Unique surroundings, different languages, foreign cultures, exotic foods, new experiences: traveling is one of the most exciting ways to explore what this big and diverse world has to offer!
Contrary to populate belief, experiencing all that traveling has to offer does not require you to spend oodles of money to have a great time. It doesn’t have to eat up your entire savings and it doesn’t have to be expensive. From how and when to buy flights, booking where you stay, and deciding where you eat, to make the most of a trip you just need to be smart with your money.
Personally, I like to allocate most of my budget towards food. Others might prioritize staying at a 5 star hotel and others might enjoy an exotic and adventurous excursion all of which costs some serious dough and most often we are forced to pay a premium because we’re tourists. In any case, There are many ways to shave a few dollars off when you’re exploring the world. Here are 16 ways I use to save money on travel.
- Fly in the middle of the week. Avoid the weekend! The most expensive times to fly include Friday and Sundays. You can find significantly cheaper flights that take off between Tuesday and Thursday.
- Fly at off peak hours. Red eye flights or extra early flights in the morning also have the tendency to be cheaper.
- Plan and book way in advance. Far too often do I see my friends throwing away precious money by booking their airline tickets and hotels/accommodations a few weeks before the trip. Be proactive and purchase these things at least 3 months in advance to save hundreds of dollars!
- Use credit card points to pay for flights. I have two credit cards that help make this happen. My Chase Sapphire and Chase Reserve credit cards. Both cards had impressive initial sign up bonus point offers of 50,000 and 100,000 respectively at the time I signed up, each equating to about 600-900$.
- Sign up with a frequent flyer program. If your are loyal to a single airline, sign up with their frequent flyer program. I am signed up with SouthWest’s and each time you book a flight you accumulate “x” amount of points. Travel enough and accumulate enough points so you get another free flight.
- Take Lyfts/ Ubers or other ride share programs. Save more money by taking public transportation. Save even more money by walking. I strategically plan which sites and attractions we see and group them accordingly by location to maximize our time and as well as to minimize transportation costs. Most of the time within a small city everything is within walking distance of each other. There are also bike share programs or scooter programs like Lime Bike and Byrd scooters popping up in major cities. It’s as easy as downloading an app and can be as cheap as $1 to start.
- Skip the tour buses. If you’re feeling extra adventurous and also trying to save some money, skip out on the tourists traps of guided tours. These tours can be pretty pricey, so try pulling out a map and show yourself around for a self-guided tour. This is how Vince and I often travel. We still discover great areas and find delicious local food, all with the help of our smartphones and Google maps. We’re rarely ever lost.
- Don’t stay at the fanciest hotels. Vince and I love AirBnb. We value going out and spending our travel costs in other ways, like food, instead of a nicer hotel. When you think about it, we’re not spending much time at our place other than for sleeping. We’re out exploring the local scene and not spending it all day inside, so it doesn’t make sense for us and our style of travel.
- Stay at a hotel that offers breakfast. Sometimes the hotels and AirBnb’s we stay at offer small simple breakfasts. It’s really convenient when you can just wake up and have a light breakfast just to get the morning started. From there I sometimes take an extra piece of fruit or toast or bottle of juice as a snack. I just throw it into my bag before we’re out walking and exploring. This saves us from spending a few extra dollars later in the day for something to nibble on.
- Plan a trip with friends/ family to split hotel costs. During winter it’s been tradition to book a large cabin and invite a group of friends or family members to split the costs. You can have really nice quality time with close ones while sharing and splitting the costs on accommodations.
- Look for free activities or venues. Lots of parks are free and many museums offer free admission entirely or have free admission on certain days of the week. There are also many local weekend markets and beaches or national parks depending where you stay that are also free. Go hiking or swim at the beach and breathe in the fresh air of the outdoors.
- Coupon/ Groupon. As mentioned above, some museums offer free admission but if not, they may still offer special discounts for college students, senior citizens or military service members. Also download and explore Groupon app, which offers discounts and coupons for local goods, restaurants, concerts, and activities.
- Eat out less frequently/ Cook yourself. Spending money for breakfast , lunch, dinner and dessert can add up when you’re out traveling. Cut back to having one nice meal a day and just smaller preprepared snacks in between. If your AirBnb or hotel has a kitchen, make the most of it and cook something up! You can go to the grocery store to find ingredients for your smaller meals like lunch and breakfast and/or snacks. This applies especially to those with special dietary restrictions.
- Pregame: The game before the game. Planning on a night out? Before you go out for the evening warm up with a few drinks at your hotel or home before you go out. We didn’t mention it in post #13 but we already know you also picked up a bottle of wine or spirit when you stopped by the grocery earlier 😉 One shot or cocktail can cost an average 10$ at the bar, so pregaming before hand can save you quite a bit of money. As always, safety first! Determine who the designated driver is beforehand or take a cab/ Lyft/ or Uber when you head out for more drinks or dinner.
- Happy Hour. Who doesn’t love happy hours;1/2 drinks and appetizers! Take advantage!
- Ask the locals. They usually have good recommendations for restaurants and activities that haven’t been turned into tourist traps and affected by ridiculous tourists prices. Locals often offer the best, most delicious food recommendations and the places they recommend are also fairly priced.
Those are just a few ways I save money on travel. What do you do to save money while you’re out traveling?
-Stay Curious.
Written by: A Z Flor Huerta
Editor: Vincent Jison
