No-Budget Travel Failures

December or no, things aren’t always roses and sunshine in the world of a no-budget traveler. Being human (and not just a blogging robot), even an “expert” is also bound to make mistakes. After the jump, I share three recent travel planning misadventures and the lessons learned from each. Share your own budget travel blunders in the comments.

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Saving for Plane Tickets, Part One

Want to fly overseas in the next year? Here’s a quick calculation of what you’d have to save over the next 12 months to pay for your flights:

$2000+ = plane tickets between U.S. and Australia/New Zealand

• At the lower end, this works out to $5.55/day, $38.89/week, $166.67/month.

$1500 = plane tickets between U.S. and Africa, really unlucky peak season fliers between U.S. and Europe

• This works out to $4.17/day, $29.17/week, $125/month.

$1200 = peak season (Easter-September, Christmas-New Year’s) plane tickets between U.S. and Europe, U.S. and Asia

• This works out to $3.33/day, $25/week, $100/month.

$800 = off-season plane tickets to the above

• This works out to $2.22/day, $15.55/week, $66.67/month. At $100/month, you’ll have finished in eight months rather than 12.

$600 = plane tickets between U.S. and Central/South America

• Over 12 months, $1.79/day, $12.50/week, $50/month. At $100/month, you’ll have finished in six months rather than 12.

Through the cheapo’s eyes, we see:

+ Plane tickets will be the shoestring traveler’s largest single expense. Therefore it pays to shop around: changes to airlines, itineraries, days of the week can shave off hundreds of dollars. Sign up for email notification of sales. Know what a bargain price is and when to jump on it!

+ Travel more often by traveling off-peak. Summer in Europe is nice, but is it four months of saving nicer than fall? Put another way, in five years of $100/month travel savings, you can experience 5 European summers or 7 European falls, winters or springs. Wouldn’t you rather take two more trips for the same amount of money?

+ Consider other travel destinations. Keep saving and you will someday get to London. In the meanwhile, you can visit Costa Rica *and* Peru for the same airfare (and your money will go further on the ground as well). Don’t be afraid to try unusual destinations you can afford; embrace the fare as guide!

Tune in tomorrow for the Friday Freebie. Saturday’s post, Saving for Plane Tickets, Part Two, will outline creative ways to put travel savings in perspective to get you socking money away without excessive deprivation.

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