Traveling is in my blood, I was born in Germany and I’ve been flying solo internationally since I was six years old as the the result of bi-continental divorced co-parenting. So over the 20+ years of flying, exploring and staying in hotels, I’ve gotten it down to a science. There are times when an adventure deserves a splurge but other times, not so much. Yes traveling costs a lot, but there are some ways to save some money so you can see the world. Here are my tips for traveling on a budget:
1. Do Your Research
Check sites like Orbitz and CheapFlights to get the best possible deal. I also recommend getting flights that are refundable, just in case. It’s also best to buy your flight more than two weeks before you travel, after the 14 day approaching mark flights tend to increase and get higher the closer you get to your departure.
A few studies have found that for domestic flights, the best time to buy is 47 days before departure, with the prime number being 27 – 114 days before you plan to fly.
2. Be Flexible
If at all possible, have flexible travel dates. Weekends and holidays are always more expensive. If you can adjust your trip to save money, do it!
When searching for flights, I always check the option to search +/- 1 to 3 days if you aren’t stuck to a certain schedule, so you can find the cheapest days to fly. I booked a flight the other day and leaving on Monday instead of Sunday saved me nearly $800. I had to book an extra night at a hotel, but even with the cost of the room it was still less than the more expensive flight on Sunday.
3. Room Rates
I never book through hotels directly, I use sites like TripAdvisor.com to find deals. Just like with flights, make sure that whichever hotel you choose has free cancellations. I’ve learned my mistake by booking rooms without a cancellation policy, because sometimes things just come up.
Sites like Orbitz are really great when it comes to hotels, because they let you cancel (mostly) up to 24 hours before you need to check in. You can also find great hotel rates on Groupon, if you plan ahead of time. One time I lucked out on a last minute trip to Vegas and found a room at the Hard Rock for $49!
4. Rollin’ With the Homies
The more the merrier! Round up all your girls and split the cost of the room. That way you can get something a bit fancier than if you were paying for the entire stay on your own. Sure the bathroom can be a little crowded, but this way you can spend a little less and if needed ask for a room with two beds. You can even fit four of you together in one room!
5. Shop, Shop, Shop
Between room service and eating out, you can really blow a lot of cash. Try to eat in as much as you can, go to a local grocery store and stock up on essentials that you can keep in your room. When booking a hotel, also check for spots that offer a free breakfast. You can load up on carbs in the morning and avoid spending money on a meal.
I stop by the store on my first day of trips to get water, some candy and fruit so whenever I feel like I want a snack I have something instead of grabbing a $10 snickers that I didn’t really want out of the mini bar.
I hope this helps you with an upcoming adventure! Traveling is fun and there are ways to do it to save money so you can see the world. I love seeing all of your travel pics on Instagram. Use the hashtag #travel_withme so I can keep up with you all!
Now the only question is, what’s everyone gonna do with all the cash they just saved?
Mira says:
Great tips! I’m always trying to save money by researching the cheapest methods of travel (for example taking a Fernbus in Germany instead of taking a train) xx
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N says:
Waw what an interesting post.Now I know how wrong I am in each of this point, I barely do researches or I do it wrong, I book almost last minute everytime, and finally room service just shot me dead.
Regina says:
I also love checking skyscanner. It’s great to compares flight prices! But, great tips! 😉 Xoxo, Regina ** http://www.alanaandkyra.com/
Majean says:
Great tips and like Regina said skyscanner is pretty good at finding deals. For short haul flights budget airlines are pretty decent and prices are dirt cheap! With the extra money I’ll go on more trips or buy new shoes 😉
Rebecca says:
These tips were really helpful and I love your writing voice!! It’s refreshing seeing someone like you, who is highly successful, acknowledge that travelling can be costly and are showing people that it is possible to do it in a inexpensive way.
xoxo
Erika Dellatore says:
Awesome tips! I have a silly question that I’ve been meaning to ask. Are you afraid to fly or do you ever get nervous on the plane? You seem to travel a ton and I’m so envious of people who can do it with ease! I’ve been to many far off destinations (Italy x 2, Hawaii etc) and it never gets easy
xx
Marianna Hewitt says:
honestly it never bothers me, ill have to ask other people how they deal with it but i usually fall asleep
Kyle Ross says:
I’m planning a trip to Florida this winter and did a lot of looking around online for the best deals on hotels. I didn’t know there were sites that find deals for you. What a time saver! I’m also glad you mentioned always booking rooms with a cancellation policy, because I’ve had negative experiences with not having one in the past as well. I will definitely use one of those deal finding sites for trip planning in the future!
Ethel says:
I really liked all of these tips, especially suggesting to “roll with the homies”. That sounds like a lot of fun and it would be a lot cheaper split between a few people. It’s really cool that you’ve traveled so much. My travel experience is close to none! Thanks for the fun post!
Ashley Stanford says:
Hi! I notice you have an adorable dog but that you are also very very busy from blogging, traveling, etc. How do you find the time to have a dog or what do you do when you are too busy? Thanks!
Stephie Smith says:
My husband and I have a travel bucket list, and the first place we want to travel to is Ireland. There are some places there that are crowded due to tourism, but we want to take a road trip along the coast. I’ll have to share this article with him so we can do it on a budget.
Travis says:
I like this type of idea and service, at this time and position preferred this
Logan Murphy says:
I thinking that doing research on travel pricing and hotel pricing has really benefited me and my wife when we want to go on vacation. We are newly weds and of course have the budget of newly weds as well. We absolutely love to travel; this is actually what we save most of our money for. We have become pretty good at making sure we find the best deals for what we want to do. I also like your tip of being flexible, this has actually helped our budget as well. Thanks for the great tips! They are all really useful.
Lauren Woodley says:
Thanks for sharing such great tips! I especially liked the insight you gave about traveling with friends. As you say, this will help you split the cost of the room and save money. Plus, it definitely is always fun to travel with friends and share the experiences together, so it will make your trip more enjoyable anyway.
Grace Turner says:
Thanks for all the fun tips to make traveling cheaper. The sites you mentioned for finding a better room rate look really useful. My husband and I want to drive across the United States but we don’t want it to be too expensive paying for hotel rooms in every town we stop. We will for sure use this to find a cheap place to sleep, thank you.
Lahari says:
Thank you for writing such a great blog post.
Keep updating more.
Eagerly waiting ahead. Good luck!
Mani Venkat says:
Nice blog!! Thanks for sharing