Large cities and towns worldwide have ATMs from which you can withdraw local currency.  Check with your bank to determine its electronic foreign exchange fees.  Depending on your bank, those fees will be significantly less than the commission you’d pay at a currency exchange office.

Remember, too, that commissions tend to be calculated as a percentage of the amount you exchange, whereas one ATM withdrawal carries a set fee that doesn’t change (up to $5) – regardless of how much money you get.  If you plan ahead, you can make one ATM withdrawal to last your entire stay, thereby keeping your overall exchange fees to a minimum.

To find out if ATMs are available at your destination, you can visit these websites:  www.mastercard.com/atm and www.visa.via.infonow.net/usa_atm/. A call to your bank’s customer service could also verify whether your ATM network exists at your destination, and that your PIN is compatible.  It’s also a good idea to notify your bank and credit card companies that you’ll be out of the country so that they’ll allow the withdrawals and charges in the country you’re visiting.

You don’t have to be in college to enjoy amazing savings on European rail travel.  Just having a pass in-hand can reduce transportation costs and spare you long ticket booth lines.

There are lots of different passes that cover your train travel for various lengths of time.  To pick your pass, first figure out where you’re traveling to – is it one country, two or more countries, or are you covering the entire continent?  Then determine how many days on a train you’ll need and whether you’ll spread those out over a 1- or 2-month period.  So, if I’m traveling to France and Italy and I plan to travel on the train for 4 days, I can purchase a 4-day Eurail France-Italy Pass.  But my 4 travel days have to fall within a 2-month period. 

That pass, assuming I’m traveling with another person, will cost me $303 for 2nd class.  Compare that to a recent roundtrip fare of $384 between Paris and Florence, and you see that this pass has undisputable advantages.

The lesson from this illustration is this: you’ll need to map out your destinations to ensure that a Eurail Pass will really save you money.  You can compare the costs of European train travel by visiting www.eurail.com for the pass fares.  Then go to www.raileurope.com for the full fares.  At the latter website, all you need to do is plug in the stations you’ll be traveling between, add up the total cost, and compare that to the Eurail Pass price.  If you’re covering a lot of distance, the Eurail Pass will most often be a better deal. 

Imagine arranging a 2-week tour on your own. Let’s say to Europe or Egypt. No matter how you slice it, it’s not a cheap proposition.  Here’s what you might expect to pay: Roundtrip Airfare: $800; Hotel: $3000; Meals: $850; Car rental: $300-$400;  Admission to sights – $200. This all totals about $3750 per person. And if you break it down, you’re parting with $268 a day.

So when we talk about a grand tour on a river cruise, we can use this per-day figure as our benchmark to determine the best values out there. And believe it or not, you can find some great deals — and unforgettable experiences — that will cost you A LOT less.  Grand Circle Travel, for instance, offers November departures along Eastern Europe’s Danube River; 13 days for just $2295 a person, including airfare from New York. That’s just $176 a day. Or check out their Ancient Egypt & the Nile River 15-day trip from $1995, with air from New York. Granted, you’ll be traveling in June, when desert sands blaze in the heat. But at $133 a day, you can’t beat the price.

Grand Circle Travel’s sister company, Overseas Adventure Travel, also has a great deal to Egypt — it’s a 15-day trip from $2395, again with air from New York, but in the relatively cooler month of September. That’s $159 a day.

Bottom line: leave the planning to the experts and you’l pay up to $130 less per day than if you arrange a two-week trip on your own. The price is right, as is the time you save – because when you leave it all to a tour operator, they do all the planning. Best of all, you’ll embark your ship, unpack your bags, and let some of the world’s most exciting cultural capitals come to you. It’s a great way to take your own “grand tour.”

I remember when I was a kid hearing stories of my aunts, who were in their 60s and 70s, taking a bus tour to the Grand Canyon or Nova Scotia. I never fully understood what they were doing … I didn’t get that there were companies that would cart you around to see the continent’s great landmarks. But I was intrigued, and it gave my aunts a bit of a worldly aura that they had seen parts of the world that I never thought I would see.

At the same time, though, I thought this would be the worst kind of hell – to be carted around on a bus for hours at a time while these amazing landmarks passed right by you.

Back then, the package tour was in its infancy and gave the traveler a pretty basic experience of hopping off and hopping on the bus – staying at bland hotels and eating bland meals in the hotel’s bland banquet rooms.

But tour operators have changed immensely, and they cater to every sensibility. They still offer soup-to-nuts packages – flight, accommodations, meals, and tours all offered for one price – but many have more of a cultural focus than they used to. So you might have dinner in local family’s home, walk into tiny villages, ride elephants in Thailand or camels in Egypt, or visit with children at local schools. There’s a huge learning element to today’s tours because travel companies know that their customers are far more curious.

Best of all, the price is right. According to the US Tour Operators Association, you’ll pay up 30% less when you take a package tour versus when you arrange the same itinerary on your own. And if you travel in the offseason, or wait for a companys’ last-minute deals, you can pay up to 20% less than that.

To learn more about the value of the unsung package deal – and to learn how to travel free with some companies – download The Package Tour: Stretching Your Travel Dollar to the Absolute Max from our home page.

When I first visited Europe 22 years ago, I was aghast that I had to give the restroom attendants in train stations a franc or a guilder to use the bathroom. For goodness sake, didn’t they know I was a student on a budget?

Now the budget British airline RyanAir is bringing toilet admission fees to new heights – like 30,000 feet. The buzz is that RyanAir will install coin-operated restrooms on its planes in the next few months. Ludicrous? Yup. Unethical? You bet. Lucrative? I doubt it.

RyanAir serves continental Europe. And thankfully, this dime-squeezing new practice shows no signs of making its way to the U.S. Still, for budget travelers, RyanAir has long been a terrific choice for country-hopping once you’ve landed in London, for instance, or most any European city. On principle alone, you might be looking for alternate budget airlines to get you from Madrid to Milan. If so, head over to www.whichbudget.com. 

Here, you can select the cities you’re traveling between and be taken to a list of budget airlines that service that route. Select your desired airline, and you’ll be whisked to that airline’s website to make your reservation.

What would you say to 6 nights in a Tuscan castle at a rock-bottom price? Now toss in airfare from New York and a car rental. You would expect to pay thousands, right? Well Dooley Vacations is offering all this from $799 per person. Travel on select Spring or Summer dates.

Equally incredible, explore 2 of Eastern Europe’s gems, Budapest and Prague, for 6 nights. Starting from $699, this package from Gate 1 Travel includes airfare from New York and a train transfer from Budapest to Prague.  But to get this price, you’ll need to book by April 14.

Reserve by April 6 to visit the royal city of London for 6 nights. Virgin Vacations will get you there, with air from New York, for $699.

Speaking of Virgin, now through April 5 you can reserve flights clear across the country between Boston and San Fransisco or Los Angeles for just $129 each way. You’ll just need to travel between Tuesday and Thursday from April 12 – June 20. Other days of the week are a bit higher.

If it’s a family vacation in the sun you’re looking for, how about Cancun and the Grand Sunset Princess Resort. The kids will never run out of things to do — in its 12 pools and with nonmotorized water sports included. And for you, a scuba diving lesson is part of the package. Rooms here start at $79 per person per night, and up to 2 kids under 12 stay for free. This prices applies to May thru July bookings, but you have to book by April 5.

Finally, stateside, try the idyllic Essex Resort & Spa in Burlington, Vermont. From just $174/night, you’ll enjoy two 50-minute Swedish massages, full breakfast, a 2-for-1 dinner in their award-winning restaurant, and 20% off one of their cooking classes taught in their kitchen. And if you’re flying in to the Burlington airport, they’ll even pick you up at no additional cost.

If you want to get the most out of your travel dollar, then where you stay can be one of your most crucial decisions. That can often mean thinking outside the box, and one way to do this is by staying INSIDE a box at accommodations that have been inspired by the uber-efficient beds of Tokyo’s pod hotels. These rooms’ amenities are as basic as they get. But who needs a lot of space when you’re doing little more than sleeping in your room?

Though you won’t quite feel as if you’re sleeping in a drawer at the Easy Hotel, the rooms here are small, with much less elbow room than you’re used to in standard-sized hotels. You’ll find Easy Hotels in Budapest, Hungary; Berlin, Germany; Basel and Zurich, Switzerland; Sofia, Bulgaria; Larnaka, Cyprus; and 6 locations in London.  Keep an eye out for specials on the above website. Sure, the $57/night is a great deal. But I’ve seen rooms as low as 10 euros, or $14/night as of this writing.

Pod Hotels can be found in New York, Chicago, London, Paris, and Tokyo. This chain caters to a younger crowd, so they provide a docking station for ipods in every room, and WiFi means you can surf the web to your heart’s content, if you’re the type to travel with your laptop.

Traveling through London or Amsterdam? Rent a pod by the hour at Yotel. These rooms aren’t much larger than a train’s sleeping compartment, which is perfect for that long-haul traveler who’s between flights. And like in a train compartment, your bed folds up to become a couch so you can work or read comfortably. It’s a great way to escape the crowds of two of the world’s busiest airports. Rent rooms by the hour, with a 4-hour minimum. When all is said and done, it all comes to around $11/hour.

To stretch your travel dollar to the absolute max, change the way you plan your trips.  Instead of asking “how cheaply can I get to my destination,” ask instead “where can I go and what style of travel can I employ without going over budget?”

Let’s start with $1000 per person budget. Where can it get you? Think beyond the B&Bs in the mountains or on the lakes that are just a couple hours’ drive. Here in my native New England, we can drive into the remote stretches of Maine and hop a ferry to Monhegan Island, 11 miles offshore. On the island, there are inns and even efficiency apartments where you’ll pay as little as $760 per person for a week long stay. Add the 70 bucks or so for gas, and assume $60 per person per day for food, and you’re looking at a vacation that puts you out about $800 per person.

If you’re one of the countless Americans who live close to a major port city, hop a week-long cruise. Prices start as low $600 per person for an entire week. And with all meals and tons of activities included, you just might feel guilty for spending so little.

And here’s a surprise $1000 deal: a week in Costa Rica. Gate 1 Travel (www.gate1travel.com) is offering a 7-day/6-night itinerary for just $529. That’s the price for the land tour alone if you reserve it by June 24. Many airlines fly into San Jose, the country’s capital and gateway, and you’ll likely be able to score a roundtrip fare for less than $400. You’ll need to buy your own lunches and dinners, and you’ll need to tip your guide and drivers — so this trip will cost you a little more than $1000 — but it’s an incredible bargain nonetheless.

For many, it’s the most rewarding form of barter – sweat equity. You might harvest potatoes and leeks that will later appear on your dinner plate. Paint the house that you’ll call your home, if only for a short while. Do some carpentry or plumbing work (if you’re so skilled) to make your hosts’ home a more pleasant haven. The possible tasks with which you could enrich someone’s life are endless.

No matter what your tasks, you’ll be exchanging your hard work for a room, home-prepared meals, new and grateful friends, and an invaluable glimpse into your hosts’ real lives – in bustling cities or rural enclaves, for individuals or organizations, for free or at minimal cost to you.

A surprising number of websites facilitate these symbiotic relationships, publicizing either individuals looking for a simple helping hand or organizations dedicated to a social or environmental cause. Regardless, each will tell you it’s in the business of cultural exchange as much as work exchange. Here are just a few:

• www.helpx.net Help Exchange casts a large international net and lists a large variety of situations. Farms, homestays, bed & breakfasts, even sailboats could be your venue. Membership fee: €20 ($25 as of this writing)for 2 years.
• www.workaway.info Work Away promotes language learning as a benefit to the budget traveler. It may be a bit more focused on the educational component but also offers a wider range of tasks, from “painting to planting, building to babysitting or shopping to shearing.”  Membership fee: €15 ($19 as of this writing) one-time fee.
• www.idealist.org This is the website of the International Volunteerism Resource Center, a huge searchable database of more than 15,000 volunteer opportunities and 84,000 organizations.
• www.vaughantown.com Vaughan Town is a revolutionary program designed to help Spaniards learn fluent English. You’re the teacher. You’ll travel to a tiny village outside Madrid, where you’ll meet and converse with ambitious locals who might have their sights set on a U.S.- based career, or who might simply be eager to improve their English. In exchange for 12 nonstop hours of conversation a day, you get free room and board, and fun activities to help break the ice.

If you want to travel cheaply in today’s economy, you’ve got to think differently about the way you travel.  You want to get the most out of your travel dollar and maximize your experience, right down to where you lay your head. So next time you’re planning a trip, avoid the chain hotels and look for more unique and authentic accommodations. Oftentimes, you’ll also find that they’re less expensive.

Be their guest.  Renting a house is great way to keep your costs down. For instance, four couples renting a house for $2000/week will each pitch in just $500. And with a kitchen at your disposal, you can cook in and spend a lot less on food. Plus, a house lets you all gather in a private common area – like a living room, den, deck, or kitchen – to hang out and share the experience. That’s one amenity I’ve never seen in a typical hotel. You’ll find house rental listings at www.homeaway.com, www.rentalo.com, and www.zonder.com.

Lay your head for free.  There’s a whole network of people who invite travelers to take care of their homes while they’re on vacation. And you can find them on websites like www.caretakers.org, www.housecarers.com, and www.housesitworld.com. You’ll pay an annul membership fee of $30 or $40 to gain access to a database of homes worldwide, along with basic expectations for the caretaking gig and instructions on how to reach your potential host.

Tit-for-tat house-sitting. I’ll look after your house if you look after mine. That’s the basic credo of house-swapping. This can often mean free access to a car, which means you won’t be paying for a rental. But you have to be comfortable offering your guests the same privileges that they are offering you. Visit www.digsville.com, www.homeexchange.com, and www.homelink-usa.com.

Want more out-of-the-box (or out-of-the-hotel) ideas to make your accommodations more memorable?  Keep visiting Travel on a Dime Now!