As a keen travel blogger, one of the questions I receive most often is, "How do you travel so much while working?" Especially with this year's goal of visiting 12 destinations in 12 months, it's cropped up even more than before, so I thought I'd write a little blog post with my best hints and tips about travelling a lot while still working.
So, I've divided up this post into the three main areas I usually get the most questions about and I hope these help a bit! As someone who has always wanted to travel as much as possible, these are the things I have found during my experience.
Getting Time Off Work
This is obviously the main thing. How do I get time off work to actually travel in the first place? Well, I'm actually lucky enough to work part time Tuesday-Thursday, so I have Friday-Monday free every week. When it comes to trips I normally book one long holiday per year (this year I have two weeks in Florida) and then spread out shorter, European based trips throughout my long weekends.
However, I'm very aware that a lot of people aren't in the same position as I am when it comes to having this long weekend. BUT, I still have some tips to making the most of available leave time:
- Spread out your holiday days - this one is definitely the most effective for getting more shorter, weekend trips under your belt. Taking one holiday on a Friday or Monday here and there will allow you to take two-night breaks. However, this may mean you might have to forgo a long holiday in the year, but it's definitely the best way to visit lots of places.
- Utilizing bank holidays - similarly to number 1, except a little bit more expensive. Obviously, prices tend to go up on bank holidays but I find this is often a good time to take stay-cations around your own country. There are so many beautiful places to visit in the UK that I still haven't been to!
- 24 hour trips - Yep, sometimes you're not even required to take time off work to have a fab trip! There are places that you can definitely visit and make the most of during a 24 hour time limit. For example, around Christmas we only spent a day in Toulouse and it was more than enough time to experience the city. This one requires a bit of research about where's a good place for a short break, but it's a fantastic way to make the most of your time.
Finding Deals
Not going to lie, I'm a little bit addicted to booking trips (I'm sure you've already realised this), but this addiction becomes even more prominent when I find a really good deal on flights/hotels. They cry out to me, "Jordan! You know you'll regret not buying these £48 flights to Amsterdam!" I KNOW FLIGHTS. I KNOW.
I have a few websites that are now my go-to locations for holiday deals and I find these super helpful when hunting for my next destination:
- Skyscanner - My GO-TO place for short haul flights, Skyscanner is just one of my favourite websites ever! It allows you to search flights for the entire month so you can see which days will be cheapest to travel on and always gives you the best deals possible. I definitely find myself endlessly scrolling through different destinations and I'm not even sorry. This website is the best.
- Air BNB - Who doesn't love a good Air BNB? I have to say, I do find this website a bit hit and miss, as you can find some absolutely incredible places for a great price, but other places are just SUPER expensive. However, those hidden gems are 100% worth it!
- Last Minute - Another great website for booking hotels, I love Last Minute's secret hotel option the most! The best thing about it is that you can get hotels for quite a significant discount, but the catch is you're not told what the hotel is. But, if you do a quick search of hotels in the area you can often figure it out, so it's not too bad!
Saving Money
I've always been a big saver...until I started booking trips. Now it's basically all I spend my money on! I kind of justify my excessive wanderlust by saying that I technically don't spend much money on anything else, so this is my 'treat yo' self' experience for the month.
It's kind of obvious that travelling does cost money, no matter how much you try to save through deals, so saving money in other areas of life can really help if you want to travel more. I personally don't drink alcohol, go out on wild nights out, eat out often or spend a lot of money on clothes or makeup and I think this is my big saver. I know that many people enjoy these things, but they can easily eat into your money every month and cause a big dent. Not drinking during my teenage years or at university allowed me to save enough money for my house deposit, so it shows how much of a difference it makes.
I can't tell you how to spend your money, but having a savings plan each month means you're just one step closer to being able to go somewhere you've never visited before!
I hope this post has given a little bit more insight into how I manage to travel so much while working and I hope that it's inspired you to travel more where you can! Let me know in the comments if you have any other tips that I may have missed out or any good websites for travel deals, I'm always looking for new ones! x
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