Bridge the Travel Gap

How to Keep Costs Down and Not Throw in the Kitchen Sink

This is 1 of the most asked questions about keeping my costs down on travel:  How can I afford it?

I say, travel doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does depend on how you define travel and where.

Currencies

4 different ideas are outlined below:

Home Holiday

This is the cheapest and least expensive form of travel, so I wonder why more people don’t take advantage of this!  Yes, people take time off to stay at home, but quite often, this is due to illness or doing some: much-needed, DIY.  These are not holidays!

I have found that when I put strict boundaries around this ‘home holiday’ idea I’ve had some of my most relaxed and least stressful trips.  For example: no DIY or fix anything in the house, but do go out and see things in your local area you’ve never seen before or haven’t seen in a long time.

Also, just sit and read – preferably in the garden.

1 of my secret tips is – don’t tell anyone you are staying at home, just say you are going on holiday, then no one will bother you.

Just Down the Road Holiday

This 1 is often done where people go camping or somewhere that is not far away and still in their home county, state, province, whatever.  This can be more stressful and expensive, but if you look at places like Air BnB or house swapping or camping, you can find a much cheaper way to do it and still get a great place to enjoy.

The added bonus with this 1 is there are no borders to cross and it’s only a few hours away, but you feel you’ve ‘gone away.’

Home Country Holiday

View from Hotel Room from hotel just outside Bath

This is where you go out of county, state, province, etc., but be careful, this can be more expensive, than going overseas, especially if you are Europe based!

I have found this to be the case in the UK, that going to Spain or Greece or, even, France, can end up being cheaper than staying within the UK.

Things to look out for are groupon deals or bus trips in your local newspaper.  While these maybe less glamorous, they don’t have to be.

I had a 4 star weekend away in Bath, England and it was half the price because of a coupon which my Mom in Canada bought for us for Christmas – we lived in the UK at the time of writing this!

So deals can be found, just have to do a bit more digging.  This is especially true for out of season.

Snoop around on your favourite local hotel sites, they are likely to have deals at some point in the year, so snap them up!

Just Over the Border

As mentioned above, going over the border into a neighboring country can be cheaper than staying in your own country, so check around, especially, out of season, you can get some good packages to go elsewhere when it’s their off-season period.

All the ideas above can apply for ‘Over the Border’ travel.

What have you done to save on your travel?  Have you been successful at a ‘home holiday’?  What did that look like?

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