Beat Rising Travel Costs With These Budget-Friendly Tips for World Wanderers
A tight budget can often be the main thing standing in-between you and your wanderlust. While travel currently looks a little different, there are still ways to travel across the U.S. or around the world both safely and affordably.
In fact, there are a wealth of resources, tips and tricks you can take advantage of to save on everything from transportation to activities and lodging.
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Save Money on Lodging
There are more options than ever when it comes to places to stay while on vacation. In addition to traditional hotels, there are vacation rentals, home exchanges, campsites, hostels or even housesitting opportunities that can provide a place to stay when away from home.
B&Bs, Hotels and Hostels
While most people know about Airbnb, the peer-to-peer residential app hasn't been quite the deal in recent years that it was when it got its start. You can automate the searching across multiple platforms with Tripping. Or, for low-cost, low-maintenance travel, try HostelWorld.
Those looking for the best price on flexible lodging should consider Trivago or AllTheRooms, which scans deals across hotels, vacation rentals and hostels on over 400 travel sites. For last-minute lodging at low cost, there's HotelTonight.
Stay as a Guest
If you need to go even lower budget, there's Couchsurfing.com. While the stays are technically free, the platform requests guests do something nice, like take hosts out to dinner or bring them a gift for their hospitality. A similar platform would be Homestay. And Horizon vouches for strangers by establishing connections and verifications of identity.
But why stop at a meal when you can learn through immersion? If you're visiting an area that speaks another language, you can make a friend while also speed-running your adaptation into local culture thanks to TalkTalkBnB, which offers free lodging in exchange for helping your hosts practice their language skills.
Or Trade Lodgings
If you'd rather not mingle, there's HomeExchange, which connect owners with guests in a swap program, knowing that someone is taking the same care of your house as you are theirs. So you not only get a great place to stay, you save on hiring a homesitter! Although if you do want to hire one (or stay somewhere cheap while also caring for cuddly pets), there's MindMyHouse, HouseCarers or TrustedHousesitters, which all bridge people's travel needs.
Go (Reasonably) Granola
Nor do you have to give up luxury to save a buck roughing it outdoors. CampaGlam is a site that helps travelers book tents, cabins, treehouses and caravans, in addition to campsites themselves.
Save Money on Airfare and Transportation
With lodging out of the way, you’ll likely need a cost-efficient way to get from point A to point B wherever you’re vacationing.
Carpooling
BlaBlaCar is an on-demand carpool app with 90 million members spread across 22 countries. The service connects drivers who have an empty seat with people who need rides, which can be especially handy if you’re traveling long distances.
Public Transit
If how you get somewhere isn’t an issue, Rome2rio compares the costs of a car, airplane, bus, ferry or train between any two locations.
When you’re unsure about your options and pricing, BusBud and Wanderu have you covered. Both sites connect commuters to bus and train operators, helping make the process of comparing costs and options as simple as possible. Wanderu’s network boasts 800,000 bus routes and more than 1.3 million train routes. BusBud focuses specifically on bus transportation and helps you find deals to get to over 21,000 cities in over 80 countries.
Flights
Easily compare flight prices with Google Flights, which allows you to search for airfare by date, location and interest. To make sure you’re really getting a good deal, opt for one of the airlines with the lowest baggage fees, such as Air China or Emirates.
You can also use competitors like KAYAK, Momondo and SkyScanner to streamline both your flight and car rental bookings, offering up multiple comparisons to help you get the best deal.
Need to burn those points? Guaranteeing a baseline cost of 6 cents a mile or less, The Flight Deal works to maximize frequent flyer miles, web promotions and customer rewards points.
Secret Flying posts links to third-party sites offering plane trips at often steep discounts. It also claims that you can save up to 80% on flights around the world and doesn’t require any signup or membership fees.
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Save Money on Food
The cost of food can add up quickly. And for foodies on vacation, dining out will likely be on the itinerary. Conversely, for travelers staying in hostels, cooking might not be an option. Click through for suggestions on how to save money on food and dining costs while traveling.
Stick With Food Trucks and Markets
Compared to restaurants, street food bought from food trucks and open markets will offer all the local fare often at a lower cost. While there isn’t a comprehensive online platform that aggregates these, it’s worth looking around on the internet to find a list of recommendations wherever you’re traveling.
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms
If your travel plans consist of backpacking through remote areas, WWOOFing could be an option worth exploring. Organizations associated with WWOOF help volunteers connect with opportunities to work on organic and sustainable farms. Volunteers receive food, accommodations and lessons in agriculture in exchange for their help.
Save Money on Tours and Activities
Once you arrive at your destination, it might be difficult to get the most out of your time there without a tour or prearranged events to attend. Let the pros plan it for you.
Field Trip
Field Trip lets everyone be their own tour guide. The location-based app notifies you about points of interest along your travels based on different interest and has various streams you can subscribe to, like “Historic Places and Events,” “Lifestyle,” “Food, Drinks and Fun,” “Cool and Unique” and more.
G Adventures
Focusing on ‘Community Tours’ since 1990, G Adventures emphasizes forming meaningful relationships with local communities while traveling. It also emphasizes diversity and inclusion, as well as using travel to help marginalized communities across the globe.
Trip by Skyscanner
If your travel dates and destination, are flexible, TRIP by Skyscanner will find the absolute cheapest flights available out of more info from more than 1,200 airlines and travel agents.
Context Travel
Founded in 2003 and currently available in 60 cities across six contents, Context Travel is a self-described group of “scholars, nerds and curious traveler” aiming to help make the most out of a place. While roughly 80% of their guides have a master’s level education or a Ph.D, all are committed to the idea of lifelong learning and helping travelers have a deeper experience with an emphasis on sustainability.
Viator
A TripAdvisor company, Viator lets users search over 60,000 activities across the U.S. and abroad with Viator, which guarantees it will help you find the lowest prices for a variety of experiences. Viator offers immense flexibility, no-cost cancellation and 24/7 support if you hit a snag.
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This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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