“I wish traveling cost was covered by my taxes”, anonymous

“Tembea uone mengi” is a famous Swahili saying that encourages people to travel and see the world. It loosely translates to ‘travel to see a lot’. Traveling enables you to see a lot of things that you had never imagined or knew existed. For example, in my country as pedestrian it’s very rare for me to follow traffic rules unless there is a police officer nearby which I thought this was a normal behavior until I went to Dubai and everyone there follows the traffic rules even when there is no police offer nearby. Through traveling I’ve been able to interact and experience different cultures and cuisines.

I know you’d also love to travel and see the world but there is one challenge… Traveling is expensive. Not really, what if I told you I know of a cheaper way of traveling, and it doesn’t involve a pyramid scheme. This is what my friends and I use, enabling us to travel within Kenya and outside Kenya. With Easter coming up in a weeks’ time, you can use below tips to plan a budget trip

Travel as group

My best preferred hack on traveling on a budget is traveling as group. As a group we have a higher negotiation power, and we’ll split on most of the shared bills like paying for a cab, car hire or accommodation. I know this option might not be ideal to everyone and that is okay.

Joining an organized group trip

Getting all your friends to join you for a group trip and with adulting in the picture might be tricky but this shouldn’t stop you from traveling. In kenya we have many tour companies that organize local and international group trips at an affordable rate. Assuming you want to visit Masai Mara for Easter, instead of planning for everything: accommodation, meals, transport and itinerary which will be expensive, you can join a group trip that has likeminded people at a fraction of the amount of money you’d have spent on your own. Through the organized trips who may make new friends whom you can travel with making it way cheaper.

Planning for a trip in advance

As a Kenyan we love making last minute decisions, in traveling this is not only expensive but stressful. To be able to cut cost plan your trip in advance, through this you’ll have plenty of options to choose from and you have liberty of selecting whoever is within your budget. Some vendors also provide discounts for early bookings which is a bonus to your budget. This is the best/ideal tip for booking for flights, accommodation and identifying itinerary service providers.

Use public transportation or carpool

If not careful transport cost can eat into your budget especially when using taxis/cabs. To mitigate this I use public transport, in Kenya we call them matatus or motorbike ‘boda’ to move around within town or I carpool with my friends when traveling between towns. I found this hack to be not only useful in Kenya but also on international travels as most transport systems are well organized and predictable.

Explore free tourist attractions

Do you know cities have tourist attractions that are free of charge? Through proper research and preparation, you’ll be able to identify free tourist attractions or hidden gems. For example, In Kampala all monuments are free to access. This tip should not discourage you from visiting the paid attractions, it should be a motivation to explore both as you will get to see more at lesser to none cost.

Explore local cuisines

‘Food is bae’, is the best way to describe me, when traveling trying out new cuisines is one of my must do. As budget girlie I prefer eating at a ‘kibandaski’, a local food vendor, because they sell authentic local cuisines at a very affordable price. Don’t get me wrong I do love fine dining, but I love authentic local foods. This option at times comes with risk of food poisoning, so be careful when trying it. This is how I protect myself from food poisoning, i

• Eat at places with high human traffic as this guarantees the foods freshness.
• Check on sanitation status, if in my option a place has poor sanitation I’ll not eat there.
• Ask locals for recommendations on the best place to eat, this is how I get to know of hidden gems.
• Check for online reviews, most foodies will recommend their favourite place online. What a better way to sample food other than visiting a place recommended by a fellow foodie.

Have a budget

This should have been the first tip but I wanted it to be the last one because I wanted to empower you first before introducing the money factor. Imagine it’s not a budget travel without a budget, periodt. So have a prepare a budget for the trip and remember to include extra for emergency. Go thy and plan that trip with what be fits thy pocket.

Are a budget traveler or a luxury traveler? I’m a budget travel but aspiring to luxury travel in future. What is favorite budget travel tip and from the above wisdom what resonated with you?