A lot of people see us travelling Europe and ask how we can afford travelling for months! Travelling is expensive, especially for a family of four, but there are many ways to make it more affordable and I have outlined some money-saving and making ways we use below.
Some Background on Our Situation
First things first, I was able to work remotely while travelling. It would have been nice not to work but it was the only way we could be gone for three months! Please note that this could cause tax complications and should be looked into before attempting to work remotely out of the country.
Another thing, we did not travel like tourists, but rather acted like locals which doesn’t sound very different but avoiding tourist areas and tourist things saves lots of money. Everyone always thinks Europe is expensive, but it only is for tourists. If you are travelling through like a local and off the beaten path, things are much cheaper.
On to the good stuff, money savings tips during travel!
Ways to Save and Afford Travelling for Months
Flights
Flights are the biggest expense, BIGGEST. Watch for deals, travel offseason and be flexible. Check out Google Flights, Travelzoo, Kayak and Instagram accounts that advertise cheap flights. For example, we subscribe to Flights From Home and are notified of great deals that only last days or are an error on the website. Another option is to look for open-jaw flights that can land you in one country and depart from another. I have also heard that sometimes it is cheaper to book a flight to a more popular destination that has a layover in your city of choice and then not continue on to the following leg of you flight!
Accommodations
There are a few ways to afford travelling for months and accommodations is one category depending on your comfort level. We were very flexible on where we were staying and did not have an itinerary in mind. This allowed us several options:
Image by Günther Schneider from Pixabay
House Sitting
We are subscribed to TrustedHouseSitters.com. This is a house/pet sitting website that matches hosts and sitters. Basically, you can stay in their place for free while looking after the house and pets. They advertise the dates they need a sitter and sometimes you can arrive a day or two earlier depending on the host. I can’t say enough good things about it if you don’t mind pet sitting! We have been very welcomed by several hosts, and it has been great to meet the locals in this way! We also thoroughly enjoy the pets since we did not have any during the time we were sitting. There are background checks, and you can check references or feedback, so no security worries there. To check out the site and get a discount on a subscription, click here!
Air BnB
For a more traditional stay, do a search on AirBnb with all your filters, then set a flexible time (a week in August) or pick semi-flexible dates (the 1st to 10th +- 2 days). Zoom out on the map to whatever country you are looking for and start with a low range for price. You can increase as needed. I once found a ski cabin offseason for $70 a month in France! Sure, the ski slopes aren’t open, but I don’t think I would complain too much about staying the summer in France at that price!
Another AirBnB trick to find more deals like the one above is to opt for a longer stay. If you are staying for months anyways, your host may offer discounts for longer stays. At the end of the day, you may not want to be hopping between AirBnb’s so frequently!
Last AirBnB tip, you can book an entire place or a private room. This is completely up to your comfort level but can be an amazing cultural experience as well. We have not done it because I need a private place to work, and it would be too hard to keep the kids out of the room the entire day. If I was going to book one though, I would feel confident if they had good reviews.
Hotels
Still keep hotels in mind, I have found the best deals on Priceline and Kayak but I hear Hopper is good too. If I am only going to be in a spot a few days and it is a huge tourist spot (Paris or Tokyo), I found better deals with hotels. Less fees but less amenities, but in those places you don’t plan to be cooking if you’re in the center of the city!
Eating Out
Everyone loves a good meal out and you shouldn’t deprive yourself if that is what you love. But, if you want to save a little money, your best bet is to find accommodations with a kitchenette or kitchen so you can cook some meals in. I personally love it because then you have to grocery shop and while it can be incredibly intimidating when you don’t know the language, you can feel like a local when you are shopping and see what they really eat. We always go to grocery stores and pick up new things we have not seen or had before. The whole experience is oddly exciting because you can find some very different experiences! In Paris, they use a slotted handle to pull pastries out instead of your hand and wax paper; and in Germany you can find machines that freshly squeeze orange juice on the spot!
When you do plan to eat out, ask for recommendations from your host and try to eat away from the tourist hot spots to get the most authentic and best prices.
Transportation
Rental cars or Ubers are the easiest way to go but they add up quickly and then you will need car seats or boosters if your kids are still really young. We did of course use these when we needed to, but most of our travel was done by bus, subway or train. There is no easier option, except maybe Uber, because driving in another country can be stressful and so can finding the right train and knowing when to get off. But you will save much more on the bus for sure and will get to experience the local culture!
Image by Nattarika Wattanasettakul from Pixabay
Activities and Attractions
If you have kids, you probably will only pick a handful of tourist attractions to begin with. But kids are easily entertained, and we found they were most excited about parks and seeing the sites as opposed to actually going into the sites. If there are sites you want to see, check for discount days, find alternative sites or be a little creative. For example, we have seen St. Mark’s Basilica several times before travelling with our kids but did want our girls to see such a beautiful church. Instead of paying for the tour and just shuffling them along, we went to Mass on a Sunday. It was free, they got to experience church like they normally do, and they got to see the beautiful interior. Other major affordable (free!) hits were parks, playgrounds and fountains!
Adding Income Streams to Afford Travelling
Side Hustles
Lastly, not a money saving tip, but a tip about money. We are all about finance in our house and have several streams of income that allows us to do these things and not worry about spending money. That being said, we still live below our means to save in general and save for opportunities like this. I am passionate about finances and will begin some blog posts on that subject soon, but as a quick introduction, we make our money work for us in addition to my 9-5, in a few ways:
- Investments and investments that pay dividends
- House hacking
- Affiliate marketing hobby websites like this one, as well as eKnittingStitches
Ready to make the jump and the ability to afford travel for a couple of months?! Head over to our other article on how losing our luggage can help you pack for a long trip!