Use Travel-Sharing for Budget Vacationing

It's no secret that travel share is a booming industry. With fewer mainstream ways to travel on a budget, it's easier than ever to travel the world without going broke. I'm all for going independent when I can to save some bucks, especially if I have plenty of traveler reviews to back up the safety and legitimacy of it all.

Instead of staying in a hotel or eating at a traditional restaurant or going to the big box car rental places for some wheels, why not go local and more affordable?

Accommodations
I've been on the travel share bandwagon for a long time. While I love a hotel and still use them when needed, I love to feel more at home when I travel and enjoy having a kitchen and laundry at my disposal. If you do, too, try:

• Airbnb - Indisputably the most well-known way to rent a vacation space. Choose from a room in a home to an entire apartment and everything in between. Get to meet locals where you can while making use of the spaces they aren't using. (Here's an account of one of my Airbnb experiences and here's a way to make sure you're helping the local economy and not a company when you rent..)
• Homeexchange - Want to really save some money? Swap your house with other travelers where you want to go. Take in their mail, feed their dogs and generally be them for the duration of your trip.
• vrbo - Like Airbnb, see a long list of spaces for rent, go through vrbo, so you know your reservation is safe and secure.

Transportation
You may already be using Uber and Lyft to get around, but why stop there? If you want to drive on your own schedule, rent someone else's car while you're in town. See locals who can spare their wheels while you're visiting on these great sites:

• Turo
• Uber Rent
• GetAround
• ZipCar - Unlike these others, these are shared cars in a city. Rent it by the hour. Pick it up and drop it off at a designated location.

Dining
I'm open to meeting new people and I love to eat. Now you can visit locals for homemade meals or meet someone for food at a restaurant. This is especially good for people who are traveling solo and don't like to eat alone and those that are really outgoing.

• EatWithALocal
• TravelingSpoon
• EatWith

Other stuff
Sometimes you get to a place and realize you want something specific, like golf clubs or skis. Since bringing them with you can be crazy expensive, why not rent some from someone while you're in town? 

• Loanables
• BabyQuip - Rent baby strollers, car seats and more.
• Baby'sAway - Same as BabyQuip, but great if you're traveling with more than one baby.
• Spinlister - Need a bike? Rent one at your destination!

Travel sharing is perfect for those that want to help out individuals while also getting a hyperlocal experience.

Do you have a favorite travel share company?

My Favorite Travel Podcasts

As much as I would love to be traveling all the time, I can't actually do that and we both have jobs and a house and a dog. I spend a lot of time planning travel, but I also listen to podcasts. As I've gotten into more of them, I've accrued quite a few travel podcasts into my rotation. 

If you're looking for some inspiration or just want to learn new things, here are some of the ones I listen to regularly that you might also be interested in:

Atlas Obscura

If you like to learn weird and wonderful things, then this is for you. Each daily episode is between 8 and 20 minutes and tells you about things like the Tonopah Clown Motel, the Crochet Museum, or the Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard. It gives you a little bite-size nugget of info for things you probably don't know and might want to know more about or see in person.

City Cast (Portland and Las Vegas)

I started listening to my local City Cast for Portland and liked it so much I decided to add Las Vegas to the rotation. The episodes are 20-30 minutes and tell you about things to do, local politics, history, new restaurants, and they talk to local experts. If you want to learn more about your own city or one you visit frequently or are visiting soon, they have them for Boise, Chicago, DC, Denver, Houston, Madison, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Salt Lake, too!

 

Podcast: The Ride

Do you love a theme park? Me too! Also, these guys! Not confined to just Walt Disney World, like a lot of other pods, or even just the U.S. Learn about new stuff in all the Disney parks, Universal, Cedar Point, and on and on. I've just recently added this to my catcher, but I find the hosts easy to listen to.

Chasing Immortality

Okay, this isn't technically a travel podcast and it may or may not have been cancelled, but I have learned so many interesting stories of people who tried to cheat death and about the places they've been. It inspired me to go see Nicolas Flamel's house on our last trip to Paris (as well as the Harry Potter connection). He had a very interesting life. If you like cool stories about weird people, check it out.

Duolingo French

If you're in the middle of learning French and you want to be able to understand strangers more, then check out Duolingo French, where they have French speakers tell their story in French and you get interspersed English for context. While I don't understand a lot of the French, the stories are interesting enough to keep me listening and I've learned some new words just by having it on while I'm working. If French isn't for you, they also have a Spanish pod.

Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast

Do you love true crime? I'm a fan of a bit of morbid storytelling, so I started listening to Take to the Sky (on accident, because I was looking for a different podcast) that takes a historical air disaster and goes in depth on it for an entire episode. It's sad, it's interesting, it's inspiring, and it's maybe not what you want to listen to right before you get on a plane. 

Unpacked by AFAR or Travel Tales by AFAR

Some episodes are short (20 minutes) and some are quite long (90 mins), but if you're in need of inspiration on how to travel more sustainably or how to get better sleep on your trips or just listening to other people's travel stories, then check out one or both of these pods. I love learning new things and then finding places to travel that I hadn't thought of before.

I have several podcasts that I listen to that aren't travel-related and are great for when I'm on a plane or on a road trip. Some of those that I recommend are:

• Ologies - Each episode talks to an expert in their field of -ology, so you learn one thing really well for an hour, like scallops, bees, reclaimed wood, beer, or sleep rhythms. It's informative, it's witty, and it's funny. People talking about their passions is always exciting to me. 
• The Adventure Zone - A real play Dungeons & Dragons (or other RPG) made by three brothers and their dad. It's wacky, it's hilarious, it's got heart. I love it and devour every episode the day it comes out. 
• Wonderful - One of the brothers from TAZ and his wife talk about things that they like, things that they're into, things that are good. It's just a sweet, feel-good 30 minutes to add to your life each week. You might hear about trampolines or obscure music artists, or poetry. You never know!
• Was I In A Cult? - This one talks to people who have gotten out of cults and are willing to talk about how they got pulled in, what happened during their time there, and how they eventually escaped the life. The hosts are actually funny, but in a totally respectful way, because they were both in cults, too.  
• Depresh Mode - Mental health is important. Our brains aren't always great or good to us it's okay to talk about it. Host, John Moe, talks to a different famous guest each week about their personal battle with their mental health. Whether you suffer from mental health problems or not, to any degree, it's helpful to hear other people talk so openly about theirs.
• Zetus Lepetus - My three favorite theme park vloggers, who are all former WDW cast members, watch a new Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) each week and then spend an hour talking about how good or bad they are. You don't have to have watched any of them to listen or follow along, though sometimes it's fun and gives you more use out of your Disney+ account. 

Got ones I haven't listened that you love and want to share? They don't even have to be travel podcasts, if they are cool. Tell us in the comments!

When To Get Travel Insurance

Travel is never truly inexpensive, unless you camp or stay in hostels. Most of us are more interested in sleeping in hotels or going on cruises. Nobody likes to be screwed out of their hard-earned money by unforeseen circumstances beyond their control and travel insurance can prevent that from happening. 

Now, you may have been traveling for years without taking this precaution, or you may have been in a situation where you wished you had taken out insurance to protect you. Fortunately, travel insurance can be affordable and easy to add on to your trip, but when do you really need it?

Look into the right type of insurance

There are many different types of travel insurance, including illness, injury, lost luggage, theft and more. You can also get basic coverage that includes many of these things, but you will want to get the one that suits the trip you are going on. If you are going to hike Machu Picchu, you will need a different insurance than if you are going on a European cruise.

You bought a package deal

When you purchase a vacation package, it is all tracked under one company name. You can usually get internal travel insurance with them, or you can purchase you own, in case the company goes out of business or their insurance doesn’t cover last-minute tragedies like a death in the family.

The vacation is a once-in-a-lifetime trip 

Sometimes you go on trips that cost a lot more than you normally pay for a vacation. There is a big difference in price between going to Napa for the weekend and going on a week-long Kenyan safari. If you have to cancel or rebook your trip to Napa, it probably won’t break you in the long run, but if something unexpected happens and you can’t go on your safari – weather, natural disasters and health issues are almost never something you can predict – you will be very sorry to be out thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars that you can’t recoup without insurance.

Unexpected things happen

With countries and airlines dropping health restrictions, a war that may move beyond the current borders, fire season starting, and volcanoes erupting, things in the world are always in flux. You might get Covid and can't go. The country you're traveling to may suddenly prohibit people from certain countries entry. Your country may not allow flights to certain countries. 

When we booked a flight to France for last September, including a package to go to Disneyland Paris, I knew that insurance was probably important. Our credit card would take care of our flight, but I totally bought insurance for our portion going to Disney, because there were many things that needed to happen, including getting a Health Pass once we arrived in France (which changed the month before we left), in order to do almost anything touristy. Up until we left, I wasn't sure if I would need to do anything special in order to actually travel. 

You travel often

Travel insurance will generally cost 5-8% of your total trip, but if you do more than just take a yearly vacation, then you might benefit more from buying yearly travel insurance plans instead of paying for each trip separately.

When you do insure your trips, make sure you know exactly what each policy covers. When something happens and you have to make a claim, take notes on everything that happened and who you talked to. If a theft has occurred, report it immediately and make sure you are tenacious if the insurance company seems to drag their feet on paying out. Obviously, they make less money if they have to pay out on a claim, but if you know what your rights are, you shouldn’t have a problem getting what’s owed to you.

Remember, if you make any changes to your travel plans, alert your insurance company as soon as possible, so you can be sure you are still covered for everything you need.

Have you ever wished you had travel insurance on a trip?