today I'm going to be giving you 23 of the best travel hacks to make your traveling easier and
cheaper if you don't know me I'm Joel and I travel to over 30 countries over the last five
years and I want to share this knowledge with you to save money on your next trip let's start with
number one and this is something you need before setting foot in another country and that is this
Visa check-in website so this website is called the passport index and basically you can select
your passport and the destination you're looking to travel to so I'm from the UK so I'm going to
click you and then where is it United Kingdom and then I'm going to choose a destination let's
choose somewhere with a J um Japan what do I need these are free for 90 days so it tells you exactly
how long you've got and whether you need a Visa or not and this works for any country and it is
so useful just to double check the requirements before entering the country so number two is make
sure you get travel cards travel cards are going to save you so much money on ATM withdrawal fees
exchange fees I highly recommend styling bank revolut and monzo I've used all these three
three and they are really good but don't just get one travel card get two or three I've even
got four because I'm always traveling if you happen to lose one of the travel cards you've
got a backup I've even had an ATM eat one of my travel cards I never got it back so just be
careful be extra cautious and get a few of these now talking about money let's talk about safety
with money and something I highly recommend is splitting your money up into two or even into
three and that's the same goes with the cards split them up into different piles in different
places so if you lose a pile or a bar gets stolen or your wallet gets stolen you're gonna be okay
because you've got these other different piles you could hide money under your shoe insole you could
hide a card in your shoe insole you could hide everything in that and then you probably couldn't
fit the shoe on basically what I'm saying is split your money out into different places obviously you
could have some money in your wallet and then some money in your bag and that'll be fine you
don't actually need to put it in a shoe that's a bit silly just an extra little tip try and use a
credit card when booking flights because this is just going to give you a little bit more
protection and I found out the hard way losing money on flights during covert times now number
four is research the ATM to use in a foreign countries different banks are going to have
different withdrawal fees for example some banks in Malaysia May charge you three percent so if
you withdrew a thousand US Dollars you'd actually have to pay 30 USD on top of your thousand whereas
some banks don't cost you anything and so you're just going to get a thousand USD now number five
is something which I need to talk to you about which is vital when you're traveling and that is
travel insurance you may know now but Amelia and I have been using safety ring for over a
year now and they have kindly partnered with us on today's video one of the best things about
safe doing is the flexibility when it comes to dates and locations they don't require you
to put certain countries or exact dates and allow you to be flexible and change plans as you travel
I know traveling is often so dreamy and perfect but things do go wrong as I found out in the past
and that's why making sure you were covered is so important safe doing has great features which
covers any mishaps when traveling with coverage for lost luggage travel delays natural disasters
and personal liability getting yourself covered is very easy with automatic monthly payments if
you're going on a short trip then there's actually an option to get covered for a minimum of just
five days to cover that long weekend away allowing you to put a start date and an end date on your
next trip make sure you get yourself covered with a reputable company like safe doing and
you'll be protected if something happens to go wrong click the top Link in the description to
get yourself covered with safe doing so number six this is one of my favorite little tips and this
is book directly with your hotel hostel guest house because it's going to save you quite a
bit of money when you book a place on booking.com they obviously take a cut so if you book directly
you're gonna get cheaper rates to get these cheaper rates even look at the hotel website
message them on Instagram call them up and you'll likely get a much better rate than on booking.com
or Agoda now number seven and this is a big one and this is Joe's guide to booking the best
accommodation before booking accommodation there's a few questions I ask myself before I book it and
that's number one is where is it located is it in the center is it near the activities you want to
do in the city if not is that good transport there is there a good Metro bus stop nearby
so you can easily get to the center of the city number two is there a kitchen is it self-catered
because this is going to cost you more money if you're looking to go to restaurants Etc maybe
that's in your budget but not for everyone number three this is more for hostels is it a
social hostel is it a party hostel is it chilled hostel what kind of vibe are you looking for and
read the reviews this is going to be my little rating of how good a place is if you're looking
at somewhere rated between 9 and 10 this place is going to be amazing as long as it's got more than
10 reviews otherwise they could be fake eight and nine it's a pretty solid place I'd always stay at
them seven to eight still pretty decent under six this is where it's going to get a little bit iffy
honestly I try and stay away even if it's quite good value under five I mean I wouldn't go there
unless it is dirt cheap before booking your next accommodation ask yourself these questions and
book yourself a great place to stay now number eight is something I've only started using more
recently and it's going to save you a lot of space trust me let me get something a packing
Cube actually this is a Tropic filled wardrobe and basically you put all your clothes in here
and you squish it down and then you can actually hang it up as well and it's really awesome but if
you want a more cheaper option and kind of more traditional then you can get packing cubes on
Amazon and I'll link some down below if you've got loads of tech with you I actually use this little
Gadget holder Tech thing I don't know what to call it but it's really cool so you can put your wires
up here you can like put all your well I've got my travel adapter in here it's just really good
and organized because when you get to a place you just take out all your packing cubes and stuff and
it's not everywhere it's not all on the floor it's neatly in places it's a game changer now number
nine is get yourself a filtered water bottle and I'll show you these couple of examples in a minute
but I'm going to tell you why you actually need one say you've just woken up like me a little bit
drunk after a full moon party in Thailand you're thirsty you're hungover you don't want to go
anywhere you don't want to go to the shops to get some water well my friend you can drink the water
with a filtered water bottle because all you got to do is fill it up with a tap and you can drink
and it's not gonna harm you it's all filtered it's fine it's good to drink so first example we've got
this life straw and basically it's like a little straw and you basically suck the water up and it
goes through this filter you can drink pretty much any water you want apart from Salt Water don't do
that now this one is called a lock UV filter bottle and basically it uses UV rays to clean
the inside I've heard it's like boiling water 20 times it's that good and cleans the bottle really
well it's also known for like self-cleaning because obviously stagnant water gets a bit
I don't know not nice obviously using filtered water bottles saves a lot of plastic as well so
try and use them when you can and also it's a good investment because obviously you don't need to buy
water now number 10 and I don't actually have any with me right now but that is bring travel wash
travel wash is going to save you so much money washing your clothes in a lot of Southeast Asian
countries you can actually get a laundry service and they kind of do everything for you and fold it
but that's going to cost you quite a bit of money another cheap option is to use a laundromat rather
than a laundry service because you can go in wash your clothes yourself it's just much cheaper now
number 11 is bring a universal travel adapter you can even get like an extension leads if you need
loads of plugs for charging cameras laptops Etc it's also got multiple charging things and a big
plug socket here and it's got all the different countries perfect so number 12 is make sure you
bargain because bargaining is very common in places like southeast Asia India Sri Lanka is
going to save you a lot of money say you've gone into a market locals are going to hike up those
prices and make it really expensive most of the time whereas you can actually bargain them down
and you can get some really good deals even though you're still probably paying more than the local
price just make sure you're ethical when you're bargaining because honestly a dollar or two is not
really going to break your bank and make you have to go home from traveling now number 13 is about
food poisoning and if you're traveling longer term then the likelihood of you getting food poisoning
eating at loads of different restaurants street food places trying new foods is fairly likely the
important thing to do is when you get it is don't take Imodium unless you're on a crazy flight or
bus Journey because this is just going to block your system what you need to do is make sure you
rehydrate take rehydration sachets and just make sure you get everything out your system and not
plugged up in get rid of the toxins out of your body now I'm not a doctor so don't take everything
I mean like a doctor but from experience this is what you need to do now number 14 is more
for long-term Travelers and that is make sure you have a good rough plan but don't over book
don't book things in advance because things change you might see a new Festival you suddenly want to
go to you might want to travel with a new friend you've just met and by committing yourself months
in advance to flights hotels it's just it's not good when you're traveling long term you want to
be flexible book spontaneous trips flights stuff just don't glue yourself down when you're a Solo
Traveler especially now number 15 is something completely opposite but sometimes you have to
book in advance things like Christmas New Year even big summer holiday stuff you're gonna have to
book in advance because the hotels accommodation flights are going to book out way in advance and
they're going to be more expensive the longer you leave it if you're looking to go away in Europe in
July August book in advance because it's gonna be expensive now number 16 is make sure you download
offline stuff I'm talking offline Google translate so you can speak to anyone if they don't speak
language and offline maps you can do that on Google Maps My Maps is really good as well but
also if you've got a long journey you don't have internet download offline Netflix offline music
so you're actually entertained and then you know you're enjoying the journey a bit now moving on to
number 17 and that's about staying connected you can actually get a local SIM card or even an e-sim
recently I've more suede between e-sims because they're so easy to download you can download them
before you're even in the country so as soon as you land on that flight you are connected up to
the local internet local SIM cards are often a little bit cheaper and you get better deals but
esims much easier I previously used Nomad and airlo and I'll put the discount codes for them
here because you get three dollars off both if you use this discount code now number 18 something not
quite as nice and that is not everywhere it has toilet paper sometimes you're in the middle of
nowhere you know they just don't have toilet paper so just always keep a bit of tissue on you just in
case you need to go now number 19 something which is actually going to say save you a lot of money
and that is get yourself a carry-on bag because you don't need to pay for checked baggage and that
honestly adds up every time you take a flight if you're doing a longer trip the only thing to keep
in mind is when you're taking liquids on carry-on is just be worn you're normally only allowed about
100 ml of each product now number 20 when I'm in another country I like to use ride hailing
apps these are things like grab go check Uber bolts lift these are so much safer because you
can actually rate everyone the other thing is you don't actually have to speak the language because
they've already got the exact destination you're going to and you don't have to bargain over the
price and discuss the price because Uber or grab do it for you previously in taxis you have to
bargain lots and you can get scammed and it's good just to avoid those things and go with these other
companies sometimes they won't get as much money but I always like to tip the drivers because it's
just giving back to people who are using fair and trusted prices now number 20 21 is set yourself a
budget if you've got a budget for a trip you're a bit tight and you've got money aside then budget
yourself every day I actually use an app called Wonder wallet and it basically puts in all the
costs of every day and you can set yourself budgets and how much you've got left to spend
and it's just going to save you not spilling and going overboard I highly recommend getting
one of these apps which tracks your expenses because it's going to save you money and make
sure you stick to that budget number 22 and this is something I see so many people doing and that
is don't exchange your money at the airport these fees are so much more expensive than if you're in
the city or somewhere else at home they just they charge you so much money because it's easy whereas
if you put in a bit more effort you go somewhere else you're going to save quite a bit of money on
these exchanges now the other thing you can do is actually go to an ATM in the airport because
pretty much every airport has an ATM make sure you check how much the ATM is going to charge you
but it's often cheaper than the travel changing exchange places now number 23 this is the final
one this is quite a big one because this can save you hundreds if not thousands of pounds or dollars
or anything and that is going shoulder season or going off season it may not be the best weather
but it's Gonna Save you so much money hotels are cheaper flights are cheaper food can sometimes be
cheaper you're going to get so many better deals and it's going to save you so much money going in
wet season is not always as bad it just rains in the afternoon a little bit temperatures in Europe
in September October may be a bit cooler but you haven't got the crowds around you traveling in off
season or shoulder season is not as bad as you think it is a especially if you're on a strict
budget I hope you found those 23 travel tips really useful but guys I've got a super exciting
trip coming up and I'm gonna be creating so many epic amazing videos you don't even you won't even
believe where we are going thank you so much for watching we will see you in the next video
which is going to be incredible so go down hit subscribe and we'll see you in the next one bye