Affordable Travel Part 1: How To Spend Less on Transportation

1.    Fly Less: Use Buses and Trains

Not only is traveling by bus and train more environmentally friendly than flying, but it also saves money and hassle. The flight itself may seem quicker, but the time spent traveling to the airport (usually 30min+ outside the city center), going through security, waiting, and then boarding really adds up. Additionally, you have so much more freedom on trains and buses. You have Wi-Fi, can stand up, often have free seats around you, and you don’t experience turbulence! The best part: no stress about whether your luggage fits in absurdly tiny boxes, or whether your suitcase is too heavy.

Booking Options

Now that I have convinced you to take buses and trains (I did study transportation for my Master’s degree, so I really hope you’re convinced!!!), let’s talk about how to book them cheaply. To find the cheapest travel mode and departure time I use a site called Omio which compares trains, busses, shared cars, and planes. This way, you can find the cheapest time, carrier, and travel mode without scouring multiple websites. You can book directly with Omio too, which can sometimes be cheaper than booking with the carrier. 

There are a few carriers that are consistently low-cost options to keep in mind (Omio searches these too, but in case you want to skip right to the source). In southeastern Europe, you will need to use Transport.com (formerly GetByBus) instead of Omio. Flixbus is a low-cost, long-haul bus carrier found widely throughout Europe. Next, BlaBlaCar is a car-sharing service that allows you to carpool long distances with people who are already going. They also have a bus service called BlaBlaBus, but it is less present than Flixbus. European sleeper does overnight trains between a few popular cities (Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Prague, Zurich, Milan)

Omio searches thousands of transport carriers to find the best deals, but some situations where it isn’t quite as good include searching local carriers, UK trains (use Trainline instead), and ferries.

2. Consider a Rail Pass

If you will be moving around a lot (even going between 4 different destinations can be “a lot”), a rail pass may be perfect for you! For European travel, this is the Eurail or interrail pass. Outside of Europe you have Japan Rail (JR) pass, South Korean Pass (KORAIL), Taiwan rail (TR) pass, Amtrak USA rail pass, and Canada passes (Canrailpass or Canada Strong Pass).

I will describe the Eurail/interrail passes here so you can get an idea of how it works! The others may operate in a slightly different way, but they all make travel so much easier.

Eurail and interrail passes allow you to travel the entire day on pretty much any train, and you get multiple travel days within a certain time frame (15 days, 1 month, etc). This can save you soooo much money because trains get expensive. ALSO you aren’t glued to one departure time. Instead, you can hop on whichever train you’d like without planning ahead (although some trains require seat reservations, but mostly high-speed ones). The passes are even discounted for people <27yrs and >60yrs!

Here’s how you choose a pass:

1. Select Eurail or interrail. If you reside within the EU you choose Interrail and if you reside outside the EU you choose Eurail.
2. Select the countries you want to travel to. Global passes allow you to travel in 33 different European countries, or you can pick a specific country to use your pass in.
3. Select the type of travel. You can opt for travel days, which are from 12am-11:59pm. These are not 24-hour windows. For example, if you get on a train at 10pm on Saturday and then need to transfer at 4am on Sunday, that would technically be 2 travel days. You get multiple travel days within your time frame. You can also choose continuous travel, which gives you unlimited travel every day for a set number of days.
4. Choose your timeframe to use the pass within. Choices range from 15 days to 3 months.
5. Lastly, choose between first or second class.

Checking that the pass is right for you

 To determine if these passes are worth the money, you can roughly estimate the cheapest alternative travel methods using Omio, which I introduced above! If you add up a few of your intended journeys and the total is already nearing the pass cost, I would go for the pass. The flexibility it provides is worth some money, plus you will inevitably end up paying more than your estimate for individual bookings after waiting to book and choosing the times that suit you.

There is no loophole or third-party website to get the Eurail/Interrail pass cheaper, but they do go on sale twice a year. A winter sale in December and a spring sale around March.

Most importantly, make sure there are sufficient train networks in the places you are traveling. I found this one out the hard way, by buying a $600 pass and barely using it because I severely overestimated the train coverage in the Balkans… You don’t need to worry if you are going anywhere in western or central Europe. Eastern Europe has less train connectivity, but southeast is where it really starts to disappear.

3. Buy Tickets During Sales

Just like retail items, train tickets, travel passes, and plane tickets go on sale too. But like I noted with interrail passes, they are hard to come by. Unfortunately, there is no app or extension that searches a bunch of transport carriers at once, looking for sales. Fortunately, many companies have patterns to their sales, which means you can know when to buy. Recurring sales periods for a few transport companies:

Eurail/interrail – December and March.

European Sleeper – 1-3 weeks before departure

Eurostar – About every three months (Black Friday, Christmas/NYE, spring, end of summer). Alternatively, use Eurostar Snap to book discounted tickets for last-minute travel. Bank holiday travel periods will never go on sale.

Flixbus – Black Friday and Cyber Monday + Spring sale (march/April).

Ryanair – frequently has flash sales, but with limitations.

Sales by airline: see a guide from Jack’s Flight Club here.

For any transport service, you can sign up for their emails to get notified when a sale is happening (although you can’t filter out all the other annoying mail they send). You can usually discover sales by following their social media as well. Ryanair has particularly funny socials, so I would give them a follow!

4. Use Local Public Transport and Find Discount Cards

All the transport advice thus far has been for traveling between destinations, but what about getting around within a destination? Well of course, take public transport instead of ride hailing (e.g. Uber) if possible. The public transport in many countries, especially in Europe and in Asia, is safe and efficient. So, let go of any ideas the US counterpart may have given you and take PT!

Many public transport systems have discount cards or passes for tourists. These often come with free entry to museums or other attractions. For example, Amsterdam has a card that gives you free public transport plus a bike rental, canal cruise, and access to 70 muesems. To find these type of discount cards, simply check the website of the city or the local transport operator of the place you’re traveling to!

5. Discounts For Students and Seniors

If you’re under 26 or over 60, you have the golden ticket. Most transport companies, whether long-haul or local, offer discounts for young people, students, and/or seniors.

Note: “Student” doesn’t always mean you need to be studying. Sometimes it is just a word used to mean young people!

However, transport companies don’t always advertise this front and center. I recommend googling “[transport company] + [student, youth, or senior] discount” before purchasing. Sometimes, you need to go to special pages, or partner with age-focused groups to use these discounts. For instance, European university students can get discounts on Omio, FlixBus, Ryanair, and more if they are a member of the Erasmus student network (ESN). See here for more information on how that works. Another example, SAS airline has a special search bar for young traveler fares. Most train companies have you select your age while searching and offer you cheaper “youth” and “senior” tickets.

Every transport carrier is different, so just remember to do some investigating before purchasing.

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These were my tips for cutting costs on transportation, and if you want more money saving tips, check out the rest of the series: how to spend less on accomodation, food, activities, and more! (coming soon)