Senior Travel Tips On Saving A Dollar Or More Print


Considering some of the big bucks you need to spend to roam from home these days, knocking off just a dollar or two may seem trivial. However, if you pile up enough, your savings could be significant. For instance:

If on a cruise or in a hotel, don’t use the room phone to call outside. Charges can really add up. Use your smartphone.

Check prices before you use hotel or ship’s computer room. It could set you back as much as $50 an hour, plus fees for printing and other add-ons. Don’t open the door nor take anything from your hotel room minibar unless you don’t mind paying $10 for a Coke and $15 for a pack of cheese crackers. Use machines in the hotel lobby or hike to nearest retail store.

In hotels where you can choose a sit-down breakfast, lunch and dinner or eat all at the buffet, dine at the buffet. You’ll pay $50 or more at the posh restaurant, with everything charged a la carte. At the buffet, it costs much less, and will include all you can eat appetizer, beverage, salad, soup, main dish and dessert.

Also, reconsider room service meals, which are expensive indulgences, involving long waits, hot meals gone cold and big tips. Get your lazy butt downstairs to a less costly hotel restaurant or buffet. Or better still, wander outside into the city to find an economical meal.

Hotel laundries are very expensive. Each night before going to bed, take the day’s soiled clothing into the shower with you. Wash and wring out, wrap in big towels to squeeze out excess water, and then hang them in the room. Like you, they’ll be free, fresh and ready the next morning.

In tourist cities London, Paris, Venice, Manhattan, Rome, Tokyo, Hollywood, Las Vegas and Philadelphia, wear sensible shoes. It's much healthier to walk, and you’ll save lots of money by not jumping into expensive taxis.

In Manhattan, Vegas and Tokyo, traffic is so gridlocked most of the time, using your feet could actually be a quicker, as well as cheaper way to get where you’re going within walking distance.