10 Travel tips that will ensure you have an epic adventure

Hey friends, I’m glad you’re here! Today I’m going to share a few tips & some insights that have allowed me to afford traveling multiple times a year all while on a budget!

First things first, if you’ve always had a dream to travel but wind up feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the rising costs of everything from gas prices to groceries you’re in the right place. I’m right there with you! In a world of unpredictable times and rapidly rising prices it can be very intimidating to attempt planning a dream trip. But don’t worry, I’ve got a few simple tricks and tips I’m sharing below that you can begin using right away and be off on your dream trip sooner than you think!

For example: last year, in 2023 I was able to travel around the Republic of Ireland (for 8 days) in April for less than $1,900, then in June I traveled to Greece, Montenegro, Italy & England for 16 days with my husband for $6,080 total (including flights, for both of us!). In August we were able to fly 3 of us (Hubby, son and I) cross country to Washington DC & back for free!! We spent 2 full days in DC & 5 days in Pennsylvania for less than $300 total for the whole trip, and in September I spent 8 days exploring The Loire Valley, France & Paris, France for less than $2,000 total!!

Outside of the White House, Washington DC

Traveling on a budget is so doable, if you’re armed with the right tools! Continue reading to learn how I was able to aquire major discounts, find hidden gems and lots of savings. Plus some helpful tips for traveling and enjoying the sights at a fraction of the regular cost and learn some secret gems in Europe you need to add to your bucket-list!

#1) The best thing you can do is to plan ahead! Prep for every upcoming trip, travel adventure and potential journey as much as possible. By spending time prepping before your trip you will save valuable time & resources, and help eliminate a lot of stress while on your vacation/trip by reducing the 5 major travel questions ahead of time. *The Who, The Where, The What, The When, The How. Knowing who you will be traveling with is a key component to planning the perfect trip. You’ll be able to key in & focus on activities, experiences, events & locations that your group will love which will make it an even more memorable trip for everyone. The Where: deciding on a few destinations to begin researching and then narrowing it down to 1 or 2 will greatly reduce the amount of time spent hunting for flights, accomodations and activities. Especially once you know precisely the areas (locations you’ll be visiting) and can zero in your search to hidden gems in those areas & surrounding areas. The What: Is there a special reason you will be traveling? Something or someone special you will be celebrating or a once in a lifetime event/activitiy or destination that is part of the agenda?? Perhaps the whole reason for the trip? That information will help you adjust your travel plans around specific events and give you a framework of specific dates, events or people you might need to work around in order to include everything in the initial itinerary. The When: might be the easiest or most difficult part. If you’re planning to travel for a specific event or to catch a natural phenomenon then your dates are more likely to be a small window of time than if you have the flexibililty of traveling in the off season when you’re more likely to save some $$. The How: will you travel by plane, train, rail or boat? Will you take a road trip instead or as a portion of the trip? Determining how you plan to travel helps you gain better idea of the budget needed, how affordable your trip will be & whether you will need to adjust your travel budget or not. Once those key factors are set the rest is down to planning.

#2) The key to every successful trip is down to five things: 1) Organization & Planning ahead (all the necessary things to: *A– help you stay within budget & *B– ensuring you have flights/tickets/entry tickets/reservations set for everything that requires booking ahead are taken care of prior to disembarking on your journey will help minimize stress and help you feel ready for your trip.) 2) Choosing locations & activities that everyone in your travel party will enjoy. No one likes feeling forced to go somewhere or do something they have zero interest in. To keep the peace and help ensure everyone has a great time, look for areas/activities that incorporate things everyone will enjoy. If you have kids traveling with you look for activities/events and locations that are unique, fun and will keep their attention. This will help ensure they have a good time and are less prone to complaining/boredom. 3)Having a positive mindset and remaining calm will really help reduce your stress & minimize the possiblity of a bad moment ruining an otherwise great trip. 4) Leave room for spontenaity and freedom in your schedule/itinerary. Don’t overthink things to much or stress about seeing everything. Keep some wiggle room in your itinerary and try not to overbook your time. You’ll enjoy your trip so much more if you leave room in your itinerary for relaxation time, down time, and room for hidden gems you will likely stumble upon and want time to explore. 5) Flexibility & Adaptability will greatly reduce travel related stress and minimize your disappointment if you’re able to keep an “I can be flexible & adaptable” mindset throughout your travels. So important to remember when: plans fail or falters, a location doesn’t live up to the hype, something is cancelled/closed or perhaps weather isn’t cooperating etc. Choosing to be adaptable & flexible will serve you well and who knows, the things that look or seem like they could ruin a great trip may end up leading to a better alternative….or may very well become the best story (funny moment) of your trip.

While I was in Paris last fall my travel group (6 women in total) had pre-purchased timed entry tickets for Saint Chapelle (a gorgeous chapel with stained glass windows surrounding the entire building. A must see if you’re planning to visit Paris!!) and we were all very excited to tour the beautiful chapel. When we arrived there was a lot of confusion with the lines. We were directed to stand in one line, and then directed to stand in another which led some people behind us becoming rather upset that we were moved to their line. (**It was not the best organized entry lines so I’d recommend keeping one or two people in the party holding a spot in line while another goes to verify that you are indeed in the correct line for entry.) Once we finally got through the lines and into the inner courtyard we needed to walk to another entry point and show our tickets. Unfortunately the tickets we had purchased through Travelocity website prior to our trip appeared to not be the correct tickets. We spoke to the gentlemen at the ticket window for a long time (we tried to use google translate to communicate with the man due to language barrior and a few others tried looking up potential other locations to visit or for something to do instead to minimize the possible disappointment at not being allowed entry). We remained hopeful that we’d be allowed entry, but attempted for figure out a back up plan incase we weren’t.

Staying positive really worked to our benefit when the man finally decided to accept our tickets and allowed us in…. perhaps because he determined 6 American women who held printed tickets weren’t lying or trying to sneak in without paying, or perhaps he allowed us to enter because he was afraid we’d all cry if he denied our entry…either way, we were finally allowed to enter and we were all relieved & excited we wouldn’t miss the opportunity to experience the beauty of the sunlight streaming through the chapel windows. The chapel is one of my favorite locations we visited in Paris. Now that we’ve returned home this event is part of our travel story and memories we hold dear because it was “a special destination we almost missed” which makes it even more memorable. *If you plan to purchase tickets prior to arrival here are two tips: 1) Make sure the site is reputable and that you have your tickets confirmed via email and a printed copy (should help you avoid the risk of being denied entry) & 2) Arrive at least 45 minutes prior to your timed entry, confirm the line you need to stand in and have at least 1 person in your travel party hold your spot until 15 minutes prior when they walk through the line and verify tickets.

Gorgeous Stained glass windows of Saint Chapelle Chapel

#3) Determine your budget & begin all of your planning with that in mind. From there gather information about destinations you want to visit and start to compile a list of information. Plan to spend time researching the best times to visit, tracking flights/patterns of cheaper prices and keeping an eye on deals and discounts so you can lock them in when they pop up. Some of the best apps and sites to help you track flight deals are “Hopper”, “Skyscanner”, “Momondo” and “Scott’s cheap flights”. I also recommend using apps like “Max Travel”, “Hotel tonight” (helps find the best last minute hotel deals). Google Hotels is another amazing way to locate the best deals by letting Google do all the work comparing prices.

#4) To secure cheap flights I like to begin watching flights about 6-8 months in advance of the trip if possible to get a better idea of flights available and the fluctuation in price patterns. Usually I will book between 2-4 months in advance depending on the trip and the deals available. However, with the use of several apps mentioned above I’ve been able to secure excellent prices in under a month before a trip. It all depends on how often you’re watching availability, prices and when deals are rolled out. *You can also set reminders or tabs on the apps for flight updates/set the app to watch several flight options and alert you of deals. I suggest looking at several apps and websites to compare flights until you’ve narrowed down a window of the best rates and dates (this step will help you keep your trip within budget).

#5) Afterwards I’d recommend scouting several accomodation locations to compare the price and proximity of each with the destinations you plan to visit. Sometimes it is best to choose locations outside of major cities in order to find cheaper prices. Often times you’ll find that the overall costs are much less when booking at an airbnb rental instead of a hotel (especially when booking a location that will be shared with multiple families/people and costs will be split evenly), it also helps to find locations off the beaten path and in lesser known small towns. In general, booking outside of large cities will help keep costs down. Other places to search are all inclusive destinations, long term vacation stays or homeswap programs, hostels, renting a campervan, campsite rentals and also the potential to save really big by reaching out to a hotel/airbnb etc and asking about special discounts or deals they might offer.

While I was researching my trip to Ireland I sent out several emails to multiple castles around the Republic of Ireland. Inquiring about a potential stay, if they offered discounts and if they would be interested in a potential collaboration. I received an offer from the amazing Kinnitty Castle Hotel in county Offolay for a collaboration of major discounted stay (*We were booked as their VIP guests, awarded a stay in 2 gorgeous state rooms that included breakfast daily, a special dinner in the Castle Dungeon Bar and freedom to explore anywhere we wanted in the castle and the grounds) in exchange for lots of content I later shared on all my social media accounts. It was a phenomenal stay and we were so spoiled by the excellent accomodations, staff and felt like royalty during the entire course of our stay. It was the highlight of our trip! *You never know what opportunity you might stumble apon simply by asking a few questions because it never hurts to try right?! You may just wind up having the best experince of your life!

#6) Next you should secure your transportation. Will you need a rental car? Perhaps rent a campervan? Or will you utilize public transport such as the metro, city bus, trains, uber/taxi, ferry or other modes of transportation such as gondola or cable car. There are several ways to search for the best budget friendly options and none is better than https://www.budget.com/en/home their fastbreak program is streamlined and makes rental car pick up an absolute breeze! We also have loved using the Uber App or Lyft for booking quick/short transport as needed. As well as

#7)To help me keep all of our information, tickets, reservation info all together in one place I recommend keeping it all together in a Notes on your phone or in a little notebook that has a few pockets. Either of those will be great locations to jot down ideas, resources, record discounts as you learn about them, gather information on multiple locations you’d like to research and learn more about, top destinations & their proximity to other destinations you plan to visit etc. *I also like to jot notes about the time of year I plan to visit and a few potential dates/month to research accomodations & flights. Another suggestion would be to start a google doc or something similar where you can easily add information as you do research, book accommodations, tickets etc. to help keep everything organized and as a perk it’s super easy to adjust if there’s a change of plans and update with all your arrangements. Tracking all of this information helps to ensure you will stay organized, won’t miss out on a great deal and have easy access to all pertinent information you will need while on your trip.

#8) I can’t emphasize enough the importance of purchasing travel insurance for international trips and most cross-country domestic trips. You just never know what could happen and I’ve learned it’s better to be safe than sorry! Having insurance not only protects you in case of an unforseeable trip interuption, sickness, flight cancellations or delays it also protects you if luggage is lost, disruptions to your travel plans cause to miss pre-paid activities/events etc. Travel insurance is a must these days due to the inconsistency with airlines and unknown hiccups that could wreck havoc on your travel plans otherwise. My favorites are Allianz, World Trips & Travelex. Each have several tiers of insurance plans to help you customize and find exactly the right fit for your needs.

#9) The next phase of planning is working on the itinerary. For that I recommend gathering your notebook where you collected your intitial information & recorded all the important details like flight info, hotel/accomodation reservation info, rental car info etc. and have your lists of all the locations you want to visit as well. Once you have all of that information gathered you’re ready to begin the fun of organizing & planning the itinerary. By begining early you’re more likely to discover activities that are free or potentially free. Especially when you do an internet hunt for best free activities and locations to visit within your itinerary locations. Perhaps you’ll find a few hidden gems that you’d like to include that requre adjusments to the itinerary. Now is the best time to add them! The best apps I’ve used for this phase of planning are: City Mapper, Google Maps & Youtube (I like to search for videos about areas of interest to learn more about activites/hidden gems in an area I want to visit).

#10) Request time off from work (verify you have plenty of vacation time to cover the length of your travel stay + I recommend having at least 1-2 extra days of vacation time available in case of travel delays), notify family of your travel dates & start arrangements for childcare, pet care, house sitter etc. I’ve found that it works best to start mentioning a need for pet sitter/house sitter at least 3-6months ahead (if possible) and to confirm dates about 2-3 months before the trip with a follow up in the last month before travel. That way if there is any change or need to find a replacement you’re not left scrambling at the last minute. Plus by booking ahead you may have family offer to do the service for you for free & if not, you should still have plenty of time to look for people/places that offer these services and their fees fit into your budget.

*#11) BONUS TIP– For packing tips & help I recommend https://www.travelfashiongirl.com/ for all the travel packing tips and insights and the PackPoint App helps make organizing and planning outfits a breeze! I also recommend Stylebook (*although this is a paid app) for the ease of tracking outfits worn, travel ideas, recommendations and outfit organization etc.

For more details on how I do my research, how I find hidden gems, my vetting process for cities to visit/destinations to add and those to remove from our list, how I determine proximate time frame/allot time for each activity and so forth see my next post coming soon!! Also look for travel packing tips & travel essentials for domestic vs International travel and tips on how I plan travel outfits/with insight on the best methods for packing on short day trips, over night trips & longer 10+ day trips. Both of those will be coming in the next few weeks!

Here is a look at our travel expenses for our less than $300 cross country roundtrip for 3 (adult tickets). This trip was from Oregon-Washington DC. We rented a car and drove to a family reunion in Lititz Pennsylvania. We used our travel rewards with Alaska Airlines and scored free flights + $30 in taxes, used credit card points for our rental car and the 2 nights we needed hotel reservations in DC area and the rest of our expenses were small with only a few meals we paid for outside of the family reunion. *Our expenses at the reunion were covered as we are one of only 3 families who traveled cross country to attend so the accomodation and food was supplied by other families who live in Lititz area.

See below for a list of our expenses and how we traveled almost for free for 7 days! *TNW is a school program my son is enrolled in that reimburses us for all educational expenses.