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* Fly off season (Not during school breaks, including June - Aug, Christmas - New Years and during Easter week)
* Travel to a place where you have family/friends to stay at if possible
* Book flight & hotel together thru hotwire.com
* Fly during midweek (usually cheaper)
* Stay maximum 10 days at a place (or 1 week if in same continent)
* Avoid staying at luxury hotels, it's for sleep anyway
* Save some extra money (2 workers in family is much easier then)
* If you like to travel, don't live in McMansion
* Consider taking cruises, you see many different countries/places in short amount of time
* Don't purchase stuff except food on your trip
If you cannot absolutely afford overseas travel, do road trip. Canada is great destination if you live in America. Visit Quebec... Different language and different country and different culture, still something.
I took bus from NYC to Montreal for only $125 round-trip, and from NYC to Toronto round-trip only $80 and hotel $65 during summer for two days and one night. Very cheap and amazing mini trip!
Last edited by Jews for Jesus; 08-02-2013 at 09:33 PM..
Hi there OP. Sorry I haven't read through the entire thread so apologies if this is repeat information but have you thought about interrailing around Europe?
This is what I did after I left Uni. You can do it remarkably cheaply. Just the cost of the ticket, take a backpack and some cash, buy a book on youth hostels and stay at the cheapest ones. I went with a friend (two females in our twenties) and half the time we didn't even have accommodation - we just slept on the trains or in the train station. Sometimes we stayed at campsites where they provide an already pitched tent very cheaply. You can live on next to nothing if all you eat is very simple stuff like bread, cheese, beans etc.
I visited so many places. One of the best things I ever did in my life.
In those days, there were no Euros so you kept having to go to the money exchanges but even that was no biggie.
My only hesitation would be that I don't know how it works if you are not an EU citizen because I remember at the time you had to purchase the ticket in your own country so you would have to investigate that.
Ok my apologies, scratch all that, I just looked it up. Apparently this is the rule:
Really sorry looks like its a no go. Maybe there is a similar system so you could see America at least?
I was not an EU citizen when I lived and worked in Europe. No one..ever even asked me to show my passport when traveling on rail. Just bought a ticket just like the local folks do...locate the right car, hopped on...relaxed, get off at my destination. That's it! Now, by air, yes they asked me to show my passport. Then again...it was never an issue about not being an EU citizen. Maybe speaking the languages in Europe helps? I don't know. Wish there was a decent rail system in the U.S. to see the U.S. Tried to go to southern CA once from Seattle...AMTRAK drops me off somewhere south of Sacramento...then bus'd from there to Santa Maria...an 8-hour trip! What kind of rail system is that?
Much smaller countries in Asia have far better rail system.
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You also have to take into account that for some places the most expensive part of the trip is the airfare.. There are plenty of amazing destinations in the developing world whereby it is easy to find cheap lodging, food, entertainment and tourism venues.
Otherwise opportunity costs rule.. If travel is a passion and something you really want to do it is fairly easy to save money for it as opposed to buying other things... Many people spend more for movies and popcorn in a year than travelling... you could always just stay home and watch Netflix and read about your next adventure in Cambodia for instance as opposed to seeing the latest blockbusters on the big screen and munching on overpriced popcorn - Heck many people spend more on clothes in two months than they would have to spend on return airfare to an exotic place half way around the world!
I was not an EU citizen when I lived and worked in Europe. No one..ever even asked me to show my passport when traveling on rail. Just bought a ticket just like the local folks do...locate the right car, hopped on...relaxed, get off at my destination. That's it! Now, by air, yes they asked me to show my passport. Then again...it was never an issue about not being an EU citizen. Maybe speaking the languages in Europe helps? I don't know. Wish there was a decent rail system in the U.S. to see the U.S. Tried to go to southern CA once from Seattle...AMTRAK drops me off somewhere south of Sacramento...then bus'd from there to Santa Maria...an 8-hour trip! What kind of rail system is that?
Much smaller countries in Asia have far better rail system.
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Doesn't work that way any more. UNless you are traverling exclusively within the Schengen territory, you will need to show your passport before boarding the train. I guarantee that, had to do it boarding Eurostar in London to go to Paris. Actually you preclear French Immigration in London.
I traveled a lot growing up. My father died when I was a child (Early 1990's) and we used a lot of his life insurance money for a trip to China and Hawaii (per his request when it became clear his illness was terminal). We took several trips to Europe when I was a teenage (Paris, Stockholm, London), paid for by saving and making sacrifices elsewhere (i.e. no trips to Disney, and not Christmas or birthday gifts other than the Europe trips). We also traveled off season, so prices were much, much lower. My mom and step-dad paid for all of the Europe up front using savings/salary from their jobs as a teacher and software developer.
As an adult, most of my travel in the US has been for work, with a occasional leisure trips. When I was first out of college, my mom helped me pay for trips we took together in exchange for work I did around their house (painting rooms, stripping and resealing floors, demolish old potting shed and help build new one). Now that I'm established in my career as a research manager (making ~$45k/year), I plan trips pretty far in advance so I can save money and pay upfront. I took a trip to Portugal and Spain last year. My travel companion and I started planning 12 months in advance. We spent $1,000 each for all flights and train travel. We used airbnb to get good deals on apartments, and spent $300 each for 10 night of accommodations. We tried to see as many free activities as possible, and were selective when choosing sights that charged admission. Food in Spain was kind of expensive, but we more than made up for that with the very low cost of food and drink in Portugal.
So no, you don't have to be incredibly wealthy or go into mountains of debt to travel far and wide. You just have to plan ahead, save, and make decisions about what is important to you.
I can afford to travel a lot now because when I was young, I saved my money, invested some and now, with only 7 more years until retirement, I can travel, most, not all, but most young people today don't even think about saving money, they want things now and spend like there's no tomorrow.
I was not an EU citizen when I lived and worked in Europe. No one..ever even asked me to show my passport when traveling on rail. Just bought a ticket just like the local folks do...locate the right car, hopped on...relaxed, get off at my destination.
With ICE trains on German rail these days, you have to show something from a list of documents along with the ticket as part of their fraud prevention program. If you're from a Schengen country (possibly all EU states) you can use your passport as your fraud prevention document; North Americans have to show the credit card they used to buy the ticket if you're using a printout that indicates you bought the ticket online.
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- Heck many people spend more on clothes in two months than they would have to spend on return airfare to an exotic place half way around the world!
