A lot of people think traveling is expensive. Although it can be, traveling does not need to break your bank. There are so many ways to travel inexpensively and help cut costs. So many apps and programs were created to specifically help travelers travel in inexpensive ways so that they can still enjoy traveling and not go into debt. Here are 10 ways you can travel inexpensively and not break your bank.
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1. Take shared cars.
Transportation can get costly while traveling. There are many ways to travel inexpensively through shared cars. There are apps like BlaBlaCar, which is a carpooling app where you can ride with someone else for a discounted rate. It usually is cheaper than renting your own car, taking the train or other transportation. Another great app you can use is Turo. Turo is where you rent a locals car for a significantly cheaper price than renting a car with a rental car company. Also, if you’re staying in an Airbnb or know a local, you can ask to rent their car as well. This is not part of Airbnb’s services, but sometimes locals are really nice and willing to help out. When I was in Mexico, we met a local through an Airbnb experience and he let us borrow his car for a discounted rate. He was able to make money and we were able to get a cheap rental car. It was a win-win situation.
2. Hotel sites with rewards.
When booking accommodation, you want to use websites that give you discounts and rewards for using their website. For example, when using Booking.com or Agoda.com, you sometimes get discounts on your accommodation. If you repeatedly use their website, you also get rewards that can be applied to your future bookings. This does add up and can save you a lot of money in the long run. I always recommend using a variety of different sites to see which website has the cheapest rate for the accommodation you are looking to book.
3. Travel during the off-season.
Traveling during peak season versus off-season can be a significant price difference. If you want to travel inexpensively, traveling during the off-season is a great idea to help cut costs. When you travel during peak season, everything is a lot more expensive and a lot of accommodations, transportations, and even activities get booked up fast. If you travel during peak season, you need to plan ahead of time as things will get booked out and more expensive.
4. Visit countries with a better exchange rate.
One of the number one ways to cut costs and travel inexpensively is to travel to places where your currency is stronger. When your currency is stronger, you are able to get more with the amount you spend. So if you want to travel inexpensively, traveling to places where the local currency is weaker than your currency is a great way to cut costs and budget more money.
5. Use rewards.
I have always been a fan of using rewards to get *free* things. Why pay for something in cash and not get any benefit from it? Every time you pay for something that you normally would be paying for, you get rewards/points. You want to make sure you get a good credit card that has a good points/rewards system. When you’re constantly paying for things that you normally pay for, your points and rewards add up and you can redeem for free travel or a significantly cheaper rate.
*Please note: only get a credit card if you are financially stable and can pay off the amount every month. You do NOT want to go into debt and use money that you do not have.*
6. Cook your own meals.
A great way to cut costs while traveling is to cook your own meals. If you’re staying in a hotel, hostel, Airbnb, etc., look for a place that has a kitchen. You can go to the grocery store and cook your own meals. If the kitchen has a fridge and you want to eat out, you can put your name on your food and have leftovers as a second meal as well. Depending on the cost of food where you’re traveling, cooking your own meals can help save money while traveling.
7. Find cheap flights.
If you’ve seen my Instagram post talking about one of my favorite features to find cheap flights, you already know that “explore anywhere” is one of my favorite features. When you are on Google Flights or Skyscanner, you can select the “explore anywhere” option and choose the cheapest flight you want. This is a great way to find cheap flights, but also travel to places that weren’t even on your radar.
As you can see in this example, I chose to leave in 1 week, from San Francisco, and these were the prices for a one-way flight:
$95 for a flight to Puerto Rico? $100 to Mexico? $108 to Honduras and $121 to Costa Rica? Sign me up!
8. Free activities.
Free activities are a great way to travel inexpensively. There are so many free things you can do while traveling. Some of the best activities and sights are free. You can do free walking tours, go to national parks, go hiking, explore the city, and go off the beaten path. Some museums even have a free admission day. There are so many free things to do while traveling that are still so fun and so beautiful.
9. Join volunteer/work programs for free accommodation.
A great way to travel inexpensively is to join a volunteer or work program. You can trade your services for free accommodation and/or free food. It’s also a great way to give back to the communities. You can join programs like Workaway, WWOOF, and even find local volunteer programs within the city you’re traveling to.
10. Make money while traveling.
Another great way to travel inexpensively is to make money while traveling the world. No, you do not have to vlog or blog or do whatever you think you have to do. There are so many ways to make money while traveling abroad. You can monetize your skills, you can teach English, you can tutor, you can transcribe, and many other jobs you can do. I have a free resource if you want to learn how to make money while traveling the world. You can grab your free copy here.
As you can see, there are a lot of ways to travel inexpensively. I only listed 10 ways in this post, but there are even more ways to travel with little money and travel inexpensively. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many clever ways, travel hacks, and tricks you can do to cut costs and travel the world. Traveling does not need to break your bank.
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