6 Clever Ways to Travel Cheap

To pack your bags and hit the road leaving all your worries behind, is a feeling that can’t be described with mere words. It’s something that we all need to experience for ourselves. The best thing about traveling is that you seldom know what new adventures it’s going to bring. The places we see, things we do and people we meet during our travels, carry intriguing stories that they are happy to share with us. This only further enhances our overall travel experience.

Going on a trip is just awesome. Saving big bucks while traveling—even better. Grab a few Cheap Flight Tickets to embark on your most memorable journey yet. Here are a few pointers to remember on your next adventure—

1. Connecting Flights– If you choose connecting flights to travel from point A to point B, via points C & D, it will always be cheaper than traveling straight from point A to point B. To simply put this— keeping all the math aside— direct flights are always more expensive than connecting flights. Direct flights cost more as an extra fee/tax is added to them (especially on international flights) for the sheer reason that it is more convenient for travelers to fly in direct flights than connecting ones.

Your journey can go differently depending on the waiting-time between your connecting flights. Most travelers prefer short layovers, that’s understandable. However, if long layovers get you more discount, then why not choose them? An added advantage of doing this? If you have 14-15 hours in between your flights, then you can easily go on a short-tour of the layover city.

2. Travel during off season– Most cities observe a surge in tourist flow during a certain time of the year. This is mainly because people with school-going children are able to travel only during their summer or winter vacations. This rush of visitors cause a price-hike in hotels, airlines and other amenities. If time is not a factor, then it is best for you to travel cheap is the during off season. In addition to getting hotels and flight tickets at marked down rates, you can also avoid the maddening crowds that you usually have to navigate during the peak season. This means, less waiting time in queues of venues, restaurants and a million other spots.
3. Volunteer at a farm– Be it Spain, Australia or Austria, there are farms where you can volunteer and stay over at. You get to work in these family-owned farms in exchange for food and accommodation. Staying in hotels is great and all but these farms are way more fun if you don’t mind helping them with their daily chores. Some of the best memories from my travels include the time I spent living with a family for a few weeks, in Austria. Not only did it help me in saving some money, but also in making a few lifelong friends while staying there.
4. Traveling in a group versus traveling solo– This one would not be applicable to lone wolves who like nothing more than to spend time in solitude—even while traveling. If you love to travel in groups (friends, extended family, college dorm-mates), then booking your flight tickets, hotels and tours in bulk only makes sense. One hidden benefit of doing this is that many travel portals (airline, hotel, travel company websites and apps) offer heavy discounts that’s eligible only when you purchase their services in bulk. And let’s face it, traveling at marked down rates always add to the joy of going on a vacation.     

                                                     

5. Couch-surfing/home exchange– Though not everyone is cut-out for something like this, it is one of the best ways to save some funds during your travels. There are certain websites that connect you with people of different cities who offer their entire house or a room in their house for travelers to stay for free—for a certain number of days.

If you’re used to impeccable room-service while on a trip, then this is not something you’d appreciate. For those who want add a touch of excitement and mystery to their travels, this is just the thing for you. The best part about home exchange or couch-surfing is that even though you see the photographs of the accommodation beforehand, you find out how truly wonderful (or not) it is until you stay there.

6. Limited Period Offers– Websites and apps of several airlines, hotels and travel companies come up with travel deals which are available for a specific length of time. There is no specific season or months when these limited period offers pop-up in these websites. The best way for you to find these offers are by signing-up for their newsletters. You can also check their website from time to time for the latest offers. This is also how you can find some worthwhile last minute flight deals. One of the best ways to find the limited period offers is by following their (hotels, airlines and travel companies) pages on various social media sites.

Traveling is something that we all crave for. Doesn’t matter which part of the world we are from, which field of work we belong to, how much our annual budget is—traveling is necessary for a well-rounded life. Use a few of these ideas and gear-up for a great vacation.

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This post was written by third party writer Isabella Jones.