Luckily, there are lots of different ways to cut your travel costs, and if you want to travel more but you’re also on a budget, we’ve put together a list of tips and tricks to help you save money so that you can afford to travel to your desired destination without breaking the bank. Check out our list of the top travel hacks and take a look at this Hostelworld discount code UK to get bargain prices on accommodation for your next trip!
Book in advance
Wherever you’ve got your heart set on going, booking your trip in advance is often one of the best ways to enjoy fantastic savings. Making your reservations for flights, accommodation, and many types of holidays and vacations usually cost less if you book early. Other benefits of booking early include having more time to save some extra spending money while you are looking forward to your next big adventure.
Avoid peak travel periods
If you have the luxury of choosing when you take time off work, it’s also a good idea to avoid planning your travels during peak times such as school holidays like Christmas, Easter que hacer en Madrid, and half term holidays. Prices for both flights and accommodation are generally much higher than other quieter periods so you’ll get a better deal if you choose to travel during different periods of the year. Travelling during off-peak seasons also means you can steer clear of the crowds and enjoy a more relaxing vacation.
Check out the sales
Discounted prices are always on offer from various retailers during sale events such as seasonal sales, and special events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and this also includes deals from travel providers. If you choose to book your trip during one of these sales, you will be able to find exclusive deals and unique savings that are not always available.
Book online
Lots of airlines, hotels, and travel companies offer special discounts when you book online, so you can usually find the best deals. Take some time to do a little bit of research before you make any reservations and compare prices and rates from different websites to discover where the best deals are available. You can also sign up for newsletters from your favourite travel websites so that you can stay up to date with all their offers and promotions throughout the year.
Travel with friends or family
Travelling in a group of friends or with extended family is another great way to save money. It’s possible to find extra discounts for group bookings for a range of tourist destinations and when it comes to accommodation, you can split the costs of an apartment or villa with your fellow travellers to save yourself some cash.
Be flexible
To take advantage of many of these suggestions, being flexible in terms of travel dates and destinations is a must. If you want to get the best savings possible, you will definitely have to be flexible about where and when you will travel. Don’t rule out a certain destination that you may not have previously considered, such as traditionally less popular locations for most tourists. You may be pleasantly surprised and your bank balance will be happy too! Invest some time researching various destinations and don’t be afraid to experiment with unusual cities, countries or other holiday destinations.
These tips and tricks should help you to plan your next trip without going over your budget. If you need some more ideas and information about specific places, you can visit the Lonely Planet website to explore their comprehensive and detailed travel guides for a range of destinations worldwide.
Jay's grandma’s popcorn from Gujarat is now selling out everywhere.
Ditched the influencer route and began posting hilarious videos online.
Available in Sweet Chai and Spicy Masala, all vegan and gluten-free
Jayspent 18 months on a list. Thousands of names. Influencers with follower counts that looked like phone numbers. He was going to launch his grandmother's popcorn the right way: send free bags, wait for posts, pray for traction. That's the playbook, right? That's what you do when you're a nobody selling something nobody asked for.
Then one interaction made him snap. The entitlement. The self-importance. The way some food blogger treated his family's recipe like a favour they were doing him. He looked at his spreadsheet. Closed it. Picked up his phone and decided to burn it all down.
Now he makes videos mocking the same people he was going to beg for help. Influencers weeping over the wrong luxury car. Creators demanding payment for chewing food on camera. Someone having a breakdown about ice cubes. And guess what? The internet ate it up. His popcorn keeps selling out. And from Gujarat, his grandmother's 60-year-old recipe is now moving units because her grandson got mad enough to be funny about it.
Jay’s grandma’s popcorn from Gujarat is now selling out everywhere Instagram/daadisnacks
The kitchen story
Daadi means grandmother in Hindi. Jay's daadi came to America from Gujarat decades ago. Every weekend, she made popcorn with the spices she grew up with, including cardamom, cinnamon, and chilli mixes. It was her way of keeping home close while living somewhere that didn't taste like it.
Jay wanted that in stores. Wanted brown faces in the snack aisle. It didn’t happen overnight. It took a couple of years to get from a family recipe to something they could actually sell. Everyone pitched in, including his grandmom, uncle, mum. The spices come from small local farmers. There are just two flavours for now, Sweet Chai and Spicy Masala. It’s all vegan and gluten-free, packed in bright bags that instantly feel South Asian.
The videos don't look like marketing. They look like someone venting at 11 PM after scrolling too long. He nails the nasal influencer voice. The fake sympathy. “I can’t believe this,” he says in that exaggerated influencer tone, “they gave me the cheaper car, only eighty grand instead of one-twenty.” That clip alone blew up, pulling in close to nine million views.
Most people don't know they're watching a snack brand. They think it's social commentary. Jay never calls himself an influencer. He says he’s a creator, period. There’s a difference, and he makes sure people know it. His TikTok has around three hundred thousand followers, Instagram about half that. The comments read like a sigh of relief, people fed up with fake polish, finally hearing someone say what everyone else was thinking.
This fits into something called deinfluencing; people pushing back against the buy-everything-trust-nobody cycle. But Jay's version has teeth. He's naming names, calling out the economics. Big venture money flows to chains with good lighting. Family businesses with actual stories get ignored because their content isn't slick enough.
Jay watched his New York neighbourhood change. Chains moved in. Influencers posted about places that had funding and were aesthetic. The old spots, the family ones, got left behind. His videos are about that gap. The erosion of local culture by money and aesthetics.
"Big chains and VC-funded businesses are promoted at the expense of local ones," he said. His content doesn't just roast influencers. It promotes other small food makers who can't afford to play the game. He positions Daadi as a defender of something real against something plastic.
And it's working. Not just philosophically. Financially. The videos drive traffic. People click through, try the popcorn, come back. The company can't keep stock. That's the proof.
Daadi popcorn features authentic Gujarat flavours like Sweet Chai and Spicy Masala, all vegan and gluten-free Daadi Snacks
The blowback
People unfollow because they think he's too harsh. Jay's take: "I would argue I need to be meaner."
In May, he posted that he's not chasing content creation money like most people at his follower count. "I post to speak my mind and help my family's snack biz." That's a different model. Most brands pay influencers to make everything look perfect. They chase viral polish, and Jay does the opposite. In fact, he weaponises rawness and treats criticism like a product feature.
The internet mostly backs him. Reddit threads light up with support. One commenter was "toxic influencers choking on their matcha lattes searching their Balenciaga bags." Another: "Influencers are boring and unoriginal and can get bent." The anger is shared. Jay simply gave it a microphone and a snack to buy.
Jay's success says something about where things are going. People are done with curated perfection. They can smell the artificiality now. They respond to brands that feel like humans rather than committees. Daadi doesn't sell aspiration. Doesn't sell a lifestyle. Sells popcorn and a point of view.
The quality matters, including the spices, the sourcing, and the family behind it. But the edge matters too. He’s not afraid to say what most brands tiptoe around. “We just show who we are,” Jay says. “No pretending, no gloss. People can feel that and that’s when they reach for the popcorn.”
Most small businesses can't afford to play the traditional game. Can't pay influencers. Can't hire agencies. Can't fake their way into feeds. Maybe they don't need to. Maybe honesty and humour can cut through if they're sharp enough. If the product backs it up. If the story is real and the person telling it isn't trying to sound like a PR script.
This started with a list Jay didn't use. The business took off the moment he stopped trying to play by the usual rules and started speaking his mind. Turns out, honesty sells. And yes, the popcorn really does taste good.
Daadi Snacks merch dropInstagram/daadisnacks
The question is whether this scales. Whether other small businesses watch this and realise they don't need to beg for attention from people who don't care. Right now, Daadi keeps selling out. People keep watching. The grandmother's recipe that was supposed to need influencer approval is doing fine without it. Better than fine. Turns out the most effective marketing strategy might just be giving a damn and not being afraid to show it.
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