How To Travel on a Budget

Have you ever wanted to travel and see cities that you've never been to? Have you ever looked at the cost of travel and just felt that it was too expensive? Well, if so then don't despair. Even if you have limited finances, travel on a budget is possible if you take the following steps.

Step 1

Figure out which city you want to visit. There are lots of cities worldwide. Pick a city that you want to visit.

Step 2

Get the lowest cost round trip travel tickets. You can do this by buying your tickets through http://www.expedia.com or http://www.cheaptickets.com or http://www.sidestep.com or http://www.cheapoair.com or http://www.studentuniverse.com or another similar internet site. Of course if you don't want air travel, bus travel can be a good option. Investigate the bus options in the country you want to visit. Do a google search with the search terms "bus travel" and whatever country you want to visit - for example, if you wanted to visit Australia and if you wanted to find out what bus travel options exist in Australia, you would do a google search using the search terms "bus travel AND Australia" and just see what search results are on the page and just start reading whatever is there. Check prices. Also check and see if there is any kind of discount that you get for buying 14 days in advance or a month in advance or further in advance. Trains can also be an option as well. For example, there are the "eurail passes" that can be purchased to travel through Europe by train, see http://www.eurail.com for more about the eurail passes. Other countries have train travel as well. Do an internet search to find out about this.

Step 3

Figure out which tourist sites you will visit during your stay in the city you want to visit. Find out if there are discount tickets or passes available for purchase online. You can do this by doing a google search. For example, in some major cities in the United States, it is possible to buy passes online which enable you to visit popular tourist sites for a discount. For example, http://www.NewYorkPass.com is just one example of this type of thing. There are other examples in cities worldwide. Not all cities have this but many cities do. To find these, you could do a google search using the search terms "tourist pass" and whatever place you want to visit. For example, if you wanted to visit Paris, France and if you wanted to find a tourist pass, you would google the search terms "tourist pass AND Paris" and you would note that on the webpage of results, there is a Paris tourist pass available through http://www.viator.com. Please check regularly because availability of tourist passes may change at any time.

Step 4

You must figure out which restaurants you will eat at during your stay in the city you are visiting. This can be done by simply doing an internet search in order to determine what restaurants are available in the city you want to visit. Or if you want to keep expenses to a minimum, you could do an internet search to determine where the McDonald’s or Taco Bell or other low cost food places are located in the city you want to visit. Do a google search using the search terms "low cost food" and whatever city you want to visit. For instance, if you want to go to London, England and want to find low cost food, do a google search using the terms "low cost food AND London, England" and see what search results come up. Read the links that result from your google search. Of course, be mindful of safety always. And if the place is low cost food but if it doesn't seem a comfortable place, don't go there to eat. Find safe places to have your meals.

Step 5

You must find hotel accommodations for the city that you want to visit. Instead of paying full price, you can search for hotel accommodations via http://www.Expedia.com or http://www.sidestep.com or some similar website for a discount price. Getting a lower price will require you to pay for the total hotel cost in advance. However, paying in advance online at Expedia.com or sidestep.com or a similar website will enable you to get a much reduced price for hotel accommodations. Please note that at these sites there are hotels at all price ranges. Low cost, medium cost, and high cost.

Step 6

You must coordinate your transportation so that you will know how to get where you are going while in the city you are visiting. For example, if you are wanting to save money, probably public transportation is a good idea. And so it will be necessary to contact the city bus transit office in whatever city you are planning to visit in order to find out which city bus or buses you need to take to get from the bus station to your hotel and then to all of the restaurants and sites that you plan to see. For example, if you're wanting to visit New York City, you would contact the New York City Transit website http://www.mta.info/nyct/bus/  and contact them and ask about the cost of an unlimited bus pass where you can ride the bus unlimited for a week or a month depending on how long you plan to visit the city. And you would find out which buses or routes you need to take during your visit. Other cities have bus services that are similar and you can get weekly or monthly bus pass. Finding the contact information for the city transit office can usually be done via the internet. 

Step 7

Enjoy your trip and don’t forget to take a small camera so that you can take pictures that you can keep to remember your trip for years to come.