How to Plan a Trip for Less

• Book domestic flights roughly two to eight weeks ahead; long-haul usually six to twelve. There is no perfect rule, but the expensive mistake is always booking at the last minute.
• Tuesday to Thursday departures and mid-week returns are consistently cheaper than Friday and Sunday, for boring and reliable reasons.
• Layover cities and nearby airports are the single biggest lever available, and they cost you comfort rather than money.
• Suitcase costs more than you think if you need one. Pack light for a week of normal clothes; you will have laundry.
• Check whether a self-transfer needs you to collect and re-check a bag. If it does, it is a connection, not a layover, and it can take six hours.

• Stay slightly outside the most expensive centre. The saving is large and the commute is short.
• Look at a map, not a listing. Proximity to a metro line matters far more than the description.
• Alternatives to hotels: guesthouses, hostels with private rooms, and serviced apartments for stays over a week.
• Buy city cards only if you will genuinely use most of what is on them. They are a good deal or a waste with nothing in between.
• Free things are consistently the best things. Walking tours, markets, parks and a good bakery beat a paid attraction most days.

• Travel insurance that covers the activity you are actually doing, not just the flight.
• Data roaming, or a local SIM. This is a real and sudden expense.
• Power adapters and the voltage, which is not the same everywhere.
• Cash. Card acceptance is better than it used to be, but some places still do not take it.
• Copies of your documents, stored somewhere you can reach if the phone is gone.
• Any medication you need, in the original packaging, with the prescription — checked against the destination's rules.

The most common source of travel conflict is not the destination, it is money. Agreeing in advance who is paying for what — and using the same numbers — removes almost all of it.