Cheaper Abroad

JIM AND I JUST CAME back from two weeks’ vacation in Greece and Turkey. We planned the trip at the last minute, and booked our tickets less than a week before flying.

 Many imagine high prices when they think of travelling abroad. But in fact, there are many international destinations that are more affordable than vacationing in the U.S. We spent much less on lodging and food—the costliest items after airfare—than we would in America.

October isn’t exactly high season, so overall prices were very reasonable. Most European countries have a high vaccination rate, so we found it quite safe to travel. We had to show our vaccination cards to be admitted to museums and to dine indoors at restaurants. Want to travel abroad without busting the budget? Here are some tips.

Airfare. Book early and go during the off-season. Better yet, be flexible on dates and places. Search for flights on Google to explore possible destinations.

During the off-season, international airfares can be very cheap. I used our travel points to pay for our airfare, so we paid nothing for tickets. Without travel points, our multi-city flights from Dallas to Athens and then Istanbul to Dallas would have cost us $666 each.

Experts recommend booking 120 days ahead for European vacations during peak season. Had we bought our tickets earlier, it would have been cheaper, maybe a bit under $600.

Lodging. We paid an average of $78 a night in Greece and Turkey. When we left the U.S., we had reservations for the first three nights in Athens and the last five nights in Istanbul. We had no reservations for the six nights in between because we weren’t sure where we wanted to go.

Many of our bookings were made on the fly, usually the night before. Still, we spent less than we would in the U.S. From 2019 to 2021, the average room rate in North America was $203. It was $100 for “budget friendly” hotels, such as Best Western.

When you travel internationally, don’t get hung up on terminology like hotel, pension or even hostal. People often think a pension is of lesser quality than a hotel. But in truth, pensions are often much nicer than hotels, but with limited reception hours.

Usually pensions are small, family-run businesses. You may get a great room—but no one to bring you extra towels after midnight. On our trip, we stayed in excellent pensions in good locations. Our top requirements were a private bathroom, a balcony and air-conditioning.

We were willing to pay more for a good location, usually in the historic district. It saves time and money when touring a city. We rented a car for two days to travel outside of Athens. Most days, however, we explored the sights on foot.

Our pension in Santorini was in Firostefani, on the west side of the Greek island. It offered us great views of the famous volcano, the caldera and sunsets. It had just six rooms, and ours had a private balcony, bathroom and jacuzzi. It cost just $90 a night, complete with daily breakfast and maid service.

Even our four-star hotel in the Istanbul historic district, across from the ancient Hagia Sophia, cost just $60 a night. It included breakfast, maid service, and a daily supply of water, tea and coffee in our room.

Food. Eat where locals eat. Growing up in Bangkok, the most visited city in the world, I learned it’s best to avoid eating in tourist spots. The food is not as authentic and the prices are usually much higher. When we travel, we ask around, seeking out places where locals eat.

For most of our trip, breakfast was included with our lodging. That helps to explain why we averaged $36 a day for food. Our most expensive day was $87 for three meals on the island of Hydra. The least expensive day was for two meals in Istanbul, where we sampled local and street food for a total of $9.35.

Our best meal was in Megara, a small town outside Athens. We found a little restaurant there owned by a husband and wife. As we sat under a grove of trees looking over the town square, we asked the husband for the menu. He said there was no menu, and proceeded to tell us what he could make that day.

We ordered fried anchovies cooked in the local way, grilled cod, and fresh salad served with home-made Greek yogurt dressing. The meal was unexpectedly delicious, and cost just $29. When I tried to look up the restaurant on Google or Yelp to give it a good review, it wasn’t even listed.

Jiab Wasserman, MBA, RICP®, has lived in Thailand, the U.S. and Spain. She spent the bulk of her career with financial services companies, eventually becoming vice president of credit risk management at Bank of America, before retiring in 2018. Head to Linktree to learn more about Jiab, and also check out her earlier articles.

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