Traveling is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have. But it can be super difficult to do when real life gets in the way. I have Casey from Land of Marvels on the blog today to tell us how she travels the world. Casey is one of the most seasoned travelers out there and she still manages to work and have a normal life! Today she discusses how to do it all.
Hey there! I’m Casey from Land of Marvels and I’m so excited to be guest posting here today for Helene! It’s such an honor to be posting on Helene’s blog while she’s preparing her big move to Europe and I can’t wait to follow along on her adventure. If you’re not familiar with me or my travel blog Land of Marvels, I write about my travels around the world, about the hard truths of our planet and I offer travel tips along the way to help you prepare for your own travel adventures!
I travel a lot and one of the things I hear from a lot of people is “I don’t have the time or money to travel as much as you!” And before we get going, let me just say this, I don’t have unlimited time or money either. In fact I work full time, run a side business and teach part time, and I don’t have unlimited funds by any means. But I still travel the world each year from my base in Portland, Oregon and I’ve figured out a lot of travel hacks to help you find out how to travel the world no matter where you live. And while of course it’s easier to travel Europe when living in Europe, or Asia when living in Asia, there are still plenty of ways to travel the world from any home base and here’s how!
- Find your “Base.”
One thing a lot of people do when they start thinking about travel is to search for flights from their home city. This can actually end up being way more expensive than if you search direct flights from your “base” or main large hub airport. So for example, here in Portland we don’t have a ton of International carriers that go beyond the US. So instead of searching flights from Portland to say Paris, I’ll search from Seattle or Los Angeles since those are the main hubs on the West Coast that I don’t mind flying out of. Chances are you have a large hub airport within a few hours, either driving or flying, from where you live and tickets will be a lot cheaper from there!
Another tip for travel to and from your “base,” I like to use mileage to get to and from those hubs from your home city since it usually takes a small amount of mileage for those flights since they aren’t far. Travel credit cards can be great for small flights like these so you aren’t paying out of pocket for them!
- Know Your Airlines + Sign Up for Emails
Another thing I hear a lot when I’ll announce a cheap fare I found, “I didn’t even know that airline existed!” In truth, while sites like Orbitz and Expedia will display the big airlines of the world, there are a ton of low cost airlines that operate around the world that don’t show up on those database searches. Some of my favorites for really low fares are Norwegian Air, WOW Air, Iceland Air and Condor. All these airlines fly from the US to destinations in Europe for great deals. Norwegian offers amazing deals from the US to Scandinavia, WOW Air and Iceland Air offer amazing fares to Iceland (one of my favorite places!), and Condor from the US to Germany. So depending on where you’re headed, booking with these airlines can offer great opportunities to travel for really cheap prices.
For example, I just booked round trip flights from LAX to Stockholm for only $370! Yes, you read that right, only $370!!! I can’t even fly around the US for that! Granted it’s in the off season in late January and it will be cold in Stockholm then, but if you’re willing to look at the pros in that it will be gorgeous and snowy and unique, it’s well worth it!
Most of these airlines have email newsletters that you can subscribe to as well which will help you keep tabs on sales or low fares. I got an email the other day from Condor that they were offering $159 one way fares from Portland to Frankfurt. It didn’t work with my schedule, otherwise I would have been booking that immediately! But it’s fares like that you aren’t going to find on search engines – you have to go direct through these specific airlines and to do that, you have to know about them.
- Travel in the Off Seasons
This one not only will save you money but it’s also easier to see destinations without the massive crowds of peak season. There are many destinations that feel entirely different in the off season than they do in the peak season. Paris is such a city. It’s swarmed with tourists in the Summer time, every place is packed and it’s harder to enjoy the magic of the city. But go in late October or early March and the city is an entirely different place and much easier to explore.
You’ll also get much cheaper prices by traveling in the off season. Flights and hotels will be significantly cheaper when traveling from October-early December and January-mid March.
- Plan ahead.
If you’re wanting to travel but aren’t sure about saving the money for a trip or worried about taking time off of work, plan ahead! I recommend booking 6+ months in advance for the best deals on certain airfares or hotel accommodations. That way you have that much time to save money for the trip as well as time to plan ahead as you need to to take work off. The longer you plan ahead, the longer you have to get your finances and time off in order.
- Do the research and take the leap.
If you want to travel, there are a million ways to do it. The biggest thing is to make it a priority. Save money, budget time off and do the necessary research. The biggest mistake people make when it comes to travel is not thinking it’s accessible for them. And the truth is, it totally is accessible to everyone! No matter where you live, you can travel the world! It might take some planning and research, but I promise, once you take that leap, you’ll never look back!
Want to find out more about how you can travel the world and have amazing adventures all around the globe? Head on over to Land of Marvels and I can’t wait to share more tips on how to help you take that next leap to travel!
And brand new on Land of Marvels, I’m now offering custom itineraries for travel. Head on over to the Land of Marvels Shop for more info!
