Whether it’s a national or international trip, whatever your destination, when you follow these tips, you can enjoy much more and organize yourself financially to travel many more times.
Follow these tips if you want to travel more and make the most of your time and money when traveling:
1. Cut overspending
The first tip I give you is for you to cut all overspending from your budget. Make a list, spreadsheet, or board in Trello. Whichever way you feel most comfortable organizing yourself, put all your monthly expenses on this list: water bill, electricity bill, telephone bill, credit card, ifood snacks, internet shopping, clothes, streaming service subscription plans … Check everything!
Then, see if you really need and enjoy everything you’re buying. Is it no longer worth changing your credit card provider so you don’t have to pay the annuity? How about choosing just one day of the month to order food on food apps like ifood, rappi and uber eats? Cut shopping on the internet (which we know you don’t need most things!) and cut back on clothes shopping during travel planning.
Another important thing to point out: do you REALLY watch all the streaming services you pay for? And if the answer is yes: why are you still paying for cable TV? Rethink these expenses and see what your priorities are. Whatever is not important to you, cut the budget.
ATTENTION: It’s not to cut these expenses and invent new ones, huh? Put it in an investment or even in savings, but leave that money that you would spend monthly elsewhere to save and set up your dream trip!
2. Plan ahead
There is a spectacular advantage to making plans in advance and I’ll explain the reasons for them now.
When we plan in advance, we have time to put together an efficient itinerary (but we’ll talk about that later), get to know the best tourist spots in the place and also research some tours little known by tourists… But mainly, we have time to find the best prices and various offers on tours, tickets, tickets and much more.
If you have time to plan, you can get to know the climate, tours and details of the place you are going to travel much better. Your plans are much more accurate. Imagine if you choose a destination a few weeks in advance and it turns out not to be a place that suits you and your family? That’s why it’s so important to know where you’re going! The more time and information you have, the better! Otherwise it’s money thrown away.
For domestic trips, planning 6 months in advance is sufficient, while for international trips, the ideal is to plan 1 year in advance. You can be sure that these tips will help you travel much more!
Another thing I do when I start thinking about a destination (and I have enough time to look for it) is to follow several pages on Instagram about the place I want to go! I like to follow the tips, send questions directly to bloggers and save several posts to find cool places to visit.
3. Pack smart
This tip is extremely important and complementary to the previous topic. Knowing the destination, we know the climate, if it rains, if it is cold, hot, etc.
Organize your suitcase well and keep in mind the activities you are going to do there. Separate the correct amount of clothes, assemble the outfits before leaving home and optimize your combinations. A pair of pants can match 3 to 4 blouses, the same for shorts, Bermuda shorts, etc. If you bring dresses, make sure they match with coats, blouses underneath, turn the dress into a skirt, etc.
Also, choose comfortable shoes and avoid wearing high-heeled shoes, because generally heels will only be worn for one or two days of your trip. Take shoes that match different outfits. Remember to also bring personal hygiene items.
Remembering that if you are going to take a plane trip, you need to be aware of the dimensions and weight of the luggage. Of course, the ideal is always to use the bag you already have to save money, but if you don’t have any or are thinking of investing in a new one, the best thing is the bag with a password and preferably rigid.
4. Have a spreadsheet and organize your budget very well
Having a spreadsheet helps you visualize your money and direct where each point of your budget goes. Because if you, for example, saved 5,000 reais for a trip, but you didn’t organize your money, it may confuse your budget or make you spend too much on food and end up not having enough money for shopping or tours.
With the spreadsheet you know exactly how much to spend on each topic of your script and don’t get lost. In addition, this way you can rearrange the budget and define your priorities in the best way according to the roadmap. That way you might even be able to save for your next trip!
5. Assemble your script
My favorite tip, I confess! Search travel blogs, look at destination tips, organize what to do each day and have a well-organized compilation of activities and attractions to do!
The biggest advantage of all, in my opinion, is that when we put together an itinerary, we usually organize activities according to the time spent in each of the attractions, so it’s easy to optimize time and manage to fit more things to do or include all those programs that you researched in advance and really wanted to do.