Wallet-Friendly Travel

Traveling, whether to a near or far destination, can rack up a lot of expenses. From the food to all the fun activities, your wallet may suffer a serious blow. It can be tough, though, to spot a great travel deal and you might not be sure when it’s worth the hassle. Some so-called “deals” may come with a catch or are accompanied with something you don’t really want or need.

To make the search a little easier, here are a few dollar saving tips you can use to make your next trip more wallet-friendly.

Airline Tickets:

Rewards Programs

The top rated rewards programs offered by JetBlue and Alaska Airlines let you earn and redeem points on multiple airlines, which can come in handy for frequent flyers.

Online alerts

Aside from going directly to an airline for savings, there are third-party websites that keep a look out for deals that match your needs and email you the information. Farecompare.com and airefarewatchdog.com are just two sites that offer this service.

Activities:

Daily deals

You’ve most likely used a discount site like Groupon or Living Social to find great deals in your area. However, many people forget they can be used to find deals around the world. Don’t exclude them in your search for fun tourist activities in your travel destination.

Apps

There’s an app for everything nowadays, and finding regular deals is no exception. Happy Hour Finder is a useful app that lists all the happy hour deals in the area and when they are available.

Food:

Grocery shopping

This is a simple way to save money on what would otherwise be spent on overpriced meals in expensive restaurants. Buy breakfast and lunch ingredients from a local marketplace and save the big spending for dinner, where you can have an even fancier meal.

Coupon

Coupon books are inexpensive purchases that can save you big bucks in the long run. A long-lasting favorite, the Entertainment Book only costs $20 and saves each buyer an average of $125. Every year, the company comes out with a new book for each of the 110 cities (U.S. and Canadian cities only) it services and the books are filled with coupons for food, activities, rental cars, hotels and everything in between.