As we have heard many times, traveling is a smaller version of life and requires its own skills and knowledge. The more you explore the world, the more you learn about life and travel and the required skills for both. One important skill that helps you to have longer trips and travel more often is knowing how to spend economically. Many people spend their holidays at home because of the idea that they don’t have enough money, but the real reason is that they don’t have the skill of economic traveling. Every city and every country has its exclusive traits, so there are some ways of economic spending for every destination. You can find them out by contacting a local person or simply surfing the net. There are also some global ways that are not limited to a special city or country. Learning these are much easier because of their universality and accessibility. Here are some tips for helping you spend economically in Iran and some other places:
1. Choose efficient places to stay.
Hostels are perfect alternatives to hotels. You can find many hostels in every corner these days. Moreover, there are some ecotourism resorts in Iran in which you can experience the culture of that specific region including their traditions, rituals for special occasions and their unique food. These resorts are perfect choices to help you spend economically in Iran. You can also book your room online and use some of their discount offers. At last, if you like adventuring, we highly recommend you to test camping. There are specific parks in every big city of Iran for camping. You can simply ask where to camp from the first local person you see.
2. Eat economically!
You don’t have to eat at fancy restaurants all the time. Ask the local people or surf the net for finding efficient and tasty restaurants. There is an application available in the whole world including Iran named Foursquare. You can check out all the cafes and restaurants close to you and their menus with this app. Testing the local food is always a good idea because it’s a new experience and the local foods are often cheaper. You can also cook sometimes. Eating out all the time spares considerable money for you because only 40 percent of the money you pay at restaurants is for the ingredients.
3. Travel in the low season.
There are some special times of the year when the rate of tourists in every region decreases; for example, most tourists visit cold regions in Summer, not in winter or fall. These times are called the low season. The price of flights, hotel rooms, hostel rooms, and restaurants decreases surprisingly at the low seasons. You can also find many discount offers at this time of year. So you might want to consider this time of year for traveling. All you need to do is searching and reading about the area you want to visit in order to find out the low season in that region .
4. Try to be flexible.
Having an exact time for starting and ending a trip increases your charges. Sometimes you can find cheaper tickets a couple days earlier or later than what you had in mind; for example, the tickets are more expensive on the weekends and holidays. So, one way to spend economically in Iran and other countries is changing your plans a little bit.
5. Use different transportation ways.
Check out the routes and try to have an approximate plan in your mind. Based on that plan find out the best transportation system that you can use including airplanes, trains, buses, subways, and even hitchhiking. It might seem very hard to hitchhike in some countries like Iran. But you should know that many young people hitchhike in Iran and it’s getting easier these days. This type of planning can be used for moving town to town or even country to country.
6. Move economically in every town.
Try to use public transportation while you’re in a town. Check out the subway and bus plans for every destination. If you have to take a taxi, try to find local efficient choices such as smartphone driver applications. You can use two driver applications named “Snapp” and “Tap30” in order to spend economically in Iran. You need access to the internet for requesting a taxi on these applications, but after your request is accepted you can be offline.
7. Choose local markets for shopping.
Shopping at gift shops or touristic areas might cause you extra charges. Try to ask local people for finding the best places to buy souvenirs or essential products. In Iran, there are some fruit and vegetable bazaars named “Tarebar” in every town and district. You can buy fresh and efficient products at these bazaars and some other chain stores, and their locations are available on google maps.
8. Search for touristic offers.
Many agencies and companies have special offers for tourists on different occasions. Try to stay updated to notice these offers at the right time. Gather information about all the offers that you can use, and try to choose wisely. These offers might be very tempting, so consider your plan in order to prevent extra charges.
9. Pack a light baggage.
Moving a heavy baggage around not only makes you tired but also causes extra charges. It limits your choices for transportation and makes you spend more money on transporting it. Many airlines decrease the charges for passengers with light baggage. It also makes shopping so hard because of the weight limitations.
10. Learn how to search!
The last but not the least tip is learning how to search. As you have realized until now, many ways to spend economically in Iran and everywhere else depends on searching. The more you know, the less you pay. Try to surf the net deeply and don’t rely on the first page of google. Learn how to use keywords effectively and practice searching all the time.