How We Travel For Cheap
Use multiple flight search engines to find the best deal.
Google Flights - we use this a ton when we are very flexible on when we want to travel and aren’t stuck to specific dates.
Kayak - we use this more so when we have specific dates we want to be traveling to find the best deals for many different locations.
Subscribe to platforms like Scott’s Cheap Flights - we use this as a spur of the moment, spontaneous trip planning when we don’t have a specific destination or timeframe in mind.
Join a travel rewards program so you can pay for your travel with just using points.
Having a credit card that builds travel points can get you really far in your travels. My husband and I built up so many points by using our credit card for most purchases that it allowed us to take a week vacation to Florida for free. Our travel points covered our entire stay and our round trip flights.
On top of using our credit card to build travel points, we also made rewards accounts with the corresponding airlines we use.
Prioritize what really is important to you.
Do you really need the fanciest Air BNB or hotel room? Probably not. How much time do you spend in there anyway?
Can you get away with bike, moped or Vespa transportation vs. renting a car? You can rent bikes for as little as $25 for a whole week.
Do you really need a checked luggage or can you get away with your free carry on? Pack your light layers! Youtube is my go-to when I need to pack light for vacation. So many creators have great videos that outline what to pack for each destination.
Make sure your stay has a kitchen.
Get groceries and cook to avoid paying lots of money for going out to eat for every meal. This is something we do on almost EVERY vacation. Although trying local foods is a very large part of our travel routine, we also always try to make meals that we feel won’t take away from our trip. We almost always make breakfast and always pack a really light snacking-lunch for the day. This can save you hundreds on a trip, especially when traveling as a couple. Those little meals add up.
Try to avoid flying on the weekends.
I know sometimes avoiding the weekend isn’t ALWAYS the less-expensive route but most of the time it is. We almost always try to fly during the week - this has always saved us money on our vacations.
Take most of your meals to-go.
Tipping servers at restaurants (especially in touristy areas) can get expensive. You can avoid this unnecessary expense by taking your food to go and enjoying more of your trip outdoors somewhere.
Don’t buy meaningless souvenirs.
Do you really need to get a magnet for your mom, your friend, your cousin? No. You can easily drop $50 on souvenirs that may just end up in the trash someday.
Take cash with you.
This is something we do when we travel as it helps keep us in line of what we are spending. It is so easy to aimlessly spend when you just have to swipe a card. But when you have limited cash to spend, you will (1) know you are staying within your allotted budget and (2) you will prioritize what you spend your money on during your trip.
Plan ahead!
Historically, the more we have planned ahead, the less we have spent on our trips. It seems as though the trips that we didn’t plan ahead as much, we need to purchase things we were missing, we went out to eat for more meals than anticipated, rental fees for certain equipment was more expensive being booked day of vs in advance. So plan out your trip as much as possible before you take off.
Don’t pay for all your experiences.
Not every experience needs to cost money. Doing things like hiking and exploring small cities don’t have to cost a dime. We thoroughly enjoy hiking so that’s mostly what we do on vacation however we also like to visit small, quaint cities and towns. We mostly visit cities for the environment, not necessarily for the shops and restaurants. Don’t feel you have to book tours everywhere - sometimes that makes the exploration less-enjoyable.
