They say that travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer for a reason—every new experience I have in a new culture makes me a more open, enlightened, and understanding person, enriching my life in so many ways. Unfortunately, being richer in mind doesn’t translate to more money in your pocket. Travel can be super expensive and finding affordable travel can be time consuming. Although I’m much more financially comfortable now, there was a time that I was just out of college making less than $35,000 a year and living in New York City (translation: 😢 💸 💸 💸). Knowing I wanted to travel and being the determined type, I set out to figure out how to make travel more affordable. I’m sharing my favorite tips, tools, and sites that I’ve used over the years. Enjoy, and happy travels!

Affordable Travel: When to Go

When to book your trip is a huge factor in how much you’re going to pay for a flight or hotel. For flights, all of the research out there says the best time to book is between 89-151 days before your departure date, so make sure you begin looking during that time frame. Sites like Kayak will also tell you if you should book now or wait based on historical rates and availability.

Planning your trip during a less popular travel time will also significantly help in getting discounts. Make sure to avoid national holidays/holiday weekends and any time kids are on school vacation to get the best deals. Typically, early May and all of September are the cheapest months to travel anywhere, but also consider traveling off season. For example, trips to Mexico and the Caribbean are significantly cheaper in the summer, and trips to Europe are much more affordable in the late fall and winter months (excluding Christmas and New Year’s).

Affordable Travel: Where to Go

Choosing your locations wisely will also help you save on travel. When you consider how popular countries like Italy, France, and Germany are for tourism, you can see why travel there is at a premium. However, if you consider some similar countries that are less popular among tourists, such as almost all of the countries in Eastern Europe, you can save a lot of money.

Additionally, think about the country’s currency versus your own. Everything in the United Kingdom, for example, is going to be very expensive in comparison to the American dollar, but countries in Asia, Africa, and South America are significantly more affordable. Google has a great currency converter (just Google “currency converter”), which will help you figure out if you’re going to get gouged in the exchange rate.

Affordable Travel Rewards Programs

Almost all loyalty and frequent user programs are free to join, and you get amazing benefits from using them on a regular basis. Most only need to be used once every few years for you to remain an active member.

For hotels and airlines, I recommend signing up for them for any stay or flight you take. I often find that you’re treated better when they know you’re on their loyalty list even if you don’t have many points. Make sure you get on their email list as well. I once got a $29 flight from Philadelphia to Fort Myers, FL on Frontier Airlines just because I saw they were doing a 24-hour sale via email.

Credit cards with rewards programs are also really beneficial for saving on travel. I have two that are specifically for travel rewards:

The first is Chase Sapphire, which is great if you dine out a lot because you get double points on dining. I was able to get a free flight within the first month of having this card.

The second is BankAmericard Travel Rewards Visa, which gives you one point for every dollar you spend and has no foreign transaction fees. This is HUGE if you’re trying to save money while traveling (most banks charge 3%, which adds up quickly). I love the user interface for cashing in your rewards. They allow you to go into your credit card statement and essentially delete anything related to travel (up to your points/dollar balance). This includes Uber rides, public transit passes, gas, etc. in addition to hotels, flights, and more. The good news is your current credit card or bank likely has a travel rewards program, so make sure to ask about switching.

Affordable Travel Deal Sites

Utilizing deal sites was one of the easiest ways for me to initially start traveling. I still use all of the ones that I’m recommending below today:

CheapCaribbean.com – This is a great site for vacations in, you guessed it, the Caribbean! I used this site three times to book trips to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Panama, and all of those trips were amazing. Just put in your departure city and browse through the destinations to find the best deal. You can also sort by adults-only, all-inclusive, distance from the city, etc.

Travelzoo – One of my favorite sites to browse for vacation deals on a regular basis, Travelzoo really has it all. You can you search by continent and time of year. Plus, they offer deals within the cities nearby to you including restaurants, shows, etc. if you want to plan a little staycation.

Expedia Last Minute Deals – I booked an amazing trip to Puerto Rico for New Year’s Eve only three weeks before using Expedia Last Minute Deals. This site has great options if you feel that wanderlust itch and need to scratch it asap.

Finding Affordable Travel on Social Media

Facebook and Twitter are the best places to be in the know about flight and vacation deals. For the sites I listed above, like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter, and you’ll learn about all kinds of deals in your feed. Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin Atlantic are also great about publishing sales and limited time deals.

What are your favorite tips for making travel more affordable? Please comment below or send me an email!

The post How to Travel for Less appeared first on Mari on the Map.

So you want to travel more? Don’t we all! One of the most frequent questions I get is, “how do you travel so much?” People assume that I have a ton more vacation time, disposable income, or some magic unicorn that’s getting me around the world. One of the main goals of Mari On The Map is to show you that the only thing that sets me apart from the average person is that I say “yes”.

What does that mean? It means that I’m a person who wants to have new and enriching experiences, so instead of finding a reason to say no—like time, money, general aversion to change—I find a reason to say yes. I want you to find the yes for you, so you can travel more! That’s why I’m dispelling typical reasons someone says “no” to travel to inspire you to start checking things off your bucket lists.

“I don’t have enough money.”

I hear ya. Travel can be very expensive, but I’ve learned a few tricks along the way to help make it more affordable.

The first is travel more to places out of season. Go to Europe in the winter (imagine how romantic Paris would be in the snow!). Hit up tropical locales in the summer. Visit just about anywhere in September, which is the lowest month for travel because there are few holidays and kids are back in school. You can get some great deals by not going during peak season.

Second, deal sites are your friend. I’ve used basically all of them, but here are of my favorites: CheapCaribbean.com is for all inclusive deals in the Caribbean and Central America. I booked with them to go to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Panama. Travelzoo has all kinds of vacation deals (check out the Top 20 for the best deals). Fareness helps with finding the cheapest dates to fly to a specific destination or helps you choose a destination based on price/category. Cheap Caribbean actually gave me a discount on a subsequent vacation because it rained one of the days I was away, and they were doing a “no rain guarantee” deal. Amazing!

Third, know when to book your travel. The cheapest time to book a flight is between 89-151 days before you plan to leave. You’re literally wasting money if you book outside of this time period. Many sites like Kayak will also tell you to wait to book a flight when it seems like the fare is going to drop soon. And don’t forget to use a private browser or clear your cache/cookies. The Internet trolls are tracking you and will jack up the price of a flight if they think you’re likely to book—no worries, you can outsmart them!

Finally, put down the Starbucks (or whatever it is that you’re wasting your disposable income on!). Take a hard look at where your money is going and consider if you need that new shirt, skinny latte, premium cable channel, or whatever it is. Do you need it more than you need to swim in the Indian Ocean, snuggle a koala, ski the Alps, or <insert your bucket list item here>? If the answer is no, make a change and sock away those dolla dolla bills, so you can buy experiences not stuff.

“I don’t have enough time.”

This is one of my favorite travel myths to dispel because I once felt this way, too. As a recent college graduate, I once only had 10 days of PTO (sad and wrong—don’t settle for this!). I had tasted the sweet elixir of travel, and I wanted to travel more, but I had almost no time off of work. So I got creative.

We are fortunate in the US that we get a decent amount of long weekends around holidays like Memorial Day, Labor Day, Presidents’ Day, etc. Use these to your advantage. If you want to take a trip somewhere, plan it around one of these weekends to milk every last moment out of your precious vacation days.

If you’re willing to take red eyes, which I highly recommend for travel to Europe, you can leave after work on a Thursday, and spend Friday-Monday in Italy! (read: How to Avoid Jet Lag). Be willing to take quick trips, or use those free days off to save on a longer trip, making a weekend to weekend trip only four days off of work.

“I don’t like to fly.”

I used to be afraid to fly. As a kid, I was fine. But once I realized that I could actually die, I was like oh, sh*t, do I really want to do this? (read: plane crashes are highly unlikely, which you know because, like me, you are a logical being!). I’m not afraid to fly anymore. It’s  primarily because of something simple a wise person once told me—think of turbulence like a pothole in the road. We go over them all the time in our cars, and the majority of the time, it’s nothing and you continue on your way. It doesn’t mean the plane is going down. Now, I’m more afraid to regret not seeing the world.

I realize something this simple might not work for everyone, so why not plan a trip sans plane? Road trips, cruises, and train trips are all amazing ways to see your country and other countries without ever having to get on a plane. Get creative, so you can travel more!

“I don’t like change.”

Now, this one is not something that most people are willing to say out loud. But for many, if you dig deep, this is the reason why you aren’t traveling. I get it—change is hard. We as humans are wired against change. That’s why so many people look back on their lives with regrets. There was a time in my life where I identified with each of the nays above. As I got out there more, I saw first-hand all the world has to offer. That will make anymore more afraid to not travel more and live life wondering, “what if?”.

So how do you learn to be a person who is comfortable being “uncomfortable”? The first step is making a conscious choice to face your fears. What is it about change that scares you? Is it a feeling of being out of control? Is it generally just a fear of the unknown? Whatever it is, conquering your fears starts with facing them. Sometimes the best way to do this is to start small.

So maybe you’re not going to book a one way ticket to India on your first big international trip. But think about where you could go that would check off all of the criteria to make you comfortable. For example, you live in the northern US, don’t like to fly, and you want to go somewhere without a language barrier. Okay, hop in your car and drive to Canada. For a city experience, Montreal and Vancouver are right over the border. If you like the country, check out Nova Scotia or Banff. It can be as simple as that if you just say “yes, I will travel more!”.

The Thousands of Other Excuses

There’s an endless list of other excuses, like “I’m too old,” “I have kids,” “I don’t like ethnic food,” “I can’t leave my dog,” and whatever else you can come up with. They’re all holding you back from living the life you want. Don’t let them! Be in charge of your destiny, surprise yourself, get out there and see the world!

You’ve already taken the first step by reading this blog post, so cheers to you! Now let’s move on to step number two. Identify where you’d like to go, and let’s add some checks to your bucket list. I’m happy to help: leave me a comment or send me an email!

The post How to Travel More appeared first on Mari on the Map.