Travelling Solo: Enjoying Cheap Travel When Going It Alone

Travelling alone is a rewarding and exciting experience, but it can also be quite a costly one. Accommodation can be a particular problem, with many hotels and guesthouses charging single room supplements. However, there are some easy ways to save money. If you’re looking to enjoy cheap travel this summer, here are some great tips from the travel deals professionals at Travelzoo.

Drive a Hard Bargain

Single room supplements are most single travellers’ biggest gripe. To save a bit of money, it is always worth trying to negotiate reductions, especially if booking a hotel room at the last minute. Hoteliers often prefer to reduce the rates for rooms that would otherwise go empty, so it’s definitely in your interests to ask whether they’ll do you a special deal.

Find a Travel Buddy to Share the Costs

Alternatively, you could get around paying single supplements altogether by booking through a tour operator which offers a roommate matching service. The Adventure Company, for example, offers a great range of special deals for solo travellers. Alternatively, you could use one of the many trusted online forums to search for like-minded travel partners.

One of the best ways to meet new people when you’re travelling on your own is to go on organised day trips or to book specialist tours. You could soon discover that some of the other people on the tour are in the same position as you and you may well get a travelling buddy out of the experience.

Learn from the Locals

Use social networking sites to hook up with locals. Websites such as Bewelcome and Couchsurfing have lengthy directories of helpful members prepared to volunteer their services as tour guides in their local towns and cities. This can be easy way of getting to know an area and visiting places that other tourists might not, as well as an opportunity to local tips on where to find cheap travel and accommodation.

So whether you’re thinking of going on a gap year or having a career break, with a host of great tour operators catering for solo travellers and some easy cost-cutting strategies, there’s no need to fear going it alone.