Want to travel more? Here are 15 travel tips that will help you travel for longer & more frequently by helping you to save money, utilize expert travel skills, and travel smarter and savvier when you’re there to save even more!

I have never regretted the choice to prioritize travel – it’s what led me to traveling the world solo for a year+! Travel doesn’t always have to be expensive though, and you definitely don’t have endless time off to make travel happen – often the two biggest hurdles that stop you from traveling as much as you’d like.

The three key steps to travel more are to save money (for future trips and/or to make your money go further on trips), to schedule your trip at the RIGHT time (so you can travel for more time and/or for less money), and to utilize the tips and tricks seasoned travelers tips use (that I’m sharing below!), so that once you’re at your destination, you can further save money and have a much more seamless and enjoyable trip overall.

So if you want to travel for longer & more frequently, here are my 15 top budget travel tips and overall travel tips for seamless trips (from personally visiting 40+ countries!), to help you to travel MORE:

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Traveling at the “right” time of year can save you money, help you escape the hassle of heavily touristed areas, and even help you score discount flights. All you have to do is Google your destination name + “off-season” to figure out the best time to visit. Not only will it be less crowded during the off-season (always a bonus!), but oftentimes the local hotels, activity providers, and more will offer generous discounts at this time to incentivise visitors to come outside the busiest season. I often find flights are even cheaper too in the off-season.

Whether or not you have a specific destination in mind for your trip, make sure to sign up for flight alerts. My personal favorite is the email service Going, which sends you destination deals right to your inbox – and you can even specify your preferred top 3 airports you’d like to fly from. Going has both free and paid plans – I’d recommend starting with the free version to get the feel for it, and then definitely upgrade if/when you are able to (extra savings tip: sign up during Black Friday deals!) because trust me, it will PAY FOR ITSELF! 

Another great resource is getting free flight alerts for your exact destination and dates is with the Hopper app – you’ll get notifications of when to wait or buy your flight tickets for the ultimate savings.

My final favorite tool is Skyscanner to set up multiple flight alerts; you can choose multiple airports and different dates to get the very best deal. And similarly to Hopper, you’ll get a notification when there is a fare change.

If you DON’T have a firm destination in mind, one of my favorite ways to save money and visit a new destination, is by hopping onto Google flights, and hitting “explore”. From there, pick your starting location, a more specific month in the year and timeframe such as week or weekend, and see what pops up. This is the VERY best way to get the most insane flight deals, AND it might even lead you to exploring somewhere new you’d never before considered – the most epic trips start that way! If you let the cheap flights guide you instead of being set on a specific time of year or destination, you’ll find some of the VERY best deals.

Having enough time off for all the trips you want to do can be incredibly challenging, especially to those of us in the United States with very restrictive time off. But the good news is there is an easy way to stretch your PTO out and allow you to squeeze in a few more trips throughout the year: wrap your trip around a holiday and use 1-2 days of PTO on either side of it – it’s like getting a bonus PTO day! OR once you run out of holidays, wrap your trip around a weekend to maximize time off. Utilizing this hack can transform 25 days of PTO into OVER 60 total days off! This works best for doing multiple 4 and 5 day trips throughout the year, but you can also do fewer but longer 6-10 day trips.

Skipping the major tourist destinations or places on the “best of” lists and choosing to visit a lesser-known destination is one of my favorite ways to travel. Getting off the typical tourist route generally not only saves you money, as the popular places tend to be, on average, more expensive, but also opens you up to visiting places you might not have considered or thought much about. I love being blown away by a destination unexpectedly or finding out about an underrated country – they always end up being my favorite destinations in the end.

If you can’t avoid or are set on visiting a popular destination, try getting off the beaten path – especially by getting out into nature! This can be as small as choosing to eat at a restaurant just a few streets away from a popular monument or as big as taking a multi-day trek into the backcountry. Hiking gets you away from the crowds and (barring permits/parking/etc) is generally FREE, while popular tourist sites are usually expensive and busy. I am an adventure and outdoors traveler at heart, and I find the landscapes of a country are what stick with me long after I’m gone, but even for city-loving travelers, just try asking locals what they’d recommend and skip some of the generic “best things to do”.

My best advice for new points & miles earners would be to wait for a great opening offer of 50-75k+ miles and time it with when you’re expecting to purchase a big expense so that you meet the spending minimum to get the offer miles. If you don’t have a big purchase planned (for example, this could be furniture, plane tickets, a new computer, maybe even a camera), another way to meet the spending minimum is to add a trusted partner/friend/family member as an authorized user and combine your spending (again, let me reiterate TRUSTED). 

This is just the tip of the iceberg for points & miles, so I highly encourage you to check out the AMPLE resources online on this topic – it’s WILD how much money you can save and what epic & expensive experiences you can get for a fraction of the points versus what you’d spend in dollars alone.

I haven’t personally tried this method YET but another way to brainlessly save for travel is by using an app like Acorns or Chime, which automatically rounds up EVERY credit card purchase you make and deposits the difference into your chosen savings account. 

Now you’ve saved up and have your time off – it’s time to save money and have a seamless trip at the destination itself. Many countries around the world have STELLAR public transport – buses, trains, metro – that are all MUCH cheaper than rental cars or taxis. I’ve even used tuktuks & rented a bike (as well as a scooter) to save money! US citizens who are used to driving everywhere – it’s WELL worth learning to navigate public transport abroad. It might take a bit longer to get to a destination, but I can’t tell you how much money I saved taking an overnight bus instead of a plane flight, or a shared shuttle instead of a rental car.

Whether you are traveling solo (as I often am) or with friends/family, hostels are hands-down the BEST & cheapest accommodation option! For solo travelers, hostels are a great way to meet new friends and save money on the “solo-tax”, and for friends, it’s a fun & inexpensive place to stay that often has even more benefits: many hostels offer cheap(er) tours, have pools, host meetups, have restaurants or kitchens to cook in, and more. I’ve honestly been blown away by the decor, vibes, and creativity some of the hostels around the world offer – my favorite way to find these gems are on Hostelworld. 

While in the US Airbnb has notoriously become expensive due to exorbitant cleaning and other fees, outside of the US, I’ve found Airbnb to be inexpensive and much more welcoming. Staying in an Airbnb abroad helps give you a taste of local life, is oftentimes is in a convenient location (tip: pair it with a public transport stop!), has helpful features like laundry on-site (hello long-term travelers needing this!), and helps you save even more if there’s a kitchen (see next tip!). I have personally found it to be a much more ideal and MUCH cheaper option than a hotel; I love meeting the hosts or getting their local tips, and it is just nice to feel like staying in a home away from home.

Sampling different food abroad is honestly one of the absolute best parts about traveling, and it is such a fun way to immediately start experiencing the culture. I would highly recommend you eat local or eat at a local-recommended establishment over touristy or hotel-recommended restaurants that are usually serving overpriced and overrated food. I love visiting street food stands and finding hole-in-the-wall places – ask the server or a local what their favorite dish is and try that! 

However, if you end up eating every meal out, even if it’s local, you’ll realize it starts to add up quickly. One of the best ways to save is to choose a few meals (breakfasts/lunches/dinners/snacks) and grab groceries to supplement the meals you do eat out for. Even just grabbing a pastry for breakfast at a local bakery or getting a quick sandwich at the grocery store is SO much less expensive than a sit-down meal. 

If you want something a bit more substantial than snacks or quick grocery-store fare, try cooking for yourself (in your Airbnb or hostel from the previous tip!). This is a great way to try incorporating local ingredients and spices, and overall saves you so much money that you can spend elsewhere on your trip (or save for the next one)!

I wish I had learned this earlier because this single change has saved me HUNDREDS of dollars – but swap out your debit card with one that PAYS BACK ATM FEES. So many countries outside of the US are cash-based or prefer cash, so I’m constantly stopping at ATMs to refill my wallet (so that I’m never traveling with too much cash on me). Every time I do this, the ATM charges a transaction fee unless you somehow manage to find one that partners with your bank back home (good luck with this my friend).

I honestly don’t know how I ever used to travel without an eSIM – being able to look up information, have directions, check the weather, and even send texts over data has been INVALUABLE, especially as a chronic solo-traveler. The eSIMs I from Airalo are ridiculously affordable – just one single eSIM for an entire trip often is equal to the DAY rate I would have paid on my home plan! And no one wants to come home to an outrageous international roaming fee – it’s WILD what they can charge you. Get the eSIM, you’ll never look back, trust me! I’ll even throw in a discount code for those on the fence – use REBECCA3 to get $3 off your first Airalo eSIM and thank me later!

Flights and accommodation are the TOP 2 expenses you’ll have for your trip – so eliminating just one of those is how you can save SO so much money – and have a unique and memorable experience on top of this! If you are a fan of animals, check out TrustedHousesitters, where you can take care of a local’s furry friends in exchange for a free stay. There are even houses with no requirements other than the house sitting itself – so definitely jump on those if you aren’t wanting to petsit on your vacation!

If you want a memorable trip or you want to give back on your travels while saving money on accommodation, can I suggest Worldpackers – you can do a work exchange, volunteer, have unique travel experiences, and make a difference in the local community. It’s pretty special! There are so many options for your different skill sets and interests, give it a look and try it out on your next trip! As a bonus, if you use code “ROAMFREE” you can get $10 off your WorldPacker membership!

This tip is more of a PREVENTATIVE savings and seamless-travel tip, but please invest in travel insurance! I don’t know about you, but something always goes wrong at some point during a trip – and travel insurance can make the difference between situations like still making a trip happen despite cancellations or saving you from prohibitively expensive medical bills abroad, and missing a trip ENTIRELY and losing out on ALL the money you’ve spent on a trip due to unforeseen circumstances. If you need more reasons why, I’ve written an entire blog post on why you need travel insurance and how it can help make your travel more seamless, save you anxiety and worry, and of course, save you money in the long run.

So you’ve might have heard I often travel solo – and if you want some of my best tips, I’ve got ALL of them here! I love to encourage everyone to try solo travel at LEAST once – you can’t believe the number of stories I’ve heard about someone wanting to visit a bucket list destination, and end up missing out because there is no one for them to travel with. Please – STOP waiting for others to join your trip & just GO! Don’t let this be something that stops you from traveling more or just going for it. Trust me, you’ll NEVER regret taking the trip! There are so many benefits of solo travel, and I’ve got tons of tips for solo travel safety and how to start your first solo trip – give those a read and TRY a solo trip already!

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