Here at Go Natural English, one thing we all agree on is that traveling is awesome! We love to travel, and we love sharing our tried-and-true tips with friends and family. If you’re interested in travel, if you’re interested in seeing the world, in speaking to people from all over the world and learning new things, then keep reading!
We’ve compiled some of our best tips for you, our Go Natural English family 😊 If you watch Gabby’s video lessons, you’ve probably noticed that she loves being able to do lessons in other parts of the world. Traveling is one of her favorite things to do, and being able to share her love of language with other people in other countries is so much fun! But how does she get to travel so often? Usually, we’d assume that a person would have to be pretty rich 💰 to be able to travel so much, but the truth is that there are many ways you can save enough money to plan trips like these yourself. Follow these great tips, and you’ll be jet-setting and globe-trotting in no time!
Discover the world through fluent English when you travel. Go Natural English has a Travel English Expert course that can help you. Get it today and improve your English drastically before your next trip abroad! Click here for the Travel English Expert audio + ebook course.
CREATIVE WAYS TO SAVE 💰
If you’re like us, you’re more likely to be rich in friendship and in health than you are in the bank, but those are also important! In order to afford things that require some extra cash, you can start using these creative tips today to start saving money and planning your next trip.
COVER THE BASICS
Before you start planning, you will need to focus first on covering the basics. This means: rent, food, utilities – things that you will have to pay every month, no matter what. After that, you can make travel a priority.
PRIORITIZE TRAVEL
It’s essential, if you want to travel, to make your desire to travel a priority. Create a savings account at your bank and add money into it whenever you can. Cut back on extra unnecessary items – like clothing or shoes you don’t really need – or skipping dinners out at restaurants, or racking up a huge bill at the bar. If things like these aren’t as high of a priority, you can definitely put them on hold and save that money instead.
SAVE OVER TIME
When we look online and see what plane tickets and hotels cost nowadays, it’s totally understandable to freak out. We do too! When you add everything up, spending thousands of dollars seems like an insurmountable feat, especially when most people don’t have that kind of money to spend. We know that travel can be so expensive, especially if it’s not planned well, and with enough time beforehand.
So, instead of freaking out and counting how much money you’ll have to spend, think about the ways you can save over time, and what cuts you can make to your everyday routines that could save you big bucks in the end. For example, if you wanted to save $3,000 over the course of a year, you would only need to save about $8.22 every day (or about $57.69 every week, or $250 each month). If you eat lunch out while you’re at work or school, for example, you could save that money instead, bring food from home, and probably save that $8.22 per day that you need. You could also save on that coffee or smoothie you buy on the way to work. Break it down into small, manageable savings that don’t feel like one big amount, all at once.
FIND SMALL LUXURIES
Enjoying your travels doesn’t mean you have to splurge! Being able to find the luxury in little things is key to enjoying yourself on your trip but also not wasting money where you don’t need to. If you’re lucky, yu can even find super luxurious things to do that don’t cost a thing! Going to the beach or finding a beautiful, scenic park, street performers, free concerts and museums, and walking around like a local are all free ways of spending quality time in the city you’re visiting.
Finding luxury in the little things could also be as simple as skipping the “tourist trap” type restaurants, and instead shopping at a local market or grocery store, where you’ll be able to sample lots of local foods. I’ve done this myself! I made myself a picnic lunch to take to the park, and ate it while staring up at the Eiffel Tower. Both the price tag and the view were better than any restaurant I could have chosen! Trying the local street food instead of sit-down restaurants, renting an apartment instead of a hotel, and using public transportation instead of taxis, are also great ways to cut down on extra spending during your trip.
ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL
The most common way to travel is by air, but that doesn’t mean you should limit yourself to a plane ticket! Look for other ways to travel to your destination. Can you drive there? Can you take a bus or a train? Would a boat be a possibility? Look at all the options before you make a decision. And you can also set up alerts on some travel sites to let you know when fares go on sale!
TRAVEL FOR WORK OR STUDY
One of the best ways to save money and travel at the same time is to find a job or a volunteer opportunity where you might get paid to travel. If you’re a student, or would like to go back to college, you could find scholarships that will allow you to travel to other countries to study, and you can save money while you’re there by living with local families who rent out rooms for students, also known as a homestay program.
Do you have any tips you’d like to share with us? Check out Gabby’s travel tips lesson video below and let us know in the comments section!
