How to Travel on a Budget

If you’ve been following me on any of my social media channels for a while now, you’ll know that I love to travel. I feel like every time I travel somewhere new, I learn something new about myself and grow.

But let’s be real. I’m not making $100k a year from my blog. My family isn’t rich. In fact, I’m a 19 year old full time college student barely getting by on a starbucks barista paycheck. But for someone who isn’t filthy rich, I feel like I have been a lot of places and experienced a lot of experiences.

I have been able to travel so many places by travelling smart. While putting aside money to travel is very important and I can do a whole seperate blog post on that, this post is going to be focused mainly on what to do once you have your money to travel.

Let’s get into it!

Plan in advance!

As amazing as it sounds to book a trip to Thailand tommorrow and just go, that’s not the most reasonable option if you are trying to save money. I use an app called Hopper to book my flights. The app tells you when the cheapest dates to fly on, and when the best day to book your flight is based on price trends. I’ve been using this app for the longest time and it’s never failed me!

Travel during off-season

If you don’t mind being a little hot or a little cold, this is the best way to do it. For example: tropical islands are warm places are most traveled to during the winter months. If you want to save money, travel there during the summer months! Airlines and hotels hike prices up during peak season so if you travel during the least traveled times, you can save so much money! I recently traveled to the Cayman Islands at the end of June, which is there off-peak season and I can say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. I got a great deal on the trip and all of the hot tourists spots weren’t as busy as they normally are. As long as all of the places you want to go to are still open-book it!

Stay in Air Bnb’s

I fairly recently discovered the world of Air BnB and I have been obsessed ever since! If you don’t know what Air BnB is, it is a website where people (or hosts as they call them) rent out second houses, guest houses, apartments, private rooms, tents, campers, and even parking spots! I have stayed in a few Air BnB’s and had nothing but amazing experiences. One thing I tend to look for in most vacations is to live almost like a local. I want to learn what life would be like to grow up and live in a whole different place and I feel like the whole hotel experience tends to take away from that. To save $40 on your first trip, use my code!

COOK YOUR OWN FOOD

This is my NUMBER ONE tip for traveling on a budget. Whenever I used to take vacations, I would eat and drink out every. single. meal. One time when I went to Montreal for 4 days, I decided to keep track of my spending at restaurants and bars, just for fun. $523. FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE DOLLARS. IN FOUR DAYS. That’s literally a whole seperate vacation!!!!!!! Going back to the Air BnB topic, staying somewhere that has a kitchen can save SO MUCH MONEY!! I think it is important to go out to eat a few times in a new place just to try new foods and new experiences, go to the grocery store, spend maybe $75, and take yourself on another trip instead of spending so much money on something that is gone immediately.

Rent a car

I always thought the idea of spending so much money to rent a car on vacation was silly until I really thought about how much I spend on Ubers. Now if you’re staying in a city, this may not be worth your money since mostly everything is in walking distance. But if you plan on going to a suburb or countryside, renting a car may be worth the money!

I hope you all enjoyed this post! If you have any tips on traveling on a budget, PLEASE let me know in the comments! I hope you have an amazing morning, afternoon, or night!

Love, K. x