Travel Tip Tuesday: The A to B’s of Traveling

Hello friends! It is good for you to be here today! Rumor has it that there are three things we should never bring up in conversations around the dinner table: religion, money, and politics. Well, today we are going to talk about one of them… Money! That’s right. Now before you run away to avoid this conversation, please allow me to explain.

We have all seen or experienced how expensive traveling can be. The expense behind it is often what holds many people back from pursuing their dreams of seeing the world. This is a shame.

So, I am here today to encourage you and to re-write the script of traveling a bit. I am here to say, “NO!” it does not need to be that expensive. Really? Really.

That being said, what areas of traveling do we tend to spend the most on? Sure, not everyone travels for the same experiences or reasons, but there are some things that 99.9% of all travelers will require when gallivanting abroad: transportation, accommodations, and food. How you do these basic things will determine whether or not you will spend a small fortune on your trip. So let’s break it down, starting this week with transportation.

The A to B’s of Traveling

Planes, trains and automobiles… Whether you like it or not, if you want to travel anywhere, you will need to utilize some form of transportation to get there (yes, your feet count as transportation as well). So how can we save money when going from point A to point B?

Planes

When looking to fly to and from your destination, there are all sorts of tips and tricks out there on how to save money. For instance, booking in advance often times will work to your advantage. They say that you should try to book a flight about 54 days in advance to get the lowest rate. If you missed that, no worries. A more general guideline is that booking anywhere between 112 to 21 days in advance will get you a pretty good price on plane tickets.*

Where to look for plane tickets? Well, the internet is quite helpful for that. Our favorite website for searching for tickets is Google Flights. It searches through a wide variety of websites to find the lowest rates for tickets on each particular date. Or, if you know approximately when you want to travel to, but are wondering where will be the least expensive place to fly to, there is an option on Google Flights to see the prices of what a flight will cost to fly ANYWHERE from your starting location (we’ve used this feature a lot when traveling around Europe).

Trains & More

One of the best ways to travel for less is to utilize the public transportation system. Thanks to technology and the power of Google Maps, looking up train and bus schedules is really quite simple. Just type in where you are and where you want to go, then select the “Transit” route option. Google Maps will look up for you how to get there using the transit system and the schedule times you will need to know to make it possible. If you are planning ahead, you can also look up the transit route for the time and date you will be traveling on. Additionally, so that you do not have to use cellular data when you are out and about in a foreign country, you can download a map of the area you will be traveling around onto your device using the Google Maps app. The map will then be on your phone for your convenience whenever you need it. Pretty cool, hey? Technology at its finest.

Automobiles

Now I get it. Sometimes you just cannot use the transit system to see all that you want to see. But there’s good news for you too! There are ways to save money even then. If you are looking to rent a car, you can book online through websites like Expedia. You can select what general type of vehicle you are interested in renting, the rental company you would like to rent from, and even the location for picking up the vehicle. This ensures you get the best possible deal out there. Vehicles rented from companies located at airports or by hotels will generally be more expensive. So if you want to rent a car but also would like to save some money, a simple tip is to rent from companies located a bit outside of central locations like these. Easy peasy!

Walking

Last but certainly not least, the number one way to get from point A to point B is just to walk. It is good exercise and it allows you to really soak up the beauty of daily life wherever you are adventuring. Walking is my favorite form of transportation and the more you do it, the easier it becomes! (Caution: if you plan to do a lot of walking, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE wear good, comfortable shoes)

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So there you have it – some awesome ways to save your hard earned money when traveling from point A to B and everywhere in between. Hopefully, this will help you some in planning your next adventure. For next week’s Travel Tuesday, we will continue to debunk the “travel must be expensive” myth by looking at the second area of travel to save money in: accommodations! So get stoked for that.

Again, thank you for being here today on This Darling Adventure! Feel free to comment below! It is such a pleasure to hear from you. Until we talk tomorrow, have a beautiful day friends! And forever keep it classy. 🙂