One of the first questions I always had while wanderlusting over traveller’s Instagram photos was about how they could afford to travel. The amount of money it could cost for transportation, hotels, and restaurants alone felt overwhelming.
Well, I’m here to tell you that while it does cost money, there are budgeting techniques and other tips you can utilize to make traveling to your next destination completely in reach!
Read on to learn more about ways to save money on travel, and tell us what you think in the comments below!
Tip 1: Be flexible on dates
When you begin planning for a trip, one of the first ways to save money on travel is to research a few different dates to get an idea for the different price options.
A great starting point is to use Google Flights. Type in your departure and arrival airports and select the dates you’re looking for. Next, focus on these two tools:
- Click on “Dates” to see cheaper flights available on different dates.
- Click on “Price Graph” to see price trends for the duration of your trip.
Using Google Flights is a great first place to check what dates might work the best for your budget and schedule.
Here are some other great sites and apps that can help you find and lock down a great deal:
- Skyscanner: Skyscanner aggregates cheap plane tickets and flight deals. Sign up for their newsletter to get flight deals and travel tips sent directly to your inbox!
- Hopper: Start by selecting your destination and date(s). Hopper will tell you if it’s a good time to buy or if you should wait. It’ll send you notifications when it finds new details and alert you when it’s the best time to purchase your ticket!
- Travel Pirates: This is a great site to peruse different deals on vacation packages.
- Scott’s Cheap Flights: Use this site to get alerts for cheap international flights.
Tip 2: Use a travel credit card
It sounds a bit counter-intuitive to think that spending money can be a way to save money on travel, but just stay with me for this one… There’s no way around needing to purchase your basic necessities, so why not rack up some credit card points while running your errands?
There are some great options for travel credit cards, which NerdWallet breaks out for you in a digestible way in their Best Travel Credit Cards of 2018 article.
We recommend the following cards:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: This is probably the best deal for earning miles that you can use for several airlines.
- Capital One® Venture® Card: With this card, you earn a bonus 50,000 miles once you spend $3,000 within three months of opening the account.
- Bank of America® Travel Rewards Card: We opened this card before traveling to Italy – with this card, we were able to redeem points for a statement credit to pay for a lot of our travel expenses – flights, hotels, rental cars, etc.
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Card: This is a great deal for those of you who want to travel around the United States. A perk of this card is the Companion Pass, which allows you to bring along a designated family member or friend for free on any Southwest flight (just pay for the taxes and any fees).
Helpful Tip:
Make sure to choose a card with no foreign transaction fees so you can continue to earn those points on purchases while abroad!
Tip 3: Book an Airbnb
When planning for a trip, make sure to take a look at what Airbnb has to offer as a way to save money because many times these options are less expensive than hotels. If you’re new to Airbnb, here’s $40 off your first booking!
You’ll not only save money on accommodations with an Airbnb, but there are some other sneaky ways you can save money by checking out the available amenities.
For example, we look for the following amenities when checking out Airbnb options:
- A kitchen: Instead of eating out all the time, try making some meals at home. You’re not just saving money by doing this, but it’s also a cool way to feel like you’re just one of the locals!
- A washer: This is a win-win for a longer trip because this can also save you time (no need to find and wait around at a laundromat) and help you pack a little lighter!
Helpful Tip:
Get some travel containers from the dollar section of your local store and use one of them to hold laundry detergent from home so you don’t have to purchase it on your trip
Tip 4: Use a budget app, like Mint
We’ve talked a lot about ways to save money on travel – but it also helps when you can plan and save in advance! We highly recommend using Mint to budget and track your monthly expenses.
Just hook it up your different accounts and then set your monthly budgets for rent, groceries, utilities, etc. You’ll start to get an idea how your spending trends in certain areas, and you can even set up alerts for when you’re getting close to your budget on something.
Helpful Tip:
The best place to start when creating a budget is to take a look at what your monthly spend is in certain categories. It’s helpful to see what you spend on rent, utilities, restaurants, shopping, and groceries, then compare that against your monthly income.
Are there any areas you can cut back on each month so that you can stash some extra money away for travel?
What are some of the ways you save money on travel? Tell us in the comments below!
