Do you often read travel blogs and wonder how long-term travelers can afford to travel? You probably think that they are people with trust funds or have won the lottery. Want to know the truth? Most are just ordinary people- like you. So how do they get to travel so much? It is quite simple actually.
To be a full-time or long-term traveler, you need to be smart and highly creative with your finances. Most full-time travelers or travel bloggers are savvy when it comes to managing money and able to stretch a dime like their life depends on it. Find out the travel hacks they use to save money as they trot around the globe.
Money-Saving Hacks for Travel
Here is a look at the top 5 hacks that travelers swear by to save money while they are traveling.
Book Your Tickets in the Afternoon:
Everyone knows that prices of flights are likely to fluctuate during the week. But did you know that they can change during the day? Experienced travelers know this little secret and use it to their advantage! If you want to save some money on your flight, do your booking in the afternoon. Why? Because flight prices tend to be higher in the morning as this is the time that business travelers book most of their flights.
Sign Up for Flight Alerts:
Is there a particular place that you have been dying to go but cannot afford to? Well, you can make your dream come true by signing up for flight alerts with certain sites like AirfaireWatchDog. Whenever there is a price drop from the departure location you set, you will receive emails to let you know.
Also Read: Make Money While Travelling
There are also sites that offer deal alerts that are sent to your email for a small fee.Keep in mind that in most cases, these are mistake fares so you will need to act quickly as you only have a small window to purchase. But if you do manage to get the fare, you can save hundreds of dollars! You can get some really excellent deals with such services.
Check Less Popular Booking Sites:
Nowadays,there are countless online travel booking agencies where you can search for the best price across many different airlines at once. Most people check the more popular booking sites, thinking that those are where they can get the best deals.
Want to know what savvy travelers do to save money? They check booking sites that are less popular. These sites, oftentimes, offer bigger discounts compared to the major online travel booking agencies. However, before you book your flight from these sites, you should keep one important thing in mind – be sure to read the cancellation/change fees carefully.
Do Not Buy Bottled Water:
Did you know that many long-term travelers do not buy bottled water? This is one of the top ways that they save money! Plus, they help the environment in a major way. So what do you do about clean drinking water when you are traveling? You can drink tap water by using a filter before filling up your flasks or bottles.
Products like the Drink safe Travel Tap are a great choice to carry when traveling. It comes with a built-in filter that you can use with all sources of freshwater.You can also go for the Life straw if you cannot find the Drink safe tap.
You can do your own research on filters for tap water to use when you are traveling and pick one that you think will work best for you. You can also carry a hot water boiler so you can boil water when traveling. You can also save quite a bit on coffee or tea as you can always make your own instead of going to a café.
Choose Affordable Accommodation:
A lot of the money you spend when traveling goes into accommodation. Aside from flights,the next most expensive thing is hotels. The point of traveling is to explore and experience different places and cultures. Think about this: do you really need to stay in a luxury resort or hotel?
Also Read: Trading Ways While you are Travelling
Would it be so bad to stay in a simple, affordable place instead? If your objective is to make the most of your trip and enjoy all the activities that the destination has to offer, then you should choose affordable accommodation.
This is what most experienced travelers do. If you wish to, you can treat yourself to a night or two at a luxury resort or hotel after going off the beaten path and back packing, hiking, camping, etc.
As you can see, saving money while you are traveling does not have to be a major task. There are small things you can do to make sure that you do not blow up your savings on your trip. With a little bit of creativity and smarts, you can travel virtually anywhere you want to and save a significant amount of money. Go on unforgettable trips and enjoy every minute, all the while knowing that you will not be going back home broke and unable to go on another adventure any time soon.
Be the first to comment