How to Afford World Travel

Everyone wants to travel and no one wants to pay for it. Doing a quick search for flights and finding only tickets upwards of $1,000 can be disheartening; many people stop right there and assume they’ll never be able to afford a trip, but following these tips can help make traveling possible for people who never ever thought they’d be able to afford it.

BE FLEXIBLE This is my #1 travel tip. No, not a tip, a rule. Be flexible. The very essence of travel certainly has a way of making us all more flexible, but starting out with no flexibility is the main, expensive travel mistake people make. The following tips all require some element of flexibility and could help seriously spare your bank account.

SCOTT’S CHEAP FLIGHTS This AMAZING subscription service finds flights that are REALLY cheap and sends you an email with prices form airports near you and instructions on how to get the tickets at the cheapest price. The key is to either be flexible with dates and locations or to watch very closely to find your preferred dates and locations - and act fast! Because sometimes the

low prices will only last an hour or so. It is a paid subscription and $30 a year might seem tough to swing, but if you’re serious about traveling it could end up saving you hundreds of dollars.

GOOGLE FLIGHTS Google Flights is one of my favorite *free* features from Google. You can search for any flight anywhere at any time and Google Flights will show you all your options – times, airlines, and prices. The best part, though, are the Date Grid, Price Graph, and Nearby Airports features that I didn’t even know existed for a long time because they’re a little hard to find. The Date Grid lets you view any and all prices for dates around when you’re thinking of flying to help you pinpoint the cheapest days to fly. The Price Graph is a great way

to visually see when during the year the tickets you’re looking for will be the cheapest, and the Nearby Airports lets you compare prices for airports close to the one’s you’ve indicated you’d like to fly to and from. Spending a little time browsing these free features can save you unbelievable amounts of money!

EASYJET & RYANAIR Mostly flown around Europe, both of these companies offer super stripped down flights for super low prices. If you can fit all of your stuff in one bag, you can sometimes find flights across Europe for less than $20. If you can’t fit all your stuff in one bag, it’s no problem, you can pay a little extra. These are definitely worth looking into when exploring travel options, sometimes a 2 hour flight is way easier than a 10 hour a train ride to the same place for the equal or less amount of money.

PACK IN A CARRY-ON It can be done!! I’ve traveled for up to 3 weeks with one carry-on and one purse. It’s easier to transport, free on flights, trains, and busses, and when you get home you’ll wonder why you have so much stuff when you know you can survive on so little and want to Marie Kondo everything you own.

BUS TRAVEL Bus tickets can be way cheaper than train tickets and can get you to the same place in around the same amount of time. When you’re checking for tickets, make sure to check times and prices of all your options. For example, I took a day trip from Italy to Croatia for only $11 on a Flix Bus. I still can’t believe it!

STORE UP SNACKS Whether you want give up some precious packing space to stick a few

granola bars in your luggage or pick up a little something everywhere you go, snacking throughout the day and only having 1 “big meal” out can save you $$$.

PICNIC My most common “travel meal” is a sandwich, bag of chips, and bottled drink purchased at a market or convenient store and eaten in a train station, on a park bench, at my Airbnb, or wherever I happen to be going next. A lot of markets offer a selection of pre-made sandwiches and with a bag of chips and a drink it’s as filling as a restaurant meal and much cheaper!

AIRBNB Hotels can be expensive, and when they’re cheap they’re notoriously lowquality. On the other hand, you can find really nice Airbnb’s for really low prices, sometimes down to $15 a night! There

are lots of different types of Airbnb’s: entire apartments, private rooms in someone’s house, and even shared rooms. I’ve had some great experiences staying in someone’s house and getting to know the lovely hosts and learning local tips from them, and I’ve stayed in some amazing places where a whole apartment to ourselves was just what we needed. You can be picky with filters and maps and find the place that is perfect for you, and the perfect price for you! The best part is, if you travel with friends, you can split that cost.

Traveling for less money might also mean traveling less glamorously, but the experiences and memories are priceless. If your heart is set on seeing the world, making changes in your daily life to save money and putting in some extra work to travel cheaper can help make anyone’s travel dreams a reality.