Traveling on a Budget

How do you have all this time to travel? 

Where do you find the time to travel?

How much does it cost for you to travel? 

Do you even have a “real”  job?

These are the most common questions asked when I decided to gallivant around the world.  The common answer is…. I travel on a budget. Simple as that. I could go on and on and on how I am able to travel but being on a budget is how I travel.

Now you are asking but How?

It comes down to keeping an open mind on how you want to travel. You do not have to be stuck on just ONE dream destination. Yes, everyone wants to go to Santorini and experience the sunset with royal blue church domes chillin’ in the background for a perfect photo op. BUT you could also experience an amazing sunset anywhere!

Being open minded about the world and the experiences you take from a certain country is amazing enough. Personally, I just LOVE to travel the world. It does not matter where, as long as I experience the culture and the people there. I am sure everyone wants to stay in a fancy, luxury, 5-star hotel or villa that has an amazing view of EVERYTHING!!!  Keeping it real… I do not have the money to do that and travel more than 3 times a year internationally. (My job doesn’t pay me enough to be ballin’ and yes I do have a real job)

Here are a few tips if you want to travel the world on a budget:

1. I stalk the hell out of http://www.Flightdeal.com. Flightdeal.com is a great website, they literally post awesome flight deals every day.
2. If I am traveling alone, accommodation is not my biggest priority. Why? All I need are the following:  a bed, running hot water and a door that locks. I do not plan on spending much time in the room other than sleeping and showering. And resort just hinders my way to experience that certain destination. Traveling with a group? That is another blog post.
3. I take short trips. For example, I did Paris in five days. Honestly, 5 days in Paris was more than enough to feed my wanderlust’s soul. Could have I taken a 2-week Eurotrip? Not at that moment.  Paris fitted in my work schedule and also the $488 6-hour flight.
4. If you desperately need to go to that ONE destination. There isn’t one way to get to your dream destination. Being flexible, it helps. For example, I never thought I would be able to go to Hong Kong or Thailand. But I booked a flight from Philadephia to Hong Kong ( $484), took a bus from DC to Philadephia, made my way to Hong Kong and then took a flight from Hong Kong to Thailand. BOOM! Being flexible. My experience is once you get to a destination close enough to your actual destination. Flights are much cheaper.
5. Build your own itinerary! All the information you need is in the palm of your hands. The internet has made researching about places 1.59 million times better. There are thousands of blog and articles of any place in the world. Use it to build your own experience.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

📸: Cancun, Mexico