✈️ Tips for traveling on a budget

Good morning ☀️ from Booked It On Points: Friday Edition where I give an actionable tip to make your travel dreams a reality.

Here’s what’s we have today—

✈︎ First Class Travel Tip: Be organized

TripIt App (not sponsored)

Something you may be surprised to hear about me→ my preferred way to travel is to simply wing it.

While winging it is fun 😉, it’s not so fun when say, you find yourself having arrived inside the lobby of the wrong hotel after a 2 hour train ride, followed by taking 2 metros and a 10 minute walk (including luggage) in the rain with your 2 children wayyyyy past their requested lunch time… lesson learned 😑 

After that I promised myself (and my family) that I would get organized and I found TripIt. It’s a one stop shop that auto links all of my confirmations to one place. It’s easily shareable, contains all the pertinent information and can be accessed off line. Check out this quick video that sums it up.

✈︎ The Informed Traveler

Tips for traveling on a budget

There is a lot of hype out there about traveling on a budget. Personally, my biggest savings come from using credit card points + miles saving hundreds (even thousands) of dollars on airfare and accommodations, like points from these top cards for August.

But what about the actual trip? Money adds up and with seemingly high costs EVERYWHERE- the trip usually feels expensive even with free flights/hotels.

So here are a few things we practice in our travels when trying to keep costs low:

1) My personal favorite → Talk to the locals. I’m telling you, it’s the golden ticket 🎫 of travel. Not only do you elevate your experience by simply exchanging an experience with someone completely new, they often will recommend a road less traveled which equates to cheaper prices. Local restaurants, parks and attractions that aren’t geared towards the masses and therefore are reasonably priced are memorable experiences that don’t break the bank.

2) Pack less → The price for a checked bag can be upwards of $100. This increase in your travel costs easily adds up when traveling within a family. We do everything we can to pack carry ons only. Check out the “Ranger roll” method for organizing a full outfit in 1 shirt (great for packing kids and husbands) and don’t forget to invest in those packing cubes!

3) Picnics are perfect → Listen, I LOVE going out to eat, especially when traveling. And while we do a lot of eating out, I also go to the supermarkets regularly. Packing out lunches to-go for an afternoon out is not only enjoyable, but it saves you big time on your budget. We love finding a great swimming spot or breaking on a hike to enjoy some yummy eats. We love bringing Snap Bowls so we have a bowl when we are out exploring. We linked them in our amazon store under Travel Essentials.

We regularly plan for breakfast in our room as well. A cup of coffee with some local bread and cheese or perhaps a yogurt with fruit is a great to start your day with savings! Save that money for some afternoon ice cream 🙂 

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As always, I appreciate you for being here today.

Have a great weekend,

Allie