Many people say they want to travel more.
Yet, travel can seem expensive at times.
I say seem because a lot of times travel does not have to be as expensive as people believe.
I love to travel, and I don’t spend a lot of money.
I stay at mainly Hilton and Marriott hotels too (adding Hyatts more this year).
I see people spending $500 a month on take out that they don’t even enjoy.
Imagine, if they cut those expenses, and put that money to travel.
You don’t even need hundreds.
A small day trip to a city two hours away could be just a tank of gas.
It only takes around $35 to fill my tank.
Those are just some of the many ways to travel more.
Here are more easy, simple ways to travel more without spending a lot of money.
Prioritize International Travel
I know.
I just talked about spending little money on travel, and my first point is international travel.
If you are like me, international travel is why you love points and miles.
You can do all those big international trips for free.
I always emphasize this first because I don’t think it is said enough.
Travel is meant to see how the rest of the world lives.
Most people in the United States do not travel abroad.
I know this blog is a point’s blog again, which means international travel is the norm more than it is to the average American.
After all, you get the most value for your points with international travel.
Again, the average American does not travel abroad.
The statistics say less than 40% of Americans have a passport.
I find if you don’t prioritize international travel, you may not put as many stamps in your passport.
By prioritize, I mean put your international trips first on your planning list.
I will explain the mistake I made when I first got into points and miles at the end of this post.
To sum it up, I would have covered more countries by now.
So, prioritize international travel.
You could spend more on a small domestic road trip than an international one if you are not careful.
I don’t want to do that.
I find if you prioritize international travel, you spend less on smaller domestic trips too.
Read below to see how you can save money on international travel.
Know All The Small Ways To Travel More In the U.S.
After you have international travel prioritized, then you can utilize all the small ways to travel in the United States.
The average person only takes 1-3 vacations a year.
The rest of the year you can sit at home, and watch television; or you can be out traveling.
Here are ways to travel more within the United States that anyone can afford.
Easy Ways To Travel More In the United States
1. Day Trips
Again, the day trip is a big way to travel more while cutting out one of the biggest expenses of travel: lodging.
You can sometimes spend just the price of a tank of gas.
How can it get any cheaper than that again?
In the next couple of weeks I have a day trip coming to Nashville,
I do this frequently enough.
I live only 1.5 hours away from Music City.
Pick places nearby, and when you have a free weekend, hit the road.
Day trips can cost as little as $20 in gas again.
Most people live within an hours drive of a major city.
Second, most people have nice attractions in their state or nearby state to visit.
2. Overnight Road Trip
If you have a road trip, consider only an overnight stay.
Road trips can be longer than that.
I find that to save money though, I prefer only overnight trips though.
I find I have enough time to fit everything in one night without spending too much money.
This also saves time for people who have a normal 9 to 5.
3. Weekend Domestic Flight
Most places in the United States can be seen in only 2 days.
You can get a flight on Spirit or Frontier for as low as $20.
My airport does not have Spirit and has limited flights on Frontier and Breeze, but I can drive a quick 1.5 hours away to Nashville to catch a $20 Spirit flight.
I have not flown either Spirit or Frontier yet, but I plan to fly both in the future.
If you are spending $20 on a flight each way, this could be cheaper than a road trip.
Flying is a lot more fun too.
Right now, I mainly fly Basic Economy on American, United, and sometimes Delta (no Skymiles for Basic Economy).
I live in a smaller city again.
I just keep my costs as close to $100 round trip as possible.
In the future, most of my flights will be using miles.
I will also drive 1.5 hours away to Nashville to get these $20 flights on low cost carriers as mentioned earlier.
So, plan on a weekend trip with a flight.
Leave on a Friday night, and return on a Sunday evening.
Weekend flights are not just for three day holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Be Warned You Can Spend More On A Domestic Trip
Many people don’t know that you can spend as much on a small road trip as an international trip again.
I don’t want to do that.
I want most of my points and cash spent seeing the rest of the world.
Make sure you are aware of this.
With that said, here are more ways to save money on both International and domestic trips.
Ways To Save On International Trips
I mentioned how you can travel more by first prioritizing international travel.
Here are ways to save money on your next trip abroad.
1. Use points and miles
Of course, the number one way to save on international travel is to use your points and miles.
I find that people can build points easier than they think.
Use credit card sign up bonus, airline shopping portals, dining portals, and put anything you can spend on a credit card.
Remember, credit card sign up bonuses are the easiest way to build a huge stash of points though.
So, be on the lookout for your next credit card.
I will write a post on how to accumulate more points and miles later.
2. Look for sales like $200 or less to international destinations
There is always an international flight sale for $200 or less.
Follow sites that post these often.
We will keep you up to date too.
We share all the cheap international flight deals on Twitter.
Follow us on Twitter here.
3. Fly discount carriers
Discount carriers like Spirit or Frontier are expanding.
Recently, Spirit added more flights to Puerto Rico.
This can be someone’s next cheap trip!
4. Pick inexpensive countries
Some countries are cheaper than others.
Pick countries that won’t kill your budget.
Ways To Save On Domestic Travel
I listed my top ways to travel more in the United States:
- Day trips
- Overnight road trips
- Weekend flights
These are not only ways to travel more, they are also ways to save money when traveling in the U.S.
As I said earlier, the average American only takes 1-3 vacations a year.
Why sit in your house the rest of the year when you can be out traveling?
Something as small as day trip can cost just $20 in gas again.
Most people live within driving distance of a major city.
You can also explore new things in your own (or neighboring) state again.
While I will be flying each month and knocking off as many countries as possible, I plan to use these smaller trips in the United States to travel every week.
My Mistake With International Travel
I first got into the points and miles hobby in 2015.
That is not as long as a lot of people, especially bloggers, but it has been almost ten years.
Because I did not know what I was doing back then, I started off hitting my U.S, bucket list first.
I probably managed to see every major city in the United Stares in a year and a half.
Then, I was ready to start my international list.
A this point, I had to take time off travel.
Life was going on.
By starting my domestic bucket list first instead of my international one, I did not cover as many countries as I could have.
Luckily, I had lived abroad before In Zimbabwe, and been to most countries in Southern Africa including South Africa.
I had also been to Europe.
So, again prioritize international travel.
I plan to move through my international list fast this year.
Hopefully, can cover the three remaining continents I have not been to by end of the year.
Summary
I think people can travel more than they think.
While the average person only takes 1-3 vacations a year, the rest of the year you don’t have to sit in your house.
You can be out traveling.
This does not have to cost a lot of money.
Most people just travel during the holidays, spring break, summer, and 3 day weekends.
You can travel year round.
Again, some easy ways to do that in the U.S. are day trips, overnight road trips, and weekend flights.
You can (and should) use my list of ways to save on international travel too.
Remember, in your planning, international travel should be prioritized.
After all, travel is really about seeing how the rest of the world lives.
If money were not an object, wouldn’t we all be out traveling more?
The point of this blog is to help you spend as little as possible on travel, so that you have money for other things.
Again, I think people can travel more than they think.
I hope this post was useful.
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