{"id":45327,"date":"2019-03-21T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=45327"},"modified":"2019-03-21T11:48:08","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T18:48:08","slug":"how-to-travel-on-the-cheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/travel\/how-to-travel-on-the-cheap","title":{"rendered":"How to Travel on the Cheap"},"content":{"rendered":"

My left buttcheek had fallen asleep and the uncomfortable, deadened sensation was slowly traveling down my leg. Shift even an inch, and I\u2019d fall off the only bench in this wing of the airport without armrests\u2014again.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was 3am, and I was halfway through an overnight layover in Atlanta on my way from Seattle to Puerto Vallarta. Soon, I\u2019d be lying on the beach\u2014sand between my toes\u2014instead of the hard, plastic airport furniture. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why would I fly five hours east in order to fly four hours back west? I saved $200! And, for whatever reason, for me that\u2019s worth traveling for 15 hours straight instead of taking the 4 hour and 40 minute direct flight. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re that kind of traveler\u2014the kind who prioritizes saving dough over experiencing comfort\u2014you\u2019re in for a treat. Here are some thrift-friendly tips for traveling on the cheap.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Fly to Destinations in the Off-Season<\/span><\/h2>\n

The breeze off the Seine in Paris in summer is delirium-inducing. But the crowds and the cost are not.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first got my job writing for the REI Co-op Journal, there was a strange sort of initiation: My boss took me aside and asked if I liked to travel. \u201cOf course,\u201d I replied \u201cWho doesn\u2019t?\u201d He leaned in and whispered a mysterious phrase: \u201c<\/span>Scott\u2019s Cheap Flights<\/span><\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s my personal top tip for cheap travel.<\/span><\/p>\n

This website is a flight-alert service, just like your news alerts (you have those, right?). But unlike the news alerts, Scott\u2019s Cheap Flights has taken me to far-flung places during off times. It\u2019s amazing. Simply sign up, and they email you when they find cheaper flights to places you might not even have heard of (yet).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The

The author, Aer Parris, in Paris, France.<\/p><\/div>\n

Once a deal that takes my breath away hits my inbox, I flip over to <\/span>Google Flights<\/span><\/a> to nail down the specifics. You can search countries, continents or the entire world to find flights to destinations that aren\u2019t top of mind. That\u2019s how I booked a round-trip flight to London from Seattle for $500 last year\u2014a deal I couldn\u2019t pass up, even <\/span>though I knew visiting the U.K. in the dead of winter would involve a bit of shivering from site to site under a thick layer of rain clouds<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Do Your Research<\/span><\/h2>\n

Once you\u2019ve booked your flight, the fun sets in. It\u2019s time to obsessively plan your trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re like me, and you can\u2019t sit still, even on vacation. I see travel as my time to kick into overdrive. I\u2019ve been known to wake up at 5am while traveling to watch the sunrise before visiting as many museums and palaces as possible. Next up? Dinner and a show before collapsing into bed late at night.<\/span><\/p>\n

The way I\u2019m able to pack so much into a short period of time\u2014and save money\u2014is doing exhaustive research. I look at online reviews, blogs and then lean on the internet to map out my jam-packed tours of cities, towns and even (the highlights of) whole countries. I have a list of must-dos, might-dos and don\u2019t-dos.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how do you save money? I head deep into forums to find names of local guiding companies (which often are much cheaper), suggestions on what modes of transportation are most affordable and thoughts about how locals take advantage of the local sites. Most recently, in a trip to Puerto Vallarta, I found out that locals walk the 4 miles to Las Animas, a beach I wanted to check out, instead of taking the more expensive boat ride. I also book museum and show tickets far in advance, along with any inter-country travel I\u2019m planning on doing (overnight buses or internal flights). That saves money too.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. But Leave Room for Ditching Those Plans<\/span><\/h2>\n

The best trips usually come down to speaking with locals and skipping out on your plans for better itinerary options that you could never have found on the internet\u2014plus they\u2019ll (hopefully) tell you the real tips for saving money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

A central pyramid of Tikal rises from the jungle. (Photo Credit: Aer Parris)<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s how I found myself in Guatemala on two eight-hour overnight budget buses from Guatemala City to Tikal and back, to spend only a few hours pondering Tikal\u2019s incredibly engineered, impossibly tall pyramids. The budget bus, packed with locals, cost a fraction of what a flight would have cost, but my internet research told me that flights were the best way to travel between the cities.<\/span><\/p>\n

My partner\u2019s father\u2019s ex-girlfriend\u2019s son met us for lunch when we touched down in Guatemala City, and he convinced us we couldn\u2019t miss this <\/span>UNESCO World Heritage site<\/span><\/a>. Without his suggestion, I\u2019d have headed to the small town of Antigua for a few days. While not a bad option, I now consider visiting Tikal one of the highlights of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, all you need is that push toward the bus stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Eat Like a Local<\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s easy to spend a lot of money on subpar tourist food when you\u2019re traveling. But it doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found myself happiest (and most satisfied) while eating from cheap food trucks\/carts with plenty of locals milling about. My mouth waters at the memory of the mole verde on offer inside a tiny, unsuspecting restaurant deep in the center of Oaxaca City.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

An alley of street food buzzes with activity adjacent to Hefang Street in Hangzhou, China. (Photo Credit: Sam Morse)<\/p><\/div>\n

The staff seemed to wish I wasn\u2019t there, as it was a locals-only kind of establishment, but it was hands down one of the best meals of my life\u2014and it cost just a fraction of the price of the stuffier, tourist-driven restaurants a few blocks away. How did I find it? You got it\u2014I talked to locals. The person at the front-desk of my hostel, a Oaxacan native, told me it was a must-visit spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Sleep Cheap<\/span><\/h2>\n

I found that mole via a recommendation from the front desk person at my hostel. Which brings me to my next point: Why waste money on a place you won\u2019t even see?<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t sleep with my eyes open. Thus, I end up spending about an hour tops looking at my overnight digs, which means where I stay doesn\u2019t need to win any awards. There are hostel search engines that not only offer mapping options, so you can choose which to stay in based on the location of your pre-planned activities, but also offer reviews. That way you can find the party spots, quiet locales or most central digs\u2014whatever tickles your fancy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe hostels are a little less comfy, but hey, with a bandana over my eyes and earplugs stuffed deep, sleep is (almost) always possible. And the savings can be spent on something magical, like another plane ticket or repeated trips to that mole joint in Oaxaca City.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Take the Slow Way Around<\/span><\/h2>\n

They say the journey is the destination. So, why not make it longer than it has to be?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The

The author wanders the graffiti-covered alleyways of Lisbon, Portugal.\u00a0(Photo Credit: Aer Parris)<\/p><\/div>\n

If it makes travel more affordable, I don\u2019t shy away from cramped buses, painfully-slow trains and even long-distance bicycle rides. I\u2019ve even been known to extend a thumb from time to time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Memories are made when you\u2019re forced to mingle with people you would have never met any other way\u2014like the time my bus got trapped in standstill traffic on the outskirts of New York City for four hours. We couldn\u2019t get off the bus, phones with data didn\u2019t yet exist and sadly, I didn\u2019t pack a book. <\/span><\/p>\n

Shared misery makes for tight bonds. But it can also make for cheap tickets.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are your best tips for thrift-minded travel? Leave them in the comments below, and help a fellow traveler (and me) out.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My left buttcheek had fallen asleep and the uncomfortable, deadened sensation was slowly traveling down my leg. Shift even an inch, and I\u2019d fall off the only bench in this wing of the airport without armrests\u2014again. It was 3am, and I was halfway through an overnight layover in Atlanta on my way from Seattle to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":45329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[388],"tags":[758,66,12],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-45327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-how-to","tag-tips","tag-travel"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/travel\/how-to-travel-on-the-cheap","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How to Travel on the Cheap","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/travel\/how-to-travel-on-the-cheap","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/travel\/how-to-travel-on-the-cheap"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/03\/Sleeping_In_Airports-2800-e1553112189355.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/03\/Sleeping_In_Airports-2800-e1553112189355.jpg?fit=2750%2C1129"},"articleSection":"Travel","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Beckindale"}],"creator":["Beckindale"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["how to","tips","travel"],"dateCreated":"2019-03-21T17:00:59Z","datePublished":"2019-03-21T17:00:59Z","dateModified":"2019-03-21T18:48:08Z"},"rendered":"