10 Things You Can Stop Paying for When You Travel

I used to think spending more on a trip automatically meant a better trip. For years, I paid for things reflexively — airport lounges, travel insurance add-ons I never read, bottled water at inflated prices — without ever stopping to ask whether any of it actually improved my experience. It took a string of trips where I compared notes with more frugal traveler friends, plus a fair amount of my own trial and error, to realize how much of what I was spending on was pure habit rather than actual value. This isn't a "travel for free" list, and I'm not interested in pretending you should suffer to save a few euros. It's specifically the stuff I've personally cut out because I noticed, again and again, that paying for it made no real difference to how good the trip was.

1. Airport Currency Exchange Counters

I used to walk straight to the currency exchange booth in arrivals, jet-lagged and eager to have local cash in hand. The rates there are consistently among the worst you'll find anywhere, sometimes with a 10-15% markup baked in compared to using a no-foreign-fee debit card at a regular ATM once you're in the city. I now either use a card with no foreign transaction fees or withdraw cash from a bank-affiliated ATM after landing, and I've never looked back.

2. Hotel Breakfast (Specifically the Overpriced Ones)

I stayed loyal to hotel breakfast buffets for years because it felt convenient, even when I noticed the price tag was often €20-30 per person for what amounted to eggs, toast, and fruit. On a trip to Lisbon, I finally did the math and realized I could get a genuinely better pastry and coffee at the bakery around the corner for a third of the price, sitting among actual locals instead of other groggy hotel guests. Now I only pay for hotel breakfast if it's already included in the room rate.

3. Travel-Sized Toiletries at Airport Shops

I've paid what felt like an unreasonable amount for a tiny tube of toothpaste at an airport kiosk after forgetting to pack one, more than once. Now I keep a small dedicated bag of travel-sized toiletries permanently packed and ready between trips, so I'm never at the mercy of airport pricing for something this basic.

4. Paid Airport Wi-Fi

Most major airports now offer free Wi-Fi, sometimes requiring a quick sign-up with an email address, and yet I still see people paying for a "premium" connection out of habit or unfamiliarity with the free option. I always check for the free network first now, and in the rare case where an airport genuinely only offers paid access, I just rely on my phone's data or wait until I land.

5. Skip-the-Line Tickets for Attractions That Don't Actually Have Long Lines

This one took me embarrassingly long to figure out. I paid a premium for skip-the-line tickets at a handful of attractions over the years, only to arrive and find barely any line at all, especially when visiting outside peak summer months or during off-peak hours. Now I actually research typical wait times for the specific day and season I'm visiting before paying extra, and I've skipped this fee entirely on several trips without any downside.

6. Checked Baggage Fees, By Packing Lighter Than I Think I Need To

For years I checked a large suitcase on every trip out of a vague fear of not having "enough" clothing options. I now travel almost exclusively with a carry-on, even for two-week trips, having realized that I re-wear the same handful of outfits regardless of how much I pack. Skipping checked baggage fees, which can run $30-60 each way on many airlines, adds up to real money saved across a year of travel, and it also means I'm never waiting at a baggage carousel or worrying about lost luggage.

7. Bottled Water in Cities Where Tap Water Is Safe

I used to buy bottled water constantly out of pure habit, even in cities where the tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Now I travel with a reusable water bottle and actually check, before the trip, whether tap water is safe at my destination. In most of Western Europe, parts of Asia, and plenty of other regions, it is, and skipping bottled water saves a surprising amount over a multi-day trip, plus it cuts down on unnecessary plastic waste.

8. Travel Insurance Add-Ons I Already Have Coverage For

I once paid for a travel insurance policy at checkout without checking what my existing credit card or annual travel insurance policy already covered, only to realize afterward I'd basically paid twice for the same protection. Now I check my credit card's built-in travel benefits and any existing annual policy before ever adding trip insurance at checkout, and more often than not, I already have what I need.

9. Guided Tours for Things I Could Easily Self-Navigate

I don't think all guided tours are a waste of money — some genuinely add context and access you couldn't get on your own, and I still book those. But I used to default to booking a guided tour for basically everything, including simple city walks that a good offline map and a free walking tour app could have handled just as well. Now I reserve paid tours specifically for things with real expertise involved, like a specialized food tour or a historical site with a lot of nuance, and skip them for anything I can reasonably figure out myself.

10. Roaming Charges Instead of a Local SIM or eSIM

I used to just accept my home carrier's international roaming rates as a fact of travel life, and I distinctly remember one trip where I came home to a phone bill nearly $200 higher than normal because of it. Now I buy a local eSIM before almost every international trip, which usually costs a fraction of roaming fees and takes about five minutes to set up before I even land.

The Pattern Behind All of This

Looking back at this list, almost every item comes down to the same root cause: paying for convenience out of habit, without ever checking whether a slightly less convenient, nearly-as-easy alternative existed for a lot less money. None of these cuts have made my trips worse. If anything, several of them — the local bakery instead of hotel breakfast, the self-guided walk instead of a group tour — ended up being better experiences, not just cheaper ones. I don't think frugality should be the point of travel, and I still spend freely on the things that genuinely matter to me, like a great meal or a specific experience I've been looking forward to for months. But the ten things on this list were never actually adding value in the first place. They were just what I paid for because I hadn't stopped to ask whether I needed to.

Contact Us

info@guesswhereitisofficial.com

Based in Europe & remote