There are so many online travel tools for finding cheap holiday deals for charter trips, flights, cruises, hotels, resorts and excursions – as well as discount coupons or even credit card rewards programs.

To visit more non-touristy destinations or attractions are also ways of getting away much cheaper than the over-promoted and more expensive activities.

Choose low budget airlines and fly to secondary airports, taking the local bus into town. Also try alternative routs, using the budget flights as connecting airports – maybe even book flights in a foreign airline site in another currency.

Do not miss the most super effective way: ask the locals or tourists that have been there if they know of any deals or have any tips, there are lots of forums like Lonely Planets Thorn Tree or Virtual Tourist to ask people within. It does not even need to be a travel related forum!

Research about the location in advance does pay off, have no doubt about that. It is well invested time.

Backpacking now has become flashpacking (travels similar to a backpacker, but with more money and stuff like cameras and/or laptops), so it is not only youngsters that travel this way anymore. With a limited backpack you escape luggage fees and get around easier. Many hostels do have double rooms with baths nowadays.

You can try to make your own tailormade holiday instead of letting a travel agency make it for you and charge for their work, usually you can get away cheaper. If you do not have the time, that is another thing…

Call several travel agencies for deals they have not put out online yet OR is really, really late and thus also really, really cheap! You could also contact the hotel yourself to haggle a better price. Works pretty well sometimes.

The key really is to have a look around online before booking and to note down all the details and then compare notes before booking anything.

You could also call around to different travel agencies a bit, getting prices to compare and then come back to the one you liked the best asking them nicely if they could give you as good price as the other travel agency.

It is not fair to waste too much of their time though. You would not like people taking up your working time either and then simply ditch you for someone else, would you…?

You have to make clear to yourself what is realistic, but still a dream holiday and right from the beginning decide what your budget are, max time you want to spend searching for the best deal, plus what conditions you can accept about the trip.

There are a lot of choices to be aware of: how long you stay, hotel class and services, any extra hidden fees or taxes, local restaurant/shopping costs, wanted excursions and much more which will affect your costs tremendously.

Make sure to take on a good travel insurance – don’t just look at the cheapest money-wise, think about comprehensive terms too. Cheap can get expensive if something happens. I will have to check up myself before our next trips, one which is for frequent travelers with an annual policy and providing cover for multiple journeys.

I also say: if you haven’t been able to find a cheap hotel, book a hostel. Instead of eating out every day, cook your own meals. Do sparingly with excursions and go out walking the city on your own, you get to see/know more locals that way anyway.

After all travel is about exploring something new at the destinations, right?

Lifecruiser ♥ cheap holiday deals
 

Disclosure: I have a material connection because I received a cash payment, gift or item of nominal value from a company affiliated with a brand, topic and/or product that is mentioned herein.

 
Earlier posts about how to travel cheaper:

Where to find late holiday deals
Why getting organised for your holiday will save you money
How to travel a lot without being a millionaire
Bargain Cruise Ships Tips

Travelgrove is a travel search engine who can search all the major travel search engines on the travel market for you, to help you to compare several large travel providers at once to get the best fares.

I liked that I can make themed searches if having special interests, but what caught my eyes the most was their Fare Alert, which will let you specify a price limit and get notified when the price for your flight drops below your limit.

So how did I find them? I didn’t, they found us and did a very flattering review of Lifecruiser Travel Blog on their blog which almost made me blush. So I thought I should return the favor, which they of course had hoped for, but still, this is my honest opinion.

My first impression of Travelgrove’s site was a bit pale actually:

Then I read on Travelgrove’s blog about a major design overhaul, which in my opinion will be a great lift for the whole Travelgrove Community.

…and it’s just that word: Community, that made me get stuck further in their site. As always it’s the people that makes it interesting: what they have written in the forum or in their travel journals, which photos they’ve uploaded, if they have any great travel tips or advices etc.

Travelgrove’s forum seem to be much visited and there is some useful information, but as usual with all forum’s I wish that people could participate more, to share more.

It also looks like they have plans of making it able for you to change the design of your profile page – that would be my priority if I were them…. We love to change our profiles!!!

If you scroll down to the bottom of their frontpage, you’ll find links to their international sites: American, English, German, Italic, Spanish and French, so even if you’re not that good in English you might find another of their sites suitable.

Another feature I liked very much, is that it’s possible to link to another users photo gallery. Very useful when you’ve been traveling together with another member, so the photos can be displayed even there. A bit like in Facebook – which also can be connected to Travelgrove’s map.

I really loved to see that they’ve teamed up with Hostelworld’s budget tours, which I had no idea even existed.

Oh, and don’t miss the feature to ask them a travel question on the first page.

I do find it quite refreshingly cocky of them to say:

“Don’t take our confidence the wrong way, but we’re willing to swallow our hats if you don’t find the best deals with us “

So, why not try them out and see if you can get them to swallow their hats….? *giggles*

If you decide to register: don’t forget to add Lifecruiser at Travelgrove.

Lifecruiser ♥ Travelgrove