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Originally Posted by czarcaesar
Thanks for the response! What were some things that you did to keep costs low? Any good websites that helped you along? What was constantly a hassle for you and your family? (For instance, I traveled through Europe and had a hell of a time exchanging money.)
Great questions!
I wouldn't say that we went out of our way to keep costs low, but I would say that we tried to ensure we got good value for our money. Booking flights a few weeks ahead and using comparison sites like Kayak and Skyscanner helps. We opted for RTW tickets from Star Alliance for the big legs of our trip, then used local low-cost airlines on a hub/spoke basis to explore particular regions. We used Airbnb to find good value stays in more expensive cities then splashed out on some 5* hotels in cheaper countries such as India. In Galápagos, we booked an expensive cruise on a small catamaran, but haggled directly with the operator to get a great deal. In South Africa, we figured out it was cheaper to book a week-long private tour with a driver/guide than to book our own car and accommodation, so we benefited from that. We also enrolled for every travel points programme we came across and benefited from numerous free nights, special rates and discounts.
As well as a Kayak, Skyscanner and Google Flights, we also used TripAdvisor, Triposo, Google Translate, Travellers Point, Metro, XpenseTracker & TripIt quite frequently. Also, the UK government travel advice site was very useful to check health recommendations, visa requirements, entry conditions etc.
We haven't really had any constant hassles which is probably down to just doing some up-front research and prep and having a carefree, go-with-the-flow attitude. In lots of countries and we did regularly get approached by people trying to sell items or services, and a few scam operators, but a pleasant but firm No always seemed to be an effective deterrent. Language was a challenge in some places as none of us has much Spanish and English is not as widely spoken is South America as some might think, but that just added to the fun usually. Google Translate was a god send in restaurants without English menus.
Changing money hasn't been a problem. We've got a MasterCard with no foreign transaction fees which we use wherever we can, then we've just used ATMs to withdraw cash when needed.