Author: Massiel Hernandez

In April 2024, I went to London. It was a place I wanted to go to for the longest time. I’m a big fan of British TV, (Ironically enough, when I was there, I didn’t watch any TV! LOL)

The way I got the money to go was a wild story in itself. Let’s just say, I manifest it. I save that story for another day.

Also, between the booking of the tickets/hotel arrangement & traveling, there were only 2 weeks. Talk about short time!

I realized that with this trip to London and the one to Berlin years ago, I managed to be frugal. Despite spending less, I had an amazing time. I wanted to share a few tips that helped me in both situations.

1. Be flexible: That is easier said than done. So much is going on in our lives. Schedules can be tight. In my case, where I work mostly as a freelancer, they are unpredictable. I’m a huge fan of the app, skyscanner.com. It’s a travel app I use to book flights. It also has hotel and car booking. However, I prefer booking.com for hotel booking because they offer a lot of different deals & incentives. For example, I got a discount on my hotel, & free car service from the airport because I used booking.com. I think that if you don’t have a set date when you can travel, you can find a deal. I usually try a few different dates on Skyscanner. They will show you how much it will cost on those dates first. You’ll be surprised when things are cheaper. I would have never thought that the beginning of April would have been so cheap. Both my plane ticket & hotel were all together less than $2000. Shocking, I know. Book the ticket at an odd hour. I booked my plane ticket to Berlin at 4 am and My London ticket at 2 am. I noticed that after midnight, not too many people are planning trips, so you can find something for cheap. However, I was always told that traveling Tuesday through Thursday was the cheapest day to fly. In this case, It wasn’t. I left on Sunday but returned on a Monday. Maybe that rule doesn’t apply to international flights? Not sure.
2. Take advantage of free & cheap attractions: Listen, I can afford the plane tix & hotel. However, it didn’t mean I could go crazy on shopping. I also had to refrain from doing super expensive things. I was still on a budget. I took advantage of the free breakfast even though I’m not a fan of beans! lol To my delight, a lot of the museums in London are donation-based, basically free. It also had beautiful parks due to all that rain. I didn’t have to pay for any of the amazing museums. I paid for a few things. These included the Tower of London and Shakespeare’s GlobeTheatree. I bring up my next point.
3. Book in advance: For anything that requires you to pay or have a ticket, book it before you get there. I did this even though things weren’t as busy but Image going somewhere and everything is sold out. That would suck! Coming into my next point…
4. Do you’re research on the area before you go: I mean! No brainer, right? I’m sure you knew that but hey, I just have to say it. I look up the weather, mode of transportation, events, things to do, etc.
5. Don’t overbook yourself!: Why? why? why? You’re on your vacation and it should be fun. Stressing to get all over town doesn’t sound like fun. I plan one event a day and that made it so much easier. For example, I went to the British Museum, and after, I walked around the general area. Could I have booked a few more things in a day? Absolutely but that doesn’t sound fun. I wanted to enjoy London and take my time. That’s the only way to travel.
6. Safety: Send a copy of your passport to a family member or trusted friend. Know where your embassy is just in case you get in trouble or there is any issue. Just have general street smart when going somewhere you have never been to before. A lot is going on in the world and I rather be safe than sorry.
7. HAVE FUN!!!!! Whatever that is for you, do it. Don’t get arrested though, that would suck!

Let me know if you have any other tips! xoxo