When I was planning a vacation for myself this summer, I realized that I was going to be spending a lot of money. Wanting to find a way to save a little bit, I did some research to come up with how to travel on vacation for under $500 total.
What are some tips for saving money traveling and going on vacation for under $500? Whenever you are trying to save money on your travels, it is very important to prioritize your activities and expenses.
Along with finding deals on things like flights and hotels, and compromising slightly on the quality, you will need to find free activities to do as well as try to save as much money on food as you possibly can.
Traveling is something that everyone enjoys, or would like to do. The only thing that usually gets in the way of these adventures is money. When it comes to planning a vacation, your budget can either give you everything that you want or limit your activities.
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In this article, we will be exploring the option of traveling on vacation for under $500 total. Keep reading to find out how you can take a trip for cheap, without sacrificing too much of the fun that you plan to have!
How To Save Money On Your Travel Expenses
Going on vacation is something that everyone needs every once in a while. With all of the stresses that come with work and personal matters in every day life, it is healthy to get away for some time and relax.
In fact, it is actually scientifically proven that vacations can lower stress and actually be healthy for you. It is not good to be stressing every day, and you can really improve your state of mind and even extend your life span by setting aside a few weekends to find yourself again.
However, the only thing that limits you from going on vacation as frequently as you would like is probably the money. While it is true that traveling is something that is enjoyable and necessary, everything costs money.
Depending on where you will be going and what your expectations are for your trip, you could end up spending thousands of dollars in some circumstances.
Most people don’t know how easy it really is to save money on a vacation, though. If you budget correctly and plan ahead, you can end up spending a fraction of the overall cost.
In this section, we will be going over all of the ways that you can save money on your travel expenses. This includes all of your transportation and sleeping arrangements. Take a look at the list down below to find a brief outline of some of these helpful tips.
Here are some great ways to save money on your travel expenses:
- Find the cheapest flights through budget airlines and deals
- Be flexible with your travel dates and airports
- Drive to your destination instead (if it is close enough or more cost effective)
- Settle for the cheapest accommodations (motels, hostels, etc.)
- Try to find free accommodations (couch surfing, house sitting, etc.)
- Pack light! (To avoid extra baggage fees)
- Plan free or cheap activities
- Be realistic about your destination
The first thing that you will need to consider while you are planning any kind of vacation is the transportation. How will you get to your destination? If you are going somewhere that is several states away, or even in another country, you will obviously need to take a flight to get there.
In this case, you must find the cheapest flights in order to save as much money as you possibly can. Depending on where you are traveling to and from, the flight ticket might be the biggest expense that you have on your trip.
You should keep this in mind, while also still trying to find the lowest rate that you can get. This can be done by looking directly at budget airlines online. You can book your ticket right from their website in most cases, or you can look in other places to get discounted packages.
The best method for finding the best priced flight tickets is to look everywhere that you possibly can. Cover your bases with all of the travel sites that you know of, and more that you might have never heard of before.
For instance, you can start with looking up your starting and ending destination on Google Flights, and comparing all the prices. Then, you can check other websites like Expedia, TripAdvisor, and Kayak, comparing all of their prices to each other.
With all of these different sources trying to give you the best deal, you can rest assured that you got the best price on the internet when you are thorough before you book.
In addition to finding the cheapest possible ticket for your flight, it also helps to be flexible with your travel dates. For example, you might want to leave on the first Tuesday of the next month, but you notice that the same Thursday is about one hundred dollars cheaper.
When you are trying to travel on a small budget, flexibility is everything. In other words, you should be ready to change your travel dates and plans in an instance, in order to get the best possible deal.
In some cases, you might also be able to get some deals when you fly through different airports. Usually, when you are looking up flights on all of the mainstream websites, you will be directed to the biggest airports in the city.
If you do some research beforehand, you can find some airports that might be a little bit out of the way, but you spend less on your ticket to get there. Similarly, if there is another departing airport close to your hometown, you might be able to enter that into the search and find a better deal when you drive there beforehand.
Since flights can get really expensive, even when you find a deal, you should try to drive there when you can if it will cut down on some of the spending. This would obviously not work if you are traveling across the country or overseas on your vacation, but if you are only going a few hours away, you might save some money.
Once you have your transportation all figured out, it will be time to get your accommodations together. Instead of springing for the 5 star luxury hotel, you will have to make a few compromises.
Instead, look for a lower end motel or even staying at hostels. It is important to check reviews for these places to make sure that they are reputable and safe, but once you find a good one, your wallet will seriously thank you.
Alternatively, you can even try to find somewhere free to stay. It helps if you know someone who lives in your destination city, and you can crash on their couch for a few nights.
If you don’t know anyone but you still want to find some free accomodations, you can look for couch surfing websites where locals might take you in to sleep in an empty space in their living room.
You can also check house sitting websites, where locals will offer up their homes as a free place to stay, as long as you water their plants and feed their cats.
If you will be going on an airplane to get to your destination, it is vital that you how to travel lite. Usually, airlines will allow you to bring a small carry on bag and a personal item, which will be included in your ticket price.
Should you choose to bring anything beyond that, you will be charged an extra baggage fee, which is something that you can’t take on when you are trying to travel for under $500!
When you are putting together your itinerary, plan as many cheap or free activities as you can. Guided tours can get expensive, and they are often unnecessary. Do some reading to find out some places in the area that you can explore on your own.
It is always free to walk around, go for a hike, give yourself a tour, see some sights, or swim at a lake or a beach. Keep all of this in mind when you are planning to cut down on your expenses.
Finally, you need to be realistic about your destination. With a budget of $500 for the entire trip, you most likely will not be able to travel halfway across the world- the airline ticket alone will probably swallow your whole budget.
However, if you can find an interesting location just a few hours away or one country over, you could be on to something.
How To Save Money While Traveling
Now that you have gotten a pretty good idea of how you can save money on your travel expenses during the planning part of your trip, you might be wondering how you can save money while you are actually there.
Making sure that you are sticking to a budget during your trip is just as important as when you are planning it. If you are not careful with this part, you can end up spending a lot more than $500 just on your trip alone! Since this is something that you don’t want to do, it would be beneficial to have a few additional tips in mind for this circumstance.
In this section, we will be specifically highlighting some helpful tips on how you can save money during your trip. This includes everything from your activities, all the way down to the food that you eat.
The list down below will give you a brief outline on the topic, while the rest of this section to follow will give you all of the details that you need to get started saving tons of money on your travels!
Here are some great ways to save money on your trip, while you are actually there:
- Don’t fall for the trap of popular tourist areas and attractions
- Skip the guided tours when you can
- Spend most of your time engaging in free activities
- Bring your own food for in between meals
- Try to cook for yourself more often than you go out
When you are on your vacation, it is important not to fall for the trap of the popular tourist areas and attractions. If you center your trip around these crowded areas, you will most likely encounter huge markups on prices for everything.
Instead, you can find some similar locations that are just as great, and spend a lot less money too. Do some research to find out where the locals hang out and eat, and make that your target.
Skip the guided tours when you can as well. As mentioned before, these can get expensive, and you really don’t need someone to take you around to the sights that are available to the public.
You should spend most of your time engaging in free activities, and try to bring your own food for in between meals. If you have some packaged snacks on hand, you might be able to hold yourself over and spend less money on food. Additionally, try to cook for yourself more often than you go out.
What Is The Best Way To Budget And Save For a Vacation?
While you are planning the expenses of your travel as well as your itinerary while you are on your vacation, it is increasingly important to be able to create a budget for yourself.
Without a solid budget, your vacation expenses will basically be a free for all, and you will end up spending a lot more money than you originally wanted to. In order to avoid these problems, you will need to learn how to decide on a budget and stick to it!
Along with just creating your budget, you will need to be able to save money as well. When it comes to spending money for vacation plans, you want to make sure that you actually have it. The last thing that you need is a giant credit card bill that you have to come back to when you return from your relaxing retreat.
In this section, we will be going over in detail how you can effectively create a budget, stick to it, and save all of the money that you need for your vacation, in order to have a stress free getaway.
Here is how you can budget and save for your vacation:
- Come up with the total amount that you would like to spend
- Lay out all of your expenses, from transportation to hotels, activities, and food
- Fit everything into the budget that you set (using money saving tips)
- Come up with a plan to save the money
- Use goals and incentives to stick to the plan
- Limit your daily expenses to come up with your travel fund even faster
- Track your savings and spending throughout the entire process
First of all, you need to come up with the total amount that you would like to spend on your vacation from start to finish. In this particular case, this number is $500.
Lay out all of your expenses, from the transportation that you will be using to get there, to where you will be staying, what you will be doing, and how you will be eating while you are traveling.
After you come up with everything that you will have to spend money on, plan it accordingly to fit into the budget that you set, using the money saving tips that were outlined in the first sections.
Your flight should be first, because it will be the most expensive thing. Then, use a portion of what you have left to pay for your hotel or accommodations. Food is the next most important thing, and then the rest of your budget can be used for activities.
Coming up with a plan to save money is vital as well. This plan should include how much you will save and how long it will take you to come up with the money. Be realistic with what you need to live, and accumulate everything additional that you have toward your travel fund.
Use goals and incentives to stick to the plan that you created, and even try to limit your daily expenses to come up with the total amount even faster. Track your savings and spending throughout this entire process, and keep yourself on the right path to having everything that you need for your upcoming vacation.
As you can see, it is not very difficult to stick to a low budget for a really cool vacation. If you are able to compromise a little bit on the extra stuff and find a realistic travel destination, there is no reason why you should have to spend over $500 for your next vacation!