Greatest Budget Travel Tips

Absolutely the most important thing to do when travelling on a budget is to pack less. You'll be doing a lot of walking, so you don't want 20kg on your back all the time. Buy a smaller backpack - 45 litres max, then be ruthless with what you take. You DO NOT need high heels! Another good thing to do is listen to the Indie Travel Podcast at www.indietravelpodcast.com - there are heaps of tips and a competition going at the moment to win a guidebook from Lonely Planet.

I just came back from a month in Guatemala and Belize and have a couple budget travel tips that I picked up from my trip: 1) Cross reference your expected travel costs. Lonely planets are our of date by the time they hit the shelves so also use travel blogs, trip advisor, boots n all, and the guest house website if possible. In Guatemala the prices were 2x what was listed in the most recent Lonely Planet, even more in Belize. Checking websites and travel forums was very helpful in finding out current rates. 2) Bring the little things that you might need along the way (such as bug repellant, suntan lotion, cold medicine/caplets, aloe vera, etc) because they will cost a lot more and usually aren't very convenient to pick up while traveling (I got a cold in Lake Atitlan and it cost $9us for some cold caplets, aloe vera was $8+). These things can add up pretty quickly. 3) Keep an eye out for referals at other places along your upcoming intinery. For example, when we were in Lake Atitlan we found out there was a former manager at that hostel that had opened a new one up in Livingston. On a previous trip to Scotland I got a local hostel association listing that had a bunch of nice, budget accomodations that were independant and not listed in the travel guides I had with me. Word of mouth has led me to a couple great places. 4) Travel in groups or join up with others you meet - in Guatemala accomodations are mostly for the room (a single might be 14, a double 16, and a triple 18). For non-dorm lodging it is a lot cheaper to travel in a small group than alone.