Now, I am no pro when it comes to booking travel but, I am pretty frugal when it comes to traveling. I am definitely not the type to upgrade on a flight, to book luxurious hotels, or to check a bag if I don't have to. If I can get by with taking the cheap route, I sure will.
This makes it so I can travel more often and so I can do more things, eat better/more food when traveling, or buy new clothes for trips. Or maybe it is because I am a teacher...
Keep reading to see how I try to save money when I am planning my trips and traveling!
1. Finding Cheap Flights
The biggest way that I save money when planning a trip is by flying as cheap as possible. I rarely ever book a flight directly through an airline's website. Most often I use SkyScanner or sometimes, Google Flights.
These sites scan flights from many different airlines, combining different ones to get you the best deal. SkyScanner will show you the overall cheapest flight and also the overall the best flight factoring in flight times. It also has an option for flexible dates to find you the best deal on different days. I never ever book a trip without checking with SkyScanner.
If you have flexible dates, aren't super picky about layovers, or don't care about the times of departure or or landing, you can find some way cheaper flights!
I also always make sure to check the prices of budget airlines like SunCountry, Allegiant Air, and Spirit if I am going somewhere that they fly to. Even though the flight is not always the most comfortable and there are not as many amenities, the cheaper price is worth it to me!
2. Sleep for Cheap
My favorite way to save money while booking travel is to book cheaper accommodations. Now that I am older I do try to stay away from options that are too cheap or risky- like couch surfing and hostels- but in the past I would have definitely considered them!
Now I like a nice middle of the road option. My two favorite places to look for accommodations are AirBnb and VRBO. I love that with both of these sites you often get more than what a hotel would offer for much cheaper. You can usually get more space, have a more comfortable/cozy environment, have an awesome host that can give you recommendations, and have more privacy than a hotel can offer for a similar price.
I don't know about you guys, but when I travel I am typically hardly ever at the place where I am staying. I like to capitalize on my time while traveling and that means getting up early to start the days' exploring. Often we will come back after the daytime activities to refresh for the evening, and sometimes the night out.
Therefore, I often do not find it super important to spend a lot of money on having nice accommodations with amenities... with the exception of our upcoming honeymoon to Greece- stay tuned for posts about that later this year!
3. Plannin' it Myself!
This one feels pretty obvious to me, but I realize that it probably is not. I have always just planned trips and tours when traveling myself. I do not feel that it is a good use of my money to pay someone to plan trips for me or pay someone to be my guide while I am there. I like to be my own guide and to save some money on that- some of the best experiences I have had while traveling have even been on the less planned and more spontaneous side!
In my opinion, to save money and to plan your trip the best way possible you should:
-Research and plan the trip yourself, rather than using a company or a going with group travel. (in my humble opinion, eew) There are so many resources and blogs for traveling that you can find itineraries and guides for just about any destination in the world.
-Skip guided tours when you are there. Most of the time you can guide yourself and will have more time to explore, take breaks, etc. You can always look at the places/stops on a paid tour and follow that but do it on your own!
-Plan the ideal time of day to do certain activities depending on happy hour prices, times of opening/closing, when it is less busy and you can get a better experience, etc.
For example: In Jackson Hole, Wyoming there is a gondola lift that can take you up to a restaurant on top of the mountain. We wanted to go up there to eat to celebrate our new engagement with a beautiful view.
Our options were to pay a certain amount per person for a ticket OR to wait 40 minutes for the gondola ride to be free after a certain time. We wisely chose to wait in line for the gondola to take us up for free, saving money and allowing us to spend more on drinks and food when we actually got up to the restaurant.
-When planning your itinerary, try to get the most out of everything you pay to do. If you pay to enter a national park, plan to spend the whole day there rather than planning other activities on that same day that are outside of the park.
Planning is not always something that comes naturally for everyone and it can definitely be difficult to do in a place you have never been. Following the tips above might not be for everyone; maybe you prefer to just spend the money, be walked through a city by a tour guide without having to plan or research, and want it to be super convenient and stress-free. I totally get that. It is just not how I like to put my money to use when traveling!
4. Location, Location, Location
One of the things that can cause a vacation to cost so much is location. Where you stay and eat can cost more if it is located in the most popular, touristy area- even if it is not necessarily nicer OR better food! This is because they assume tourists will not know better, do the research to find something else, or that tourists will just pay it anyways- and most do.
When researching, planning and while traveling, it is definitely worth it to look and see if you can stay outside of the more popular area and either walk, take public transportation, or drive to the sites in that area that you want to see.
Every time I travel to a large city like Rome, London, Paris, or even an island like Santorini, I always prefer to stay in a cheaper area and take the transportation to sites. In my opinion, it is also kind of fun to see a different area other than the downtown heart of the city.
Note: This does not work for every destination. Often times for National Parks, road trips along the coast, or places that are less tourist-y do not have this as an option. Some parks are remote and only have accommodations within the park, where they can charge a higher price. When traveling along the coast, you may not want to stray too far away or travel out of your route to stay somewhere cheaper. In these cases, usually I just have to pay the higher price to get to experience that destination.
5. Know Before You Go!
Before arriving at a travel destination there are always a few really good things to know! Knowing these things can not only save you money but also can save time!
I recommend knowing:
-How tipping works wherever you are going (outside of the United States). If you are going somewhere where tipping is not customary and you DO tip like it were, you are spending unnecessary money.
-If you can pay for tickets ahead of time. Places like the Eiffel Tour (to go up to the top) allow you to buy your tickets ahead of time. Sometimes this makes the ticket cheaper for you OR it can save you time by allowing you to go right in rather than waiting in line.
-Happy hour specials. If you are going to Las Vegas, Nashville or on any bachelorette party I highly recommend knowing about places that have awesome HH specials. When we went to Las Vegas, we learned that Margaritaville had a special of $.05 beers at 5:00 p.m. on the weekdays. We definitely took advantage of that and in Vegas, that saved us SO MUCH money.
-About free activities or see if there are days when things are free. You may find that a certain zoo is free on Mondays!
-The general cost of things before you go. If you know that drinks in Nashville are going to be significantly higher than what you'd normally pay at home, you can prepare ahead of time for that, especially if there is no way around paying that price. Same with prices of food, extra charges within a location, up-charges for things you want to get to do, etc.
For example: water at a restaurant is not free in Europe! It is an extra cost.
Similarly, if you are traveling abroad, always make sure to look ahead of time at travel fees on your cards and conversions of money to the destination that you are traveling. It may be beneficial for you to get the currency you need from your local bank rather than when you get there. Checking the rates ahead of time will help you know that!
6. Transportation Tips
This one is brand new to me and I will update with more information after my first trip. I recently heard about a site similar to that of AirBnb and VRBO but for car rentals! Car rental prices right now are ASTRONOMICAL. This site, called Turo, has cars that you borrow/rent from the owner. Their prices are much more reasonable right now.
I plan to try Turo out next week for my sister's bachelorette party in Denver, Colorado. With 9 girls going, it does not make sense to take 2-3 Ubers everywhere we go. Especially since we are staying outside of downtown Denver (to save money!) and plan to go hiking 30 minutes outside of Denver.
Renting a car in general would save us so much money, but for the size of vehicle we need, using Turo is the way to go! Again, I will let you know how it goes since I am required to go pick-up the vehicle from the owner and because driving someone else' vehicle is much more nerve-racking for me!
Also, you can supposedly find really cool and fancy cars on Turo if you are into that!
7. Packing Hacks
I will almost never pay more to check a bag unless I have to. If I ever do check a bag, it is usually because it is included with my flight (Oooh! That's another tip: if possible or if you have to fly via one airline, try to pick a flight that includes a checked bag).
There are so many packing strategies out there to fit as much as you can in a carry-on bag and avoid paying more. Some of these include: packing light & re-wearing things or packing layers that you can mix & match. I try to do that or I just lug around my really heavy duffle bag. Is it fun? No. But, I am too cheap.
Another way that I sometimes manage to save some money on baggage is to share a checked bag with my husband with a friend.
8. Get a National Park Annual Pass
If you are similar to me, you are obsessed with the National Parks lately! In this case you probably know about the National Park Annual Pass, have it, and use it frequently.
If not, the annual pass is $80 and as long as you plan to visit 2 or more national parks in one year, it will save you money! Often times, national parks are close enough to one another that you can visit 2, 3 or even 5 parks in one trip. These are my favorite vacations lately so I have gotten lost of use of my National Park Annual Pass these last few years.
One thing to note: They only admit your vehicle to get into the park without paying. They do not have anything to do with the reservation system that some parks have put in place. Before going to a national park I highly highly recommend checking on that park and making sure they don't have a reservation system for when you want to go. You can learn more about this at the National Park website.
9. Split the Bill
I have never done solo travel, mostly because I do not want to have to pay for the whole thing myself. The cost of the stay and rental vehicle is the same whether you fill it with 4 people or just have one- so to save money, travel with more people and split the bill!
10. Save on Food
Another way to save lots of money while you are traveling is with food! I like to save money on food while traveling in a few different ways:
-Buy groceries to make meals in your AirBnb! Honestly, this usually ends up being one of my favorite meals of the trip because it can lead to more bonding with the group you're with, is sometimes more comfortable or more fun.
-Pack a picnic. This one is a staple for me when I am on hiking trips. I always pack a picnic full of PB&J sandwiches, chips, and fruits like oranges. This also works really well for beach trips and when traveling in a large city where there is a really pretty park or site to see (like the Eiffel Tower). Having a picnic in front of Eiffel Tower was one of my favorite parts of Paris!
-Eat street food! Street food is often super cheap and gives you a chance to try authentic cuisine. Of course, street food is not something that is popular everywhere in the United
States, like the midwest. But large cities often have pods where food trucks park so you can try a bunch of different street foods at once.
They are also super common in Latin American countries and Europe.
-Split a meal. When I travel, I eat a lot. It's one of my favorite parts of traveling because I want to try many different restaurants and foods. Sometimes when we do eat, I am not always super hungry because we had just eaten not that long ago. Plus, if I am strolling by a delicious-looking ice cream shop I am not going to turn it down simply because I am not super hungry yet. So, to save money on the frequent eating that I do, splitting a meal with someone is the way to go.
There are so many different ways to stick to a budget when traveling. I feel like people generally assume that traveling is super expensive, but when you learn how to do it on the cheap you soon realize that it is not as bad as you maybe thought. And in my opinion, traveling and making unforgettable memories is always worth the money!
Do you have any tips that I missed? Message me on my Instagram!
-Mackensie
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