Few people actually want to travel on a budget, particularly when it comes to luxury travel, yet money is a finite resource that does have its limitations. In many ways, money is the fuel that enables travel just like how jet fuel transports you from where you are to some faraway shore, you do not want to find yourself running out of it mid-flight.
In this vein, there’s a tendency to overspend when it comes to travel and often we can be all to trigger happy when it comes to putting purchases onto our flexible friend. Yet, luxury travel doesn’t have to cost a fortune. It’s all about repurposing your travel budget so that you can squeeze more from it, and get more bang for your buck.
Whether you want to enjoy the best michelin rated restaurants in Bangkok or a luxury cruise down the Nile, the most important thing about luxury travel on a budget is repurposing your budget, so that what you save on some of the largest expenses such as flights can then be spent at your destination. For instance, if you were travelling as a couple and each saved $250 on your international flight, then this additional $500 could be spent on a nicer hotel, and in places like Thailand, for instance, this can make a huge amount of difference in terms of the quality of the experience you’ll receive.
Similarly, if you were to save on accomodation when travelling to more expensive destinations such as Hong Kong or Singapore, by finding a Singapore HDB for rent, meaning a condo or apartment – then the money you’ve saved can be spent on fancy nights out to exclusive restaurants cocktail bars such as Raffles where you can find the original Singapore Sling.
In addition, to reducing the main travel costs detailed below there are several things you can do in the destination itself, such as making a packed lunch rather than eating out or downloading money saving apps such as tastecard in the UK that offers 50% off at a variety of decent restaurants.
Essentially, there are plenty of money saving ways to facilitate luxury travel, but then it depends on your definition. The majority of people would be happy to travel in economy class on a flight in order to stay in a more luxurious hotel, and interestingly, if you were to want to make this feel more luxurious – you could pick up an airport lounge pass, indeed some bank accounts and credit cards even offer these as freebies… meaning you don’t have to compromise on the feeling of luxury, save for a few hours on the flight, but even then – you can pay a small supplement to have an emergency exit seat which will offer plenty of additional leg room, and take an iPad with your favourite films downloaded.
FLIGHTS
Flights can take a large chunk out of anyone’s travel fund, but, if you can be flexible with flight dates and even destination then searching for cheap flights via comparison websites such as Skyscanner or Momondo that compare hundreds of flights by several airlines around the world to present you with a curated list of the cheapest deals for the dates and destinations you have selected this can save a heap of cash!
In addition to dates, you can often save money by being flexible with the departure and arrival airports; as an example, if you’re travelling from Key West, Florida to England – you might pay an extra $300 with a ticket from Key West rather than Miami, that’s just a couple of hours drive away!
Similarly, with regard to your destination airport, in London for example there are a number of airports you could travel into that are within a short distance of London. Heathrow is by far the most convenient, yet London Gatwick, London Stansted, Luton and London City are all within a short distance (30 minutes or so) to the centre of London.
Similarly, if there were to be significantly cheaper flight to somewhere else within Europe, such as Paris, it might pay to get a direct flight to Paris and then a low cost airline such as Ryanair to take care of the last leg. To put this into context, a plane ticket from Paris to England can be as little as $10 and takes just 90 minutes. With the amount you save on airfare, you could even treat yourself to a romantic stay in Paris, in a luxury hotel at a fancy restaurant overlooking the Eiffel Tower.
That’s the power of budget repurposing; it’s all about flexibility, being open-minded and making the most of the opportunities that present themselves. In a practical sense, when booking flights, the more flexible you can be with regard to dates and airports, the cheaper the flights will be.
ACCOMMODATION
A further considerable expense when travelling is accommodation; if we go back to the London example, and consider the fact a basic hotel room in Central London is likely to cost in excess of $150 with a luxury hotel being in the region of $500 per night – it’s important to find more innovative ways to get that luxury feeling.
In this sense, there are a number of apps that offer same-day cheap deals on luxury hotels such as HotelTonight where you can often find five star hotels at a fraction of the cost (often up to a 60% reduction) meaning you can grab yourself a bargain. The other thing to consider is using a website such as Travel Supermarket that in a similar way to SkyScanner will look at all the hotel inventory in a particularly destination, and all of the providers (e.g. Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com and so on) to find you the very best deal.
After all, what’s the point in paying $150 for a trashy two-star hotel in a not-so nice area, when with a bit of research, for the same price you might be able to find a comfortable 4 star hotel in a decent area. The point is, you need to start leveraging these money saving tools in order to squeeze the most out of your travel budget.
AirBnB is also a great option to consider, as it tends to offer much better value than hotels and you can rent out an entire apartment in a decent area for much less than a luxury hotel.
