5 Reasons You’re Overspending on Travel
I have been traveling regularly for over a decade now, and have visited every continent except Antarctica (some day!). This website and my social media channels are dedicated to helping people travel more, spend less, and live every trip to the fullest because I know that most people could do all three if they had a better travel strategy!
If that sounds like something you want to learn more about, I encourage you to bookmark my blog and follow me on Instagram and YouTube for more travel strategy content every week!
But, there’s honestly only so much I can do to help you strategize ways to “travel more, spend less, and live every trip to the fullest” if you’re stuck in a pattern of the same mistakes over and over! Here are five travel mistakes I see every day:
5. Picking Dates & Destination First
Traditionally, trip planning meant picking a place you want to go, deciding on dates when you can make the trip, then booking flights and accommodations accordingly.
As an expert travel strategist, this is one of the biggest trip-planning mistakes you could make if you want to spend less and make your travel budget stretch further.
(Of course, there are times when it’s unavoidable: perhaps a family reunion or organized group trip is dictating the schedule. I have been there.)
But, if this is your trip to plan, consider the strategy of being more open-minded. Perhaps this year you pivot to visit Greece instead of Italy because it’s Jubilee year in Italy (2025) and costs are going to be very high all year due to suppy and demand of 35 million+ extra tourists. Perhaps instead of going in summer when the cost and crowds are highest, you decide to visit during shoulder season because Greece is famous for a 10-month summer, meaning you get to keep your warm sandy beaches and your left kidney (it’s a joke!).
Trust me—by strategizing around the deals rather than your own whims, you’re going to save hundreds or thousands every single trip.
4. Only Traveling to Bucket List Destinations
The thing about me is everywhere is on my bucket list, but a lot of my friends and family genuinely aren’t interested in traveling somewhere unless it’s “famous” or it’s been on their bucket list forever. This is not a great travel strategy.
- This is very limiting to what you’ll get to see and explore.
- It is rarely as nice & romantic in person as it is Photoshopped or in movies.
- The places you see online most, are also most crowded & expensive.
- Influencers and celebrities are paid for their promotion of destinations—genuine or not.
There are often so many great places you can reach via roadtrip or day trip, places you can visit where you can stay with friends, and places that are genuinely affordable to travel! A great travel strategy for traveling more and spending less includes exercising patience and waiting for good deals to your bucket list destinations. 🙂
3. Overemphasizing the Accommodations
The strategy here is simple: book the room you need, not the room you want.
I know it sounds harsh, but rarely do you spend enough time at a hotel to merit spending over $300 on the mattress. Think about it: if you spent $300/night on your own rent or mortgage, that would be a $9,000/month payment?! I love a great hotel aesthetic as much as the next girl, but it doesn’t actually help you travel more, spend less, or live the trip to the fullest, does it?
Book the room you need elsewhere, and spend a couple hours enjoying the restaurant/lounge/lobby of the hotel you want! Spend more time out of the hotel exploring!
If it has a clean mattress and a clean shower, it’s good enough. Free breakfast and free parking are a bonus.
2. Brand Loyalty
Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but Delta is not better than the other major US-based airlines. It’s just not.
They have a decent product, but for the same money, American Airlines has more routes that are convenient for me and Southwest Airlines has better legroom.
Sure, there are pros and cons to every brand, but be careful that you don’t get caught up in brand loyalty to the point that you’re spending more than you have to on flights, accommodations, rental cars, or anything else on a regular basis.
Brands aren’t loyal to you. This is not a good travel strategy.
1. One Trip Wonders
You thought flights and hotels were the most expensive part of a trip?
Nope.
That would be your own mentality.
The number one most expensive travel strategy mistake that I see travelers of all shapes and sizes make on a daily basis is looking at travel through a lens of “this is my only chance to do/see/eat/try this!”.
Scarcity mentality is expensive.
If you believe you have to visit a certain place or list of places, see the entire country or region, rent the sports car, stay at the fanciest hotels, and eat at the michelin star restaurants now because you won’t be able to later (for any reason), this is one of the most expensive travel strategies you can have. (Not to mention exhausting!)
Instead:
- Embrace the adventure of the unknown. Release the pressure of having to do everything on this one trip and everything needing to work out perfectly—if you love it, you can go back and see more later!
- Spend more time in fewer places. Trust me, when you fall in love with a city but only have one night to enjoy it, the FOMO feels even worse!
- It’s more important to give yourself wiggle room in the itinerary than the budget. Schedule free time for spontaneous adventures and random cafes! In my opinion, a trip feels much more fullfilling when there’s time to rest, reflect, and go off-script.
- Take notes! When you love a certain town, restaurant, trail, shop, hotel, or anything else, take note of it. This will give you a reference point for things you want to see again on your next trip.
Your days of being a One Trip Wonder are in the past! With better travel strategy, you’re going to be able to visit your favorite destinations again, travel more, spend less, and live every trip to the fullest!
