How to avoid regretting being cheap when you travel

How to avoid regretting being cheap when you travel (Photo: iStock) Did you know that despite expert advice on always looking for breakthroughs to help you minimise your travel expenses, as the saying goes, cheap is expensive, so does being cheap while travelling can turn out to be expensive? According to Janet Kagina, an ardent, she learnt through the hard way that cheap can be expensive, especially during taking a vacation during the Christmas holidays. "It took me travelling on budget travel for a long time before I realised that some parts of travel are worth the splurge, because although when I saved a little cash I felt good, especially that time when I booked a rock-bottom-price plane ticket, for a 5.00 am flight only to miss it because I missed the alarm," says Janet. Sadly, she says, the rock-bottom-price ticket ended being an expensive one because she could not get a full refund. The most expensive part she says, she had to make many calls (an added expense) to secure another ticket for the next day. This also affected her hotel booking and vacation schedule. Kelvin Mukoye, a frequent business traveller, agrees with Janet. "A cheap flight, inconveniently located hotel, or a minuscule rental car may save you money, but they will most likely cost you plenty of regret and inconvenience," says Kelvin. Here's how to avoid regretting being cheap when you travel. Book the recommended rental car - You know that familiar feeling of being cheated out your money and frustration when you land at the airport, pass through a tiring clearing only to find that the rental car has not arrived? Janet remembers this happening to her three times before she realised that she was spending twice the money she was trying to safe because the rental cars were from a shody company that is located in industrial area far from the airport. "In the three episodes I found myself trekking to some forgotten corner of a far-off terminal instead of hopping in another car and driving off, and having to wait for a rental car that never made it to the airport," says Janet. In all the three occasions, she had finally to rely on the PSV shuttle bus, completely ruining her itinerary. Once beaten, twice shy, the ardent traveller learnt that cheap was expensive sometimes. She now plans her trips with the eye of an eagle - looking out for the slightest loophole in the offers to avoid making costly mistakes. Sleeping past midnight (packing), and waking up before dawn for an early flight - Kelvin says that he had to do this a number of times only for a thought to come to him. "I was hovering over the 'book' button, and then I thought to myself, Kelvin, you wake up very early to go to work every day, and here you are this early trying to save Sh1,000 just for you to arrive at your destination deprived of sleep on the first day of your vacation?" Suddenly, it did not make sense to him, as he discovered he ended up spending whatever he had saved on the flight to take a taxi from Ngong at Sh3,000 to the airport, when he could have saved it taking a PSV. Saving money to stay at a hostel, only for you to spend sleepless nights listening to your roommates snore - Justina Mugure, remembers the longest night of what was supposed to be a peaceful night on the first day of her holiday - the eve of last year's Christmas. She had taken an offer from a guest house 'spend your Christmas at a pocket-friendly accommodation and explore your dream holiday in the quiet and tranquil against the backdrop of azure blue waters. Excitedly, she had done the booking without doing due diligence. "Shock of shocks! When I arrived the first thing I noticed is that the accommodation did not match the description, and I had no time to look for an alternative accommodation," says Justina. That was not all. The peaceful night she was looking forward too, was elusive. Then she realised another expensive mistake - how bad a 20-bed room in a hostel can be. The earlier thought that she was only going to be there to sleep, so why bother spending more for a private room turned into a nightmare. In the quiet hours of the night, sleep became elusive. Her neighbour on her right and left were both loud snorers, and as if that was not enough punishment, when finally sleep came, there was movement and noise from the hostel's corridors. When your bargain rental car might not make it to destination - When the picture of a rental car on the website with a budget cut enticed you to take the tiny little car promising you the best bargain offer of the year, it seemed like a fine idea. However, when your budget vehicle turns out to be a comically toy-sized little car and gives you a scare every time a heavy weight truck whizzes past you on the highway, you might begin to have some regrets about being cheap.

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