DreamBuild
Here are 3 tips on how to live out your lavish travel dreams on a budget. The question I consistently get from clients or women in general is: How am I suppose to afford that? Often times I'll ask people what they want to do and they immediately attach it to money. I may hear a "When I save up" or "When I make enough money, I will start traveling...". We have all been guilty of being that girl. I want to share 3 tips that helped me get out of that mind frame. These 3 tips are the very things that helped me to live my dream travel life and on a budget if I may add.
1. Know what your DREAM TRAVEL LIFE looks like. What activities or luxuries would currently enhance your life? Where do you wanna go? What do you wanna do? What does travel mean to you. You have to assess what your Dream Travel Life looks like and then take a deeper look at what your current life offers you. Part of living the dream is recognizing the dream. One way I did this was by creating a vision board of places I dream of. My board was filled with lush gardens, tropical birds, rocky mountains and great food.
2. Create a Plan. I absolutely love (like most millennials do) TRAVELING. Yesss! We all love girls trips (slaycations), baecations and staycations. On social media we are bombarded by so many of our peers getting out and traveling all over the world. It is too often that we sit back and say I wish I could do that. Well why can't you? No money? No vacation time? No savings? What's stopping you from traveling? I once was that girl with thousands of excuses of why I couldn't travel how I wanted.
So to change that I created a travel action plan. Download my free, fillable, travel action plan guide here. This plan helped me look at a clearer picture of my travel goals. I began mapping out how feasible it was for me to take 4-5 trips per year (even including work travel). They're not all expensive nor are they all cast away to tropical islands but my ultimate goal with travel is to experience something new. So I created a plan and I now take a good 4-5 trips per year. I aim for at least one international destination per year (God-willing) and this is where the majority of my travel budget lies. I also travel to places I've never been such as spending a romantic weekend in Grand Rapids, MI to enjoy the great outdoors. Or even an impromptu trip to Cleveland, Ohio just for a weekend change of scenery. If your job allows you to travel, be extremely resourceful with that time. I always take my work trips and make sure I schedule in lots of time for touristy stuff (killing 2 birds with 1 stone). Your plan doesn't have to have all of the answers but it should be a clearer representation of what you really can achieve with where you currently are. Creating a plan has definitely allowed me to enhance my life and truly live out that dream I envisioned.
3. Be Resourceful. Now this may sound easier said than done but you have to utilize your resources. Many times we have limited ourselves from doing even minimal things because we're envisioning the meaning of Travel to be this grand event. You don't always have to fly. Trust me, you don't. Hopping on a plane is time efficient and I'm guessing what we classify as a social norm, especially for millennials, but what happened to good old fashioned road trips!!! What happened to spending time on the open highway? To utilize my resources and ensure that I'm consistently experiencing new things, I'll be the first to say let's just drive. You may not want to cash out $300-$1000 on airfare and that should never stop you from experiencing something new. Hop in a car, on the Megabus, Greyhound or Amtrak and go somewhere new. Yeah you may be adding length to your travel but think about the alternative access you have available to you. You have flexibility to do more, see more. Whenever I would drive to Georgia or Tennessee, I would hop out at every state, take a pic in front of the state sign and try something local like a new food, museum or any other tourist attraction. This 1) cuts down my travel time because it felt like I planned to go to all of these places 2) Allowed me to get more bang for my buck.
Don't have a lot of money for lodging? Hotels too expensive? Well with the recent wave of AirBnb, I'm pretty sure you can find something affordable. If not, find a relative or friends place to crash at. If that doesn't work, you can camp it out or go even further and do a no-sleep excursion trip. So one time on a road trip to Savannah, Georgia with very limited funding (I was 20), my friends and I crammed into my car, hit the highway, got no sleep, explored the city, ate great food and hopped back in the car for a cat nap and voyage back to Michigan. Some of my best memories to date. We were broke (all 3 of us LOL) but its the experiences and memories that are priceless. Use your resources.
Don't wanna be travel poor? Meaning you can get there but won't have much to spend once you do. This is where you get really crafty and creative. There are tons of free things to do just about everywhere. Save up some money to invest in good eats and experience the beauty of what different places have to offer. New York is a great example of this. There is always so much going on that's free, fun and engaging. I had a blast walking miles and miles of blocks just simply sightseeing or popping my head into some great art galleries. Philly is rich for this also, so much great art and poetry going on that you don't ever have to reach for your wallet. I remember being in New Orleans and just simply taking in the historic monuments and beautiful sounds of jazz. There's so much to do in so many places. Just get there. I'm not saying go broke but definitely make it a priority to try wonderful cuisine and loads of free stuff.
I hope you apply these 3 tips to your Dream Travel Life and began exploring on a budget. It's like living a Caviar lifestyle, on a budget.
Peace & Sweet Dreaming,
Kiylise Crutchfield, Chief Dream Engineer
Q&A...
1) Any other tips to traveling low budget but experiencing a caviar lifestyle?
