5 Tips for BROKE Travelers
So Sai wanted to know Walter’s world what are some tips for broke college students to travel or for recent College grads that are also broke to travel well Sach I got a few things for you and it starts with when you travel my first advice to you is don’t travel in peak
Season you know that Christmas to a New Years or during the summertime those are Peak Travel Seasons that means accommodation restaurants flights they’re at their Peak prices so your money won’t go as far so what you want to do instead is fly an offseason or probably better would be shoulder season
So if you’re coming to place like York here in England or are you going to Europe or going to travel around the US April and September or shoulder seasons why well think about it April all the kids are in school September all the kids are in school so there’s no
Families going around it’s just other Travelers so prices are lower for accommodation prices are lower for flights and things are open so you can actually enjoy your time when you’re there cuz sometimes you travel an offseason like you go to the Greek Islands in February there might not be
Anything open you might not be able to get to some of the the islands okay so that’s something you want to kind of think about okay so do the shoulder season stuff because you don’t have a family you’re a broke college student you’re like look I just got my first
Vacation time go late September go in early October to here in England or Ireland or whatever your money goes a lot farther okay another thing you really need to do broke college student sign up for every Point program you can if you’re going to stay at a holiday in
Sign up for IHG that they have their points you can get a free of hotel stay you’re staying at a Hilton property get their points at Best Western all those places sign up for them cuz sometimes you might get bonus points just for signing up and you’ll be surprised
Sometimes how fast those bonus points can add up and if your job’s going to send you traveling yeah uh don’t forget to put in your Best Western number if you’re staying at the Best Western for work so you can get those points and get some free travel out of it okay same
Thing any Airline you travel with sign up for their programs to get those Miles because you know what sometimes when you sign up they give you bonus for signing up and that can be helpful all right and that kind of leads into the credit card uh issue when it comes to broke
Travelers broke college students signing up for the right travel credit card can make a big difference for you because some of them if you sign up they’ll give you so many miles just because you signed up that it might give you a free flight to Europe or it might give you a
Free flight to California or wherever right so think about that and be kind of judicious which with credit card you do sign up with cuz some it might be better for you to get you know the cash back other ones if you’re going to be traveling with it maybe it’s you know no
No transaction fees or International transaction fees and make sure that you get you know free insurance when you travel these kind of things can make a big difference in your budget when you’re traveling but I will say this if you sign up for a credit card with an
Airline make sure that that credit card for that airline that airline flies from the airport near you so then you can fly out from out there and use them because there’s no reason for me to get a British Airways credit card when I live in the US there’s only direct flights
From like Chicago that’s not even near me all right so something to kind of think about when you’re looking at that so that could help you out another thing I think is important is um don’t go to destination weddings look I know your friends are getting married and think
It’s so cool they’re going to do it in Jamaica they’re going to do it in Florida they’re going to do you know Key West they’re going to look destination weddings look you only have a limited amount of time when it comes to vacation time PTO when you first started working
You only got 10 days right so you got to take one over Thanksgiving when you go see your parents right and then now you got a couple weddings to go to Boom all of a sudden all your vacation’s gone so you didn’t get a chance to spend any
Money and now you’re going to spend what two grand going to that Jamaica W destination wedding where you don’t get to explore cuz you have to do all the wedding stuff look just send them a nice check so in spend instead of spending $2,000 to go to Jamaica for that wedding
Send them $200 buy them a nice play setting they’ll get over the fact that you weren’t there and you can use that time and more importantly that money and that vacation time on your own kind of trips because that’s where I see a lot of my students when they first come out
They spend so much money at all these weddings that they don’t have any time to go do a vacation on their own okay so that’s a little tip I have for you as well now another tip I have for you is you your PTO your paid time off
Judiciously look at the schedule are there days that your work are to give you off already so if you get the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving off maybe you take the Wednesday and you fly then or maybe they give you Labor Day off oh maybe I take that Tuesday and I
Go to Costa Rica for a long weekend right and so you want to kind of think about when you can kind of place a day off so it turns uh maybe a 3-day weekend into a 5-day weekend because sometimes that can happen now another thing I think broke college students kind of
Miss out on we all kind of miss out on is don’t forget about close destinations cuz sometimes it’s not about you know traveling across the country across the world sometimes you can get really cool stuff relatively near you so example I live in Illinois I could just spend a
Weekend and going up to the Dells and Wisconsin do the water parks up there and have a good time doing that or or go to dor County Wisconsin to see the beauty of there or or I can head to St Louis or go to Chicago for the weekend there’s these weekend destinations you
Can go to that aren’t too far from you so you don’t have to spend $800 on a plane ticket you spend $70 in gas and you got a new place to go so look at places in like you know a 3 4 Hour radius 5 Hour radius from where you’re
Going to be living and working that could give you destination for things to see also it makes a good conversation topic when you’re talking to people you’re meeting people when they’re like what do people do around here where could I go and you can tell them hey
There’s some cool stuff about two hours north of here a place an hour south of here you know and that that’s one of those things you can get kind of a good bang for your buck and get to know where you’re living which is really important especially if your first job takes you
To a place that you’ve never been before my next word of advice for traveling for a bro college or recent grad or whatever is don’t wait for your friends look you know how your friends ghost you when you want to go out on the weekends or if you
Want to do something they do the same thing when you want to go traveling so if you’re waiting for your friend to book their ticket for you to book your ticket or you’re waiting for that friend to say yes we’re going to go to England
And come to York and have a great time don’t book your vacation book your stuff have it on there then tell your friend hey look I’ve already got my flight and hotel booked for York you want to come with me here are my dates and that’s
What I actually I have to do I have a friend of mine I travel with and I’m I’m not a broke college student anymore I’m a broke college professor but that’s one thing I do with my friends like hey look Jeff here here’s my hotel here are my
Dates here’s my flight information if you want to come come if you want no problem if you don’t want to no problem and then you give them that option but I’m not going to not travel because I’m waiting to wait for someone because that’s one of the big mistakes I think
People make is when they want to travel and they want to go with friends is their friends eventually don’t go so if you want to travel make sure you’re okay with traveling on your own because honestly solo travel when you’re a broke college student gives you a great
Opportunity to make friends that’s why my next tip for you for broke college student is go stay at hostiles when you travel why cuz you have a lot of other solo Travelers that are looking to travel on a budget that are there and they’re going to give you tips they can
Be a friend for the day a travel buddy for a day or two or go another destination with them and that can help you learn more about travel at a lower cost and hustles are a great opportunity for you to really save money and help you travel longer because think about
About it $150 a night for a hotel or $40 for a hostel wait that’s three nights in a hostel for one night in a hotel wait a minute yeah this is what you got to do because that’s another thing is be smart with your money when you’re traveling
Find ways to go farther that might mean picking different destinations picking destinations where your money will go farther I mean if you want to spend a week in Switzerland the price for one week in Switzerland will give you two weeks here in the north of England right
If you’re thinking about a week in Switzerland that give you a month in Brazil your money goes a lot farther in different places so when you’re young and broke be open to going to places going to South America going into southeast Asia those places your money
Will go a lot farther than if you’re just going to backpack through Europe or or go see the national parks throughout the US okay so Sachi I hope this helps you know a few little tips for broke college students for how they can go and enjoy more with a limited budget if you
Have other tips for uh broke college students and travel please put it down in the comments section below so we can help other broke college students travel more or recent grats anyway I wish you all the best I’ll say bye from here in York England
Don’t have money, but still want to travel? Here are some tips on traveling if you don’t have a lot of money. Budget travel tips!
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36 Comments
hey right now im traveling through europe. I ended up flying into geneva (cheapest flight I could find with flexible dates) and booking a eurrail pass a month prior to heading out. now that im here im not feeling the weight of those purchases. my goal was to get to austria as soon as possible and now that im here I paid 90 dollars for a 4 star hotel for 2 days in vienna where in switzerland I was paying upward to 70 to 100 for a 2 star hotel a night. I plan on doing all of my multiple day stays here in vienna, budapest, and ljubljana. sure ive spent 6 days on a train sleeping in a different city so far, but you can realistically book a train for 10 hours and get into austria in 1 day.
I was just in Japan and it's SUPER affordable. I would highly recommend it. I want to go to Argentina as well since they're economy is collapsing
Yes please don’t wait on friends to travel! I made that mistake in high school and I’m not even friends with those people anymore. Plus they even travelled and did things without me!
Visit friends who will house you for free! That’s been helpful for me lol just make sure you’re compatible travelers and their schedule allows for it. This is geared more towards recent grads though with the assumption that their friends moved away to different places.
I would say set up price alerts for counties you want to go to during shoulder season (during breaks, long weekends, and then just buy when the price is very low) Thats helped me save hundreds of dollars tbh
Do free walking tours (but tip the tour guides — cash. Still cheaper than a museum ticket and that tour)
What are you tips for someone who wants to travel internationally to Europe and doesn’t have credit cards to book accommodations.
Yes, don't wait for friends to travel! If you can go and you want to go, GO. People get hesitant to travel by themselves, but the reality is that traveling by yourself is MUCH better than traveling with a bad travel partner. I wouldn't have done even a QUARTER of the traveling that I've done if I had waited for others to be available, interested, or in a financial position to travel. You don't need other people to have fun. Don't let other people's interest and participation (or lack thereof) stop you from doing the things you want to do!
I always travel alone, I do whatever I want whenever I want. I take an Interrail pass and take off for 2 or 3 weeks having only planned half of it. Adventure !!!! Being broke definitely makes things interesting at times but it always ends up with (more or less) funny stories to tell.
Big fan of the channel and this video has lots of great advice. But disagree both about the credit card recommendation and would advise adding a word of caution. I did exactly what was recommended in this video, which is use credit cards with points and travel insurance to great affect when I was broke and young however, not everyone has the discipline or flexibility if they’re a little short that weekend to find the funds to make sure that they don’t run a balance. Also, I thought it was funny that you mentioned to the British Airways card is maybe not ideal for Americans when that was actually my first big rewards card, granted I was living in France at the time, but with the bonus I was able to get half off many flights home to the U.S. when abroad and to Asia. The other nice thing about points is sometimes they’re excellent for those kind of backpacker trips where you want to do one way or around the world type things which you actually can’t book with cash, at least not reasonably.
My biggest budget tip: don't eat out at sit-down restaurants for every meal! Enjoy a few, but also have the local street food, check out bakeries and cheaper eats – and grocery shopping in a foreign country is always an adventure.
❤❤❤
COLLEGE***
Wyndham has a good points program … After roadtripping and booking hotels with that chain, I went to see "Spamalot" on Broadway and booked a 700$ room for free at The New-Yorker for free … and I did it twice in the same summer because I brought my daughter for her first time in NYC in the same hotel.
60 € for a nice comfy double bed with an own bathroom sounds way more noce than cramming ypurself into a hostel with 8 other dudes for 40 €
Back in the day’s, still living in Germany, students, small budget and wanted to see as much of the US as possible (before we became citizens), we had European student ID’s, slept in tent’s, hostels, motels and yes hitch hiked or had a Greyhound pass (2 weeks any place in the US) . Great experience, until we found out to become American citizens and moved to Hawai’i for a lifetime vacation 😂
Pro Tips for Broke Travelers!
Tip for those who think peak season is being missed. Its really hot. And crowded and possibly not air conditioned. Shoulder is far better. Winter is good too but know what you will miss or find slow eg greek island ferries. But a mykonos rental car will be cheap
Students go to COLLEGE not “collage”
Was in York last year. Such an amazing place to visit! Two days travel from Australia and absolutely worth it! Im not rich but not pov and my tip, research your heart out and figure out what is worth paying for and what is worth waking past. It is very individual. Oh and destination weddings? Send a card with a bit of coin. Its about them not you.
"Don't wait for otehr people to trvel with you." Superb advice!!!!! There is nothing wrong with traveling alone.
I would imagine this is good advice for seniors on a budget too! Thanks, great video!
I LOVE traveling in shoulder and off seasons. I reserve the summertime for short local trips or to spots like Arizona where crowds are low. Anywhere else I always aim for times when kids are in school and tourists are waiting for warmer weather
Hi Walter’s World, Would you please consider making a video for non- drinkers and seniors traveling to Ireland and England? What can we do, where can we go? Thank you!
Well if I were broke, I wouldn't travel!
Also, pick cheaper countries to visit if you dont have the money! Central America from the US for example, are shorter and cheaper tickets with lower travel costs than say Germany!
BILT credit card has no fee and includes travel insurance, rental car insurance and cell phone damage protection when you use it to pay for those items. If you're eligible for a DKB (German) credit card, for around 8 EUR / month they have a travel insurance product that includes the same things plus health insurance. It's a great value.
Is also say things like try “a drink” single at a pub or bar etc and then if you want to indulge more but from a grocery store, same though with food, as Wolter’s World always champions do lunch out but stick to the grocery store for dinner or snacks…
1:Get a job
How about making money while traveling? Especially when traveling in some rich countries. I was ordering a coffee in Scotland and speaking with an Eastern European accent. She thought I was looking for a job! Easy! Traveling to US? Many people go to gig there as long as their tourist visa allows.
Another tip: RED EYE flights. some of us dont have a lot of PTO, so I will work all day at work and take the Red eye flight and sleep on the plane at night. I get a full day of pay and use zero PTO for that day. Also some jobs offer flex hours. So on occasion I will work 4-ten hour days before a trip to get that extra day off to conserve PTO for when I will need it.
Another tip might be to plan early. If you wait until the last minute you could be paying 50% more.
Avoid alcohol! Even in the “cheap” countries. That money really adds up if you’re ordering a few drinks at every meal, or hitting the bars at the end of every day. If the alcohol is cheap, other things are probably cheap too, and you can really stretch your money and have more meaningful experiences without it
Be smart with the £2 bus fare cap in England and use it on long-distance bus routes. For example at York, there's the Coastliner 840 to Whitby on which you can ride the full 100 miles up to that stunning coastal town for just £2, making it an excellent daytrip option.
Luvvvvv this!!!!!
Don't forget to look into international programs your university may offer! You generally still have to pay for those, but a lot of times the experiences they arrange for you are coming at a much cheaper price compared to if you were to try to arrange the same type of trip on your own.
6:39 that movie just messed up so much for me for the Hostel thing. I just can't do it Mark 😅😅
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Whether your broke or not, I would say to save money, get off the beaten path and perhaps skip some of the iconic places (or don't get suckered into the tours or "extras"). That's how some of these people are able to travel to multiple countries in a year without breaking the bank… they don't pay for the "extras" which can really add up in some cities such as places like Paris, Venice, etc. I mean just walking or using public transportation versus a bus or taxi/cab can save you money right there, and perhaps eating at small local resturant or food stands versus large extravagent restaurants can also save you money (I'd say that food and perhaps accomodations are the biggest expense, and if you don't mind, you could save a ton by staying in some of the smaller hotels instead of a 3 or 4 star hotel).