You can find many articles on budget traveling and how to do this best. You can also find many articles about the cheapest places in the world to travel.

This article is slightly different – here is an article all about how to be smart with your money when preparing to travel. You don’t have to have a lot of money to travel, but there are really smart techniques to prepare for your travels to cut costs in advance. There are ways to prepare for your travel to make sure it actually is thrifty traveling.

Flights, banks and points:

• Sign up for airlines Frequent Flyer miles. Any time you pay for a flight, you will receive reward points and can apply these to free flights in the future. So this is smart even if you are in the middle of your travels. These frequent flyer miles may help you purchase a flight to your next destination.
• Sign up for a Credit Card with points. You can find so many credit cards these days that allow you to receive points toward travel for each purchase. Do some research, see which ones you will qualify for, and start spending away on these cards. Put everything on this card and then pay it off right away. Often there will be bonus points for signing up if you spend a certain amount of money on the card within an allotted timeframe. I currently have the Capital One Venture One card, which means I get 1.5 points for every dollar I spend on travel (hotels, flights, train, transit, etc.). My startup bonus was 20,000 bonus points if I spent $1,000 in the first 3 months. 20,000 points got me a round trip ticket!
• Be flexible, look for flights during the week on budget airlines. Flights will be cheaper during the week.
• Set e-mail alerts for flights. On pretty much any airline, or third party like Expedia or travelocity, you can sign up for email alerts when flights are cheap for your destination. Book them, right when you get them!
• Use hostelworld.com, airbnb.com, or hotels.com and gain points for free nights. You can earn rewards for every night you book on the hotels.com website. I have gotten at least 8 free nights with the rewards I have accrued from hotels.com
• Find a card that does not have foreign transaction fees abroad. Many cards will have approx. 3% foreign transaction fees for all purchases made abroad. If you have one of these cards, make sure to take out large sums of cash when you are abroad from ATMs to avoid these fees for each payment.
  • Some banks will have travel debit cards. These are actually really great cards to have. You can transfer money between your account and the debit card. If for some reason your card is stolen or you lose it, there is only a certain amount on it not linked to your main account, so you will not be completely at loss. Talk to your bank in advance for this option!

Budgeting accordingly:

• Set $5 – $20 aside a week (depending on how early you plan). It hurts, but it will be worth it. Put this into a free savings account with your bank, or in a cupboard with cash to put into your bank right before you leave.
• Save all your Tax Return. It is always nice to receive a tax return, but always easy to spend. Instead of spending right away, save this money in a special savings account so you don’t use it! Delayed gratification will be very worth it.
• Look for work abroad and plan in advance. You can do things like HelpX or WWOOF to save some money while you are abroad. If you work for 2 weeks doing something awesome with the locals, it usually does not cost any money and is a great way to see the country in a traditional way!
• For those who have Student Loans. My next big adventure is the Holiday Visa in New Zealand. This being said, I have lots of Student Loans that I need to consider. Right now, I have calculated the total amount I will need to pay while I am away in New Zealand, plus a couple of months in case I want to do additional travel. All my savings is going directly into an account solely for paying my student loans while I’m abroad. When I am in New Zealand, I won’t need to worry about my student loans and can simply work for play and living.
• Give yourself a Per Diem. How much do you want to spend a day for food, for play, for drinks, etc? You can get a lot of things for inexpensive (free walking tours, street food, museums).
• Leave somewhat prepared. I’m a huge advocate for not over planning when you travel. However, an easy way to save money is to look for the free days at Museums and Monuments and try to plan your trip around these days.