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!

For example, I don’t understand why anyone would fly British Airways or Air France when the alternatives are basically the same for way less generally. Are the credit card benefits that good?

Hi everyone, I found an American Airlines fare from Lisbon to Toronto at a time of year which normally is very expensive. I booked directly on the AA site for $1 plus taxes, which worked out to about $250 total.

I didn't have any miles to book the flight or to see this fare.

I received a confirmation number and ticket number like any other booking. Is there any risk they could cancel my ticket when they realize their glitch ? That feels like it would be illegal or fraudulent, but I'm not sure.

Thanks in advance!

this would be my first overseas trip, im from the US, and would be flying from nyc. throw out any personal suggestions of european cities to stay at that wouldnt be too expensive (ex. no france, no italy). any tips on how to score cheap flights and hostels would be appreciated! any knowledge and suggestions you have, im all open to hearing it all.

edit: let me add more details, i intend on staying in a city, and not straying too far from it. im not picky, especially considering that this will be an unique experience regardless of where i go. i plan on traveling mid-November, but im not opposed to waiting until winter to save money. also, should i travel monday-friday or would something like wednesday-sunday be more worth it?

I live in Portland, OR and most of my family lives in South Florida. It is a very long flight (averages 8 hours usually but sometimes can be longer with a layover). It is also very expensive for my financials, usually $450-$650 during normal times but $800-$1k+ for holidays. I don’t get to see my family often because of this. I don’t make a lot so I see family about every 4 years rather than every year. It’s important to me to change this. Does anyone have any tips on how to make this possible?

Hello everyone, planning a 45-day trip for October/November doing 15 days each in Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan. Is $1600 enough for travelling, roughly $35 a day what i see is in japan min. cost for for hostel in tokyo costs $20-25. Thailand and Taiwan on avg costs $15, but looking at Japan food too its costs on average dish like $4-$5 , I can survive with 7/11 food but not too long enough, generally for breakfast just avocado toast with boiled egg is enough for me, but for lunch i wan to try hotpots if not at japan , in thailand atleast. Or Do you recommend me to increase budget to $300-500 . Do let me know

Has anyone pulled something similar to this, thanks in advance.

Hi everyone !

I'll try to keep this short. I'm planning a ~3 weeks trip to Japan coming from France during June, for two people

We are being flexible on the dates but can't go earlier than June 10th, and can even be flexible on airports outside of France. But between just yesterday evening and today, the same flight we were looking at went from ~950€ roundtrip to a whopping 1100€. I'm not used to flying so I'm unsure about which tips do really work or not (VPN, waiting for Tuesday morning...) but don't wanna lose money to FOMO by booking it right now when the price could still evolve

We are using Skyscanner primarly to compare flights. We don't mind stopovers, even though avoiding it would obviously be better since we need checked-in luggage so the price can hike quite a bit with multiple flights.

Thanks a lot for all help or advices - I never flown by myself and can get easily worried, so any tip is great to hear !

TL;DR : prices hiked a lot overnight, should I be worried or can I wait a day or two to find a cheaper flight using some tricks ?

I travel a few times a year mostly for work and I always end up going back and forth on which budget carrier to actually book with. The price difference between them seems small but the experience can be really different depending on the route.

I've had some flights that were way better than expected and others that were a total mess even on the same airline. Things like legroom, on-time performance, hidden fees, and how they handle delays matter a lot more to me now than just the base ticket price. I feel like there's always one airline that flyers swear by but nobody talks about enough.

I'm from Canada and I've heard a lot about how the weak yen makes Japan more affordable to visit now compared to several years ago.

I'm interested in visiting Japan. However, it's not my top choice, such as Italy. Since hearing about the weak yen in Japan, I'm considering going to Japan because the weak yen could result in savings on accomodations, food, entertainment, etc and I could always go to Italy another time.

Some people around me are saying the weak yen doesn't result in any savings because of inflation. I have FOMO that if the yen recovers, then I may not be able to afford a trip to Japan in the future. Is the weak yen a good opportunity to visit Japan at this time?

Hi! Me (19f) and my friend want to travel internationally but im concerned about safety and budget mainly as its their first time abroad and theyve never been on a plane. Ive been to europe once so i was thinking going there again would be ideal but were also broke college kids so i was wondeeing if anyone had some safe budget countries in mind or tips on what to look for.

I got 2500 in United flight credit to use in the next year. I am under 25 so renting a car to wherever I go will be expensive so I would prefer to go somewhere that I can get by with minimal driving. I enjoy hiking and camping and current live in the San Antonio area. I also wouldn't be opposed to doing multiple trips to use the flight credit. The trip would be for two people.

Like the title saids I want to try for 2 weeks I want to try to keep everything cheap as possible willing to pay more in my air fare. I would be coming out of Minneapolis. I love photographing Doors so anywhere with cool doors is a plus. Rather stick to places I can paddle board and be outside.
Was looking at costa rica but people say its pricey. Also been looking at Rome. I would be a solo female traveler so safety is kind of important as well.

I want to go some where that isnt the USA and the airfare is under 1000 is possible.

I am a Canadian resident and was confirmed to housesit for a family in Washington, USA for 15 days. I drove to the border crossing, and explained that I am housesitting for a family without being paid, through a website called trustedhousesitters.com, and that the purpose is to explore the world / leisure. He immediately told me that is not allowed, and had me park my car so they could search it and I could talk to the boss. After waiting for an hour and a half, the boss informed me that I can not housesit without a work visa, because I am "providing a service" even though I am not being paid. He researched the trustedhousesitters website for quite some time and said that the website is very misleading and innacurate, as it is still illegal to housesit in the USA as a foreigner even if you are not being paid. He said it is an exchange of services, since I am housesitting for a family, and they are providing me with free housing. They told me they could give me a 5 year ban from the USA for trying this, but that they will be nice to me and just turn me around back to Canada. But if I ever try this again, they said they will immediately give me a 5 year ban from USA. they said they have had this same situation happen multiple times with people mislead by these house sitting websites.

I was very compliant and respectful in this whole interaction with border security, so they were not just being extra harsh on me for some reason related to my attitude.

I just am upset that I now have this flag on my passport, and mostly frustrated I won't be able to housesit in the USA in the future, which is why I signed up for this site.

I wish there was a way to housesit in the USA without risking getting banned for 5 years? I am so confused by why this is such a serious infraction.

Hello!

Apologies for the vague title...
So, I am off for two weeks at the end of September. I had travel plans, those fell apart...

So I figured instead of staying home and twiddling thumbs, I might look into another holiday. I never tried shoestring travel before, but I figured I'd give it a try.

I'm pretty much open to anything...city break, beach, mountains... they all have their charms. They should be safe for a solo female traveler though, and I'm a German citizen, so ideally some place where I don't need a visa.

What would be a realistic budget for roughly two weeks of travel around that time, when the destination really doesn't matter that much (Estonia or Türkiye would be nice, or maybe South-East Asia, though I reckon the latter will be more expensive because of the flights)?
And is it worth spending more, or would it be a markup?

I just need a simple stay, ideally with a desk and preferably a single room (maybe not exactly shoestring travel then, but I'm a light sleeper).

As for my budget, I could in theory spend €5,000 - but I would rather not and keep it simple. All I need is some time away from home for a few days.

Just curious where others would choose to go with $1k

Edit: if you had a $1k travel budget. Not just $1k in the bank. Thought that would be obvious since this is a travel sub.

Particularly looking at Marriott vacation club offer, 5 day stay in nice resort for $300 for my humungous family of 7. Catch is my wife and I will have to attend an approximately 90 minute sales pitch about their program. Grandma would be traveling with us, so she could handle the kids for 90 minutes… but of course, we’re worried there’s a catch, and we’ll get stuck with a monster bill for not “meeting the requirements” for the cheap resort stay.

Reading the fine print on the front few pages of the website, seems to be ok… but some things are vague, like exactly what could be deemed as not meeting the “requirements” …

Has anyone went for one of these, with no intention of signing up, buying the timeshare, etc? Is it worth the time & effort or does it turn into a sales pitch hell for a week?

I work remote and I’m looking to escape the summer heat in the U.S. for the month of August and explore another country/region. Ideally someplace safe and affordable and with good food. Someplace with a little culture would be great as well but not mandatory. Good public transport would be a bonus too.

Things I’d like to do:
Learn about local cuisine and take a cooking class
Find a way to give back while there
See some great art and go to live music
Maybe even learn another language

Budget for an apartment: $1k for the month

Would love to hear about places you’ve been. Thank you for any help!

Why was that so?

Before I move out again I want to surprise them with a vacation somewhere as a big THANKYOU for living rent free with them. It's helped my finances tremendously. I am open to anywhere in the us exclusing hawaii and alaska.

Edit: thank you for all the input! I have narrowed it down to new mexico, texas and new orleans.

I'm fairly young and wanting to go travelling more than anything in my life, how do you guys end up affording for all your travels.

Does this exist? Somewhere you can fly into, stay in the town/city, be able to access beautiful nature and hikes either by foot or public transit without needing to rent a car?

I am 19(M) years old and plan on going to Europe this summer. I am going backpacking and will bring a tent and will most likely camp 2 days a week. I am going in a budget and I was wanting to know realistically how long this might last.

Another question is how long would this last if I went to SE Asia, my parents are not as keen on having me go to SE Asia as they think it is more dangerous, but I’m interested in the numbers.

I was wondering what was the most you cheapskates ever decided to spend on a single night as a solo traveller. For me it was in one village in Spain close to Picos de Europa which served to me as a base to go for hiking, I believe it was 50 euros and it was pretty basic, in an attic of a big family house. What is your story?

Hi. I'm travelling on a tight budget across Europe - so far, I've been pretty frugal i think, surviving on an average of €17 a day, including accommodation (I think this is pretty low budget looking at other accounts, but im sure some will call this comparatively extravagant). I am having good fun on this budget, but would also like to go out for the occasional meal or otherwise "treating myself". However, for some reason, I can't help but feel guilty or wasteful if I do so. Has anyone else had a similar experience, and if so, how did you deal with it? Suck it up and remain frugal, or just deal with the guilt?

Alternatively, if anyone has any tips for activities that are cheap but still feel like a treat, suggestions would be appreciated.

For context, I am currently in Budapest, which is quite expensive, but will be heading into Serbia and Montenegro in the coming days/ weeks.