OK guys, ready? This is a post I’ve been asked to write multiple times. I’ve been putting it off because I wasn’t really sure how to write it without sounding like a privileged and/or condescending asshole, but people keep asking me this question, and I really do want to answer it.
The question? “Randi, how do you afford to travel?!”
It’s really not a secret these days that journalists — especially millennials — do NOT make a ton of money.
So, mediocre journalist salary + Chicago cost of living + student loans? Yeah, I see how there are a TON of questions, considering I found money to make it to Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Italy, Turkey, Spain and Czechia this year — and all before June.
So, when I get asked “Randi, how do you afford to travel?” I’ll pose a different question. What’s your hobby? And what’s your indulgence? If your hobby is cars, you probably spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on car parts. If it’s music, you probably spend just about the same on instruments or lessons. And what about your indulgence? For some people it’s a daily $4 latte, a $9 sandwich every Monday through Friday, a weekly $30 manicure or commuter cab rides.
Travel is both a hobby and an indulgence to me. I rarely stop by Starbucks in the morning, preferring to make my coffee at home. I almost always pack my lunch for work. I paint my own nails. I take the bus. Luckily my hobbies outside of travel — reading, yoga and learning Spanish — are fairly inexpensive. I get most of my books from the Chicago Public Library. My CorePower Yoga Black Tag membership is almost free because I work part time at the studio for a heavy discount. My Spanish classes are the most expensive hobby I have at $250 a month.
No judgment on those who do prefer to order takeout every other day or $15 cocktails on Friday nights! By all means, you do you. Those just aren’t my priorities. I personally would rather save on things like bar cover charges to spend on things like travel. I set a monthly budget for traveling (I have a designated checking account for it) the same way I set a monthly budget for shopping, dining and bill payments. The travel budget just happens to be higher than the shopping and dining budgets.
So, my ability to afford travel mostly comes down to budgeting and prioritization. The other part of affording travel is doing the actual traveling at a low cost. Here’s how I do that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgRMVLQAFao/?taken-by=randimshaffer
Airfare and lodging are almost always the bulk of travel spending, so these are the easiest areas to cut costs in. The biggest way to save money on both of these costs is to be flexible and try to travel during off-peak times. That means late fall, early spring and even winter sometimes. It also means mid-week trips, super early flights and redeye flights. I almost always fly out mid-week (either a Tuesday or Wednesday) and back on a Saturday. Of course, I’m lucky enough to have a nontraditional work schedule (6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday) which makes this a completely feasible option for me. If you work a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday shift, you might have a little more difficulty doing something like this. But if you have the flexibility, great! Airfare and lodging costs are usually heavily discounted during off-peak travel times.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgJalGcgTaq/?taken-by=randimshaffer
The second way I save money on airfare and lodging? I opt to sacrifice convenience and comfort for dollars. I do NOT require a reclining airline seat with two checked bags or a Marriott with room service. I require a seat on an FAA-approved aircraft, a couch and somewhere to shove my backpack. That’s it. I usually fly economy/ basic economy/ budget airlines and stay either with friends, in hostels or in cheap Airbnbs.
Everyone who knows me knows that I am an unashamed fan of Spirit Airlines. If I’m going somewhere for three to four days, I can almost always fit everything I need into my JanSport, and I certainly don’t need a seat back TV set or a bag of mixed nuts for a two-hour flight. I am happy to lose two inches of leg room and pack my own granola bar if it saves me (literally) $300 on airfare. I have scored some amazing flight deals on Spirit — $98 roundtrip to Boston, $110 to Fort Myers, $105 to Phoenix — that I wouldn’t have gotten had I insisted on my flight including a complimentary glass of pop. (Skyscanner is my favorite for finding cheap flights, by the way.)
I also adore hostels! If I’m traveling with friends it’s often more cost-efficient to split an Airbnb, but if I’m going on a trip solo, I’ll usually book a hostel. Hostels are cheap and – as an added bonus — are a great way to meet people to hang out with if you’re traveling alone. Just remember to pack a lock, some headphones and maybe some shower shoes.
Other than that, my travel expenses are fairly limited. I don’t really do souvenirs or guided tours, so I’m not spending tons of money on t-shirts and carriage rides. I mostly spend my time traveling wandering streets, looking at architecture, taking photos, eating, visiting breweries, window shopping and meeting new people. I take public transit instead of cabs and Ubers.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh66Q29gKkH/?taken-by=randimshaffer
The other question I get is how I manage to find time to travel. Honestly, I just lucked out with my work schedule. I get 120 “flex time” hours per year to be used for personal days, vacation days and sick days. I’ll usually use my three-day weekends (mentioned above) for quick domestic weekend trips, and I’ll try to combine holidays with my weekends and vacation time to get the maximum number of days off in a row while using the minimum amount of vacation time.
For example, when I went to Montreal, it was over Thanksgiving weekend. Our company offers Thanksgiving and Black Friday as paid holidays, but since my weekends are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I got two “freebie” comp days to make up for the fact that our holidays were already on my weekend days. Therefore, I got to take Wednesday through Sunday off, without using any vacation time and still getting a 40-hour paycheck. Does that make sense?
Anyway, I hope this helps answer those questions about how my mediocre journalist salary and I afford to go places. Now book your flight and get packing!
