Save money on vacation: 7 benefits to travelers

YOU’RE FORCED TO ASK QUESTIONS. Sometimes, you’ll need a guide — say, to keep you safe from lions on a walking safari. Sometimes, you’ll want to splurge on one — maybe a chef-led food tour

of an immigrant neighborhood. But budget travelers will be on their own most of the time, and that’s a good thing. Guides are a huge disincentive to interacting with locals, because they do

everything for you and speak the local language. YOU’LL BE MORE PRESENT. Budget travelers don’t pay for unlimited international data for their smartphones, and thus are “forced” to be more

present when they’re out seeing the sights. No way to post pictures on social media until you get back to the hotel. You also won’t get news alerts, you won’t be able to check email from a

bench in the picturesque town square. Chitchat with the folks at the next bench. Be where you are. YOU’LL EXPLORE MORE. High-priced hotels are falling all over themselves trying to provide

every service you need under their roof. Take the (often) free breakfast buffet. The more expensive the hotel, the more international its food. There's no need to try the local porridge

if there are bacon and eggs to be had. What a shame: Breakfast is a fascinating time of day to decode another country (or region of our own country — think morning buns, breakfast burritos,

grits). Kugel trying traditionally made natural wine in the Republic of Georgia. Seth Kugel It’s hardly just breakfast. Two of the more fascinating places to visit in other countries are

supermarkets and pharmacies. But if you’re eating every meal in restaurants and staying in a hotel that will instantly provide you with the toothpaste/aspirin/razor blade you forgot, you’ll

likely never get to either one. That's honestly too bad: In a supermarket, you’ll be surprised both by wacky products you’ve never seen before, and American products that you didn’t

know had made their way around the world. Or a mix of the two, like Onion Rings and Ketchup Doritos in Canada and Matcha KitKats in Asia.  YOUR ITINERARY IS LIKELY TO BE MORE FLEXIBLE.

Taking pricey vacations requires lots of advance planning for guides and hotels and transport. But in the age of the smartphone, budget trips can be planned on the fly, so you can adjust as

you go. Love a city? Stay a few extra days. See a storm front moving in the day before you’re headed to the coast? Postpone your beach days to the back end of your vacation. Unless you’re

traveling in the highest of the high season, you can easily find places to stay at the last minute using the apps you already use — and sometimes you’ll find last-minute bargains. It also

hurts a lot less to cancel a $15 intercity bus ticket than a $200 flight.