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While traveling, we come across many experiences. Some of them are worth remembering whilst others haunt us for a very long time due to our decisions that could have been better. One of the reasons that makes a happening trip into a tragic experience is traveling while shopping abroad. There are tons of destinations around the world that are extremely gorgeous in sightseeing and furnished with abundant variety of markets and malls. These kind of destinations are often visited by people who like shopping and buy a lot of stuff as a remembrance for their vacation in the respective destination. To save you from the trouble and give a universal question of “how to save money while shopping abroad”, we have come up with a few simple tips that will allow you to keep your budget on and stop you from spending a lot:
Always prepare a list before you step out of your home or hotel in abroad. It is essential to keep your preferences sorted and help you to reach your destination without wasting a lot of precious time. This way, you can not only keep the essential buys in mind and check before leaving your destination, but also keep a track on your spending by making a list and having an estimated expenditure which allows to keep your budget toned while you are in a city or island away from home. This way, you can also resist yourself in buying things that look fabulous and appealing while shopping but have no relevance at all to keep for a long time. Also, you can keep up with your budget and save a little extra while keeping your requirements in mind and not to checking out things that are not in priority list of your shopping.
There are an abundant number of destinations such as India, Morocco, Thailand and Egypt that are furnished with a fine variety of markets and shops that allows you to bargain. Bargaining is often considered to be the right of a customer in many countries and customer can always check at other shops before buying the stuff finally while comparing the difference and asking some extra concession against student ID and tourist discounts. Also, learning about the conversion cost of currency and knowing the price in local currency helps to bargain a bit extra to waive off the extra imposed currency conversion charges that are often remain hidden from the seller. A quick research in the market and knowing the estimated price of what you are about to purchase from a friend or known person also helps to determine the cost of the good and bargain against the shopkeeper.
Shops and marketplaces nearby a prominent attraction of a respective destination are considered a big NO among professional travelers who like to collect souvenirs and go for shopping. These marketplaces are often works on a fundamental of keeping customers in an illusion of high-quality stuff at an attractive price. However, if you travel down to the local marketplaces and malls of the city, you will find the prices way cheaper than the shops selling the same thing nearby an attraction or landmark. These shopkeepers tend to keep the price tags higher than the original cost and use cheesy language to sell their goods on hefty profit. In case, you are at a destination where there is no other place to shop a particular thing than nearby markets, then always check the price from different shops before heading towards the final purchase. Also, try to bargain to know the nearby value of the thing and anticipate the situation. If you still feel like not buying the thing, you can always walk-out from the shop/outlet.
The best way to keep a tab on anything you do is knowing when to stop. There are times when you either exceed your regular traveling budget while shopping something much more interesting and end-up having nothing reserve in pocket for emergency situation. Also, monitoring the weight of the stuff you are buying and type of thing as per the airline’s parameters will help you to stop paying excess baggage fee or leaving the thing at the airport during the security check. In case, you find something will cost you way more than your budget allows you, it is best to keep the thing on hold for a while and look for alternatives such as another trip or finding stuff that you will no longer need in your luggage before leaving for home.
There are plenty of destinations such as Dublin where tourists can get discount cash card that allows them to avail discounts on purchases from authentic shops. These cash cards also allows you to keep a monitor on your purchases and help you to stop whenever you go beyond your limit. Buying such cards will only cost you a nominal fee (starting from $10) and help you to recharge your card using your credit or debit cards. These kind of cards also help to save a lot on currency exchange fees as all the transactions and conversions go through the bank and the valid conversion fee is imposed during your recharge.
There are tons of other ways through which you can keep your budget in limit even before leaving your living room such as booking cheap flights and finding affordable accommodations. Also, shopping from duty-free zones and buying locally produced items that can cost you way less than the usual, things that can attract custom duty fee and more. So, if you like exploring new places and have a hobby to shop wherever you go, all you must be worried about is saving some good amount on your travel expenses. And to help you saving more, SmartFares is at your service to give you access to some amazingly discounted travel deals and offers available on our website.
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