As a self-confessed backpacker on a shoestring, writer and blogger Ben Groundwater knows how to travel on a budget. But even he believes that it’s worth splurging on your holidays from time to time to create unforgettable memories

I’ll always remember staying at the Peninsula Hotel in Beijing. It’s amazing. And amazingly expensive.

I’ll remember the fact that the room was bigger than my apartment back home. I’ll remember that there was a TV in the bathroom above the giant Jacuzzi. I’ll remember the concierge service. And most of all, I’ll remember botching the exchange rate and paying almost double what thought I would.

Most people have a budget when they travel – for some it’s large and for others it’s small, but you’ll always have an amount of money you plan to spend on things. (For business travellers, admittedly, that amount can often be zero.)

You set a budget and you stick to it. But travel’s great moments don’t come from toeing that budgetary line. They come from trampling over it.

Maybe it’s a lavish hotel room like the Peninsula. Maybe it’s fine dining. It doesn’t matter, provided it’s something you really care about.

I hired a Mustang convertible in California once. I could have stuck with the family sedan I’d normally book, but we’re talking about Highway 1, we’re talking about cruising the coast through Big Sur with the wind in your hair and the stereo up way too loud. That ’Stang guzzled about a million gallons of fuel and looked ridiculous, but who cares when you’re in charge of an American muscle car on one of the world’s great drives?

I ate at Arzak, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in San Sebastian that’s ranked in the top 10 in the world. The bill for a meal for two came to about €400. But that included two bottles of wine and 10 courses of the most amazing food you can think of.

I paid something like £120 for a seat at a football game. But it wasn’t just any old football game, and it wasn’t just any old seat. This was a Real Madrid game at the Santiago Bernabeu, and I could have stuck my leg out and tackled Cristiano Ronaldo from where I was sitting.

Successful splurging, you see, is all about choosing wisely, picking the expensive things you really want to do and then saving up, splashing out and having the time of your life. You’ll never forget it.

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This article has been tagged Opinion, Destination