travel agent or book expensive tours and excursions, start with groupon.com and similar sites for discounted local activities in your new country or city. Just like at home, Groupon has local websites for cities all over the world.
This is a great option to find an upscale restaurant or a day trip outside of the city where you’ll be staying. Of course, you can use it to find spa deals and beauty packages if you need a day of relaxation. Not to mention Groupon and similar sites have deals with hotels in the area too. Just be sure to check the reviews of the discounted places to make sure their legit and worth the trouble.
One of best decisions I’ve made in my travels was booking a spot on a free walking tour. You get to be up close and personal to historic sites and wander off the beaten path to find the cities’ best-kept secrets. In Santiago, Chile, our tour guide walked us through a beautiful cemetery and shared the stories of Chileans and the legacy left behind in Santiago.
You can usually find free walking tours on Facebook or with a trusty Google search. The way it works is a group of locals form a tour group to share the history of their city with visitors. The tour is free but you’re encouraged to leave a sizable tip, especially in third world countries where income is hard to come by. But even a big tip is about half what you might pay for a Big Bus tour. What you get in exchange is a one-of-a-kind experience plus thousands of steps!
With these hacks under your belt, you’ll be country hopping with the best of them in no time. Keep in mind, the less you spend on hotels and flights, the more you’ll have left over for another vacation! Now the only question is where are we going?
Sharita Jennings is a fitness and travel enthusiast and creator of Get Fit Like That, LLC. She is a health policy attorney and ACE certified group fitness instructor and fitness nutrition specialist. She provides online fitness plans and leads group fitness classes in Washington DC. Check out her fitness tips and workouts at GetFitLikeThat.com.