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    Let's be friends!

    If you visit Las Vegas, you can’t miss these sto If you visit Las Vegas, you can’t miss these stops. 🥹

[SAVE + SHARE]

The first time I visited Vegas was for my 21st birthday. I was a textbook city girl who just wanted to stay on the Las Vegas Strip, watch an entertaining show and spend an innocent $30 at the crazy casinos.

Fast forward to my last trip to Vegas and I wanted out of the city ASAP. 😂

The difference? This time, I knew the city had more to offer. Such as…

1. Valley Of Fire State Park.
2. Red Rock Canyon State Park.
3. Grand Canyon National Park.
4. Bryce Canyon National Park.
5. Zion National Park.
6. Death Valley National Park.
7. Joshua Tree National Park.

Save this list of Las Vegas things to do so you don’t make the same mistake I did. 🗺️

#lasvegasnevada #lasvegasnv #usaroadtrip #usroadtrip #travelreel
    Planning a trip doesn’t have to be stressful 🗣️

[SAVE + SHARE]

I get asked all the time how I plan trips. Planning trips can be stressful and overwhelming, but once you break the trip planning process down step by step, it is actually very simple.

So, here’s how to plan a road trip in just 3 easy steps!

Share this video with your road trip buddy to make planning a breeze. 🌬️

#traveltipsandtricks #traveltiptuesday #traveltip #roadtripready #usaroadtrip
    It was… A fun hike? 🥲 It was… A fun hike? 🥲
    Follow @indigosahara for more travel inspo ✈️ Follow @indigosahara for more travel inspo ✈️

10 non-negotiable USA highways to road trip before you die!

[SAVE + SHARE]

The US has some of the best road trips on Earth. You can’t miss a chance at taking a USA road trip across these iconic highways during your lifetime.

1. Highway 1.
2. U.S. Route 89.
3. Highway 42.
4. Hana Highway.
5. Alaska Highway.
6. Overseas Highway.
7. Route 66.
8. Blue Ridge Parkway.
9. Million Dollar Highway.
10. Going To The Sun Road.

BONUS. Don’t know which route to take? Here are a few of my all-time favorite spots!

11. White Pocket (U.S. Route 89).
12. Pipiwai Trail (Hana Highway).
13. Winding Road (Highway 42).
14. Grand Teton National Park (U.S. Route 89).
15. Zion National Park (U.S. Route 89).

Is a US road trip on your bucket list? Save these top 10 things to do in the USA so you don’t miss a thing.

#usatravel #usaroadtrip #usroadtrip #roadtripusa
    I can’t believe these places are real in the USA I can’t believe these places are real in the USA 🤯

[SAVE + SHARE]

I love finding unique destinations that make you feel like you’re on another planet. These are a few of my favorite places in the U.S. for far. 💫

5. Valley Of Fire State Park.
4. Death Valley National Park.
3. Bryce Canyon National Park.
2. Pink Lake.
1. Rainbow Mountains (Bentonite Hills).

If you visit any of these places, PLEASE be responsible and follow leave no trace principles to help preserve these otherworldly places.

#usaroadtrip #otherworldly #uniquedestinations #usroadtrip #bucketlisttravel
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Indigo Sahara

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        • Washington
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        • Wyoming
        • National Parks
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      • Faroe Islands
      • France
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Norway
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      • Maldives
    • Oceania
      • French Polynesia
        • Bora Bora
        • Tahiti
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Cheap Travel Tips That Will Change Your Life

By: Indigo Sahara, M.A. | Published: December 12, 2022 | Updated: February 3, 2024

Looking to travel on a major budget? These cheap travel tips will change your life as a traveler.

Cheap Travel Tips That Will Change Your Life

These are the exact budget travel tips that I use on a daily basis that allow me to travel all the time. Using these cheap travel tips, I’ve been able to visit places like Bora Bora, Tahiti, Paris, the Amalfi Coast and more for cheap — without sacrificing the luxurious experiences these destinations offer.

I know from experience that these cheap travel tips work, and now I want to share them with you. Let’s dive in.

Cheap Travel Tips That Will Change Your Life

Table of Contents

Toggle
  • Where To Travel For Cheap
  • Best Time To Travel Cheap
  • How To Budget Each Of Your Travels
  • How To Find Cheap Flights
  • How To Find Cheap Hotels
  • How To Find Cheap Eats On Your Travels
  • More Cheap Travel Tips
  • Save These Cheap Travel Tips

Where To Travel For Cheap

There is an endless amount of places you could travel. If you don’t have a specific destination in mind for your next trip, you may want to consider traveling somewhere where your currency is worth more than the destination’s currency.

cheap travel tips
booking flights tips cheap travel

Because your currency is inherently worth more, everything in that destination — food, accommodations, excursions, etc. — will be cheap. This is a phenomenon known as geoarbitrage.

Here are some of the places in which geoarbitrage exists for those of us coming from countries with generally strong currencies (such as the USA, Canada, the UK and Europe).

4 Cheapest Regions Of The World To Travel

  1. Central America
  2. Eastern Europe
  3. South America
  4. Southeast Asia

30 Cheapest Countries Of The World To Travel

  1. Albania
  2. Bali (Indonesia)
  3. Bosnia-Herzegovina
  4. Bulgaria
  5. Cambodia
  6. China
  7. Colombia
  8. Costa Rica
  9. Cuba
  10. Czech Republic
  11. Egypt
  12. Greece
  13. Guatemala
  14. Hungary
  15. India
  16. Loas
  17. Mexico
  18. Myanmar
  19. Nepal
  20. Oman
  21. Peru
  22. Philippines
  23. Portugal
  24. Romania
  25. South Africa
  26. Sri Lanka
  27. Thailand
  28. Turkey
  29. Uruguay
  30. Vietnam
road trip cheap budget travel tips

Didn’t see your dream destination on the list? Don’t worry.

There are still plenty of ways to travel cheap in even the most luxurious destinations. Trust me, I’ve even managed to travel to Bora Bora, one of the most expensive destinations in the world, on a major budget.

Cheap Travel Tips That Will Change Your Life

Best Time To Travel Cheap

Furthermore the time — the season, day and time of day — you travel plays a large role in how cheap your travels will be.

The cheapest and best season to travel is during the destination’s shoulder season. The shoulder season includes the months between the destination’s peak season and off-season. Although the off-season is truly cheapest, the off-season usually has the worst weather. The shoulder season has the best of both worlds.

cheap hotel hacks travel tips
cheap travel hacks tips and tricks

Similarly, the cheapest travel day is typically Tuesday, but this varies each week depending on holidays. To check the cheapest travel day for your desired trip dates, use budget travel tools such as Google Flights, which we’ll discuss more in a moment.

Incase you didn’t already know, I have created one of the best budget travel tools for everyone. It’s called the Budget Travel Bible – an entire ebook dedicated to teaching you my exact method to traveling on a budget. Click here for all the details.

Lastly, while there isn’t necessarily a standard cheapest time of the day to travel, I always book red-eye flights when they are available. Not only are red-eye flights sometimes cheaper than daytime flights, but these flights also get you to your destination faster, which means you’ll have more time in your destination. Better bang for your buck.

How To Budget Each Of Your Travels

Budgeting each of your trips — and sticking to your budgets — will transform how often you’re able to travel.

The costs of flights, accommodations, food and activities will vary depending on your destination, but, in general, you can expect to spend the following budget percentages on each trip category.

Expense% OF ToTal Trip Budget
Accommodations45%
Transportation25%
Food15%
Entertainment/Activities10%
Miscellaneous5%

I always make sure to budget extra money into a miscellaneous category to prevent overspending. This financial buffer is really the key to not blowing your trip budget.

How To Find Cheap Flights

My favorite way to find cheap — or even free — flights is by travel hacking. Travel hacking refers to the use of travel credit card opening bonuses that you earn with everyday expenses to redeem for free flights

I’ve flown all over the world for free using credit card points. However, there are important rules to follow when travel hacking, so it’s imperative to know the rules before you begin travel hacking for yourself.

Scared travel hacking will hurt your credit score? I have made a free download of travel hacking rules for you to confidently travel hack like a pro. Download the rules here for FREE.

tips for cheap travel

My second favorite way to find cheap flights is through Google Flights, which I briefly mentioned earlier. Basically, Google Flights helps you find the cheapest flights across most, if not all, airlines and plane ticket platforms.

The best features of Google Flights include the “all dates” toggle for trip date flexibility, the price tracker for automatic email updates with the destination’s cheapest ticket prices and the date grid to easily identify the cheapest travel dates for your destination.

How To Find Cheap Hotels

Most people believe that Airbnb is the cheapest option for accommodations when traveling, but this is far from the truth.

The truth is, Airbnb is actually really overpriced. Airbnb really only makes sense financially when traveling in large groups, with a family or when you need a kitchen. Even so, most other short-term rental websites, such as VRBO, are often cheaper than Airbnb — even sometimes for the same rental listing.

Instead, I prefer using Hotwire to find cheap hotel rooms.

travel on a budget
travel tips airplane cheap flights

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather stay in a fluffy hotel room bed over a possibly subpar one-blanket short-term rental bed.

There are tricks to using Hotwire to get the best hotels for the best rates possible, which I will be teaching in my upcoming Budget Travel Bible ebook, so definitely stay tuned.

How To Find Cheap Eats On Your Travels

Lastly, the final portion of travel that often sucks up an unnecessary amount of money is food. The best way to save money on food while traveling if, by far, buying groceries once you get to your destination.

It is so easy to go over your trip budget because of food. Because of this, I created a FREE downloadable list of easy tips for food savings that will keep you from overspending without making you feel financially restricted (or hungry). Download here!

To save money and time getting to and from a grocery store, I highly recommend ordering groceries to your hotel with a grocery delivery service like Instacart (click here to get $10 off your first order).

With your groceries, you can pack meals each day before your outing. You’ll save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars with this simple cheap travel tip.

tips to travel cheap

Also, be sure to purchase and pack tons of extra snacks because, for some reason, we always seem to be hungrier on vacation, regardless of whether we’re hiking mountains or laying out on the beach.

Furthermore, if you prefer to eat out on vacation, check out local cafes and delis for delicious cheap eats. Oftentimes, delis, cafes, bakeries and family-owned restaurants have a surprisingly wide range of filling meal options for a fraction of the price of any sit-down restaurant that’s next to a tourist attraction.

how to travel cheap
Cheap Travel Tips That Will Change Your Life

Have any more cheap travel tips you would like to share? Comment your own tips in the reply section below or by sharing them with me via Instagram!

Cheap Travel Tips That Will Change Your Life

More Cheap Travel Tips

How To Travel More This Year
Tips To Start Traveling In 6 Easy Steps
How To Budget For Travel In 9 Easy Steps
How To Save Money To Travel: Tips For When You’re Broke

Save These Cheap Travel Tips

Save these cheap travel tips for later by sharing them to socials.

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on Pinterest Share on Pinterest
  • Share via Email Share via Email

By: Indigo Sahara, M.A.

About Indigo Sahara, M.A.

Indigo Sahara, M.A., is the founder and CEO of the Indigo Sahara travel blog. Since earning her master's degree in global leadership, she has traveled to more than 20 countries. Now, her goal is to make travel accessible to all by teaching others how to travel on a budget. She writes world travel guides and travel hacking tips weekly.

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If you visit Las Vegas, you can’t miss these sto If you visit Las Vegas, you can’t miss these stops. 🥹

[SAVE + SHARE]

The first time I visited Vegas was for my 21st birthday. I was a textbook city girl who just wanted to stay on the Las Vegas Strip, watch an entertaining show and spend an innocent $30 at the crazy casinos.

Fast forward to my last trip to Vegas and I wanted out of the city ASAP. 😂

The difference? This time, I knew the city had more to offer. Such as…

1. Valley Of Fire State Park.
2. Red Rock Canyon State Park.
3. Grand Canyon National Park.
4. Bryce Canyon National Park.
5. Zion National Park.
6. Death Valley National Park.
7. Joshua Tree National Park.

Save this list of Las Vegas things to do so you don’t make the same mistake I did. 🗺️

#lasvegasnevada #lasvegasnv #usaroadtrip #usroadtrip #travelreel
Planning a trip doesn’t have to be stressful 🗣️

[SAVE + SHARE]

I get asked all the time how I plan trips. Planning trips can be stressful and overwhelming, but once you break the trip planning process down step by step, it is actually very simple.

So, here’s how to plan a road trip in just 3 easy steps!

Share this video with your road trip buddy to make planning a breeze. 🌬️

#traveltipsandtricks #traveltiptuesday #traveltip #roadtripready #usaroadtrip
It was… A fun hike? 🥲 It was… A fun hike? 🥲
Follow @indigosahara for more travel inspo ✈️ Follow @indigosahara for more travel inspo ✈️

10 non-negotiable USA highways to road trip before you die!

[SAVE + SHARE]

The US has some of the best road trips on Earth. You can’t miss a chance at taking a USA road trip across these iconic highways during your lifetime.

1. Highway 1.
2. U.S. Route 89.
3. Highway 42.
4. Hana Highway.
5. Alaska Highway.
6. Overseas Highway.
7. Route 66.
8. Blue Ridge Parkway.
9. Million Dollar Highway.
10. Going To The Sun Road.

BONUS. Don’t know which route to take? Here are a few of my all-time favorite spots!

11. White Pocket (U.S. Route 89).
12. Pipiwai Trail (Hana Highway).
13. Winding Road (Highway 42).
14. Grand Teton National Park (U.S. Route 89).
15. Zion National Park (U.S. Route 89).

Is a US road trip on your bucket list? Save these top 10 things to do in the USA so you don’t miss a thing.

#usatravel #usaroadtrip #usroadtrip #roadtripusa
I can’t believe these places are real in the USA I can’t believe these places are real in the USA 🤯

[SAVE + SHARE]

I love finding unique destinations that make you feel like you’re on another planet. These are a few of my favorite places in the U.S. for far. 💫

5. Valley Of Fire State Park.
4. Death Valley National Park.
3. Bryce Canyon National Park.
2. Pink Lake.
1. Rainbow Mountains (Bentonite Hills).

If you visit any of these places, PLEASE be responsible and follow leave no trace principles to help preserve these otherworldly places.

#usaroadtrip #otherworldly #uniquedestinations #usroadtrip #bucketlisttravel

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