The Secret to Traveling Big on a Tiny Budget

From International Cost of Living Index

By Domenick Buonamici, Author of the ebook: How to Travel the World for a Year on $5000

Traveling costs money.

During any long trip a traveler has one recurring thought, “How can I extend this trip?”

It doesn’t matter how long you travel for, it never seems to be enough.

For most long-term travelers, the trip usually lasts as long as the money holds up. Its simple, make the money last longer: longer the trip.

The key to both traveling on a budget and extending your trip lays in the power of this next statement.

“Slow down.”

That is the key to spending a lot less on your next trip while traveling abroad for a much longer time period.

Learn to slow down when you travel. Get off the hyper-tourist, must-see-everything-in-a-week plan.

See fewer cities and really get to know the ones you do see. You will often find that spending two weeks in a city will often allow you to get fully immersed in a new culture while spending two days in a city is barely enough to hit a couple tourist traps and leave.

Spending more time in places can save you a lot of money in that you learn where to stay and where to eat for cheap and you are not always spending significant amounts of money on transportation and getting caught in numerous tourist traps.

You can meet locals and actually have a little time to date them or make good friends with them.

You can become great friends with a few other “live-ins” at your travel hostel.

Most importantly, when you travel slowly, you give yourself time to fall in love with a place. All cities look the same if you only have a day or two to experience them.

So consider the words “slow down” before you depart on your next big journey and your next 3 month trip abroad could easily turn into 6 months without you spending an extra dime.