You will hear me say this so much, Adventures do not have to break the bank. They can end up being a lot cheaper than you think. There are several ways to cut down the net cost of your adventures, or even the out of pocket costs.
For my Solo Trip to Nantahala National Forest, I set out on my own to expand my boundaries and see just how cheaply I could adventure. This took a bit of thinking and planning. What are the big costs for an adventure? Flight? Hotel? Food? Gas? Car rental? Activities?
Flight - $300 Round Trip
Luckily this adventure doesn't have any need for flight costs. However, I always check the prices just to make sure I have considered the worst-case scenario. Suprise costs are the worst.
Hotel - avg $125/night
Hotel costs vary widely, but for the most part I average about 125 per night, sometimes that includes all the taxes and fees and sometimes that is just the base rate. However, I find budgeting with this average leaves me some wiggle room. If I was planning on a 6-night trip that would be an estimated $750.
I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of cash lying around, and the point of this trip is to be as cheap as possible. This will be one of the places I can cut my costs way down.
Car Rental - $50/day
I loathe driving any vehicle that isn't one of my own, so I always find a way to get out of renting a car if possible. For this trip, I will be driving my Jeep, Rubix the Rubicon. However, if you don't have a car, or if you don't have one that you want to put the miles on or may not be reliable enough for a long trip, renting a car can be an option. A seven-day rental would cost an estimated $350.
Fuel - $5 per gallon
Fuel is hard to estimate because there are so many variables that go into fuel consumption. The obvious of course is your vehicle, how you drive, where you drive, speed and distance traveled. Rubix, being a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, I don't pass anything, including a gas station. Meaning I am not driving fast, and I am going to use a lot of fuel. Truthfully, I average 15-17 mpg in town, and 17-19mpg on longer trips. On one trip, I managed to get 21mpg, which is unheard of for a Jeep Wrangler. Now if I am towing our adventure trailer (under 1500 lbs.) or our yaks and trailer I am going to get more on the lower side and sometimes even down to 14mpg when flat towing the LJ, better known as Jeep Norris. This is one cost I overestimate for, basing my budget on the worst mpg I have ever gotten and add 300 miles to my estimated mileage to be covered, assume the highest cost of gas I will see on the trip. This trip I am basing my calculations on 1500 miles to be driven, getting 14mpg costing an estimated $540.
Activities - $500
Activities that you do on your adventure will drive this. If you like to hit up amusement parks, this is probably not going to pay for your tickets and parking. If you like to hit up museums or interesting historical markers, or unique craft shows, this amount might be on the low side but could work. Again, it depends on what you like to do with your time. I don't know too many people who just like to drive. However, I am one of those people that want to do whatever it is that no one else is doing. I want to be in nature, I want to see landscapes or animal life that I don't get to see on a regular basis. Most of my activities do not have high costs but there are ways to make the most out of your dollars, however limited they may be.
Food - $500
Oh food, how I love thee. I have one rule when we are adventuring away from home when it comes to food. If we can eat there when we are home, it is off limits on an adventure. Part of the adventure is emersion in the culture, including the cuisine. My extra dollars will always go towards weird food, like a giant oatmeal creme pie the size of my head, or a flavor of chips that I have never hear of. I don't skimp on my food budget. But it is also one of the areas where I can cut a lot of costs!
Summary estimated costs for this trip = $2640 (not including flight costs). Six nights, seven days for less than 3k? This isn't terrible, but most of us can't afford this. If you are like me, I work a regular 9-5 job, I have kids, I have bills, and I have daily expenses that eat up my paycheck as soon as I get it. So, this cost needs to come down.... a lot!
How to cut some costs
Life is about give and take, and this applies to adventuring as well. Until such a time I am giving a credit card with no limit and no responsibility to pay it back, I have to cut some costs. I will share how I cut costs. These tips won't work for everyone and are meant to reduce the out-of-pocket costs associated with a week-long adventure. Also keep in mind that this adventure was a solo one. I had no one else with me because that certainly can impact how well you can cut costs using these tips.
Our estimated costs of $2640 already excluded flights because I drove my own vehicle, which means we further reduce the total estimate by the $350 car rental. The new estimate is $2290, still out of my range. I like to camp, and I am headed to a national forest where camping is cheap and sometimes free. So, I eliminate the hotel costs, new estimate is $1540. Already I have cut 1k off this trip, by driving and camping. I know my budgeted amount for fuel is an overestimate, but I don't want to take any budget from this bucket, for a "Just in Case" situation, so on to activities. The things I enjoy doing include being outside, strolling along a park path, a hike on a trail or paddling down a river. These things are usually low cost or free, the biggest costs are park entrance fees or parking fees at a trail head. I can reduce these budgeted costs down to $100, getting us to $1140, on to food. This one requires some preparation, I am going to be camping and hiking, so I need food to be easy, filling and appetizing. My go to is dehydrated meals, but not those pre-packaged kind you find at the sports stores. I mean good, home cooked meals that have been dehydrated and only require hot water to be added to create a delish and nourishing meal. By dehydrating my own meals, I can significantly reduce my food budget to $50, new estimate travel cost $740.
At this point, my estimates are:
Flight - $0
Hotel $0
Camping Fee - $50 (Actual Cost $30)
Car Rental - $0
Fuel - $540 (Actual Cost $398)
Activities - $100 (Actual Cost $45)
Food - $50 (Actual $48.75)
TOTAL = $740 (Actual Cost $ 521.75)
$740 for a weeklong adventure is doable, but..... I was shooting for a clean $500. Fuel is my biggest expense at the moment. This is where I turn to my credit card that I affectionately call my Jeep Juice card. This card is used for gas only and has a whopping 5% cash back on fuel purchases. I have $72 of rewards available before setting out and will earn approximately $27 what I expect to spend on this trip. 750-(72+27) = $689
UPDATE ACTUAL EXPENSE TOTAL =
$521.75 | Out of Pocket Expenses |
-(72+27) | Rewards applied |
470.75 | ACTUAL COSTS |
Resources to other tips and tricks in budget traveling.
There are numerous resources to find money saving trips on travel such as using credit cards rewards, using coupons and finding deals on travel costs.
Using Credit Card Rewards
Unless you are one of those rare Americans, you most likely have a credit card and likely more than one. Please note, I do not recommend having credit card debt! However, finding a card that you currently have that offers cash back or travel rewards is a great way to save a few dollars on travel. Just recently I scored three, one way plane tickets, from North Florida to Denver Colorado for $15 bucks each (flying Delta), using my travel rewards from main credit card. If you have ever tried to fly from or to a North Florida airport (even Jacksonville or Pensacola), you know that is insane! And even better is I earned more points on the total price before the use of the rewards. This is one of those "Stacking Rewards" moments. Sometimes a 3% or 5% cash back doesn't seem like a lot but I assure you that the rewards start to stack up and come in handy when trying to stretch your dollars while still living a life of adventure.
Here are a couple resources to learn how to use your credit card rewards to your advantage.
Groupon and Other Coupons
Not too long ago, Groupon was all the rave, but it has seemed to fall out of favor for the majority of folks. However, I cannot stress the benefits of Groupon when it comes to saving a few dollars on those must do activities on your adventure, or gear needed for your adventure. Groupon can be counted upon to have good discounts on entrance fees, tickets or foods at some of the most common activities in the area you are traveling.
Groupon is only one place to look for savings. Look over the website for the activity you want to do and most times you can find a discount code, a printable coupon or specific days of the week that have steep discounts on the costs associated with the activity.
Make work, work for you.
I work for a major employer within the State of Florida. It mostly gives me a headache and unhealthy coping mechanisms but sometimes there are perks, if you know where to look. One of the ways I make my job work for me is to make sure I am taking advantage of all the free or discounted things that I can, just for being an employee. One such perk is our corporate account with a national rental car agency and its affiliates. This perk is actually written within the contract that I, and anyone in my household, is allowed to use the corporate rental rate stated in the contract, for personal use. There are things like insurance and other amenities that I have to pay extra for but getting a steep discount on car rentals is definitely helpful. Make sure you know about any additional fees for excessive mileage and toll fees. Most are reasonable but be aware of them. Hidden costs are the worst!
Additionally, your job may have affiliates in or near the area that you are planning to visit, see if there are any amenities available to you as an employee in those other areas as well. A friend works for a consulting company. This company has offices in most major cities and offers employees traveling from other areas discounts on local hotels. She also learned these discounts were available for personal travel as well, just for being an employee. All she had to do was show her credentials at check-in and boom, a $199 room was only $115. Not bad.
Comentarios