It’s raining outside. I can hear the rain ticking against my window. It’s a calming sound. While I am wrapped up in a thick cozy blanket trying to stay warm, I start dreaming. Dreaming about my next adventure. The next exciting destination on my never-ending bucket list.
I can’t sit still. The wanderlust takes over before I can tell my heart that my bank account is not ready to jump on another cheap flight to the next destination.
So because of that I need to travel cheap, dirt cheap. I have perfected the skill of finding the most wonderful destination that spare your bank account a trip to the ER. And today I will teach you how to become a master of budget travel…
Where do we go?
You really have to options here: either you have a dream destinations you want to get to, or you just want to explore this amazing planet, but you don’t really care where you start.
I know where I want to go!
If you know where to go, get online and go look for the cheapest flights. I really love skyscanner. You can compare prices by month and it even notifies you when prices go down. Great other sites are cheaptickets.com, budgetair.be and ofcourse the budget airlines like Ryanair, Easyjet, Transavia and Wowair. Just open all of the sites on incognito mode and start comparing!
If you have found the cheapest dates to travel to your destination you have to start thinking about what you want to do there and if it is realistic to do those thing in the cheapest period. As an example: Maybe it is really cheap to fly to Switzerland in February, but if you want to go hiking through the amazing green mountains this may not be the best time to do that. Pack your ski’s instead or search for another time to travel. It’s all about balance here. You should search for the cheapest flight, sure, but pay for the things you like. Don’t like arriving at night for example? Pay a little extra and land when it’s nice and bright outside.
I don’t care I just want to explore!
If you have no idea where you next adventure destination will be I suggest going for a little browse on the fare finder on Ryanair.com or if you want to go further you can also explore on cheaptickets or wowair.com. The fare finder is a genius tool in my opinion and how I book most of my own traveling in Europe. You just pick the airport and your budget and it shows you the cheapest flights. You can also narrow down your search by a specific period, month or date. I suggest selecting the ‘tile view’. It shows a little picture of each place so you get an idea of what it will look like.
Another great option if you have no particular preference are sites like Travelbird and vakantiepiraten (LINK). They offer reasonably priced pre planned vacations, especially in the off seasons.
Other forms of transportation
You almost cannot beat the jaw dropping prices Ryanair has to offer, but sometimes it is a good idea to look into other options as well. Flying isn't the best for our planet so alternative options like Flixbus or a Railpass can be more sustainable without breaking the bank.
Where do we stay?
Hostels?!
If we think cheap, we think hostels. They are a great budget place to sleep indeed, but I know they are not for everyone. So if you love hostels for their dorm rooms, meeting people and the social atmosphere, Go for it! But if you prefer to have some privacy or if you are two lovebirds traveling a private room in a hostel often isn’t the cheapest.
Airbnb!
My personal all-time favorite when traveling with my boyfriend or a group of friends is Airbnb. You can find great deals on this site, way cheaper then hotel rooms and in my opinion, way more comfortable. It feels like a home away from home, you can save money because most of the time you have a kitchen and you have privacy!
My best tip is to set your budget low and search trough al the cheap options, you are sure to find something that you like! Outside the center will be cheaper and will give you a local feel. Last but certainly not least: read the reviews and trust them!
But I like my hotels!
If you really love hotels I suggest looking on Booking.com. Have a look around select the hotels that you love but never book trough a booking site!! This video from psychotraveler explains really well why booking directly through the site from the hotel or hostel itself saves you a lot of money!
Couchsurfing
This is a really good option if you would love to meet locals and get a good night sleep for free. Couchsurfing offer you a couch or if you are lucky a bed in someone’s home for free. I personally never tried it but you can find more information here: Couchsurfing.com
What to do?
I could talk for hours on what budget this to do in all kinds of amazing destinations! That’s why I will be starting a budget destination series. Each week you will get a blogpost of a city that I have visited and giving you guys the best insider tips! Stay tuned!
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