Travel Tips: From One Broke College Student to Another

Riding roller coasters, hiking through beautiful waterfalls, visiting Mickey Mouse, walking through the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, zip lining over water…I miss traveling, and all the experiences that come with it. I was supposed to be leaving for an EPIC vacation around this time but we had to postpone it. I was soooo excited for it and I was also so excited to share it with you all. BUT, since it is just postponed until next year and not canceled, I am going to keep it a secret for now. Because I am missing traveling so much right now, I thought it would be a great time to do a little travel blog. I miss travel blogs. I am super lucky because my parents have always done what they could to put money aside so they could take us on a trip every summer. I have learned a lot about how to save money from watching my parents plan trips. Now that I am getting older, I am also starting to plan some trips on my own and I have learned a lot from that too. Today, I am going to be sharing with you some tips on how to travel on a budget and also share some of my favorite vacation pictures from over the years!

So welcome to…

Travel Tips: From One Broke College Student to Another

So let’s be real for a minute here. I’m in college. I work a pretty decent amount, but I by no means have a lot of extra money to spare. But, if you want to start traveling and it is important to you, there are lot’s of ways to save money and allow yourself to go on adventures.

I LOVE to travel and to be honest, some of the best memories I have are when I am traveling with my family. I knew from a young age that traveling was something I wanted to do for my whole life. I even want to make this a full travel blog someday because that is what I love writing about the most. I have seen so many places and have learned so much about different cultures. For a long time, most of my trips stayed within the United States, and I loved it because every state is so different. Just recently, I started adding some other countries to my travels and that has been life changing for me. So far I have been to Jamaica, Haiti and Mexico… I am going to be sharing later on in the blog how I was able to see those three places all during the same trip.

I knew that I wanted to start traveling even more, so I started to think about trips I could plan. The first real trip that I have planned all on my own I haven’t even gone on yet. I am taking my sister to Disney at the beginning of 2021 and that was my first time really planning my own trip. I posted a YouTube video and a blog about surprising my sister with that trip that I will link to the bottom of this blog. I am also going to be doing a whole post in the future about how to go to Disney on a budget which I am going to share in another blog because that is whole blog in itself, but trust me, it’s very possible to do. So anyways, lets get into some of the big tips I have learned over the years that you can start doing right now!!!

1. Day Trips are still trips

Okay so most times when we think “vacation,” maybe we think getting on a plane, checking into a hotel, a week long adventure. WRONG. Sure, this is one type of vacation, and these vacations are great, but they are not the only type of vacation. Day trips are a great way to not break the bank, but still get out there. You’ll have to get up early, but it’s so worth it. I’ve taken day trips to places that are 4 hours from my house. Here’s the thing with day trips. Because you only have 1 day, make sure to plan. Do some research, talk with friends and figure out what you want to do while you are there. If you plan your day out, you can get so much stuff done in a day trip, and you don’t have to worry about paying for a hotel or a plane ticket! I loveeee a day trip and these are trips that I am trying to plan more.

2. Plan those big trips in advance, and save a little bit at a time.

I consider a “bigger trip” any trip where you are paying for a hotel and a plane ticket because these are the two things that typically cost the most when you go on a trip. A safe thing to do is plan these kind of trips a year in advance if you can. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have everything booked this far in advance, but start looking on plane fares, hotel nightly costs, if you need to buy park tickets, and get a rough estimate of how much you are going to need to save to go on that trip. Some hotels also allow you to put a down a down payment, and then pay the rest over time which may help if you don’t have all the money at the start.

3. Open a bank account for travel purposes only

I have a bank account for travel even when I am not planning my own trip. I put money in mine every once in a while just in case there is a last minute trip I want to do or if I need spending money for a trip. I used to just keep an envelope in my room and put money aside for travel, but then the money can be spent more easily, so I feel that it’s best to keep it in the bank. What I did was just open a suffix (it’s kind of like a part of an account under your main account) and I just put money in there when I can. You’ll be surprised at how fast it adds up. My parents always do this so I learned this one from them.

4. Consider getting a travel credit card with a rewards program

If you have a credit card or have considered getting one, get one that has travel rewards. There are so many out there and they can save you some serious money in the long run. If you don’t know how they work, you basically get points when you spend money, and those points can be used towards your trip to save you money. For example, because I am going to Disney next year, I got the Chase Disney card. As far as that card goes, for every $100 you spend, you get $1 in rewards. Now I know what you are thinking, that may not seem like a lot, but it adds up! You can use your rewards to pay for food, park tickets, merchandise, hotel stays, pretty much anything. Right before you go, all of your points go on a card that works like a gift card which means you can buy pretty much anything Disney related with it. They have these cards for so many companies. There’s even a credit card through Bank of America called Travel Rewards for Students. A lot of airlines have them as well as hotels. There are also more general ones, like the Travel Rewards for students where your points can be used in a wider variety of ways. One tip I have is try to look for one with no annual fee. The student one doesn’t and neither does the Disney one, but a lot of them do so make sure you do your research!

5. Cruising is where it’s at

Remember how I told you that I went to Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico in the same trip. This was on a cruise! My family loves cruises and so far, we have gone on two as a family. I didn’t think that they would be, but cruises are my favorite vacation. Here’s what I found is super beneficial to know about cruises. I could do a whole blog on this so I’ll give your the brief version. First of all, Royal Caribbean is the cruise line that we always go through. The ships are huge and absolutley breathtaking, there is so much to do and the shows are incredible. Cruises may seem expensive, but I would say it’s worth it. If you don’t want to pay for food, you absolutely do not have to. In fact, I would recommend not paying extra for food. Here’s what I mean. There are some restaurants where you have to pay extra to dine at, but there is a buffet style restaurant that you can get breakfast lunch and dinner at for free that has absolutely everything. In addition to that, there is a main dining room every few floors where you can eat dinner for free and the food is incredible. There are different options every night and you usually have the some waiters every time so you kind of get to know them. Another thing that’s included in cruises that are incredible are the shows. There is a different show every night and they are probably the best shows I’ve seen. Some are dancing shows, some are comedians, some are musicals. Also on cruises, you get to see multiple places on one trip, so they are a great way to visit more than one place. Definitely look into going on a cruise and click here to check out some more Royal Caribbean cruise details.

6. Only eat one meal a day!

Okay this is a little bit of a family joke, but there is truth to it just hear me out! My Mom started this ongoing joke (hi Mom). So here’s what it means. When we go on vacation, we only go out to eat for one meal per day. That meal is usually dinner. Food can wind up being a HUGE expense when you are traveling, so this is one area where you can really save money. The easiest way to do this is find a hotel that has breakfast included, then when you get your hotel, visit a local grocery store and buy some snacks/lunch food (sandwiches, chips etc), and then only go to a restaurant for dinner. This method works best when you are going to an amusement park. When we go to a park, we eat breakfast at the hotel (and if they don’t include breakfast then we just buy breakfast food at the store), then bring lunch to the park and eat dinner at a restaurant. This can save you a ton of money in the long run and I highly recommend doing this!

7. If you are under 25, don’t rent a car unless you absolutely have to

If you didn’t know, you actually can rent a car if you are under 25, but it can get super pricey. You basically have to pay an extra daily fee because you are under 25 and it ends up being a lot of money. One way to avoid this are find a hotel that has a shuttle. A lot of hotels that are near main attractions have a shuttle that will take you to those popular areas for free. Also, Uber is typically a lot cheaper than renting a car so that is another think that you can do.

These are my big travel tips to save money! I hope they helped. I absolutely LOVE writing travel blogs and want to start writing a lot more of them in the near future. Thank you so much for being reading today’s blog and I will be back on Wednesday with a brand new one. I have some really fun blogs on the way this week!

Stay safe and thank you for your support!

Signed,

Ashlyn

p.s. Enjoy these super random, but super fun travel pictures that I have gathered over the year! Also, you are the greatest thank you for reading 🙂

Disney Vlog:

Disney Blog: https://signedashlyn.com/surprising-my-sister-with-a-trip-to-disney/