7 Things You Need to Know To Travel Cheaply

1. Don't stay in hotels. Check listings on Airbnb or local hostels for the area you'll be staying. You can save almost 80% a night by renting out a home/room rather than booking through hotels.

2. Try not to eat out for every single meal but if you do, make sure to search for restaurants offering discounts. Groupon always has deals for local restaurants/bars. Most restaurants have happy hour food/drink items for 50% off regular price as well.

3. Don't just buy a plane ticket from any site. Check a mainstream site like Orbitz or Priceline first, then go directly to the airline's site to compare deals. Keep in mind that some airlines, such as Southwest and Allegiant, are not offered on the mainstream travel sites. Consider booking two one-way flights on different airlines rather than a round-trip flight, or flying in and out of different airports if you live by multiple.

4. Utilize an app called Hopper. They use algorithms to calculate trends that airlines have used on the same dates in the past to determine if a flight your interested in is going to drop or rise in price by a certain date. Definitely helps with the guess work.

5. Try not to book any arrivals/departures on Fridays or Sundays. The best days to start and end a vacation is Tuesday. If you can, take a red-eye flight. Those are usually the cheapest, plus you won't have to waste a day on travel!

6. Pack lightly when flying. If you can fit everything in a carry-on sized luggage bag, you can save anywhere from $40-$70 round-trip by not checking luggage!

7. Be spontaneous/flexible. If you are determined to only travel on certain days/times or stay only in certain cities/hotels, you may not be getting the best deals. Sometimes the best vacations are ones that were planned completely randomly. I recently just booked a random trip to Costa Rica/Nicaragua in October simply by finding a deal that offered me the dates and places to go, for one hell of a price. Be open to the spontaneity!

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