How I Afford to Travel: A Tell-All Guide

“How do you afford to travel so much?” is by far the most common question I receive.

Let me start by saying this question can be perceived as insulting. My entire life, I’ve witnessed people buy houses, go out to dinner several times a week, show off their Chanel sunglasses and even Coach bags, and despite my curiosity, I’ve never questioned how they were able to afford it. Speaking from an American perspective, it’s typical to “work hard” and “get the things you deserve,” which we are conditioned means buying a house, buying fancy things, a nice car or even a decent car, wining and dining, and when we’re really showing off, buying a Rolex.

But with all of that, I get the curiosity. I once was curious, too. So, how do I afford to travel?

Get a flexible job in the gig economy

When I first started jetsetting, I was a bartender. Bartending in the USA often equates to fat tips. I was making at least $300 a night in cash, usually more. To put that into context, if I worked 4 days a week, which I usually did, that’s at least $1200 a week, but once again, it was often more. On average, I was making $1500 cash a week for 8 years. Bartending is a lucrative business but it’s also an exhausting one. The beauty in bartending was I was able to have a lot of flexibility over my schedule. I’d swap around shifts so I could get 4 or 5 days off in a row, and then work 6 or 8 days in a row once I got back. That way, though I didn’t get PTO, I’d still make up for the lost shifts. With those days off, I’d take off to Belize, Mexico, Colombia, you name it. Bartending is not the only job that can provide flexibility and quick cash instead of a long-awaited, tax-deducted paycheck. Waitressing, dog walking, food delivery, uber/lyft driving, Instacart delivery, and more also provide these opportunities, though, in my experience, bartending paid the most.

Find a remote side hustle

Want to travel and even make a little money in your downtime in Tokyo or Rio? Get a remote side hustle! Freelance writing, though hard to break into, can pay decent if with the right company. You can get paid to take surveys, teach English online as a second language, or even be a virtual assistant.

Look at What You’re Currently Spending On

This is an easy one that most folks seem to get twisted. How much do you spend on iced coffee, on takeout, on cabs, on dinners, on monthly subscriptions? If you want to use your money to travel more instead of living a super comfortable life at home, it’s possible.

In 2018, I knew I wanted to travel long-term, and that meant, despite making good bartending money, I had to cut back on everyday expenses. I stopped buying double espressos everyday, which in New York cost somewhere between $3-5 depending on the place, and bought bricks of Café Bustelo instead, at 5 bucks a pop. Those Café Bustelo coffee packs would last me about 2 weeks. That’s $5 for 2 weeks instead of an average of $4 a day, or $56. I downloaded the app Mint to keep track of everyday expenses. It will blow your mind how much money you spend on crap once you are forced to write it down. Iced coffee? $6. Happy hour? $35. A new toy for your dog? $12. It adds up quickly. I often joke that in New York, just walking my dog manages to cost me 50 bucks. When I got serious about traveling, I deleted all of my unnecessary apps and cancelled most of my monthly scrips. I even deleted Spotify despite being a music junkie. There are plenty of free ways to stream music. I cancelled Netflix, HBOMax, and Hulu—that alone saved me almost $40/month. If you live in a city where you might not need a car, buy a bike! Think of the money you’ll save on gas.

There are so many ways to save by just cutting down on current costs. I went from $2,000 in my savings to $20,000 in my savings in less than a year simply by being frugal. I said no to almost all social events, I picked up extra shifts bartending, I bought groceries on sale. Really, it’s not glamorous: but in 2018 when I started seriously saving for travel, I would stock up on white rice, pasta, beans, frozen bags of chicken (from Trader Joe’s they’re only about $8), frozen veggies, and at about $20, I could make groceries last for 2 weeks.

Get a credit card and rack up those points

I cannot stress enough how much money I’ve saved on flights from properly utilizing my points. I am by no means a credit card expert, but the one card that has provided me seemingly endless flights around the globe is my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. For every dollar spent, I get 1x the points. For every dollar I spend on dining, I get 3x the points. For every dollar I spend on travel (including cabs, public transportation, hotels, etc.), I get 5x the points. For every dollar I spend on Lyft, I get 10x the points. This is a double-edged sword, because every time I go to pull out my debit card at, let’s say, the grocery store, I think, hmmmm… I could just get tons of points for this on my credit card, and often, I do. You need to ensure you have enough money to pay off your debt, otherwise there is no point in having a credit card with benefits, because the stress of being in debt will far outweigh the perks of getting points. For full transparency, I was once $15,000 in credit card debt from abusing the hell out of my Chase Sapphire card. I paid it off, and though do still have some outstanding debt once again (I’m in school, so I justify it by saying I’m a broke student!), I can confirm it’s not worth the stress of living in a financial unfeasible place.

With that being said, once you do rack up points on a card such as Chase Sapphire, you are able to transfer them to several airline and hotel partners making them worth more bang for their buck, or you can use the Chase travel portal, which offers options for more luxurious options (though in my humble opinion is not the best deals!). I have found one of the best transfers is to United MileagePlus. With my Chase points transferred to United MileagePlus, a star alliance member, I have booked roundtrips to Italy at the right time of year for 30k points, or most recently, a one-way to Cancun, Mexico for 11k points. For comparison, a roundtrip to Italy is usually, at minimum $800, often WAY more. A one-way to Cancun is usually at least $350. So, by putting everyday expenses on a credit card, and staying on top of paying them off, over time, I’m able to rack up points, and keep them in my rainy day fund for when I’m ready to travel.

Use my Chase referral code.

Sign up for airline alliances

Credit cards are not the only way to rack up points.

Credit cards are a thing of great privilege, especially the Chase Sapphire card which requires a credit score of something like 750 or higher. If you’re less interested in paying down debt and interest, but still want some airline points, it’s quite easy to sign up for airline alliances. In fact, it costs absolutely nothing.

Let’s say you’re a loyal Delta airline flyer. You’ve flown Delta to every trip to Miami, Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles in your lifetime. All you have to do is sign up for a Delta SkyMiles account, and claim missing miles, or start obtaining new ones. There is a timeline on this which you will have to check with each airline. But, just to give an example, let’s say you’ve flown Delta 4 times in the last 9 months. You can reclaim your ticket number through your SkyMiles account to start acclaiming miles and points. And this is not just for Delta flights; you can do this through every airline partner with Delta, including but not limited to Saudia Airlines, Alitalia, KLM, China Airlines, Air France, Kenya Airways, and more.

Let’s say you’re a United type of traveler. United, as you know I’m already biased toward, is part of Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world. Every flight through EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, and at least 20 more, will gain you points on United if you just sign up for a United MileagePlus account.

JetBlue also offers a loyalty program, and they are partnered with American. This is a great option if you are a frequent domestic traveler within the US and/or you are interested in traveling to the Caribbean more frequently.

Basically, to start collecting points, you don’t need a credit score and you certainly don’t need a credit card. You can get ahead of the game by collecting points simply through free loyalty memberships. Now, if you use your Chase Sapphire card to book these flights, you can essentially earn double the points: you get the 3x per dollar spent on travel on Chase Sapphire, and you get the points through the actual airline alliance.

Go somewhere with a favorable exchange rate

Every traveler dreams of heading toward Western Europe. It’s a common focal point of interest. I get it. My first trips abroad were to United Kingdom, Spain, and France. Italy is one of my favorite places in the world. Western Europe offers what most tourists crave: good food, beautiful architecture, and those bucket list ticks of seeing places like the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum. But, let me play devil’s advocate here. There is so much more to traveling than Western Europe, especially if you’re trying to do it on a budget.

Why not try Eastern Europe? The region is rich in history. In Poland, you can see Auschwitz, eat pierogis and drink local vodka. In Hungary, you can indulge in paprika-infused goulash for about $4, and enjoy the thermal baths of Széchenyi for the low entry price of 29 euro. Budapest is one of my favorite cities; they have the second oldest train system in the world (after London), delicious food including the deep-fried pizza like street food of langos, a serious party scene making it easy to meet people, vibrant street art, and overall classic timeless Eastern European architecture. What’s great about Eastern Europe is you can travel from country A to country B for nickels. Look into Flixbus. I took a Flixbus from Poland all the way down to Romania, with stops in Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria. I never paid more than $10 a ticket, meaning I spent, at most $10, to get from one country to the next. Despite the similarities in the region, each country has something unique to offer, and since they are all geographically small, I’d highly recommend squeezing in a few stops if you are to venture out to Eastern Europe. A 10-day bus-ride (or roadtrip) through Eastern Europe is likely going to cost you less than a singular day in Paris.

If you really want a good deal, Southeast Asia is a ridiculously cheap region to travel through. I’m talking meals costing an average of $2 or less, and GOOD meals, at that. Luxury hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia run at $40/night with a rooftop infinity pool overlooking the Petronas Towers. I spent 2 weeks in Vietnam and didn’t even manage to spend $200 (after flight and accommodation).

India has a world wonder: the Taj Mahal. Meals, once again, cost around $1-2. A taxi from point A to point B will be at maximum $4. It is so cheap you’ll be confused. India is one of the cheapest destinations I’ve visited. Think of what you spend in a night in your current hometown. You could literally spend less in a week in India. Same goes for Egypt: Egypt is one of the cheapest places I’ve traveled to. You can hire a private guide to see the pyramids for about $30. Meals are $1-2 and the servings are plentiful.

South America? Though not as cheap as Southeast Asia, it’s certainly not a bad option. I got a luxury hotel in the old walls of Cartagena for $50/night, breakfast included, with everything being within walking distance meaning I did not need to hire taxis, and I saved on meals where I got street food and quick local bites on-the-go.

Cheap tours can always be found on Viator, but in my experience, cheaper tours can be found right on the ground in your destination.

Chase the deal, not the destination

There’s a saying in travel world, “Chase the deal, not the destination.” What does this mean? Well, let me break it down for you.

Let’s say you have two weeks off in July. Your dream is to go to Italy to spend your much-earned vacation time on a summer holiday in Europe. Who could ask for anything more? The Amalfi Coast, Positano, eating gelato in Rome, fresh truffles in Florence, a little wine tour in Tuscany. And then… you see the prices of those flights. $1600 roundtrip. This cuts into your overall budget by a landmine. And hotels are marked up because of busy summer travel season. What are you to do?

Well, if you could let go of your Italian dreams for now, and keep an open mind for those two weeks you have free, there’s a hack on Skyscanner, Google flights, and many other airline websites that will allow you to find a better deal. My favorite is Skyscanner. I go on Skyscanner.com and search my home destination, NYC (All Airports) to “Everywhere.” I either type in my exact dates, or for more flexibility, type in “whole month” (in this case, it would be July) to find the absolute cheapest tickets that I can find. From there, Skyscanner will give me a list of chronological destinations, from least expensive to most, from my home base.

For example, here are the flight prices for January 2023 when I typed “NYC (All airports) to Everywhere” in Skyscanner.

Now, let’s say I chose Germany. I search for the flight from NYC to Germany (in this case, it said it was Berlin), and let’s say I want to country hop once I’m over in Europe. Now, I can go back on Skyscanner and type in Berlin to everywhere, and here are the flight prices for that same month.

Skyscanner is my most trusted travel website, I’ve booked probably 90% of my flights with them throughout my life, and even after thorough searches on other sites, I have learned that Skyscanner truly always has the best deals. It’s how I randomly ended up in Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Poland with less than 48 hours to spare! Twist my arm with a good flight deal, and I’ll be there.

But, what does this mean for your getaway to Italy? So, now that your Italian dreams have been crushed, have no fear. There’s still a way for you to get there. Find out when high and low seasons are for preferred destinations. In South America, December-March is their summer, so it would be safe to assume that there will be larger crowds, and it might generally be more expensive, flights included. Why not try their rainy or cooler season instead? Same goes for Europe, only their summer is our summer, meaning, try going to Europe in the winter. Even March, April, September, or October are good times for Europe. I went to Barcelona in November, and though I wasn’t able to spend days laxing on the beaches, I still got the overall feel and vibe, and delicious food of Spain. And I paid a fraction of the price for the flight.

Guide: www.skyscanner.com

Stay in hostels

When I was a broke backpacker, the one sacrifice I was always willing to make was sleep. Those days have since changed. I love sleep, and I need a comfortable bed. It makes all the difference. But if sacrificing sleep and privacy is something you can handle, then you can save a shit ton of money by staying in hostels.

I have stayed in hostels for as low as $2/night in Cambodia, $3/night in Vietnam, $3/night in India, $17/night in Italy, $14/night in French Polynesia, $5/night in Bulgaria, $18/night in Portugal.

Staying in a hostel means you will have to share a room with strangers, likely at least 6 of them, so it’s not for everyone. The idea of this made me repulsive in my early travel days, but I eventually got used to it, and even grew to like it. It’s an easy way to meet people. If this is what it took to be able to affordably travel, so be it, I’d share rooms with strangers. I’ve had a few… interesting experiences, like when a man lied on the ground in my hostel in Lima, Peru, to tell us all that he was having an outer body experience, to a Turkish man lurking over my head while I took a nap “waiting for me to wake up.” But I’ve also made some amazing friends in hostels: in Cebu City, the Philippines, I shared a room with two British girls who, to this day, I still call some of my closest travel buddies. We even ended up meeting up a few months later down the road. In that same hostel in Peru, I met a 30-year-old woman who had quit her corporate banking job to travel around the world, with 30k saved, and she was in Lima teaching surf lessons to make some extra cash, taking odd jobs left and right. She was what solely sparked my interest and curiosity for long-term travel. In Thailand, the first hostel I ever stayed at, I ended up partying with a group of 10-15 other travelers, and met someone who ironically lived one block away from me in Brooklyn. Can you imagine that? In Northern Thailand, I met a neighbor of mine in Brooklyn, whom I had never met in Brooklyn. I learned when you travel alone, you’re never really alone.

There’s a world of like-minded travelers out there, and it becomes terrifying when you find them, because you realize the proximity of traveling, and being a radical badass who chooses destinations over houses and material things is a reality for many folks. It will certainly challenge your perception on what’s important. You are likely to meet many of these people in hostels.

Always try to pick a place that’s in a decent location for many reasons. One- think of what you’ll save on transportation (cab fare, busses, subway, etc.). Also, try to pick places where at least one meal is included. A free breakfast is a thing of my dreams! I’m not a huge breakfast eater, but having that unlimited free coffee with a slice of toast and/or some fresh fruit before a long day of adventures saves tons of time and money. Speaking of which…

Guide: www.hostelworld.com

Don’t eat out for every meal

I know, this is a tough one. Why go to somewhere like new if you can’t experience the food? But hear me out. I am not discouraging going out to eat at all, because you absolutely should still go out to eat at restaurants, bars, cafes, etc., but by skipping out on a meal or two at a restaurant and swapping it for something made in your accommodation can save a lot of money. For example, on an 8-day trip to Italy, I had just one day in Rome, and decided I wouldn’t go out to eat. I was by no means deprived of good food on that trip; I ate fresh truffles over handmade pasta in Florence and seafood risotto by the sea in Positano. But, in Rome, I went to a grocery store, where I bought a bottle of wine, some mozzarella, prosciutto, a baguette, and a tomato. It cost me 6 euro for all of this, including the bottle of wine. That is cheaper than a GLASS of wine at a restaurant in Rome. I took my little smorgasbord of Italian food to the balcony in my hotel and ate it while overlooking the city. I didn’t feel I missed out on anything by having a meal at “home.”

It’s also a fun treat to go to foreign grocery stores. It’s one of my favorite things to do while abroad. You’ll find a whole array of new snacks and treats. In Germany, they sold bottles of a Jager-like liquor for $1 at the grocery store. In Japan, they sell so many varieties of mushrooms they’ll turn even a fungi-hater into a fungi-lover in no time. It’s fun to cook with local produce, and it’ll also give you insight as to what the locals eat and how things are priced. In Bermuda, a notoriously expensive country, I went to a grocery store on my first day there and bought granola bars and bagels just so I didn’t have to worry about breakfast. It’s also always wise to have instant coffee on you. It’s a travel essential for me. I have no problem spending money on coffee abroad, but if you’re a caffeine addict like me, you don’t want to be in a situation where you wake up early to go sightseeing and you cannot get a cup o’Joe. This has happened to me one too many times.

In Conclu$ion…

Traveling cheaply is possible! The main takeaways I hope you get from this are to cut back on everyday expenses and start a little travel fund (my travel fund which grew to be 20k started with only $5!), utilize the hell out of loyalty programs and credit card points, chase the deal, not the destination, be flexible in where you’ll stay, and enjoy a foreign grocery store as much as you’d enjoy a new restaurant!

Are there any crucial money-saving travel hacks I missed? Leave a comment below!