Wherever I May Roam

Resource Guide for Luxury Travel, Culture, & Eats

RESOURCE GUIDE FOR LUXURY TRAVEL, CULTURE, & EATS

11 Ways To Save Money When Traveling

I love to travel. Going on vacation is so much fun and something that I look forward to well in advance. However, travel expenses add up quickly and sometimes we end up spending more money than we had anticipated. Oops! It can be hard to alter our day to day lives and routines in an attempt to save money for an upcoming vacation.

Everybody would like to save money when traveling. Although it can be tedious, every little bit counts! Here are 11 Ways To Save Money When Traveling.

Save Money When Traveling

11 Ways To Save Money When Traveling

1. Research flights

Do not book the first flight that you come across, the first time that you look online. Rookie mistake! Take some time and research what flights are available or if there are any nearby airports that you could use instead. If you look into flights more than once, clear your browser history and cookies. Each time that you search, you will see increased ticket prices if the website knows that you have previously searched for it. No, this is not fair but it happens. Shop around on different websites to compare prices.

2. Book an Airbnb

A lot of times, renting an Airbnb is cheaper than a hotel room. Best of all, if you rent the entire apartment/house you will have much more room than you would at a hotel and potentially pay less. Airbnb hosts love to give you information about their city (what restaurants to try, attractions worth visiting)!

3. Travel in the off season

Traveling during the offseason is wonderful. There are no crowds and often times the weather is better. I have no idea why people choose to visit Walt Disney World in July, when the park is packed and it is one hundred degrees. Another perk for traveling in the off season is that prices, of pretty much everything, are cheaper. Save Money When Traveling

4. Book flights in advance

The best time to book a flight is 6-8 weeks ahead of time and the best day to buy your ticket is Tuesday. Unless a last minute deal occurs (which 99% of the time will not), this is when you will get the best price for your ticket.

5. Shop around for hotel deals

Often times you can get a room for less than the price listed on a hotel’s website; you just have to put forth some effort. It does not hurt to look around and I bet that you will find a better deal.

6. Do not overpack

Overpacking is a big mistake, especially if you are flying. Airlines can charge customers $100 or more for bags that are overweight. And since you have to pay for each checked bag, you want to check as few bags as possible. This is really just wasted money.

7. Drive instead of fly

I am going to step out on a ledge and say that 99% of all people do not enjoy riding in a car for long periods of time. I am one of those people. Yet, since my parents live in Florida and my fiancé’s dad lives in Texas, Blake and I spend a lot of time traveling to see them. And by a lot of time, I mean 12 hours or more. It is not that bad and after a while you will, almost, get used to it. Typically the cost of our gas to and from a destination is cheaper than one plane ticket would be. Plus, we get cheaper gas by shopping and getting gas at Kroger. Save Money When Traveling

8. Skip the souvenirs

I know that you mean well and want to bring people back home something from your trip but I bet that it will not be used. Skip buying another t-shirt and send a postcard. It is much cheaper and getting something in the mail is always a nice surprise.

9. Drink water

Dining eats up majority of your traveling money. Opt for water instead of soda to save a few dollars at each meal. You will probably be surprised at how much you save over the course of your vacation. This is my favorite tip on how to save money when traveling.

Note: Only when traveling to a destination where the water is okay to drink.

10. Look into a ride share instead of taking a taxi

In some cities, the price of taking a taxi is outrageous, yet necessary. Check out Lyft or Uber as their prices may be cheaper. Typically, I will get an estimate for how much it would be to my destination using the Lyft/Uber app and then I will ask a cab driver how much they will charge to take me to the same destination. 9 times out of 10 the ride share is cheaper. And you get to pay through their app with your credit card, so you can save some of your sacred cash. Score! Save Money When Traveling

11. Save money for your trip, quickly

Raising some extra spending money right before a trip is a bonus. Sell unwanted items on Ebay or Facebook yard sale, have a yard sale, eat at home, or cut back on luxuries (such as getting your nails done). Every little bit helps!

Save Money When Traveling

Well, there you have it. Wherever I May Roam Blog’s 11 ways to Save Money When Traveling. If you have any other ways to save money when traveling, let us know. We would love to hear from you!

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Taylor Pittman Hardy wrote this article.

Check out some of our other traveling tips:

Cruise Packing List     Disney World Hacks

9 Reasons To Cruise With Princess

Comments

  3. Couldn’t agree more about driving instead of flying. When I went to Ukraine, I took a 15 hour bus from Warsaw. It wasn’t overly comfortable and was definitely no frills but it cost me only £15 and I was able to get a very cheap Ryanair flight to Warsaw from Dublin. It probably saved me over £100 over flying to London and then getting a flight to Kyiv.

    Reply

  4. These are all great trips, whenever I’m taking a big trip, I’m super thrifty the month before I leave to save money. I also take a lot of public transportation at the destination.

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  5. I also recommend having an international SIM card to avoid nasty, unexpected charges on your phone when you return. Some phones block the SIM so we have an old tatty phone that we use for this purpose when away

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  8. Amazing tips! and i definitely agree with tip 2, 6, 8; 9. We always book an apartment on Airbnb while travel, coz it is really cheaper than a hotel room and more comfort.

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  10. Agree with all of these especially drinking water. I remember when I was drinking a lot of soda while I was in Europe quite a few years back. Would hate to know how much money I wasted and how much damage I did to my body drinking that crap! Water is the way to go!

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  12. So many great tips! We agree with all of them–we need to get better at #11, but we always try to travel in the off season or at least the shoulder season, and we love airbnb!!

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  16. Our biggest expense is always food, so by staying at Air BnBs, we are usually able to cook our own meals, or at least some of them. I hate flying too, so I only fly if I have to.

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  17. Nodding my head to all of these suggestions! I’m a planner and I love booking flights ahead of time – I recently found a great deal from Los Angeles to Nashville for $210… that’s roundtrip AND nonstop. I’m so excited!

    Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply

  19. Lovely tips! I can see how some of them can be very useful on the road and frankly we’re already using a few of them already! We’ve always wanted to write such a post but the AP syndrome on what to include and what not to and a bit of laziness added to it made sure it never saw the light of day! Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply

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