Hey I saw that ask from that shitty anon & I wondered if you had any tips on traveling cheap? I'd love to see the world but I live in a place where money doesn't come easily. <3
hello!! sure, where should i start!
1)What’s the plan?(type of trip)Firstly, figure out where you want to go! Think of a few aspects that you are looking for in your trip, for example mountains, beaches, architecture, a certain culture…? Maybe you want to visit a few countries that are near each other? Find out as much as you can about your destination to make sure you will be happy with what you chose.
2)Finding the cheapest option to go toSo to travel cheap is to think about where it would be cheapest to live, get best flights etc. For example you can spend the same amount for a week in europe and a month in asia. So first thing is look at flights, and decide how long you want to go somewhere. My recommendation for a cheap, safe and amazing trip is a place like Thailand, there’s nature, you can find super cheap accommodation, food and transportation and get a full backpacking experience while riding night trains and eating tropical fruit.
3)Research on your destinationTransport, places you want to visit, their prices, get a notebook and write everything down, if you want to travel cheap, check everything out beforehand, plan out your money, because it’s really easy to spend it on a trip without noticing. When going on a budget trip I always try to find the price of every train ride I’m planning to take, calculating an average daily food budget, cab prices, hostels, any extra stuff, and even if you want a chill trip with not planning on what you are going to do, still write down prices of everything so while on your trip, you won’t have to spend time on your computer researching and then you can easily figure it out just by opening your notes (and personally I think it’s really fun looking for all of this, it gets you excited for what’s coming). So if you want to travel cheap, find out stuff beforehand instead of having surprises.
4) ManifestingSo important !!!!!!!!!!! Believe in the fact that it will all work out. Before my first trip that I went to with my own money, I had no money :D But from the second I decided that I’ll go I didn’t lose hope, even though it seemed IMPOSSIBLE. Seriously earning money in the country I lived in, especially as a teenager-young adult, is very hard. And once I let go my doubts, job opportunities came! And you can believe this or not, but this is key. Believe in what you are reaching for. Manifest everyday, when going to bed, take a few minutes of just imagining your trip and how it will go. IT WORKS
5) Putting in physical effortOf course just thinking about it won’t make it all happen, but the next thing is working for it! Try to find a job, and if you have a job, but find it hard to save money… The way is not eating-out and not buying clothes :D This is where most money goes, and seriously when you have a goal in mind it’s not that bad. Now I’m actually used to it, and I’d change a trip for new clothes anytime. You will be surprised how much you can save. Just put it all in a mason jar and don’t let yourself open it;) And of course it takes time, especially if you want to travel for a longer time for ex. a month). It may take half a year to one and a half year depending on your situation, and that time can get hard sometimes! but alwayssssss worth it. always.
6)Still not enough money?So you got no money? There are still options! One option you can try is WWOOFing (you can google it for more information) and basically you find an organic farm in any country you like, and you help out on it, like picking fruits and veggies etc, and you get a free stay and money, so basically all the money you need is a flight or any other way you’d get there, and it’s a fun experience if you want to change life up a bit!
7)Booking the cheapest flightsThe trick to finding the best flights is not trying to look for a date that fits for you but fit to a date that is cheapest. Of course if it’s possible for you, but look for last minutes, or just keep on tracking flights, and i found that the cheapest place is orbitz.com but there are more, just i saw that the same tickets cost cheaper here.
8)Cheapest accommodationHostels are best, it’s just a lot of beds in one room and you get to meet other travelers, so if traveling solo you can make cool friends or just have some very interesting conversations. People are awesome and you can find some super interesting people in a hostel who has been living with just a backpack for a few months;) I like to look for hostels in booking.com or something similair to that. If you want to live for free try couchsurfing.com and stay at people’s houses, it’s fun because you get to see the place from a different perspective when you live with a local, and they show you around the truly important places of the regions, and that’s not only the famous places that all people go, it might be a secret spot on the beach, or a place where locals only hang out and spent there childhood in, and then truly get to know the place that you visited.
9)FoodRely mostly on supermarket food and try to make as much food by yourself! It’s so much cheaper than buying every meal from a restaurant or something. Or in some places street food is also a good option.
10)Helpful tips-Get a notebook beforehand! Write all the adresses that you think you may need (in both English and the local language); write all basic words and phrases in the local language; some train or bus schedules that you think you may need; phone numbers of your families or friends form back home just in case; names of places you may want to visit and etc. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. It can help you a lot, so it’s better to not get lazy on this part you will be thankful later on.-Use the time of your layovers! I’ve seen so many extra places that I didn’t plan to, for example I had a 11 hour layover in Amsterdam and I went to the city, and even though I was alone and didn’t spend money, just walking around wherever I could, without knowing where to go, was a completely different experience, and definitely worth it. Just blindly exploring. Or I had a layover in Abu Dhabi for 16 hours and apparently it was easy to get an on-arrival visa, so I just went out, got into a bus that I spent a dollar on, and just walked around and explored, sooo worth it! An extra trip in your trip haha. There will be enough time to rest around when you get home:)-It’s okay to be nervous when traveling alone! If traveling alone there’s always a little bit of nervousness about if you will get and find everything on time and if everything will go on well, and it’s okay, embrace it! It’s a completely different experience that’s quite life-changing. -It’s okay to be lazy! There always seems to be a must-visit list of places with every destination, and while on a trip you can feel like you have to do or see certain stuff and do something every day, but it’s okay to be lazy and maybe just chill for the whole day doing nothing! Sleeping till noon, lazily reading a book on the beach until the evening then eat and just sleep, this is also a relax time, and I feel like often people feel like it’s just wasting time. And same with the “must-see’’ places. Even though it’s really cool, if you don’t feel like it, it won’t mean that you didn’t visit the country if you don’t see certain stuff.
So this is a little summary! :D I hope this helps. And if you need any detail in any bit of this you can message me, I’d love to help. :)
About the photo below: even though it’s quite a funny photo, I thought I’d put it in for extra motivation. The first photo is before my first big trip, at that point I really didn’t have any money at all, and here I was working in a bar that I used to clean after a night, scrubbing vomit and stickiness from drinks on the floor, but still believing in my heart that I will do this. I didn’t tell anyone except my closest family because people would’ve just laughed that I want to go to Thailand for a month at the current situation that I was in at that time in life.But I didn’t give up, and with the image of blue seas and white sand, I didn’t give up and it turned out to be the trip of my life! And the photo on the right was about 7 months after the one on the left. Good luck! Reach for your dreams!
‘’if people aren’t laughing from your dreams they’re not big enough”
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