Budget Travel 101,
Updated: Feb 17
Leaving your bubble to pack up a select few of your belongings to travel to the far reaches of the world can seem intimidating both financially and psychologically. However, the world has never been more accessible than it is today. Allay your fears and learn how to travel the world on budget, welcome to budget travel 101.
After a jeep ride and camel trek we arrived at our accommodation in the Thar Desert, India.
While speaking with friends and family, I am frequently asked "how do you afford to travel so much ?". Conversely, it is quite normal to hear someone tell me something along the lines of "I would love to go to {insert destination} one day." The key phrase in this sentence is "one day". The insinuation being, "I would go now, however, I do not have either the time or the money to go in the immediate future. Therefore, I will wait until I have both of said resources in abundance." The problem with this is that the perceived 'perfect time to go' may never come or by the time it does come you no longer posses the energy or desire. If you truly do aspire to travel the world, you need prioritize taking advantage of every chance you have to do so and also understand how to do it without breaking the bank. Trying not to be overly philosophical, nothing in life is guaranteed beyond the present moment we are living in. Therefore I always strongly endorse living in the moment and giving yourself the time to do what you want to do as much as possible.
Again, the two main hurdles people face that prevent them from traveling are often money and time. While I would say I am far from a 'professional' traveler (if there is such a thing). Pulling from the experiences I have accumulated over the last few years of frequent travel I am going try my hand at offering some advice on how to navigate these hurdles. First up, I will discuss how I minimize the financial hurdles associated with travel, before moving on to discussing how I optimize my time to maximize the amount of traveling I am able to do in a year.
Money
As an example, I spent three months this past summer traveling non-stop. During this 3 month trip I spent a total of just about 3,500 usd. This includes flights, accommodations, ground transportation, food, drinks, etc. On average I spent about 30 dollars a day for everything. These are some of the methods I used to have made this possible:
Be flexible on the airport you fly in / out of.
This is especially true when flying to a destination in Europe or South Asia. Let's say I am based in New York City and really want to go to Rome for vacation. Do not limit your flight search options to only flights from New York to Rome. Reason being, maybe the best deal you can find for flights on New York to Rome routes (including a layover) is $ 1000. However, you are able to find flights to London for $ 500. In this hypothetical, even though I still plan on ending up in Rome, I would take option 2 in heart beat. Between budget airlines and cheap ground transport, based on past experience I would estimate getting from London to Rome would cost you an additional $20 to $100. Don't believe me ? Here are the flight and ground transport prices for routes from London to Rome if you were booking for a month from now. Traveling 30 hours by ground from London may seem crazy, but if you have the time you could make this a whole trip in of itself !
Flight prices for service from London to Rome a month from now. 
Ground transport prices from London to Rome a month from now. Look at one way options before booking round trip flights.
Booking round trip can often limit your options in finding the most financially friendly itinerary. For many of the same reasons previously described, flying out of the same city you flew into might not be the cheapest option. For example, on a trip to Europe I took this winter the cheapest option I could find on flights from Japan to Europe was a Tokyo to Istanbul route. This route came in at a price of about $600. However, flights from Istanbul back to Tokyo all came in around $1000. After searching around for a bit I was able to find a flight from Budapest to Tokyo for about $350. After finding these itineraries, I planned my trip itinerary around these two destinations to make it possible for me to fly into Istanbul and out from Budapest.
Search for regional hub airports and low-cost carrier hub airports.
Large hub airports that handle a high volume of flights each day tend to offer the cheapest fares to fly to (especially for international long-haul flights). When looking for flights to a specific region I always start my search by looking through flights to various hub airports.
1) Europe tends to be where this is strategy is the most effective as everything is so well connected from country to county so I will start there. The largest hub airports in Europe are Frankfurt (FRA), Amsterdam (AMS), Paris (CDG), Istanbul (IST), London (All airports), Madrid (MAD).
2) You should also look for smaller airports that are hubs for low-cost carriers. While the initial long-haul fares to these airports could possibly be a bit higher than to the larger hubs airports, you will likely be able to find dirt cheap airfare to regional destinations across the continent. Some airports that come to mind are Ryan Air's hub Dublin Airport (DUB), Wizz Air's hub Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport (BUD), and Pegasus Air's Sabiha Gokcen Airport-Istanbul(SAW).
3) Finally, especially for those in North America who are looking to travel to Europe there are a few airlines/airports that fall into a bit of an in-between category. This is a category of airlines that are offering low-cost transatlantic services between Europe and North America (basically giving you the same no-frills service you get on a low-cost regional airline, but on a long haul flight). Some airlines that come to mind are TAP Air Portugal who are headquartered at Lisbon Airport (LIS), and Norse Atlantic Airway who are headquartered at Oslo Airport (OSL). As an example, taking a quick look on Norse Atlantic Airways' site it appears they are offering fares from New York to London for as low as $175 on certain dates.
4) Asia is a bit more complicated as everything is much more spread-out, typically resulting in higher fares on regional airlines compared to Europe. However, for the most part the same principles apply. For example, on a trip I took this summer I wanted to start my trip in Siem Reap Cambodia. However, flights from Tokyo directly to Siem Reap were quite expensive. Rather than booking these flights I booked cheaper flights to the nearest hub airport; Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport and got a budget friendly regional flight from there to Siem Reap. (I was in a bit of time crunch otherwise I would have taken a $10 overnight bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap).
5) The main regional airports I would search for in Asia are as follows. East Asia: Tokyo Narita International (NRT), Tokyo Haneda International (HND), Kansai International (KIX), Seoul Incheon International (ICN), Shanghai Pudong International (PVG), Guangzhou Baiyun International (CAN), Beijing-Capital Airport (PEK), and Beijing-Daxing Airport (PKX).
6) South East Asia: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK), Kuala Lumpur International (KUL), Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Noi Bai International (HAN), and Ton Son Nhat International (SGN).
7) Middle/South Asia: Delhi Indira Gandhi International (DEL), Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International (BOM), Dubai International (DBX), and Sharjah International (SHJ).
8) If your looking to travel to Asia on a budget I would HIGHLY recommend looking for flights with Chinese carriers as they all seem to be offering extremely cheap fares at the moment. When looking at flights between Europe and Asia or the Americas and Asia, fares on Chinese airlines are frequently 50% or 60% cheaper than all of the other competition.
Embrace layovers (and the journey as a whole).
Obviously when traveling you pay a bit of a premium for comfort and convenience. Which is why learning to appreciate layovers rather than dreading them is an important part of being a budget traveler. Many people fear layovers and do all they can to avoid lengthy stops in the middle of the journeys. Yet, from my experience the cheapest fares also come with the craziest itineraries. While seeing a 40hr trip itinerary with a 15+ hour stop over in a random city can seem like insanity at first, try to see this as an opportunity rather than a burden. In fact, some of my favorite travel days have been on long layovers. A few years ago when flying between Tokyo and New York, my itinerary included a 24 hour stopover in Seoul and another 10 hour stop in Taipei. Despite the trip itinerary being over 50 hours long, by spending the two stop over days exploring Seoul and Taipei I was able to turn this into an amazing experience. Even on long layovers where I was not able leave the airport, I have often been able to make them pleasant enough. Just last month I had an overnight layover in Beijing and despite having to sleep on a random sofa somewhere in the airport, I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep. This was followed by dim sum and Chinese noodles for breakfast. All in all, not bad.
Track Your Spending (Especially if you're going on a long trip)
Whenever I set off on a new trip I always have a good idea of what my finances are looking like and an even better idea of what my budget for a particular trip may be. However, what is difficult is holding yourself accountable to not go over the budget you have set. Backpacking hot spots tend to be affordable especially when viewed in comparison to the United States or many European countries. While low prices are certainly a perk of traveling to many places around the world, this can create an illusion where it feels as though you're not spending money at all. Herein lies the danger as the little purchases absolutely add up. This is particularly true when you're going out to eat multiple times a day and having drinks after dinner nearly every night. I for one have definitely been guilty of getting to the end of a week traveling only to realize that I am hundreds of dollars over budget for the week (and subsequently going into extreme budget mode the next week). Thus, I highly recommend people to track their spending down to the smallest purchases while traveling. There are various apps you can download which will help organize and track your spending, I have used and would recommend TravelSpend. However, I have actually found the easiest and most effective way for me to track my spending is by simply transcribing my daily spending into the built-in 'notes' app on my phone at the end of each day. This is as simple as it sounds, as seen in the photo below, my method is not very complicated.
An example of my expense tracking during my trip to Thailand. It is okay to have some chill days
Budget traveling is an exercise in getting over fomo (otherwise known as 'fear of missing out'). Whether you're traveling for a week or 6 months. Typically, the amount of time we spend traveling is finite. This creates a sense of pressure to do as much and see as much as we can everyday we're on the road. In an ideal world we would be able to see and do everything. Yet, aside from this style of lightning pace travel being exhausting. The fact is fun activities and excursions are expensive. My advice would be to research some interesting activities you would like to do while traveling, but don't make yourself beholden to do every single thing you saved from instagram. Take some days to just hangout at the hostel. It's free to sit around the common area shooting the shit and making friends with people. In fact, some of the most fun I have had traveling and best friends I have made are from what most would consider unremarkable days. However, a word of caution: hanging out in hostels usually involves drinking and frequently a lot of it. Whether I was in Nepal, Guatemala, Thailand, or India drinking is always one expense that quickly adds up. Along with activities, accepting its okay not to go out every night is essential for travelers on a budget.
Save on food when possible
A few years ago when I was living in Europe as a broke post-grad student. I decided to take a three-week trip to Greece over winter vacation. Truth be told I would estimate that I only had about 1000 euros in my bank account at the time. Not a ton to be leaving for a three week trip on. What this meant was that I really had to account for every euro I spent. I did this by spending virtually no money on food for the entire trip. For breakfast and lunch I would go to the local supermarket in the morning to buy a couple tangerines, fresh bread, and feta cheese. For two meals this would cost me about 5 euros. When dinner time came around I nearly exclusively ate gyros from street vendors which typically would come in between 3 to 5 euros for a wrap (at least back in 2021). While this might seem a little crazy to some people and I understand there are people who travel to certain destinations specifically for the cuisine. Back then I really just wanted to visit Greece and see the beautiful nature the country had to offer. Going to local grocery stores for the majority of my food rather than restaurants was simply one of the necessary measures it took for me to make the trip possible.
Get of the Instagram path
Places become famous on Instagram for a reason and I will not dispute that just because somewhere is a tourist hotspot means that it cannot be cool. The issue is, usually the most famous locations in a country also tend to be the most expensive. This is why I am a firm believer in A) doing your research and finding some lesser-known destinations and B) being willing to throw out your plans and go with the flow if a local or someone knowledgable on the area gives you a recommendation on a place to visit. On my three week trip to Greece, I had broken my trip up to where the first half of my trip would be in the mountains in the north of the country. After which I traveled down to the island of Santorini in the south of the country for the second half of the trip. While both destinations were certainly incredible and worth visiting, the lesser known and visited north was cheaper with the local economy being far less centered around all things tourism.
Mountain views in Northern Greece Travel in the off-season (especially if you do insist on hitting up the insta-famous spots)
Piggybacking off of my last point, there are some damn cool Instagram famous spots that are absolutely worth seeing. However, again as previously mentioned, these spots can be pricey, even in counties with reputations of being cheap. One example would be the temples of Angkor Wat located in Cambodia which levy a 40 usd entry ticket to most foreign visitors. With that in mind traveling in the off-season has many benefits and one of those benefits is that it is much easier to find budget friendly deals during the off-season months when compared to peak tourist season. On my visit to Santorini, an extremely popular summer destination. I decided to pay the small Mediterranean island a visit in December. What this resulted in was that I was able to book an air bnb which typically would go for 220usd per night during the summer, for 80 dollars a night instead. Another positive was that Santorini, despite being a notoriously over-crowded destination was absolutely deserted in the winter. During my stay on the island I completed the famous 10-kilometer Fira to Oia hike. While this hiking trail would have normally been chalk-full of tourists also completing the famous walk, on the day I did the hike I saw a grand total of three other tourists the entire day.
Off-season 80 dollar a night air bnb Hostels, hostels, hostels
For the uninitiated hostels can have a bad rep, and there certainly are some sketchy hostels around the world. That does not mean they are all bad. The the contrary is quite true. If you do a bit of research hostels can provide you excellent value for money. Personally, in terms of booking hostels I do 99% of my bookings through the 'Hostel World' app. Hostel World is an excellent resource to use as it easily organizes all potential stays and allows you to look through reviews from other travelers that include criteria such as cleanliness, safety, comfort, social atmosphere, location. Through Hostel World you are also able to see how many people have stayed in every listed hostel, which helps in giving you an idea of how popular a hostel is. Understandably, staying in a shared dorm with strangers can be an uncomfortable proposition to some. However, choosing your accommodations is really where you can save a ton of money. For example, on my trip to Nepal two years ago, on average I paid about
2usd (yes two dollars) a night for accommodation. I was in the country for six weeks and during that six week stay I would estimate I spent about 250 dollars TOTAL on accommodations. You just can't beat that. If you are someone that absolutely cannot fathom the idea of staying in a shared room with other strangers, hostels also usually offer private rooms that are often (but not always) cheaper than any hotels in town.
Ditch your clunky suitcase and downsize as much as possible
Get over the fact that you might not always have your nicest outfit on for every travel photo. While I like to have cool photos to post as much as anybody, one thing I will not do is do so at the expense of having to pay extra baggage fees. After completing numerous backpacking trips I have gotten to the point where I have devised a bit of a system. My goal when packing is now four to five t-shirts and four to five pairs of shorts, one pair of pants, one hoodie/sweater, and one pair of casual shoes as well as a pair of hiking shoes. In addition, something that I have started doing when hiking in places with cold weather is buying bulky jackets once I arrive in the destination right before I start hiking. In places like India or Nepal you can buy a decent quality winter jacket for about twenty bucks. On the other hand over-weight luggage could run you one-hundred and fifty dollars. If you are going to be taking multiple flights throughout your trip this can add up quickly. I've found the magic weight you want your bag to be before leaving on a trip is right around 7 kilograms or 15 pounds.
Bag packed for a 3 month trip to Cambodia, Thailand, and India
Time
It's okay to prioritize yourself
Money is valuable. The one commodity I would argue that is more valuable than even money would be time. Unlike money, you can never get time back. This is where the value in time lies, in relation to our lives time is utterly finite. Thus, we need take advantage of the time we have to do the things we want to do. So much of our lives is already spent working, every measure to prevent wasting the free time we do have should be taken. I say all of this to say there will rarely ever be the 'perfect' time to go on your dream trip. I am lucky in the sense that I do not work during the summers. Most people do not have this luxury. I would guess that the average working age adult has two to three weeks of time off from work each year. That would add up to roughly 25 weeks or six months of time off per decade. Frankly, this is not a ton of time, which means you should treat every second of your time off as a precious resource and use it to do the things you want to do. There is always going to be a birthday, wedding, family/friend gathering, or something else going on that conflicts with your travel schedule. My advice is, as hard as it may be it is okay to tell your friends and family you won't be able to see them or be in attendance with them at an event or occasion from time to time. If you have the time to go off on an adventure, then do it !
Don't be afraid to go alone
To continue off the previous point, waiting for the perfect time to travel just for yourself is already hard enough. Finding the perfect time for you AND your friends can be nearly impossible. If you have a trip or adventure you've been wanting to go on, don't let the fact your friends are busy stop you from going. I love my friends, but solo travel has given me some of the most fun and rewarding days of my life. While traveling across the world alone can certainly be nerve inducing, particularly if you have never done it before, it is full of opportunity. For one, there is no discussion on what the itinerary for the trip will look like or what the day to day activities are going to be. If you're solo traveling you get to chose what you want to do everyday. On top of that it is so easy to make new friends solo traveling. While staying in hostels or out on tours, or pub crawls, there are many opportunities to meet new and like-minded people. In fact, as I said before, some of the best friends I have made in my twenties were made while out solo-traveling. All this to say, traveling with your friends is fun, but don't let their schedules and lives hold you back from going on the trips you want to go on. Just go for it !
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