10 Ways to Save Money When Traveling To America

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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If you are travelling to a place other than your country of residence, it might be expensive on your part if you don’t know your way around. Whether you know it or not, you can save money even when travelling to America.

Below are ten of the best ways in which you can save money while on your travel to America.

1) Travel in the off season: off season is that period of the year where there are less people or visitors in America. Most travellers in the US, especially those on vacation, prefer to go in a period when the weather is favourable and can joggle so many things together. However. What has been evident is that, that isn’t the best move if you are planning to save money.

During the off season, plane tickets prices go low when compared to other times, hotel reservation and even public places fees, so what do you say about saving cost even before you get into the country?

In other to ensure you save as much money as possible, check for times when many tourist attractions do not get many visitors, check different airlines’ websites for their cheapest prices into the country during those period and plan your travel as such. By the time you arrive, you will have extra fund for other important things.

2) Create a budget you will stick with: it is practically impossible to travel into America, or even anywhere in the world without a budget. It is true that anyone travelling would have a budget before travelling. However, if one is not careful and strict with the budget, you will spend more than you intend to. Before travelling, have a clear picture of how much you intend to spend and put every expenses into the budget. Creating a budget and sticking by it is important to reducing how much you spend.

3) Take note of accommodation: whether you are familiar with America or not, accommodation can take a lot from you than you an ever imagine. While you must done well for your pocket by traveling in the off season, you can still spend more if you don’t take into consideration where you live. Before travelling, have a list of the places you will be vising in America, then look for a suitable accommodation that is central to those location. The reason is because you don’t want to be spending unnecessary funds on transportation when you can easily avoid that by choosing a central accommodation.

Aside from choosing a central accommodation, you should avoid hotels as much as possible. If you are travelling with kids or in groups, it is always easier and cost effective to rent an apartment. Not only do you have freedom to choose who sleeps where, you will also save money. Who needs to sleep in the best hotel by the way when they will be out all day seeing the country?

4) Be intentional about food buying: it might be difficult and somewhat impossible to cut fund on eating, but its possible. More often than not, restaurants give discounts on their lunch menu, especially if you buy much. So, if you are up to it, you can buy food that will serve you in the afternoon as well as for dinner. However, in other to do this you might want to consider getting a room or apartment that has refrigerator, microwave or kitchen area. If you are going on an outing too, it is important that you carry your snacks and water.

5) Invest in free activities: you might not know this before, but you will be surprised to find out that there are indeed free activities in some of the tourist attractions that visitors pay a lot to visit – however, this require a bit of research. A self-guide walking tour, checking the community calendars and mixing with the locals should be enough to get you the information that you need.

6) Shop at local stores: most restaurants and exquisite places often wants to take advantage of visitors that do not know their way around. However, that is not you. Another way in which you can save cost is to shop at local stores for all the things you need. That way, you are charged the normal fee unlike in other places meant for visitors. If you stay in an apartment that has a kitchen and you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, you should look towards getting stuff at farmer’s markets – you will be saving a lot of dollars that way.

7) Make use of points: while it is possible to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel, it can be difficult to get an apartment that suites your taste and the idea might not sits well with other. Either way, if you decide to stay in a hotel, good news is that you can still be able to save some money. It is not uncommon for hotels and restaurants to use points to give their visitors free overnight stay or free lunch, depending on what they have on their cards.

So, if possible, board a hotel or restaurant or hotel affiliated airlines and you could earn yourself some points. However, before doing that, be sure that they have points or miles and know what is in stock for you.

8) Ask for family deals: if you are travelling as a family with kids, you might get deals such as free meals for children, discounted rates, an upgrade at check-in and so much more. So, when you are about checking in an hotel, apartment, restaurant or public attractions, ask for family deals and you will be surprised at how much you can save through that. The sad part is you might not get it if you don’t ask. And the worst that can happen id you get turned down and that would still be fine knowing that you didn’t miss out when you could have saved some extra dollars.

9) Take note of coupons: there are often always coupons in public places in America – you will need to research though. Whatever tourist attraction you are visiting, be sure you check out their websites for free coupons before going there, you might also get these coupons at the back of supermarket receipts, tourist booklets and brochures, so keep your eyes open.

10) Walk

Walk as much as you can. As simple as that sounds, it might be one of the best way to save money in America. It is exciting to get lost, mix with the locals and wander about in a city. What is more fulfilling is the opportunity to save cost that walking affords you.

If you are a visitor to America, you should be concerned about the visa waiver program. It is a program, in conjunction with ESTA that validates your entry into the country – note, however, that your valid passport is the first entry ticket. Find out if your country is part of the visa waiver program or not on the official ESTA website here usaestaonline.com. Your ESTA status is also important. This can be known by simply filling an online form. Note, however that once you fill the form and you are granted entry, your ESTA will be valid for two years provided that your passport remain valid.