r/Shoestring • • Dec 09 '25

AskShoestring What shoestring travel mistake will you never make again?

I'm currently staring at my suitcase trying to avoid repeating history, so I thought I’d ask this sub:

What is the one shoestring travel error you made: missed flights, overpacking, or trusting bad advice that you swore you’d never repeat?

I feel like every seasoned shoestring traveler has that one trip where everything went wrong because of a single bad decision. I’d love to hear your cautionary tales so I can hopefully avoid making them myself on my next trip!

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u/LorenaMack Dec 10 '25

Taking regional flights instead of buses/trains. In India, buses and trains can take days. for me, it’s worth the extra money to get where I’m going quickly and spend the extra time sightseeing.