If you are reading my blog, there is high possibility that you want to travel and you would prefer traveling cheap (or maybe you are just member of my family who is reading my blog out of obligation). To the tell the truth I haven’t traveled that much. Of course the last two years I have been traveling more than most people but I still see myself as new member of this traveling and blogging scene.
Even then I have already learned a lot of ways to travel cheaper and had so many online conversations of how to travel cheap that I feel like this post was excepted some time soon. This is one of my favorite subjects to talk about. It mixes up two of my favorite things. Traveling and budgeting. I hope these few basic tips will help you!
5. Subscribe For Newsletters
Everyone is always complaining because I have about 2 000 unopened emails on my mailbox. How did that happen? Well, for me one of the ways to travel cheap is to find good deals from newsletters I get from different companies. I am subscribed to about twenty different newsletters from booking websites, airlines, cruises and hotel chains. I get a few messages from different companies every day but because the title usually tells if this mail will have something good I don’t even open most of them.
This is good way to travel cheap BUT your email will be big mess and you will have hard time to find anything. What we wouldn’t do to travel cheap? Good thing in this tip is that usually trough subscription emails you will get deals that you wouldn’t usually get and you will know about them before anyone else. Usually when you buy tickets anywhere they give you the option for subscripting for their own travel newsletter. Just click yes and give them your email. That’s what I do. (And maybe consider getting extra email just for easy way to get cheap travel deals.
4. Free Memberships & Collecting Points
If you have ever googled cheap ways to travel, you have probably heard about travel hacking and collecting points to get free flights. Yeah that’s great and I recommend it for everyone but it is also slow. Even if you don’t plan doing travel hacking to travel cheap, being member of airline is good idea. Firstly, you will be part of their email subscription list at the same time and get all the benefits mentioned above. However there is even more benefits being real member.
With the points you have collected you can also purchase cheaper flights, hotel rooms or holiday packages if you are not patient enough to wait until you have enough points for free flights. Best thing is that these memberships are free so you can just join to every possible club you find.
3. Coupons & Promotion Codes
First time I truly used this method was for our family trip to Disneyland and Paris. Using coupons saved us a lot of travel money because there was a four of use. However even for solo travelers this is the way to travel cheap and save up some money. Every cent counts, right? Basically, almost all booking sites, hotels, airlines, etc. use promotion codes, discount codes and coupons. Usually you can take advantage of these sales adding short code when it is asked during your booking/checkout.
These codes are often shared on companies’ social media pages or newsletters but if you are not following all of them there is easier way for you to get the sweet deal. Just google company’s name coupon code and you will find different sites listing all kind of codes for specific sites. Then starts the fishing. Sometimes you have to try ten different codes before you can find the working one. However if you want to travel cheap and save travel money it will be worth it.
As additional tip, you can use this method for everything. For example tours booked trough internet and hop-on-hop-off bus companies usually have discount codes that are easily found by googling and can safe you a great amount of travel money.
2. Pick Out The Cheapest Travel Destination
I am of course all for achieving dreams from your bucket list but if you are broke that is not always possible. I use Skyscanner to this but there is a lot of sites like. Basically you can put to search your departure airport and as destination ‘anywhere’. Then you get list of all the places where you can fly and what are the cheapest options for you. Just decide some of the cheapest destinations (but also think about what you want to see/experience).
In addition if you are not chained to specific days use the option that let’s you see the cheapest travel prices for whole month/year. The just pick out the cheapest day to travel and the cheapest day to return and also the cheapest destination to go. For me this has been the way to travel cheap. For example next Monday I am flying to Bremen (it was the cheapest destination from Finland/40€) and from Bremen to London (it was the cheapest destination to travel from Bremen/15€).
1. Be Creative
Last but also the most important tip I can give for fellow broke travelers is being creative. No, this doesn’t mean making paintings and selling them for your to kind relatives (even if this is a good idea!). Creative way of finding cheap ways to travel means for me looking for options that are outside of the box. Taking plane, booking hotel and just going with it isn’t always the best option. I have talked about this before but I don’t think I can never mention it enough.
So, example? I live in Finland and if you are from here or have ever planned trip to Finland, you know how expensive it can be to fly anywhere. My go to plan? Take cheap cruise to Sweden and fly from there. I have saved a lot of travel money with this. Look for airports that are accessible by bus, ship or train for you. Are the flights from there cheaper? Is the sum of traveling to airport and then to your destination cheaper? Congratulations, you just saved money and found way to travel cheaper.
There is also other ways to be creative. Try bus travel and you may find surprisingly cheap deals anywhere (especially in Europe). Did you know that bus from London to Amsterdam costs only 20€? And from Amsterdam to Lyon 30€? If you are more adventurous try free accommodation like couchsurfing or free traveling by hitchhiking. There is endless amount of possibilities to travel cheap. You just have to find them.
Do you have any tips for cheap travel? Feel free to share them or any comments you have below!
With love,
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it is time taking but, yes indeed we can save money by this practice.
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Well sometimes using a lot of time is better than using a lot of money. Thanks for commenting! 🙂
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I agree!
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Always good to get some tips from the experienced one 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
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I’m happy if I was able to share even some new tips with others. Thanks for commenting 🙂
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Great tips and so true! I am a huge budget backpacker and am always into ways to travel for cheap. I was wondering if you would be interested in a travel blogging challenge with me? Would love to great more of your stories from there!
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Thanks for commenting! Your travel blogging challenge seems interesting. Maybe I could find my lost inspiration from there… I have to take closer look to the challenge and check if I have enough time for it 🙂
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No problem!! You don’t have to participate every week, just some prompts to help your blog flow. I enjoy keeping up with it, though I am late quite often. lol
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Haha being late in this kind of things is always my biggest problem. 🙂 okay maybe I will start next week if I can find time… This would be at least good way to really try writing something every week.
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I know right? I’m having trouble keeping up with my own posts too! better late than never, I always say. 😉
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I decided I will try to start this next week when I hopefully have a lot of time to blog 🙂
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Doooo it! I recently took a trip again, so supeerrr behind on my posts. but catching up now. hehehehehe
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Yeah well I had super busy week and now I am on my way to Rome and Venice but maybe I will find time after next week or during next week when I am traveling 🙂
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killed it, nice tips
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Thanks!
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Hey thanks for the tips- I am inspired to go and look on sky scanner now! 🙂
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Thanks for commenting! Now you just have to start booking trips 🙂
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thanks for the tips
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Thanks for the comment 🙂
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welcome
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Nice tips! No matter where I travel, I always try to do it on a budget. Totally agree with your point on emails and coupons. I use the Groupon app for activities and emails for flight deals so it’s easy to say my inbox is around 2,000 unopened emails as well. 🙂
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Well at least we get the best deals even if our emails are full! I think budget traveling is kind of fun because you have to try to find the cheapest deals and routes to go somewhere cool. But sometimes you have to remember to use more money so you can also experience everything you want. Thanks for commenting 🙂
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Thanks for sharing the tips! 🙂
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I’m just glad if I was even a little helpful 🙂
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So handy xxx
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Thanks!
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Lovely read, some good tips! Hope you enjoy the rest of your travels 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂
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this has been very helpful to my family because we are going on a cross country vacation so this is a huge help for my fam. thx!
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I am glad I helped at least someone with this. The truth is that apparently not so many people know about these things even if it’s not that hard to travel a little cheaper than we are used to. I hope you will have amazing trip with your family. Safe travels! 🙂
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I love your blog and it truely has been so helpful and thank you for your support om my blog
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Thank you! And your blog seemed interesting. I hope you will have amazing travels with your family 🙂
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Very useful tips. Thank you!
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Thank you!
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Wow, I like the number 1. Choosing to travel by land is really cheaper than on plane. At least you have gained a lot of photos along with the trip.
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It’s my favorite too (that’s why it’s number 1). Only bad things is that you cam’t take the traditional “I am now in plane” photo like when traveling flying. 😀 thanks for commenting!
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great stuff! thanks for sharing:)
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Thank you! I am glad you like them 🙂
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Awesome tips and tricks!
http://sagrikajhamb.com/2017/06/18/to-travel-is-to-live/
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Thank you! 🙂
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Thanks for these tips. I do wish that I was in Europe, so that I could travel around it more cheaply (instead of flying from the US).
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Yeah, but I live in Europe and I hope I would be in US so I could travel there more cheaply rather than flying from Europe. So, where ever we live it is expensive to travel somewhere. Thanks for commenting 🙂
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Grass is always greener, I guess. There are still many places that I want to visit in the US.
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These tips are just awesome! I believe that thanks to your tips I would be able to travel more on a budget, Viivi!
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I’m glad you liked them! These are just something I have found useful so I thought hey why not to share them with everyone 🙂 I hope you will find way to travel more
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Definitely newsletters like Ryanair does cheap flight tickets at certain points of the year. Also I have a friend going to Finland can you direct them on things to do while he’s at summer school? Or even accommodation close to metropolia faculty of science? Thanks
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I don’t know a lot about accommodation on that area but I could do post next week about must to do things in Finland during summer. But also you can ask your friend to send me email (viivi.severina@gmail.com) and I would love to give them some recommendations 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
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Very useful tips, thank you for sharing. I have also just started blogging about my travels if you’d like to take a look 🙂 https://www.everythingemilie.com
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I am happy you found the tips useful. 🙂 I will definitely check your blog.
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Thank you 🙂 I look forward to reading more from you!
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I”m in the middle of booking so many holidays right now for Summer and these are the PERFECT TIPS!!! thank you so much – I would never have thought of all of these, LIFE SAVER xxxx
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You are welcome! I am happy that you found the tips helpful. 🙂 I hope you will have amazing travels this summer
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