So you want to travel overseas but you don’t think you can afford it. I am familiar with this mindset and there was a time in my life when I thought traveling abroad was only for the ultra wealthy, but I was wrong. I’m writing this to share my travel story with you & share some of the travel secrets I’ve discovered. Today we will be discussing how to travel on a budget. Before we dive into it, let me share a little bit of my story with you and why I believe you can afford to travel abroad.

I grew up in the Midwest and I absolutely love it here. My childhood family vacations consisted of tent camping and I am totally good with that. However, in high school two things happened that opened my eyes the wide world of travel: 1- I became friends with lots of the foreign exchange students and 2- My grandpa flew us down to Costa Rica for his birthday. I was meeting people who lived outside of the US for the first time in my life. Those life experiences, combined with my deep love for interior design, led me on my journey to international travel. #willtravelfordesign. I remember promising my friend that I would visit her in Paris even if I had to save my money for 10 years.

Fast-forward to college. I went to school for interior design so some of my required classes were Art History, Architecture History and Furniture History. I freaking loved every one of those classes. Architecture History I & II were my favorite classes in all of college and had a huge impact on my desire to travel. I will never forget when I was able to put names to the styles I’d seen in print or online. Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque (be still my heart), Neo Classical (love!!), Art Deco (SUPERB!) and the list goes on and on. I was entranced as I learned about different time periods, different countries and different styles of art & architecture. Especially Versailles. I could write a 15 page paper on Versailles (and I did, in college). But today we are talking about how YOU can travel overseas to see anything you want. Of course I suggest ancient wonders and architectural gems that we just don’t have here in the US. But you can travel wherever your heart desires. (As long as you’re safe.)

So far I’ve been to Mexico, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Ireland, Northern Ireland (it’s recognized as a separate country), France, Denmark, Italy, and Greece. So not tons of places, but a handful. Each time I travel I feel a deeper connection to the world. It is truly a wonderful experience to be immersed in other cultures. My favorite thing I learned is that there are people JUST like me in other countries. I see a mother at a subway station holding her baby and I see myself. A lot of times we see other countries in the way our news media portrays their governments, but I believe it is so good to go somewhere and form our own opinion.

Antinori nel Chianti Classico Winery in Tuscany, Italy.

A common thing that people say to me is, “I don’t need to travel abroad because America is so big. There’s still stuff I haven’t seen here.” You’re not wrong. Geographically, America is rather large and we do have multiple different ecosystems. But there is a lot we don’t have. While we do have some “old” things here in America, but we don’t have “ancient” things. For example, in Greece, the Parthenon dates back to 448-432 BC! And in Rome, the Pantheon dates back to 126-128 AD. (The Parthenon and Pantheon are two different structures, in two separate countries, but are commonly confused because they sound very similar.)

ANYWAY- you’re here for HOW TO TRAVEL ON A BUDGET. And boy am I going to deliver that information to you. The FIRST tip I have is one that is hard to swallow. If you don’t like this first tip, you will probably stop reading this blog post and not travel abroad. You are missing out. I hope every single person has the opportunity to travel abroad at some point in their life because it is truly a life changing experience.

TIP #1- Be smart with your money and save it. If traveling abroad is truly a goal of yours, make it a priority. This includes being financially smart. Quit going out to eat. Make food at home. Quit going out for coffee. Make coffee at home. Feel free to go out for “drinks” with your friends, but order waters. If that doesn’t add up to the number you need, then I suggest taking some time off from entertainment (concerts, sports, comedy shows etc) and save your money to TRAVEL. It’s that easy: save your money. Quit spending it on pointless things like expensive coffee every morning. Imagine drinking wine in Italy instead. Which story will you remember to tell your grand kids? Your daily morning Starbucks order, or an incredible trip to Italy? (I’ll let you decide.) There are hundreds of ways to save money, but these basic things add up real fast and before you know it, aaaaall that money you used to throw away, is now saved up for a trip to Europe, or wherever you want to go.

TIP #2- Travel in the OFF season. What is the off season? Different countries have different tourist seasons. They are sometimes referred to as the “high” season (busy season) or the “low” season (not many tourists at this time.) I’ve found these seasons are mostly due to weather and time of year. For example, in Europe, the summer is a big tourist season and therefore the “high” season. (June is the busiest also because most Europeans take their ‘holiday’ then.) First and foremost, your FLIGHTS are going to be substantially more affordable in the off season. (Example: we flew to Italy round trip in December for $400, but when we went to Denmark in July it was $1,800 per ticket.) So be sure to do your research and find the high season and the low season for where you want to go. Then book your flights when ticket prices are low. Some apps even specialize in this like The Hopper App. If you travel abroad during the “high” season, the HOTELS are going to be charging their highest prices of the year. Whereas if you go in the low season, it will be some of the cheapest prices of the year. For example, my husband and I went to Paris in July and our hotel was very pricey. (We were new to international travel at that point in our lives and it was my husbands first time ever outside of the USA.) But when we went to Italy in December, we stayed at stunning hotels for $68/ night. These hotels had crystal chandeliers, velvet swag drapery, vintage runners down their marble staircases, etc. So it was not a hostel. I(f you want to stay at the cheapest places around, google “hostels” but know that bedbugs can be an issue.) Off season also means that food, drinks, ticket prices and excursions are usually at a lower price point than high season. It’s classic supply and demand. If a boat tour can only fit 12 people, and 1,000 people want on the boat in the summer, they’re going to charge whatever they want, but if 6 people want a boat tour in December, they’re probably just happy to still be in business that month.

TIP #3- Ditch the luggage. Gasp! Yes. Do you know how easy it is to get around Europe with a backpack? First of all, you save money by NOT checking a bag with your airline. Then you save yourself the weight of carrying/ dragging your heavy suitcase along the uneven cobblestones hills of Europe. Plus, airlines love to lose bags when you fly internationally, and this way you have the peace of mind of always having your backpack in the overhead bin. BUT there is one ultra important note that I cannot stress enough: European carry-on sizes are SMALLER than American carry-on sizes. Whichever country you plan to go to, do your research ahead of time for the size that their flights deem “carry on.” For Europe, theirs goes by liters. My husband and I both have 40-liter backpacks that fit in the smaller overhead compartments of common European airlines. (We have had our bags weighed & measured before, so size is important here.) We’ve taken these backpacks all over the world with us because we personally care more about the experience than the clothes. And we pack cute outfits! We just plan our outfits out ahead of time. I generally pack tops & bottoms that can be interchangeable with each other to create different looks. We also roll our clothes & pack them in packing cubes to get the most out of the space we have. That was an absolute game changer and made me a much more efficient packer. You can also wash your clothes abroad. We even used backpacks when we went to Italy in December. We both wore our heaviest / thickest layers on the plane, and then rolled all of our sweaters, pants, wool socks, etc and put them into the packing cubes. It’s easy! Here’s a link to the backpacks and packing cubes we use. Here is the link to all our must have travel items. (The backpack, the packing cubes, charger adapter for your phone, passport holders & more.)

TIP #4- BREAKFAST INCLUDED. It was very important to my husband that breakfast was included in our hotel costs. At first I really wanted to stay at airbnb’s because it was the hip cool thing to do, and while we’ve done both, we do prefer hotels because the breakfast is included. (Check your hotel because every hotel is different.) We love booking hotels where breakfast is included because then you don’t have to worry about navigating a foreign country first thing in the morning when you’re jet legged or tired. (Yes jet-leg is a real thing. I thought it was a fake thing that people complained about, but it is real. Another story for another time.) My husband also likes it because the price of breakfast is included with the hotel so its just one less thing he has to think about spending money on during the day. (I don’t think about this at all, but he’s a math-minded man so this is the type of thing on his brain.) I have to be honest, every single breakfast we’ve had on our travels has been far better than breakfasts in America. It’s not like the included breakfasts we have here. They’re fresh and scrumptious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

TIP #5- GROUPS TOURS & EXCURSIONS. If you are traveling abroad, I’m sure you’re drawn to something specific. Maybe you want to see the Colosseum in Rome, the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, the heart-stopping Palace of Versailles, or take a boat tour around an island of Greece. Whatever it is, group tours have amazing benefits over private tours or solo tours. Group tours save you money, but they also save you time. Depending on where you are going, the lines can be extremely long. If you are wanting to go to a certain museum, gallery, historical site, or famous landmark, they call the lines “queues” (pronounced like “Q”) and you could be waiting in the queue for 4+ hours (depending on the spot). Booking a group tour is how you can get a phenomenal experience from a local expert, meet other cool travelers, skip ques and fully enjoy the experience. For example, when we went to the Palace of Versailles, the group tours had a completely separate entrance that individual tours and the group entrance had a much shorter queue. It felt like we got in a matter of minutes instead of a matter of hours. Praise the Lord!

Group tours are low stress because everything is all taken care of. You don’t have to spend endless hours figuring out the history of a place, or where to eat or where the best view is. The guide who is running your group tour will be able to tell you all of this. And you can ask any questions you like! For example, after we finished a bus tour of Northern Ireland, we landed back in Dublin Ireland and asked our tour guide where the best spot was for live Irish music. She gave us a great recommendation that was far better than any local tourist trap we would have found if we were just searching on our own. My husband specifically loves to use Viator to book our group tours because there are lots of reviews and we haven’t had a bad Viator experience yet. One thing I suggest is to read fine print if any additional fees will come up. For example, when we were looking to go to Chichen Itza, we saw Viator trips for as low $41, and some that were hundreds of dollars. After I read the fine print, I saw that some tours didn’t include tax, the Chichen Itza ticket, the crossing the boarder fee, etc etc etc and that they would add all that on in person at the end of the tour. Imagine if you weren’t expecting that! So be sure to read the fine print. But, like I said, we’ve never had a bad experience with Viator. Some of the Viator group excursions we’ve been on include but is not limited to: Vespa Tours of Italy, Boat Tours of Greek Islands, Tuscany Wine Tasting + Pisa town Tour, Northern Ireland Bus Tour, etc. This is not sponsored by Viator but that would be sweet if it was haha!

Honestly some of our BEST experiences were from Viator because we were able to meet other travels from other countries and become friends. For example, on the wine tasting tour in Santorini we became friends with 3 other couples and we all got together for dinner and drinks after the wine tour was over. We all had a WhatsApp group message so we could communicate and meet back up. There was 2 couples from England and then 2 couples from America. It was so much fun because we were able to openly ask each other questions about the other person’s home country and see their perspectives. I love learning about a country from someone who lives there instead of just hearing about a country on the news. It’s so refreshing. It’s also amazing how long we’ve stayed in contact with some of the friend we’ve made on Viator trips. These are truly memories and connections you will never forget.