Posted: 4/8/2021 | April 8th, 2021
As vaccinations increase and testing becomes easier, lots of parts of the world will be open to travel again soon.
After over a year of restrictions and lockdowns due to COVID, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
It won’t happen anywhere all at once and, what does happen, will be limited at first. But, as the year progresses, a lot more and a lot more of the world will open up and we’ll be able to do that thing that brings us so much joy: travel.
But, even with travel happening again, when you are starved for time or money (or both), travel can seem like a pipe dream. A wish that might never be fulfilled, no matter what the world looks like.
Luckily, there has been a wave of positive developments for those who want to travel more: more affordable airfare, a lot more deal-finding web sites (and other information) online, complimentary walking excursions in a lot more cities, and a lot more opportunities to bypass the standard travel infrastructure and connect directly into the local way of life by means of the sharing economy.
Most of that infrastructure will return in a post-COVID travel world. And, due to travel companies needing cash, there’s also a lot of money-saving deals ideal now, helping to make future trips affordable.
So, as the world starts to ever so slowly reopen, I want to share some ideas and tricks on how to travel on a budget this year!
1. change Your Mindset
Changing your mindset might not be a standard budget tip, but it’s crucial nonetheless. regularly remind yourself that travel is possible while taking concrete steps to make it a reality. action begets action — even if it’s just baby steps.
Start with a “yes, I can” mindset. Don’t think “I can’t travel” — think “What’s one thing I can do today to make my trip closer to reality?”
Life is a mental game. Do one thing each day that gets you closer to your trip and you’ll find yourself building unstoppable momentum.
2. Come Up with a savings Plans
Unless you’re bill Gates, we all need to save a lot more money. but how do you do that? While life is expensive, I do believe there are always ways to save a little more. There’s always something you can cut. A little bit of savings adds up a lot over time.
Get into the routine of putting money into your travel fund frequently — even if it’s just a few dollars a week. Every little penny will help. The a lot more you save, the a lot more you want to save. It sort of becomes a game. It’s no longer a chore.
Here are some articles on how to save money:
22 ways to cut Your expenses and have money for Travel
The utmost guide to traveling Cheap
How Michael saved $14k in 6 Months Making $9 Per Hour
How I find the money to Travel
3. score a flight Deal
One of the things that people always tell me holds them back from traveling a lot more is the cost of flights. But, let me tell you, there’s a lot of deals ideal now.
All the airlines are trying to fill planes and are using a lot of deals for summer and fall travel ideal now. After all, they need to make up for a lost year and are desperate to get people on planes.
The crucial to finding a low-cost flight is to be flexible with your dates and your destination. If you have your heart set on “Paris in June” you’ll be forced to pay whatever the flight costs. But, if you open that up to “France in the summer” — or even “Europe in the summer” you’ll be able to find much more affordable flights considering that you’ll have a lot a lot more wiggle room to test dates and destinations.
I like to use Google Flights and Skyscanner to browse my options. I type in my home city and then pick “everywhere” as my destination. I then base my plans around where I can fly to for the least amount of money.
However, if you don’t want to do that (I think it’s a best Friday night activity), you can check out some of the following web sites that search for deals and email them to you:
Scott’s low-cost Flights – the best web site for finding flight deals from the US
The flight deal – extraordinary deals for flights all around the world
Secret flying – another site with amazing flight deals from around the globe (they find a lot of Asia/Africa/South America deals not found elsewhere)
4. get Points!
Travel hacking, the art of collecting points and miles, is a terrific way to travel on a budget. By getting point-yielding credit scores cards and using a few basic techniques, you can get hundreds of thousands of miles — without any additional spending. These points can then be cashed in for complimentary flights, complimentary hotel stays, and other travel rewards.
I’ve earned many complimentary flights, upgrades, and hotel stays from travel hacking. By optimizing my spending and paying attention to which cards earn the most points where, I’ve saved thousands of dollars — and you can too!
Here are some resources to help you begin:
How I earn 1 Million frequent Flier Miles Every Year
The utmost guide to picking the best travel credit scores Card
The utmost guide to travel Hacking
Even if you aren’t American, you still have options, as points and miles have gone global:
Points Hack (Australia/New Zealand)
Head for points (UK)
Canadian Kilometers (Canada)
5. use the Sharing Economy
The sharing economy has led to a plethora of new money-saving and community-building platforms that have made travel even a lot more affordable, personal, and accessible. It’s never been much easier to get off the vacationer trail, connect with locals, and experience their pace of life. I live by these web sites when I travel! You must too.
Here are some of the best sharing economy sites to help you get started:
Airbnb – the best platform for finding rooms, apartments, and homes for rent by locals.
Couchsurfing – terrific for finding complimentary accommodation (often on people’s couches) and meeting travelers/locals. The hangout feature on the app is my favorite, as you can see who is around to meet up.
Trusted Housesitters – the most detailed web site to find house-sitting gigs. You enjoy a place on holiday while the homeowner is on vacation.
EatWith – allows you to eat home-cooked meals with locals (it’s the Airbnb of food). It always leads to interesting encounters, so it’s one of my favorite things to do.
BlaBlaCar – A ridesharing app that pairs motorcyclists with verified locals who have a spare seat in their car.
RVShare – allows you to rent RVs and campervans directly from locals.
6. find the Free!
The world is awash with amazing complimentary travel resources (like this website) that can help you travel on a budget. No matter where you are going, there’s probably a blog post on what to do and see there for complimentary or cheaply. someone has been there and they’ve written about it! Make the best use of all of them to help you plan your trip.
My favorite search term is “free things to do in X.” You’ll always get a result!
Additionally, don’t be terrified to walk into a hostel — even if you aren’t staying there — and ask them what to do for cheap. Their clientele is budget sensitive, so they always know what to do and where to choose little money.
Local tourism boards will also have tons of info on complimentary things to do as well (more on that below).
7. stick to Public transportation
If you’re on a budget, skip the taxis and rideshares like Lyft or Uber. Unless you can lower your cost by sharing a ride with other passengers, public transportation is going to be the most economical way to get around. Not only will it save you money but you’ll get to see how the locals travel too.
Google Maps normally can give you a basic introduction of the public transportation options and prices available. You can find information about day passes and/or multiday passes from your local hostel/hotel staff (as well as from local tourism offices). For low-cost intercity travel information, check out Rome2Rio.
8. use local tourism Offices
Local vacationer offices are a wealth of knowledge. They exist solely to supply you with information on what to see and do. They typically have tons of discounts not found anywhere else and can also keep you updated on local events, complimentary tours, and the best spots to eat. They can help you find public transportation discounts and/or multiday passes too.
Don’t skip the local vacationer office! They are a significantly underutilized resource.
9. get low-cost Accommodation
Accommodation is one of the greatest fixed costs travelers have, so minimizing that cost can cause big savings on the road. I’m sure lots of backpackers would sleep in a barn if it were the least expensive accommodation they could find! Heck, I’ve slept in hammocks in national parks to save a buck!
Since you have to stay somewhere every night, minimizing this expense can save you a lot of money off the total cost of your trip. stay in hostels, use Couchsurfing, stay in empty university dorms, camp, or try an Airbnb.
Since there’s a lot of ways to cut your accommodation costs, here are my articles on how to get accommodation deals:
How to find the best apartment or condo Rental
How to find low-cost and complimentary Accommodation
How to Crush it on Couchsurfing
And here are the web sites I use to book low-cost places to stay:
Booking.com – For finding budget hotels and guesthouses.
Hostelworld – the best site for finding hostels.
Agoda – another terrific hotel website, specifically for Asia.
Hotel Tonight – uses discounted last-minute hotel stays.
Airbnb – For finding private rooms, entire apartments, and homes for rent by locals.
10. eat Cheap
Other than accommodation, food is one of the greatest travel costs. After all, everyone needs to eat. but there are lots of ways to eat on the cheap:
Go grocery shopping and prepare your own meals
Shop at local markets
Use apps to find deals (Yelp, Seamless, LaForchette, TasteCard, RiceBowl)
Använd också femblockregeln. Det verkar finnas denna magiska vägg som omger semesterområden. Många människor går inte förbi det. Det har varit min erfarenhet att om du går fem kvarter i någon riktning från ett stort semesterområde, kommer du att förlora folkmassorna och hitta de lokala restaurangerna.
Enligt min erfarenhet bryr sig semesterrestauranger inte om kvalitet med tanke på att dessa turister inte kommer tillbaka. Invånarna bryr sig så att de placerar till catering till dem måste vara bättre – och mycket billigare – eller så går de ut. Det är de platser du vill äta på. Använd ovanstående resurser för att hitta var lokalbefolkningen äter och undvika skit mat!
Kolla in dessa artiklar för idéer om att äta billigt runt om i världen:
Hur man äter billigt runt om i världen
Hur man äter runt om i världen på en växtbaserad diet
11. Resor som du bor
Majoriteten av människorna på dina destinationer spenderar inte mycket pengar per dag som turister gör. Du gör inte heller i ditt dagliga liv. Så ta den mentaliteten med dig. Gå, ta kollektivtrafik, livsmedelsbutik, tillbringa en dag i en park och leta efter erbjudanden. Gör de saker du gör hemma varje dag för att hålla dina kostnader nere.
För många människor kommer in i detta tankesätt att när de går på vägen måste de bara spendera, spendera, spendera, spendera. Det är inte sant alls. Det finns ingen lag som säger att du måste spendera mer. Var smart med din budget – precis som du är hemma. Det hjälper dig att spara pengar och hindra dig från att gå hem tidigt.
12. Arbeta och frivilligt sänka dina utgifter
Om du är en långsiktig resenär kan du överväga frivilligarbete eller göra ett arbetsutbyte för att sänka dina kostnader. Det finns massor av alternativ där som gårdsvistelser, arbetar i vandrarhem, undervisning i skolor och mer.
Du kommer normalt att behöva förbinda dig i en vecka eller mer, men dessa möjligheter gör det möjligt för dig att få en mycket djupare och mycket mer nyanserad reseupplevelse. Här är några webbplatser som hjälper dig att hitta lämpliga möjligheter:
WWOOF – WWOOF (World Large Möjligheter på ekologiska gårdar) är ett program som förbinder dig med gårdar över hela världen där du kan arbeta i utbyte mot rum och styrelse.
Worldpackers – Worldpackers använder resenärer en chans att hitta volontärupplevelser utomlands. Förutom vandrarhem kan de hjälpa dig att hitta upplevelser med icke-statliga organisationer, hemvistelser och eko-projekt över hela världen!
Helpx – Liksom Worldpackers använder HelpX utbyten som FarmStays, HomoStays, B&B, Hostremhem och Sail Boats.
WORKAWAY – WORKAWAY är ungefär som HelpX förutom att det har mycket mer betalda jobbmöjligheter (även om det också har volontärmöjligheter).
***
I världen före Covid var världen full av olika sätt att resa med en budget. I världen efter Covid kommer dessa sätt att så småningom komma tillbaka. Vissa kanske inte är idealiska på grund av social distanspolitik och konsumentkomfort men de kommer att vara där.
Men oavsett vad det kommer att finnas många sätt att resa i år. När världen öppnar igen börjar du planera din resa. Det finns mycket efterfrågan och du vill inte fastna sakna affären! Ta det första steget. Åtgärd skapar åtgärder. När du börjar flytta blir allt annat lättare.
Hur man reser världen på $ 50 per dag
Min New York Times bästsäljande pocketbok för World Travel kommer att visa dig hur du bemästrar konsten att resa så att du kommer att gå av misshandlad väg, spara pengar och ha en djupare reseupplevelse. Det är din A till Z -planeringsguide som BBC kallade “Bibeln för budgetresenärer.”
Klicka här för att lära dig mycket mer och börja läsa det idag!
Boka din resa: logistiska idéer och tricks
Boka din flygning
Hitta en lågkostnadsflyg genom att använda Skyscanner. Det är min favorit sökmotor eftersom den söker på webbplatser och flygbolag runt om i världen så att du alltid vet att ingen sten lämnas omvänd.
Boka ditt boende
Du kan boka ditt vandrarhem med Hostelworld. Om du vill stanna någon annanstans än ett vandrarhem, använd Booking.com eftersom de konsekvent returnerar de billigaste priserna för pensionat och hotell.
Glöm inte reseförsäkring
Reseförsäkring kommer att säkra dig mot sjukdom, skada, stöld och avbokningar. Det är detaljerat skydd i