While we all love and want to travel, it’s no secret that in this day and age, we are all more consciously aware of our carbon footprint and it can be a expensive for us and costly for the planet. One thing people don’t realize is that there are ways to decrease the carbon footprint and the cost of our vacations dramatically at the same time.
In today’s post, we are going to examine a few of the ways you can bring the cost of your vacation down, and in turn your carbon footprint. Hopefully, by the end of the post, you will be confident that you can book your next trip with the knowledge that you are getting the best possible deal for yourself and the planet.
Why Does Budget Matter?
No matter what our income, budgeting is a necessity so that we can enjoy time away without constant anxiety, but so we can also don’t have to worry about the impact upon return.
The most important reason to take account of your output (and I have learnt this in the past) is simple; a lot of the time, if you budget correctly, you can actually maximise your time “on vacation”, and you have the chance to disconnect from the physical world more (maybe I need a more spiritual relationship with money idk). By not being stressed about it whilst you’re supposed to be “away”, it means your less likely to be frustrated financially and therefore are more in line with the universe and in turn less wasteful across all resources.
Stay In The Right Places
If you are booking your holiday right now, you might have visited a huge amount of websites that are all claiming that they can get you the best possible deal on your next trip.
Well, one thing you should know is that this is almost never going to be true. If you really want to get the best from your trip and save some money, do the research yourself. The middle person always just costs money, unless they are like an old school bulk travel agent that has better deals with the airlines than any internet companies.
Y’all know I LOVE Airbnb and use it all the time for when I am travelling alone, you can now find a holiday condominium at an incredibly low price that would not only save you a fortune; it will also allow you to spend your entire holiday in style.
Plus any Airbnb is better for the environment than a hotel. Same logic of output as before.
Research
Just make sure to check out what the conversation is online before booking anything as well. If you need vegan spots that aren’t expensive, book your Airbnb accordingly.
My brother taught me this, but one thing that often goes overlooked when people travel is that you should barter with almost everybody you meet. When it comes to bartering, you can expect to do this in Europe and Asia, and it happens in almost every retail situation. Even shops, not just markets. I guess I need to try this more.
In a lot of European countries (not the UK so much lol), shops and restaurants are all in competition with each other, and they are often in close proximity. Still, one thing you may not realize is that they have bumped their prices up by 30-40% in anticipation of the tourists arriving. Wild.
Look At Seasonal Holidays
If you want to travel locally i.e. within Europe to save on miles travelled, one of the best things you can possibly do is book at the end of the holiday season.
While some countries welcome tourists all year round, many countries in Europe don’t do this, in fact, they stop accepting bookings after the end of October. If you want to really save some money, this is by far the best time to go.
The first thing you should do is to book a flight to your destination and then book your hotel directly. You will find that you will get an incredibly cheap holiday for a very low price, but this isn’t where your money-saving starts.
You will save the most money with the local restaurants, shops, and people who promote activities. At this time of year, restaurants are winding down and will be selling their menu at a lower price, shops will sell anything they can at a low price just so they have their winter money in and this goes for those that arrange excursions too.
When it comes to saving money, this will possibly be the best thing you can do, and you will find that in comparison to the same holiday in high season, then you would have saved almost 70% of what you would normally pay.
While there may be a few things that are unavailable to you in the low season, they won’t be things that can ruin your vacation, and you will certainly still have the time of your life. If you are a person that loves to explore, this is also the ideal time to travel as it will be a lot quieter than at any other time of year.
In summary, there’s a lot of parallels between being conscious and saving funds, it’s a win win really – it’s just about working out how we can each balance it out for ourselves.
This is a contributed post, edited by Nik.