traveling – Andrea M Jara

Hey!!!! I know you are reading this because you are thinking “I want to travel but my bank account says stay home.” When ever I see someone after a trip I also get asked “How do you travel so much?” or “omg you must be rich because you travel a lot” or “do you even work?” and the answers are always, “really because I feel like I haven’t seen enough of this beautiful world” and “no I am also a broke college student like you” and “yes Ryan and I work normal jobs like you.”

Honestly HATE when people say “ugh you are so lucky you get to travel” or “I wish I had money to travel like you do.” BUT IN ALL REALITY YOU CAN!!!!

But let’s skip the BS thoughts some people have and get into what I do and my tips and tricks.

BE FLEXIBLE!!!!!

Now when I say be flexible I mean with your travel dates and travel locations. You may really want to go on a weekend but in reality it may be cheaper to leave on a Wednesday or a week later than when you wanted to travel.

SIGN UP FOR ALL THE AIRLINES MILES PROGRAMS!!!

FIRST OFF WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOT SIGNING UP FOR THESE!!! THEY ARE FREE!!! You get free miles every time you travel with that airline!!! If you travel with that airline often you may be able to get free upgrades, food or even better FREE FLIGHTS!!! I traveled to LA for free because I saved up my miles and got a free round trip ticket!!!! It is so SIMPLE!!!

IF OVER 18!!! GET A TRAVEL CARD!!!

If you are over the age 18 and is responsible and have cash! Get your self a travel credit card because this way you are able to get more discounts on hotels and flights, along with perks like priority boarding but you get DOUBLE MILES sometimes MORE!!! After you spend $1,000-2000 you get 40,000 miles- 60,000 miles!!!! That is multiple roundtrip flights for free. Again only use if you have cash to pay it off and be responsible!

MAKE TRAVEL TICKET HUNTING A PART TIME HOBBY

A lot of the time I travel is because I just so happened to run into a $50 dollar plane ticket to a place or city I have never traveled to and want to go. I literally make it a hobby to constantly check airplane tickets and studying the best times to travel. I use the skyscanner app to see what airlines travel to what cities and when the best times are to travel to certain areas. This allows me to say okay Delta travels to LAX and then you can go directly to Delta’s website and purchase the ticket from the. This app also this cool feature where you click “EXPLORE” and you put “ANYWHERE” at “ANYTIME” from a specific departing airport and it tells you THE CHEAPEST PLACES TO TRAVEL ANYWHERE WITHIN A 6 MONTH PERIOD. This is how I found my families $230 roundtrip ticket to Iceland and back!!! Just from exploring my options. (ps wish this was sponsored but it’s not I just REALLY LOVE THIS APP)

TIP 3: GO TO THE AIRPORT TO BUY YOUR TICKET!!!!!

When you go directly to the airport you do not have to pay all the crazy service charge fees!!!!! Ryan and I saved $70 for going to the airport to buy our ticket for our latest NYC trip we paid $29 for a one way ticket and $42 dollars back!!! IT IS SO CRAZY BUT IT WORKS!!!!

DO NOT BE SEAT PICKY!!!

If you are traveling alone or with a buddy as long as you booked your tickets at the same time you will be seated next to or very close to that person. I say skip the expensive “seat selection” that for some reason always changes… and get your seat for free!!!!

TRAVEL LIGHT!!!

I KNOW! I KNOW! I can hear you all screaming at me! How can you pack light when you have to take a pic in all 20 outfits sitting in your closet right now!!! My tip for this is TRY ON ALL THE CLOTHES and make outfits that can be reused in different ways. Sometimes you think an outfit may be cute as well and it might not actually be cute… it happens to me all the time and then you think that could of been space I could of saved. Try to pack as much in a backpack or carry on so you do not have o pay for the luggage space on the airplane.

DO NOT ALWAYS TRAVEL BUT AIRPLANE OR UBER EVERYWHERE!!!

ALWAYS!!! Look for what the city’s or states public transportation options are because you may be able to say HUNDREDS of dollars. For example, Last year Ryan and I flew into San Francisco and we wanted to visit family in Sacramento. An airplane was $211 for a one way ticket for ONE PERSON!!! Instead we found a Gray hound that cost $11!!!! The Greyhound has plugs, wifi, and comfy seats!!! We paid $11 and got more than what most airplanes provide for $100s! Yes Greyhounds may seem scary to some and I would recommend you do your research for certain bus stop areas but I just brought my neck pillow and closed my eyes and feel asleep for 3 hours and we arrived! Also Trains!!! Trains may cost you $3-10 dollars and can get you anywhere from city to city to state to state!!! Just do your research before you jump into a $50 uber. Who knows you may get lost and find somewhere beautiful!!!!!

DO NOT STAY IN THE BUSY CITIES

I feel like this is a common tip because it’s like common sense, sometimes looking for a place to stay 5 mins away from the main cities may be more peaceful and a hella lot cheaper!!!

AIRBNB OR STALK BOOKING.COM

So I have not personally been able to use Airbnb because people take too long to respond or cancel… but I hear good things and the prices look cheap! but I use booking.com because you can find apartment and hotels and it tells you straight forward how much it is going to cost for the amount of days you are staying. You also get $20 credit when you refer people!!!

Hotels.com

If you use Hotels.com every 10th stay is free!!!

TRAVEL WITH FRIENDS

Who doesn’t love travel buddies!!!! You get to travel with friends and you can split cost of rooming, transportation and what ever else you do!!!

MEET PEOPLE WHERE YOU ARE TRAVELING

I am saying this for two things… one if you meet someone who knows the area they will tell you all the secrets of what to do or where to go for cheap or just for fun! and TWO so you can stay somewhere for FREEEEEE!!!! I know some people may think it is weird but I promise this may be the best thing you decide to do and may lead to long time friendships! Ryan and I’s friend from High school who we didn’t speak too regularly opened her house to us when we went to Vegas and now we consider them to be one of our best friends and love them so much!!! So do not feel scared to step out of your comfort zone and you may friend a life long friend!!!

USE AAA IF YOU HAVE IT!!!!

IF YOU HAVE AAA YOU SOMETIMES GET CRAZY TRAVEL DEALS THAT ARE AMAZING SO USE IT!!!!!

Also keep the option of Renting a car

This again depends where you are traveling to because if you do not have to pay for parking everywhere and there is not crazy traffic and the rates for renting a car is cheaper for a longer travel period then do it!!! (AAA can be used for this as well!) Also if you are under 25 but older than 21 you can rent a car with AAA or the app called Turo!

SAY NO LESS AND SAY YES MORE!!!

Hope all these tips are useful and help you travel more!!! The key to traveling is in your hands it is up to you to save the few dollars of coffee or video games and travel! There is nothing better than exploring and seeing the world!

AHHH…. IT FEELS SO GOOD TO FINALLY SAY I WENT TO SEATTLE, WA!!! I say that because this was a surprise christmas present for my boyfriend Ryan! Seattle has been on his bucket list for years and I love traveling and looking for cheap plane tickets and found some and book them without telling him. We went to the airport and I have known about this trip for a month Ryan thought we were going to Colorado only BUT we got to the airport and I printed out a ticket and asked him to read it in which he found out!!!! He cried I cried it was great then began out 8 and a half hour travel day!!! WATCH RYAN’S REACTION HERE ON MY VLOG CHANNEL!!!

We got to Seattle at 12:00pm Seattle time and as soon as we arrived we rented a car through the app called TURO. We picked up the car and check in our hotel, The Hyatt in Renton next to Lake Washington. By the way the Hotel was BEAUTIFUL!!!! It is a brand new hotel we paid $130 a night and it is near so many food places and things to do, they have a plaza called The landing that has EVERYTHING!!! Not to mention all the hotel employees learned my name and always took the extra mile to make us happy and feeling at home. It was so peaceful and is on Lake Washington. I was in love with this city and would recommend taking a visit!

However, as soon as we dropped off our bags we headed to Everett, WA which was less than an hour north of Renton. Everett is the home to FUNKO! Funko is the company that creates the collectibles called POP! figures. My boyfriend is a huge fanatic and knows the store managers and people all over the world that also collect. This was the main reason for this surprise trip!!! So we got to the store and Ryan went on a shopping spree!!! BUT then the store Manager gave us a huge behind the scenes tour!!! This office is the most magical fun office ever!!! They have slides to go down every floor, they have a private gym, arcade, and bowling alley!!! Who wouldn’t want to work there!!!

We bowled and hung out at the Funko store all night!!! Special thanks again to the Funko community for their hospitality!!! After our visit we just went back to the hotel to catch up on sleep and get ready for the next day!

Our next day was our last full day in Seattle! We first woke up and headed to Pike’s Place! We ate at a restaurant right next to Pike’s Place Fish Co that had the most unbelievable view ever!!!! The food was okay but the view was everything and more!!!

After, we walked around all 5 floors of the market before heading to the gum wall which is to the left of Pike’s Place when you first enter the Public Market! We added a Polaroid and our gum to the gum wall and took photos like any tourist would haha!

After our gum experience we walked over to the first EVER Starbucks!!! The store is small and there is supposedly always a line but we got lucky, however, a tip when you go is do not waste time look at the cups and souvenirs because they give you a brand new one at the cashier desk and they have a menu of all the souvenirs that they have in the store so as soon as you get there just get in line!

We then went to the Space Needle, which is under renovations so it is not a full 360 view but is deff worth the view of the city, mountains and lake!!!

We had so much fun in this city and can not wait to come back to see more!!!

SEE MORE PICTURES HERE AND WATCH MY VLOG HERE AND TRAVEL DIARY HERE