Quote: (12-27-2018 06:31 PM)tugofpeace Wrote:
So do most people just end up paying those prices? Honestly I'm 30 now and couldn't afford to travel in my 20's, and often wondered how other people were doing it. I graduated with six figure student loan debt and made that my primary focus, and now that I'm saving money, I find it hard to just blow it on traveling.
People that are loaded end up paying those prices. But middle income people who maximize their travel find ways to save so they can travel more. Perhaps the most obvious cost saving measure is being flexible with your travel dates. That has a huge impact on flight costs. Although i'm not quite there yet, people who really save a lot are also flexible on their destination. For example they may get a last minute deal on travel to iceland, so they go to iceland. It can be quite spontaneous, and fun for that matter.
A lot of these people have parents helping them, trust funds, or have a lot of credit card debt. Appearances can be deceiving. Also you can usually take advantage of layovers, extending your time in the transit destination and even spending a day or two on what would otherwise be a normal international ticket at no extra cost to do it. Many airlines offer this option. Although in my case I just take the longest cheapest flight and leave the airport for 24 hours and do some exploring.
I'm assuming you're American, so I would say embrace travel like Australians, Europeans or backpackers do. Don't be afraid of public transit, couchsurfing, hostels, etc. These things will all save you a ton of money and allow you to travel more.
I use typically Matrix flight search (super powerful) and Skyscanner and google flights for quicker searches to get ideas on pricing. If you can research a bit you will save money. Also keep in mind if you can travel on days like tuesday you'll get cheaper costs. You can also try flying into one airport and leaving from another, for example flying into NYC but leaving from Philly (in this case it would just be something like a cheap 2 hr train ride, if you can spare the time). Most people aren't doing this, but you can have really fun itineraries and see more all while saving money. In Europe, it's super easy to do stuff like this, given all the public transit, airports, buses, trains, etc.
Also take a look at hotel deal websites. You'll obviously pay more to stay in the center (like Drazen said).