Cheap Travel: How Travelling Changed My Life

Barcelona 2014

Being able to travel the world is truly an accomplishment of the modern society. Unfortunately, many of us take it for granted and are missing out on it. I personally haven’t yet seen the whole world, but the places that I have gone to have allowed me to mature in a number of different ways. I believe that travel, especially cheap travel, is one of the most efficient ways to experience life and expand the mind. Why? I’ll tell you why, and then I’ll give a few tips on how to make it is as cheap as possible. Just be sure to stay with me until the end.

Why should cheap travel make any difference?

When we travel to another country or even continent, we inevitably get out of our comfort zone (and you guys probably already know that I am very big on getting out of the comfort zone!). We create new and extraordinary experiences. I am sure that if you are a shy person, travelling is no piece of cake for you. Talking to strangers, sleeping in new places, or even eating food that you are not accustomed to – all can be the source of anxiety for some. However, such experiences can take a person onto a whole new level of being, creating changes to the psyche that were otherwise impossible. If you want to learn more about yourself and to grow, travel (especially cheap travel) is definitely a must!

1. Affordability

Many of us think that travel is an expensive hobby. I must say that this is not at all the case. Travel is what you make of it. If you are planning to fly halfway through the globe and live for a month in a 5-star hotel somewhere in Las Vegas, then sure, it is. However, that’s your own choice. In this post I am focusing mostly on cheap travel. This means that if you are on a tight budget, there is no problem. The key is to plan everything in advance and to know what you are looking for. In the most extreme cases, travelling can be almost free, such as with hitchhiking.

2. Availability

Our grandparents in their childhood never had the opportunity that people have today. This definitely should not be taken for granted. I think asking their advice on whether we should travel the world or not will always lead to the same answer – DO IT ALREADY!

3. Self-education

The best history class is the one which you can experience for yourself. Of course you can’t go back in time, but to be there where “big things” happened is truly breathtaking. For example, I am interested in WW2. When I went to Berlin and saw all the areas where battles took place and where Hitler finally committed suicide, I was shocked to the core. It is as if the atmosphere of that event crawls inside of you and lets you experience a piece of it the way it was back then. I was speechless!

Amsterdam 2013

4. Meeting new people

If you are thinking of cheap travel, travelling alone, and you want to be “on the go” all the time, then you are especially lucky. You will be meeting a tremendous amount of new and interesting people. When I travelled alone I met folks just like me. They were travelling all over the world and were from all over the world. They were also on the go and had hundreds of life stories to share. Their cultural differences shocked and amazed at the same time. It sure was fascinating to get to know them, and I learnt that there are really no boundaries, no rights and wrongs in the way people think. We are all so different, and the further our cultures are spread apart from each other, the more there is to learn. This is also incredibly valuable and definitely cannot be learnt from a textbook. With some of these people I manage to still keep in contact. The travel atmosphere really binds people well together. Again, impossible to experience at home, but also quite difficult to experience if you are travelling with a lot of money. 

5. Learn new languages

If you stay in a foreign country long enough, you can even learn the local language. Learning a new language opens up countless possibilities. It is an extremely useful skill to have.

Barcelona 2014

You know the saying “learn a new language – learn a new world”? Basically what this means is that all cultures are different, and often we cannot actually experience the difference because our mother tongue lacks the phrases and and concepts of the other language. When these concepts are translated to our language, they are still vague and make little sense to us because they have never been used in such a manner. However, when diving into another language and learning to speak it, at least a bit, we learn the habits that come with that language. The world suddenly broadens and we see it from a whole new angle. From my experience, when you have a cheap travel plan, you are more-likely to move around and to hustle to find the best offers. You will probably be using the foreign language a lot more like this, as opposed to somebody who has the money and does not need to negotiate about anything. Once again, language skills are extremely valuable and especially easy to grasp when travelling and being inside of the foreign culture.

P.S. If you are still not convinced that travel is a must, be sure to read my posts on decision making and taking action! They will definitely help you in making your final decision.

Travel as cheap and light as possible – tips

Hitchhiking is a little too extreme for some, so I won’t get into that. However, there are a few other tips that might be of use to you.

Packing as little as possible

Prague 2014

Often when we travel somewhere, we like to take along what I call the “just in case bags”. Just in case bags may include 20 pairs of cold and warm socks (while travelling to sunny Thailand, for example), medication for all possible illnesses and diseases, beach toys, many pairs of shoes, 3 bottles of perfume, and many, many more. While it may be nice to have everything you (and apparently 10 other people) need during your stay abroad, in reality you are making your life harder. Face it, you probably won’t be using half of the things you are taking along. Moreover, you are probably going to buy more junk and will bring even more back with you. This type of travelling may be relaxing, but usually has little value other than being “chilled out” all the time. In this post I am talking more about cheap travel, the type of travelling that will allow you to grow and gain experience, that in result will expand your mind. 

You know, I don’t like to pack too many things with me. I take some essentials, and that’s about it. However, not so long time ago, I went on a 2-week trip to a sunny country to do some hiking, meditation and swimming at the beach. Long story short, my baggage was lost on the way there, and I got it back only on the last day of my vacation. The only things that I had with me were one set of clothes, wallet, passport, mobile phone and its recharger. 3 days into the trip I managed to buy a pair of socks, underwear, toothbrush, toothpaste and a deodorant (also not necessary). That’s all! That was all I really needed. This trip taught me about how much we actually cling to comfort and to our material belongings. Again, this changed the way I look at things. 

Booking a flight

Booking a flight for cheap travel may be tricky. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1.          Do your planning well in advance.

The earlier you book a flight, the more options you will have to choose from, and the cheaper the prices will be.

2.          Flight search engines

Try using as many different travel metasearch engines as possible. The two engines that I prefer the most are Momondo and Skyscanner. They are extremely useful in finding the right flight for you out of thousands. The trick is to explore as much as possible within these sites. For example, I once found the correct flight with an affordable price, but the company did not allow me to have baggage checked-in for free. The overall price for the flight and additionally payed checked-in baggage there and back would cost me almost as much as the standard expensive flight. Nevertheless, when searching more carefully, I found a flight only a few Euros more expensive than the cheapest option, but that would allow me to have TWO checked-in pieces of luggage for FREE. Profit.

Tip: To go beyond the basic search in Momondo, be sure to expand all the possible ticket offers, as shown in the screen shot. Like I already mentioned, you may see a ticket from another company that is a few $ more expensive, but it might be offering something that the cheaper ones don’t. In my case it was the option to have TWO checked-in pieces of luggage for FREE. You can do your search at momondo.com.

P.S. Quite often Skyscanner has offers that Momondo doesn’t, so be sure to check it out as well.

3.          Dynamic pricing

I won’t get too deep into the mechanism of this, but basically, when searching for a flight ticket, prices may vary for different people trying to buy the same ticket. This may be based on their location (IP address), frequency of visits to the website, or even past purchases. The difference in prices can actually be significant. I personally think that this mechanism is evil. You are choosing one site over another one, and they are using that to rip you off. One way to avoid this is to buy your tickets from an incognito browser window (private session).

Final words

Finding a hotel or hostel for cheap travel is similar to finding a suitable flight – search well and do it well in advance. Various other options also exist for those who want to make a very cheap plan, such as the couchsurfing approach. All of this is extremely easy to search for with the help of Internet. Here is the site that I use to book my apartments/hotels/hostels for cheap: Booking.com

Based on personal experience I can say that it all boils down to how much time you are willing to spend on looking for the perfect travelling experience. Keep in mind that good preparation for the trip makes your travelling better, but not perfect. YOU are going to make it perfect! Be social, be optimistic and be happy!

Travel as much as you can, especially while you don’t yet have a family to take care of. Save up and go for short and long trips abroad. Meet new people and see new places. This will add to your overall wisdom and will make your inner world richer. Your material belongings can be broken or lost, but your experiences can never be taken away from you (unless of course you get Alzheimer’s or something). They will always remain with you. At times you may think that you are tired and fed up, and that travelling for long is not for you, but believe me, the most difficult moments in your travelling are also the ones that teach you the most. They are the ones that make you value the place that you live in, and they are the ones that make you look back at life with a smile on your face. Never miss out on seeing something new, seeing something great. I wish you good luck, fellow traveller!

If you liked this post, please comment on it and share your experience with us. We would be happy to hear about it!

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