Below is a guest post by Anna, creator of Bargainmoose.ca, a Canadian blog for shopping deals, freebies, coupons and more. Anna  wants to share some tips on avoiding travel trauma and saving money while holidaying.

The vacation season is looming, and many of you have probably already booked, or are thinking about planning your summer trip. I thought I would write an article about how to avoid troubles when you are travelling and how to save a bit of cash.

Here are the top 10 tips:

1. Book early bird flights: Though flight delays may seem like something completely our of your hands, there are a few things you can do to minimize the chances of problems. If you are booking a short jaunt with the likes of Westjet, Air Canada or Porterair I’d recommend booking a flight which leaves early in the morning. There will be less chance of your flight being delayed due to knock-on effects of delays in earlier flights, or due to mechanical failure. Also, if you book with an airline that has many flights scheduled that day for your particular trip, it will be easier to switch flights if needed.

2. Fly direct: If you can, fly directly to your intended destination rather than stopping half-way at a hub airport. If you must have a stopover, you can check ratings of Canadian airports at flightstats.com. However, you do have to weigh up costs and convenience for this option. A direct flight may not be geographically or economically feasible.

3. Minimize baggage: As many airlines now charge extra for checked baggage, you can try and minimize your costs by reducing the amount you are carrying. For example, if you are travelling in a family of 4, you might be able to squeeze your luggage into 2 cases only. This all depends on your destination and how much luggage you think you will need. There are some good tips for packing light at Onebag.com, such as “parkas aren’t needed in North Africa!”

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As promised, here’s an update on the adventures of youngandthrifty while in Nepal.  There’s not really much financial information in this post that would better your life, but if you want to live vicariously through my trip to Nepal, please read on!

I did a trek in eastern Nepal, called the Annapurna Sanctuary (also known as Annapurna Basecamp trek).  We started the trek out in Pokhara.  We had hired a guide and porters through a local Nepali tour company.  It was a 10 day trek and some people do the trek on their own (e.g. lugging around their own backpacks) because there are tea house lodges you can stay at, so you don’t need to bring all your own heavy camping gear etc.  We were deliberating between the Everest Base Camp trek or the Annapurna Base Camp, but glad we decided on the Annapurna Base camp because the scenery we were exposed to was absolutely amazing.  Every day was a different landscape, from lush tropical trees, to rolling hills, to rhododendron forests, to beautiful mountain vistas, and finally to the Annapurna Base Camp.   We also passed by langur monkeys, donkeys, buffalo, sheep herds, children saying “Hello!!! What is your name?!”.  The view at Annapurna Base Camp was absolutely spectacular- it was literally a 360 degree view of the mountains- we were surrounded.  We woke up early (e.g. 500 am) to enjoy the sunrise and its pink rays shining on the Annapurna South mountain.  We were 4130m above sea level, and despite the thin air, we felt so alive with the beautiful view.  We would walk by other trekkers, or locals at the teahouses, and a familiar and friendly “Nameste!” brought warmth to my heart (even though it was occasionally freezing!).  Nameste means “I salute the God within you”.

Nepal is absolutely beautiful.  Nepali people are beautiful! Everyone is so polite and friendly, now I know why so many people who I met traveling in India said they really liked Nepal.  There is a peacefulness about Nepal…I found that when I was there, I was thinking only of the present, not the past or the future…it was indeed a spiritual journey.  People are so tolerant, there many different cultures of people co-habitating harmoniously in Nepal and it was so refreshing to experience that.

The food was delicious (and more importantly, cheap!) in Nepal.  In Thamel (the touristy backpacker area of Kathmandu) there was Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Middle-Eastern food… the list goes on!  I budgeted about $9 USD a day on food (including breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and I was eating like a queen.  Here in North America, you can’t even get ONE meal eating out for $9, really.  I was a happy camper.

We had booked through a local Nepali tour company and were pleased with the results.  I made sure the references were good (very important you do this!!) before we booked with them.  Because we “traveled on the cheap” and cut out the middleman, we saved about 50% (or $500 USD) compared to booking the same guided trek through a company like Gap adventures.  I am pretty sure it would have been even cheaper had we arrived in Nepal, then found a local tour company in Kathmandu.

Thanks for reading about my adventures, hope you enjoyed it!  Here are some pictures to inspire your cheap-traveling wanderlust!

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When I was younger, my mom once asked me a question that really helps you understand yourself a bit better, and what your values are.

Although it may not seem so blatant and in-your-face, money is the currency of the experiences and material goods that we assign value to.

She asked me if I had a million dollars (yeah yeah, a cool million isn’t that much nowadays–can’t even buy a detached house in Vancouver for that, really), what would I spend it on?  Let’s play ‘pretend’ for a bit.

If you had a million dollars and could only concentrate it on ONE area below, what would you spend it on? (the other areas in your life would be lacklustre to say the least)

The options are:

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