Quest Post - Tricks to Affordable Travel

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Traveling is one of the most rewarding activities we can pursue. The adventures of seeing new places, encountering different cultures and building friendships around the world are irreplaceable and help us understand the world we live in.

Unfortunately, travel can be quite difficult with limited funds. No matter what your occupation or your income, there is a way to get yourself out there at least once in your life.

The first step is to save. Set an amount to set aside every month or from every paycheck. Don’t worry if it’s not a large amount, just make sure you don’t touch what you’re setting aside until it’s time to travel.

Now it’s time to do some real thinking. What are the types of things you have to pay for when you travel. Many of us worry about the hotel and flight costs. What if you didn’t have to? How much more can you experience at your destination without having to pay for flights or hotels?

Shop around and find yourself a good travel and airline credit card. The Capital One Venture One Rewards Credit Card, for example, gives you 1.25 miles for every dollar you spend. As an estimate, let’s say you are planning a flight from Iowa to New Zealand. The distance as the crow flies is 8,038 miles, so we’ll use that as an estimate of the flight miles. You would have to spend 6,430.40 dollars on the card to fly one way.

This may seem like a lot, but if you can make a budget and stick to it, this is completely plausible. Buy everything with the card and pay it all off at the end of every month. Make sure you stick to your budget and never carry over a balance if you can help it. This will insure you don’t get yourself in trouble with some heavy debt.

I bet if you add up how much money you spend on food, gas and other necessities, you’ll find you spend quite a bit of money over a few months time. Do this for a few years with a card that has no blackout dates and you’ll easily have a free flight on your hands.

Hotels create huge cost as well.  To avoid that cost, look into CouchSurfing. Instead of paying money to stay in a hotel, CouchSurfing allows you to stay at the home of a local and learn firsthand, about their culture. You can communicate with people all over the world and read reviews of people’s experiences living with different people. Find someone who works for you and enjoy free housing and authentic culture.

Without the cost of flights and hotel rooms, the money you have saved can go directly to the sights you hope to see. Maybe you won’t be able to travel every year or even every few years, but sticking with this plan you will easily be able to travel around the world at least once every decade.

Travel is what makes us realize just how beautiful and diverse our world is. Don’t miss out!

Author Bio: Tonya Vrba is a passionate writer. Her work has been published in newspapers and blogs. She writes frequently about health, career and dating issues. Tonya currently writes with Dating Sites Online. Learn more about her work at her personal website