I won Race Across The World and these are my best hacks for travelling on a budget – I even holidayed in Brazil for less than Majorca

If there’s one person who knows a thing or two about travelling on a budget, it’s Alfie Watts.

On last year’s series of Race Across the World, the 22-year-old from St Albans and his pal Owen Wood were given a budget of just £1,100 each to make their way from northernmost Japan to the idyllic Indonesian island of Lombok.

Since winning the show and the £20,000 prize pot, Alfie has made it his mission to visit every country – and has backpacked to 78 of the 195, on a shoestring budget.

And now, in an exclusive interview with MailOnline, he has revealed his best hacks for saving money while travelling – as well as the biggest mistakes he and Owen made on Race Across the World.

Alfie’s first tip is to make sure you don’t rely on your debit or credit card when you’re abroad – especially when outside of Europe.

‘Exchange money while you’re at home and always carry cash,’ the travel content creator says. ‘In the West, we’re quite used to everything being card, but that’s not the case in a lot of countries – basically as soon as you get out of Europe – and ATMs, abroad, will fleece you.’

Alfie also recommends comparing the total price of holidays against each other, rather than just the price of flights and accommodation.

He explains: ‘You’ll find that sometimes going long haul is actually better.

Race Across the World winner Alfie Watts, 22, tells MailOnline his best tips for travelling on a budget

Alfie (left) and Owen Wood (right) were only given £1,100 each and challenged to make their way from northernmost Japan to the idyllic Indonesian island of Lombok on last year’s series of Race Across The World

‘Sure, flights to Thailand are £600-700, while Spain can sometimes be around £300, but if you look at the price of accommodation in Thailand, it can be £20 a night for luxury, and you can get meals for £2.

‘Owen and I spent less on a week in Brazil, all-in, than a week in Majorca – even though our flights were 750 quid.

‘The money can quickly add up when you go to Spain in peak season.’

Having now become an experienced traveller since he took part in Race Across The World, Alfie thinks he and Owen ‘could have saved so much money in so many different places’ if they did the trip again,

He says: ‘I hate haggling at street markets because, you’re haggling over three or four dollars, which means nothing to us, but a lot to them.

‘But, on Race Across The World, haggling is essential, and I just don’t think we haggled well enough. I also don’t think we looked to hitchhike enough. I don’t think we braved crappy accommodations enough. I don’t think we did enough hostels.

‘We could have saved money by sacrificing a little bit of comfort.

‘Travelling can be really easy and cheap, but us having that inexperience at the time, is what makes the show.’

After racing nearly 14,000 kilometres over seven weeks and through seven countries, Alfie and Owen crossed the finish line in Lombok (pictured)

Alfie recently revealed his favourite countries of those he has visited – as well as his most overrated country.

When it comes to his favourites, Alfie has two – Jordan and Malaysia.

He said: ‘I took my Nan to Petra because she’d wanted to see it for her whole life, so that was really nice, and the whole feeling around the trip was just really positive.

‘The people in Jordan are just so friendly as well.

‘And Malaysia is also a favourite, because it’s just a cheap paradise.

‘But my single favourite place in the world has to be Angel Falls in Venezuela.

‘They’re the tallest waterfall in the world, but they’re completely off grid, and a nightmare to get to.’

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