For most Singaporeans, traveling overseas is something that’s bound to happen at some point in their lives. It may be a business trip, an educational trip or a long-overdue vacation. Regardless of what the trip’s purpose is, there’s one fact that always remains crystal clear, “Your financial status will always dictate how your travel experience will be!” And that’s why most of us spend months or years planning and saving up cash for an overseas trip to ensure that we have enough of it when the time comes.
But what happens if you have an urgent overseas meeting Or you really need to take that vacation? This is usually inevitable and requires quick and proper financial planning to ensure your trip abroad runs smoothly and comes to a satisfactory end. Below are a few things you can do to avoid overspending during an overseas journey.
1. Do Some Financial Planning
It’s no secret that planning helps a lot, especially when dealing with something new that you’ve never done. Before going on a trip, you need to start by assessing your current financial status. Knowing how much money you have to spend will enable you to budget on how and where you are going to spend it.
2. Do a Little Bit Of Research About Your Destination
Whether it’s a business trip or a vacation, researching about you destinations is imperative for you to do proper budgeting. You should note that the expenses you incur on food, accommodation, travel, or shopping in Singapore are likely to differ from those you’ll incur during your overseas visit. In most cases, it’s always more costly than normal, but if you are lucky enough, you might land a few great deals during your trip. That’s why it is always prudent to research about your travel destination because it helps you to find places that offer what you need at prices that are within your budgeting range.
3. Stick To Your Budget
Part of the reasons why some trips end disastrously is because people fail to stick to their original budget. If you are traveling on a budget, it is paramount that you avoid “impulse shopping” and spending money on unplanned-for or unnecessary items because this may end up eating into your other cash allocations. In such cases, you may need to cut your trip short or, even worse; you may get stranded in a foreign country. To avoid getting yourself into such situations, you should either allocate some cash for miscellaneous expenses or strictly follow your original budgeting allocations.
If you are still looking for ways to have fun during your overseas tour without overspending, there are a couple of things you can do to mitigate your expenses as explained below;
- Look for free accommodation – Despite it being rare, there are some people (families) that offer free or extremely cheap accommodation to foreign visitors. If you are lucky to find one, you may end up saving a lot on accommodation. There are websites that can help you to find such arrangements.
- Hitchhike – If you have little or no fare to move around your destination, you can always hitchhike or take free rides from locals. But you need to make sure that the area has no record of criminal activities related to this.
- Cheap Meals – Instead of going to a 5-star hotel for food, you can always eat at cheap local restaurants that still offer fantastic local dishes. Another reasonable alternative would be to cook your own meals.
- Go on free tours and hikes – Despite the fact that most destinations offer paid tour guides, walks, and hikes, there are always a few free walks available. You can take advantage of this to tour your destination without spending a dime.
These are just a few great ways to make your overseas travel a success. With ample time to do some financial planning and budgeting, you’ll surely have the best traveling experience out of Singapore. Bear in mind that you don’t have to be rich for you to travel, it only takes proper planning, a little research and strictly adhering to your budget.
