Eating In
One of the easiest ways to save money abroad is to eat in! Of course splurging every now and again is fine, but I saved so much money by making my meals at home. Stores like Lidl, Tesco and SuperValu have great prices for fresh produce and canned goods.
Some of my favorite meals were the ones made with easy cheap ingredients. On the left is a smoked salmon hash that I would often throw together for breakfast; potatoes and onions roasted and lightly mashed with a fork, smoked salmon and an over easy egg on top! If you're feeling extra hungry you can add a slice of toast to have too! On the right is a much healthier salad made with any ingredients I had on hand. Here I have; spinach and spring mix, cucumbers, shredded carrots, tomatoes, cheese, and leftover roasted squash topped with sunflower seeds and dressing! Both of these meals probably cost less than 5 euros and left me feeling full.
Frugal Travels
You can still enjoy traveling while conserving the costs. When I would want to go to a different country, I browsed cheapflights.com to get the best deals. I also traveled with RyanAir as a majority of their flights are fairly priced and they often have sales. I was able to fly to Scotland from Ireland for 17 USD and fly back to Ireland for 23 USD. When I went to France, I believe the round trip cost was 38 USD. If you spend a little time searching for good flight deals, traveling can be very cheap!
​
Staying in hostels and airbnb's is another great way to cut costs. Hotels can often be over $100 a night whereas a hostel or airbnb can range from $10-40 a night! It takes some research to find reputable places to stay but it worth it in the long run!
Castle Rock Hostel in Edinburgh, Scotland. Incredible hostel with wonderful staff who organize events each night. During our two night stay, we did a bar crawl and game night. They had bathrooms, showers, an oven with a stovetop, a fridge, a sink, and a breakfast buffet for an additional 3 USD. The whole 2 night stay rang me up $36! The great thing about this hostel is that we could leave our bags with them even after we checked out so we could still explore the city and go hiking without the extra weight!
One of the many Ryanair flights I took during my time abroad. They are a fairly basic, no frills airline that gets you from point A to point B for a low cost. I really enjoyed traveling with Ryanair because they made the travels quick and easy with no hassle. They have deals going on often to offer even cheaper flights!
Other helpful resources
Paddywagon Tours - a cost effective way to see popular tourist spots in Ireland
Airbnb - stay anywhere in the world by using Airbnb!
Eir phone plans - cheap phone plans that can be used throughout Europe and the U.K