You don’t have to have a hefty salary to travel internationally. I mean it. In fact, one of the best decisions I made in my life was to take a pay cut in favor of more vacation days.
All that said, I strongly believe you can still travel comfortably if you’re on a tighter budget. Here are three things I do every trip and recommend to afford international travel:
1. Budget with intention.
Budgeting with intention gives you an understanding where to prioritize your money, so you can make international travel actually happen. Once you have a destination in mind, hop on Google search to create a rough estimate of how much an individual trip will cost. Things I research include: round-trip flight prices during low and peak seasons, rates at possible hotels or homestays, typical meal costs, and attraction fees. After you create a rough cost estimate, spend some time making a budget plan with the intention of saving up for a trip in the near future. Creating a budget plan isn’t sexy by any means, but it does help you get super intentional about your personal finances, so you can spend your money on things you really want.
2. Plan to travel with budget-conscious friends.
Traveling with friends is fun! But it can also be stressful when there isn’t a mutual understanding of everyone’s personal budgets. When you start planning for any trip and you know friends will be involved, try to be as upfront as possible about where you’re willing to spend/save and ask them to share the same. The willingness to openly communicate goes a long way, so you can create a price ceiling for your transportation, accommodations, food, and activities. Plus, you can split the cost if you stay in a home rental or Airbnb. (My favorite!)
3. Consistently check for cheap flights.
When I get a free minute, I love searching for flight deals and researching off seasons for travel. It’s a hobby, really. I recommend checking sites like Momondo, Kayak, and Google flights that feature low ticket pricing deals and allow you to save some money to travel internationally for cheap. Because I’m based in the Houston/Austin area, I love checking escapehouston.com and escapeatx.com, which always show the latest and greatest price deals traveling out of Austin.
What are things you do before every trip to afford your international travels? Tell me in the comments below!
Hey girl! I have been following you for years and just wanted to say how proud I am for choosing creativity. It’s scary, but it’s so worth it. Love, your former neuroscience major now doing photography!
For you choosing! Haha
That means the world to me, Elizabeth. Thank you for sharing that with me!