Budget Travel Blog

I recently got into a discussion with some girlfriends about what it means to enjoy budget travel. Although most of us turned out to be on the same page about it, we did play a little bit of devil’s advocate during the discussion. Here are some of the things we decided that budget travel does (and does not!) mean to us.

Budget Travel Does Mean

• Getting a fair price on a trip. Budget travel doesn’t necessarily mean paying the lowest price possible to go somewhere. It means being able to enjoy a trip at a price that you consider fair. For example, it means getting good deals on hotels even if those hotels are more expensive than some of the ones your friends would choose to stay in.
• Finding free and cheap alternatives to higher cost options. We all agreed that budget travel means doing your research to find ways to enjoy your trip that are lower-cost than the average traveler may pay to take the same vacation.
• Learning to budget. Ultimately, we felt that budget travel means learning how to set limits and boundaries for yourself when planning your trips. It means learning to create a realistic travel budget and then to stick to that budget when traveling. It means setting a travel spending cap for the year and not exceeding it (unless an emergency warrants it, of course).

Budget Travel Doesn’t Mean

• Being uncomfortable. Budget travel means getting a good price for good travel. It may mean staying in economy hotels but only economy hotels that are comfortable and safe. It doesn’t ever mean sacrificing comfort and safety for the lowest price.
• Traveling to the cheapest places. Sometimes budget travel does mean traveling to destinations that are cheap rather than to expensive cities. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean this. It may mean budgeting wisely to go to a more expensive destination.
• Being cheap. There is a big difference between being frugal and being cheap. None of the gals in the group wanted to be penny-pinchers, to skimp where it wasn’t necessary or to skip travel altogether to save money. Instead, we want to be frugal with how we spend our money when we travel, making smart choices that reflect our strongest beliefs about how we spend both time and money.

What does budget travel mean to you?

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