How Can I Travel Cheap or Free?

The number one question I get is, "how do you travel so much," and "how can I travel more if I am broke?" It really raised a flag to people when I was teaching wondering how I was always traveling. They thought obviously your husband must make a lot of money because I know teachers don't. Everyone kept asking well, "how can I travel cheap?"

The truth is I have ALWAYS traveled on a budget. I have four kids and for most of our marriage we have lived paycheck to paycheck, so coming up with ways to travel with little to no money has not always been easy.

But the thing is you don't have to have a lot of money to travel. Sure, the more money you have the more options you can afford, but just getting out and exploring new places can easily be done cheaply.

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Travel Cheap or Free

In this post I will share with you 7 ways you can travel cheap or even free, so you don't have to worry about breaking the bank. However, there is one thing you should never cheap out on and that is travel insurance. I have said it in a previous post that I am guilty of doing this, and luckily nothing happened, but that really is not something you should gamble with. Speaking of, that leads me to my first way we have traveled for a while.

First, let's talk about Cruises and how I cruise for free.

Casino Offers

Now, this is definitely not for everyone. So please take caution as I explain this one to you if you are not a gambler and if you are someone who has an addiction, please move on to number 2.

We have been gambling off and on for more than 20 years now. We started in a small casino near where we used to live in Tunica, Mississippi. Gambling is something we enjoy and it's basically our entertainment. So, for us we decided to either pay $100 for dinner and a movie (and let's face it that would be way more today) or we could take that $100 and go to the casino.

It was our date night and a time to get out of the house and do something we enjoyed. If we won any money in the meantime, then hey that's a bonus. But we looked at it as we would rather spend our date night money on playing at the casino than going to a movie.

We quickly learned that as you play more and earn points on your players card the casino will send you offers for dining or even hotel stays. So, it quickly became a night that we could go to the casino get free dinner and play slots for a bit before heading back home.

Now, I know what most people will say, "you're not getting it free when you play in the casino." But trust me when you are on a budget, and you spend whatever amount you are okay with losing you will eventually earn some rewards with the casino. Now, will the Olive Garden and movie theatre giving us rewards to come back for free if we spent all that money there?

But how is gambling going to get me a vacation?

Well, the more we played in the little town of Tunica (around $300 a month) we started earning rewards for Vegas trips.

Let me give you a tip: If you really want to earn trips and rack up your points you can't be afraid to gamble and lose your winnings.

We once went in with our $100 budget and no more and won $6,000 and yep, we gambled it all back through the machine and that earned us a lot of points on our players card that night that we got a free hotel and flight to Vegas.

After a couple of Vegas trips, we learned we could do this on a cruise ship and earn free cruises. We actually earned a free cruise when playing in Vegas and all we had to pay was taxes and gratuities.

So, we went on our first Royal Caribbean cruise in November of 2022 and played $1500 out of our pocket. Yes, I did win some including a $3,000 jackpot but we gambled it all back through because we were okay with going home with nothing, but did we really?

A couple months later the casino offers from Royal Caribbean started coming in and we earned 5 cruises that saved us way more than the $1500 we paid out in November. We only had to pay taxes and gratuities for each cruise, which came out pretty cheap. Check out the video below if you would like to see more on this.

Disclaimer: I am not telling you to gamble or that this is the best way to get free trips. I am sharing my experience with you, and if you are not able to stay on a budget, please do not gamble. Always gamble responsibly.

Now, what if I am not going on a cruise? How do I travel cheap?

Airline Miles

For a while we used to use different travel credit cards and would put all of our daily spending on these cards. Instead of using my bank card at the grocery store, I just used my travel credit card and this way I could pay it off at the end of the month.

You also want to be careful with signing up for travel credit cards especially if you are trying to stay out of debt. Plus, always double check the interest rate. We have been a sucker for signing up for a card and not realizing the interest rate right away.

But travel credit cards can be a great way to earn airline miles. We flew to Hawaii completely free. Okay, not free as I decided to upgrade to first class for $100 for both of us. But $100 to fly from Tennessee to Hawaii, not bad in my opinion especially when I racked up the points on my daily and monthly spending anyway.

There are some great travel credit cards out there and a lot of them will offer around 50,000 to 60,000 bonus points just for signing up and that is usually plenty to get you a roundtrip ticket somewhere.

Free Options in Town

Now, what do I mean by free options in town? Well, yes first off check and see if there is anything you can do locally that is free. You don't have to travel far to get out and enjoy the world. I grew up in Memphis and I promise you I have not seen and done everything in my local area when I lived there. Many people forget about their own areas to explore.

However, if you are going somewhere look for free options in that area. When we went to Hawaii on a very strict budget, we walked the town, went to the parks, the beach or even nearby museums. If you are on a cruise opt to just walk around and explore the port instead of paying for a shore excursion. When you're in another town sometimes just walking into a Wal-Mart can be fun and yes, we have done that many times.

You can always check local Facebook groups in that area to see what locals recommend doing for free. I bet you would be amazed at how much you can actually do in another town that doesn't cost a lot of money.

Cook Your Own Food

We used to do this a lot when our children were younger. We would find an Airbnb with a kitchen or even a hotel with a kitchenette and we would buy snacks and quick meals we could make so we weren't spending all of our extra funds on food.

Cooking your own food on vacation can be fun sometimes if you are in a new area that has different types of food in their local grocery store. For instance, when we were in Hawaii, we learned how to make sushi rolls (I think every condo out there comes with a rice maker, ha-ha). Also, just bringing snacks and making a lunch like sandwiches can help you save money so you can go to a nice dinner, because believe me food cost can definitely rack up quick when you are on vacation.

Gift Cards

Whenever we planned a trip far in advance, we always purchased gift cards here and there to help us out. For example, whenever we would go grocery shopping, I would pick up a $25 Subway gift card or any other restaurant that would be in that area we were planning to travel to. You can also buy Visa gift cards as well. For me, spending an extra $25 - $30 on each grocery trip was doable and didn't notice it as much especially when I was feeding three boys (oh my grocery bills used to be high. Well, I guess they still are, and I am only buying for the two of us now.)

I know what you are probably thinking "Well, that is just saving your money." Yea it is, and you could just put it in a savings account but if you're not disciplined and something comes up you are going to dip into your savings, but if your tire blows you can't pay for it with a Subway gift card. You are just helping to ensure you have food money for your vacation.

We had no problem enjoying McDonald's while sitting on the beach in Hawaii. I mean hey, we were in Hawaii. Was it ideal? No, probably not, but you do what you got to do if you really want that trip.

Go Camping

We used to go camping with our kids a lot to save money on trips. Most campsites don't cost much to stay especially if you are pitching a tent (which is what we did). Camping can be a great way to unwind, unplug and just enjoy nature with a little less cost.

Warning though, camping gear can get costly. Our first camping trip we went with the bare necessities and loved it so much we had to go again, but we needed more things to make it more enjoyable. You can definitely get caught up in the camping gear overload when shopping. Before it was all said and done, we had tubs and tubs of camping gear.

To save some money on camping gear, I recommend buying during off season such as the summer months as most people like to camp in the spring and fall. Plus, you can do what I do and wait for Amazon Prime days to come around. You can always find some great deals then. You want to always make sure you are shopping around and not buying the first cool gadget you see if you are on a budget.

Compare Prices

Which leads me to my last one here on the list and that is to always compare prices. Simply do your research. I can't tell you how many people have come to me and told me how much they paid for something and just a little research I was able to find it cheaper.

Be sure to compare hotel prices and flight deals on a regular basis. Sometimes we like to check out Priceline's mystery deals. We actually scored the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando for $140 a night with Priceline's mystery deals.

Another thing to look out for to help you save money is the season you are booking in. Off season is always going to be cheaper, but look at booking flights, hotels, and cruises in the wave season, which is January - March. This is when most people are booking their vacations, and you can usually score some great deals.

The bottom line is to always price compare and don't reserve the first hotel you see and try and be flexible with you travel dates as this will help with cost savings as well.

You don't have to be rich to go on vacation. Really, you just have to want it. I always like to remind myself that it's about the journey more than the destination.

Let me know if you have any questions and leave me a comment of where your next vacation will be.