
