Frugal Travels
My favorite of all things worldly to do is travel. I believe that my best experiences and lessons are taught through my travels. At the age of 19 with so much of the world left to see and so much debt surrounding I still do manage to get my fix and travel. What everyone asks me is “How do you get to travel so much?" The answer to that is being frugal. Unknowingly I've always been a frugal traveler. My goal is to always find the lowest flight rates and cheapest travel accommodations. And here's how:
Flexibility: I'm always flexible with my travel dates. In order to find great air travel prices you have to be flexible. If that means cutting my trip a day shorter or doing it a month later, I plan my travels always around the rate and not the date.
Nearby airports: often times than not, my nearby airports have a much cheaper rate that my local airport. For example, I live in St Louis, A one- way ticket to FLL can run at around 220.00 A flight from ORD in Chicago IL to MIA can be found for about $90. So What I do is take a train or bus to Chicago for approximately $17-$30 take the blue line train to the airport for $2.50- $5 fly into the Miami airport and, if I have to, take another train from the MIA airport to FLL for $5-$7. Yes, it's a lot of work. However I do save about $100.00 which makes it worth it for me.
Google is your BFF: Forget every booking engine that you've ever come across and go straight to google. I've learned that with google I am presenting the best rates possible. They also display the booking engine site rates, such as kayak, Expedia and redirect you to them if they have the lowest fare. I also noticed that google offers flight connections not offered by the airline website. Here's what I mean, So I was looking for a flight to Miami from Chicago and google brought up a connecting flight at JFK, doubting Google’s mighty sword to give me the best available fare I went to The airline's website and could not even find the flight connections I was looking for, plus their lowest rate was much higher than Google’s. So, I urge you to cast all your cares upon google. Simply put into “Location to Destination flight" Viola - you're welcome.
Flight Fax Please: Know what you're paying for. Don't get sucked in the lowest rate. Find out the fees. There are many airlines that offer deeply discounted flights, but they come with a cost. Carry on charges, checked bag charges seat charges, printing your boarding pass charges ,a charge for water - you name it they've got a fee for it. Read the fine print and know exactly what hidden fees are there. You may find a fare that's $20 Cheaper but has a $45 charge for carry on.
Avoid the fees: Some fees are completely avoidable. Yes, there may be a charge for carry-on - PACK LIGHT. If possible, condense all of your travel necessities down to the size of the allowed personal item. Take any seat: there are charges to make your own seat preferences skip the extra charge and keep your fingers crossed you don't end up between a husband and wife bickering about god knows what, and if you do just think " Only 3 more hours, only 2 more hours 59 minutes" and so on.
Sleep is all I need: That spells it out for you. Your room is not your vacation, hopefully you spend rarely anytime there, so why invest tons of money in a place you don't get to completely enjoy. Your room is your power house to recharge for the days ahead. I'm sure you won't invest thousands of dollars for a charger to charge your phone.
Bring friends: This should go without saying but, - Plan a group trip. If you’re looking to cut your fees in half or maybe a quarter, the more the merrier and the more you save. Friends can make your stay more enjoyable and help you save a lot in the long run. More people mean lower transportation cost and lower cost of hotel accommodations.
There are many ways to be frugal and still get to experience the world and all it has to offer. I encourage everyone to travel because it makes us a more diverse person and makes us more open to other cultures and nationalities. So, gather some friends and go and see the world.
