One of my New Year’s resolutions this year was to travel more. Another one was to spend money more wisely, and it seems that most of the time, those two resolutions might work against each other. But there are a lot of simple ways to save money for travel, or while traveling, even while commuting! Here’s how.

1. Go off-season

Photo Credit: nature55
Money Saved: from $100 up to $2,000
Additional Time Spent: 30 minutes
Additional Trouble Level: 8 out of 10
If you love to travel, but have a hard time paying for hotel and airfare, you may want to consider going during the off-season. If you travel when everyone else is at home, airlines and hotels will be hungry for your dollars, and will offer you savings and other incentives. Why would they offer deals to travel to Florida or Mexico for Spring Break, when everyone will be going anyway, regardless of how much it costs? It’s much less expensive to travel there when no-one else is going, say, during the summer months.

2. Shop around

Photo Credit: lomokev
Money Saved: from $59 up to $2,000
Additional Time Spent: 90 minutes
Additional Trouble Level: 8 out of 10
With the internet at your fingertips, there’s no reason you can’t shop around for the best deals on airfare, rental cars, hotels, cruises, and more. Feel free to compare packages, prices, and amenities. And haggle if you can! Some sites will allow you to offer a price if you think theirs is too high!

3. Go obscure

Photo Credit: lovelydesign
Money Saved: from $200 up to $4,600
Additional Time Spent: 0 minutes
Additional Trouble Level: 4 out of 10
If there’s a place you’d love to visit, but it’s just too expensive, try a nearby alternative that may be less expensive, because it’s not a tourist trap. Besides, wouldn’t it be fun to send vacation postcards from places no-one’s ever heard of? Again, the internet, or a trustworthy travel agent, can help you choose a unique destination, one that you might have difficulty locating on a map, but that will be the trip of a lifetime!