"How did you DO all that?" This is something I have heard quite often by now when I return from a trip and reveal how little money it had all cost me. Here is how: I am the queen of budget traveling. Kidding, of course. Actually, it is really hard work. I spend hours in front of my computer researching, reading guidebooks and travelblogs from other travelers to figure out the best destinations, routes and prices. Travel companions happily let me do all the planning - always. And, truth be told, I love it. Yes, it is time consuming and yes, chances are high I should be doing something else instead (mostly studying), but I just cannot help it. And as you might expect, I have made some major mistakes over the years and drew quite a few lessons from them.
You are tired of going to travel agencies, letting other people plan YOUR trip or you are far from a millionaire and still want to see the whole world? Stay with me.

The first and essential question you will ask yourself before taking a trip is "Where do I want to go and how do I get there?" I cannot help you with your "where" - only you know which places you dream of and which ones are on top of your bucket list. The only tip I can give you regarding your destination is this one: Do not get hung up on one specific place. There might be a better time to go there (pay attention to high seasons!) when flights are cheaper. You have one week off work/school/university and Paris is just unaffordable right now? No problem. I bet, there is another place on your list that you can get to for less money. Comparing fares really pays off!
And in case you do not want to let go of your dream destination just yet: Check the prices every single day at least three times. There are certain times when you can get tickets at a cheaper rate. Some say it is Tuesday or Wednesday. I say it could be any day.

Good websites to look for flights:
x Skyscanner
x STA Travel
x Checkfelix
x Google Flights

I would recommend to use those websites only to get an overview of all the flights offered. Do not always believe what they say about the price! Most of the pages you get redirected to charge you for paying by card or simply request a service fee. The search engine usually shows you that the ticket is more expensive when booking directly with an airline, but speaking from my own experience: It is not. Try it out! Also: Subscribe to the airlines' newsletter to receive the latest offers. You might even get as lucky as I did when a well-known 5-star airline had a promotion and I was able to purchase a round trip ticket from Munich to Bangkok for only €450,-

If there are no flights available within your budget, you might want to look into other ways of transportation (of course, it always depends on how much time you have). A very affordable way to travel is by bus, especially for long distance travel. There are numerous operators out there who take you from A to B overnight - which is actually the cheapest way to go somewhere as you also save up on a night in a hotel and you do not lose any time of your day - and some of them are very comfortable. Another advantage of using buses is that they drop you off right in the city center or close to it. I had the best experiences with MeinFernbus&Flixbus, iDBus which is now Ouibus in Europe and Megabus in the U.S. Their deals start at $1, and one time, I actually got a ride from New York City to Boston for $1,50!! My breakfast that day was more expensive than the whole trip ;-)

Another awesome and really, really cheap way to get around is to use BlaBlaCar, a car sharing website. BlaBlaCar is particularly suitable for short distance. Unfortunately it is a French company (and page), so everything is in French. But, no worries, there are a few more branches from Germany, Spain and Portugal, for example, but they only have a fraction of all the rides. What is so great about BlaBlaCar beside the fact that you get to travel with locals and it doesn't really cost much? You can book the rides very spontaneously (even a few hours before) and the driver only gets paid if he /she actually gives you a ride. So, they cannot set you up.

The next means of transport might not always be the cheapest one - it defintely depends on the country: Trains can be very low-priced in countries like Italy or some parts of Asia, but in others it can be even more expensive than taking an airplane.

The cheapest of all, but only for hardliners: Hitchhiking. If you have never done this before but are thinking of giving it a try, take a look at Hitchwiki. It provides all the information you need for your adventure, offers help with your first time-fears and shows which countries are especially suitable to hitchhike in.

For a longer trip, the best method is to use a combination of all the aforementioned transportations (one-way) to reach your destinations. Just to give you an impression of how well this works: This summer, I traveled through Europe for 7 weeks - not with Interrail but trains, buses, carpools and airplanes combined. Vienna - Berlin - Amsterdam - London - Paris - Milan - Genova - Cinque Terre -  Pisa - Madrid - Lisbon - Algarve - Seville - Málaga - Valencia - Barcelona - Vienna for as little as €480,-.
You see, traveling does not always have to be expensive. Low-budget traveling is definitely doable but also a lot of work. But hey, it is totally worth it!!!

I hope this post will help you with planning your trips in the future - let us know where you will be going!

xx Lena

Photo taken in: Key West, USA