10 Tips For Cheap Travel

There are many types of travelers in this world; I just happen to be the frugal kind. Of course I enjoy a fancy hotel, plush pillows, a private car ride to my destinations, and hell, let's even throw in a first class plane ticket. The reality is that I ain't got that kind of money and even if I did, I'm not sure I would choose luxury over basic.

Let me explain - to me, the most important part of traveling is meeting new people. Those people are not in my hotel room (shut up, I heard you make a dirty joke). They're also not in my first class seat or in my private car. They'd be on a bus, train, streets and hostel. Additionally when you really travel, you don't spend much time in your hotel room, car or plane. You spend all day walking around, taking in sights you may have never seen before. And if you spend all your money on your hotel room you won't have enough to spend it on better walking shoes that won't make your feet bleed after six miles of sightseeing. I'd rather reserve my money for other things - a great pair of walking shoes, a coffee with a stranger, a ticket to an awesome museum, a ferry to the neighboring island or a night train to another country. All of this means that I have to stick to the basics when it comes to lodging and airfare and even meals. I have a couple of not so secret, secrets on how to travel frugally and here they are:

(1) Be Flexible!

People who spend the most money on plane tickets are ones who are constrained to specific dates. They need to fly in on a certain day or time and then leave at a certain day or time. These tips won't work for those people, but for the traveler who is exploring the world - it will! So get rid of that calendar and instead go to www.kayak.com, find and click on the "explore" option (typically under the more button, top right). If you're brave like me, don't even select a specific month, let them all populate. Next step is to put in your airport of choice and then set the price to something you can afford or even cheaper, et voila! an entire globe will open up to you and you'll see that you can fly to South America and the Caribbean for sometimes as low as $190 round trip, and Morocco, France, London for $400 round trip.

(2) Compare Costs

After Kayak has given you these great options go to other airlines themselves, and other airline search engines and compare the tickets based on the dates that kayak generated for you. Southwest Airlines doesn't advertise on Kayak so once you find a cheap ticket go ahead and look it up on Southwest.com as well (only for trips in the Americas and Islands). Also try to sign up for points at various airlines so you can start collecting those points.

(3) Make Connections

I love it when my friends move to other states or countries - free place to crash and free tour guide when I visit! After I find my plane tickets I look to see which one of my friends lives in that particular destination, then I go even further and tell all my close friends that I am traveling and I ask if they know anyone there that I can connect with during my trip. You'd be surprised to learn how large your network is when you do this. People love to show you their cities or towns, so make those connections and enjoy the private tours. If you're close to the person who lives in your destination ask to crash with them for a couple days on their sofa - you'll enjoy that much more than spending your time alone in a swanky hotel room.

(4) Do Consider Hostels

Okay, I know those scary movies really freaked us out, but really, hostels are pretty cool and there are some great ones. Hotels.com provides these options for hostels or just simply do a Google search for hostels in your destination. Read the reviews, look at photos and even call them if they're local. I also love hostels because you get to meet new people and if you're a social butterfly like me, those people become friends in different countries and you'll increase your network even further. Hostels are everywhere, even in your neighborhood and I bet you never noticed.

(5) Don't Eat All Your Money

I once met this amazing British girl on a night-train going from Nantes, France to Barcelona, Spain. She explained how she travelled frugally - by eating smart! A baguette with cheese or cured meats, while sitting on a mountain somewhere that she climbed. Simple, easy to store and pack. At the time I was younger and thought nahh girl, I'ma need more sustenance than that. But really I didn't and I don't. The idea of eating a simple meal is much more appealing to me these days. Eat street food, eat a slice of pizza, eat what the locals are eating; they're eating cheap too! The fancy restaurants are for tourists who don't know better.I LOVE gourmet food, but I don't need to eat it three times a day. Also, if you stay with a friend or hostel you can cook in the kitchen and have even more options for storing some food to go. I do however encourage that you do splurge a little bit a couple times on your trip at a nice place, but no more than a couple. 

(6) Talk To People

This one is a little bit tricky. You're a tourist, and you don't want to make it so obvious that you're traveling, especially if you're traveling alone. However, find a way to talk to people around you. Ask your cab driver where the best place to go, food to eat, and sights to see are. They want to share their city or town with you so speak very little and LISTEN a lot!

(7) Stop Buying People Souvenirs

I know this one sounds mean, but stop buying people gifts from places they won't have memories of because they didn't go with you! Unless it is a really special case, don't buy souvenirs for others and try to limit what you buy for yourself. Souvenirs take up room in your bag and if you're not careful you'll end up having to pay extra just to fly that cheap crap back anyway. Instead take LOTS of pictures of yourself being at these places, not just the scenery. These photos will be the most precious souvenir for yourself and others.

(8) Pack Light, Lighter, LIGHTEST!

Why do you need 4+ pairs of shoes? You're not going away forever (unless you are, you lucky person you). Pack the basic pair of weather appropriate walking shoes, and 1 nice pair of comfy dressy shoes in case you get fancy. Traveling light will save you in baggage fees, space and energy as well. When I travel with others they know I won't be bringing much and they therefore don't expect to borrow anything from me on the trip, because I didn't bring much. On longer trips I make sure to identify a Laundromat nearby at my destination, where I can wash my clothes and repeat my outfits. I have a friend that ALWAYS overpacks and I love her for it - because I get to borrow her stuff on trips! She hasn't gotten the memo on frugal travels yet though, so don't tell her.

(9) Don't Always Pre-pay For Activities

You just bought a plane ticket and with it came some options to pre-purchase a boat tour or bus tour ahead of time. What's happened to me in the past, is that I don't even end up using those pre-purchased tickets. Once I'm at my destination, I learn about different things to do that are more exciting and I forgo the tickets for other fun activities. It always ends up being a waste of money for me when I pre-purchase.

(10) Budget Yourself

A budget is not always meant to be strictly followed, but it does give you some idea of what's in your account and what you'll need to spend. So take a few minutes and write out your potential costs: food, entertainment, etc... Tally it up, ensure you can afford it and try your best to follow it. Be realistic as well. If you know you're the type of person to splurge on activities, then budget appropriately for that. Sometimes, actually most times for me, you will spend more than what you budgeted but at least it won't be outrageously more.