As my mother and I prepare to venture off to our third Costa Rican holiday in 3 years, I'm often asked by friends and co workers how I'm "able" to travel as much as I do. For starters, I have my grandma's penny pinching genes.
But I also follow these 10 rules that have allowed me to leave the country at least once a year for the last 5 years.
1. Start saving money now. Even in a jar. I personally put all my spare change in one of those foot long Eiffel Towers they give you at Little Paris in Las Vegas as a change/travel fund. I call it my "Barcelona Fund" due to the first time I started saving money in it preparing for my Barcelona trip in 2010. Spare change mightn't seem like a lot, but I even try and throw a dollar or two in there every now and then that is spare or money that I find randomly.
I even go as far as to keep all of my recycling and take it in to be exchanged for cash once I have ratholed enough. This is a small, small amount for your old plastics and glass, but it is free to recycle and I look at it that not only am I saving the environment, I'm earning a bit of money to put towards a future trip. Thus, I add my recycling money to the Barcelona Fund and it slowly starts to add up.
When I get a work bonus, I put it in the Barcelona fund or away in preparation of traveling in the future. Save save save!
2. Sign up for as many airline's mileage programs as you can! It is free to do and often companies will give you 500 free miles as a bonus for signing up to their program. Also sign up for their weekly email specials through the mileage program as you can then specify which airport you prefer and other more specific settings so you won't get bombarded with junk mail and or offers for destinations you don't care about.
3. Sign up for points.com. All airlines use points.com as the company that manages the airlines mileage programs. Not only can you buy and sell miles, you can also trade and sell miles from different airlines, even ones that are not in the same miles program alliance nor affiliated with each other. Which is amazing. I was able to sell some US Airways miles in exchange for more American Airlines miles in order to make my trip to Berlin and Amsterdam happen.
4. Sign up for couchsurfing.org. From there set up as thorough as a profile as possible, and then you can look at and find friends from around the world as well as free accommodation anywhere in the world! It is amazing and I highly recommend it.
5. If you drink, buy a bottle of your liquor of choice and bring a flask with you to sneak into the bars. That way your mixed drinks are way cheaper when all you have to buy is the mixer! What? It's a recession, sweetie!
6. Sign up for travel deal websites like travelzoo.com and orbits.
7. Off season is always the cheapest time to book tickets AND visit places.
8. Go with someone! Rooming with someone or sharing some kind of accomo really makes the trip much cheaper!
9. Meet the locals. This may require you to pick up a new language, but isn't gaining inside information worth it? Locals always know the best place to go and how to save themselves money, so often all it takes is asking the right one!
10. Quit spending your money on frivolous things! No, I don't go to the bars every night. I save my money and travel. I don't buy expensive clothes. I save my money and travel. I make my dinner at home. I save my money and travel. I wait until movies come out on netflix or on DVD. I SAVE MY MONEY AND TRAVEL!
Anyone with a sense of adventure and a desire to see new places can travel. It just takes some determination!
