5 Reasons Day Trips Are The Budget Traveler's Friend

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I have a trip coming to Atlanta in the next week.

I can stay overnight and book a hotel.

I can also just do a day trip since Atlanta is only 3 hours away.

I love staying at hotels and review them as a blogger often.

I also like traveling frequently though.

I plan to travel every week, whether road trip or flight later.

One way to do this is to take a day trip.

Day trips are road trips that are not overnight.

When I want to be budget friendly, still travel, and the distance is three hours or less; I consider the day trip.

What is a day trip?

A day trip is any trip that can be completed in obviously a day.

Again, this does not require an overnight stay.

It has to be somewhere you have enough time to make a round trip drive to.

This usually limits you to places two to four hours away again.

You need enough time to see the sights too.

This distance usually means less gas is spent.

Last year, I did a lot of day trips in my own state.

It was a lot of fun, and I saw new parts of the state.

5 Reasons Day Trips Are the Budget Traveler’s Friend

1. Day trips save you money

Day trips are the budget traveler’s friend first and foremost because they save you money.

Recently, before the pandemic, I did a day trip to Nashville, Tennessee.

Currently, I live in the Huntsville, Alabama area.

Nashville is a two hour drive.

The average hotel there is $200+ in prime downtown or Midtown/Vanderbilt and $100 in the suburbs.

This trip only cost me gas, food, and parking.

I did all free activities.

Downtown Nashville parking can be expensive at $15-$20 per hour.

I even managed to spend only $6 on parking for two hours or $3 per hour (tip: park at the downtown library).

In the past, I have done several overnight trips to Nashville.

Honestly, I had as much fun on this day trip as I did on my overnight trips.

2. Day trips allow you to travel more

As always, most people would travel more if money were not an object.

Of course, travel is a leisure activity and not an essential like food or shelter.

Day trips allow you to simply visit more places because you are spending less money.

If my Atlanta stay requires a hotel, I am using my Swagbucks’ money.

Swagbucks allows you to earn extra money doing things like surveys, bank bonuses, etc.

You can check out my other blog, Adding Pennies Beginner Guide if you want to put extra money in your pocket by using things like Swagbucks.

I know I am crazy.

I have two blogs, but I love both topics.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on travel.

Later, I want to resell to earn more points and cover my travel budget.

Reselling is popular in the points and miles community.

I don’t stay in shabby places either.

My hotel chains of choice are Hilton and Marriott (later more Hyatt hotels too).

I mostly stay at upscale properties in those chains and not budget properties either.

You should too.

That is the point of using points and miles.

Not only do you travel more, you can upgrade your experience.

Keep reading this blog to learn more.

Reselling, Swagbucks, and other activities just require giving up a couple of hours of time a week in exchange for a small travel budget.

Again, check out my other blog Adding Pennies to see how to make extra money with Swagbucks and other activities with little time.

If you want to save money on travel, you could also give up things like dining out again.

A lot of people find this works.

If you gave up dining out and you were the average spender, you would have $300 extra a month.

That is $3600 a year.

This is great if it is realistic for you.

I like dining out, but here are other things that can be cut to travel more.

Whenever we can travel internationally again, my trips will be funded by points.

I would like to cover every continent as quickly as possible.

That is when international travel is completely rebounded.

I have been to Europe and Africa, but want Asia, Australia, and South America.

I only did London when I last went to Europe, so I would like other countries in Europe too.

Again, I don’t believe in spending a lot of money on travel and think you shouldn’t either.

I like putting that money to bigger financial goals like paying off debt again.

Honestly, with regards to my Nashville trip, in comparison to my past overnight stays to the city, there was little difference in my day trip to Nashville again.

I got to all the things on my list; had a great time; and spent only gas, food, and parking.

3. Day trips allow you to save for bigger trips

Later, of course, I want to do many bigger trips that are a greater distance than Nashville.

I mentioned my international goals earlier.

Again, the average hotel in Nashville is $200+ in the city and $100 in the suburbs.

By not spending money on a Nashville hotel, I will have more money for a bigger trip in the future like the Caribbean or Europe that will definitely require a plane ticket and overnight stay.

We are still living through a pandemic, but one day when travel resumes, that is money for a bigger trip.

I prefer to do international trips on points again though.

That will still be money saved for future trips.

Why spend on travel if you don’t have to?

If my Atlanta trip requires a hotel, I will be using my Swagbucks money again.

So day trips allow you to save money on trips that are only a couple hours away to put toward bigger trips that are a greater distance

4. Day trips allow you to still explore different cities

Like I said earlier, my day trip to Nashville was about the same as my overnight trips to Nashville.

I mean I got to about the same amount of activities again.

Maybe I had no evening out, but that was all that was missing.

So, I still got to explore new things and have a good time.

5. Day trips save time

Travel is not only money.

It is also time.

I am a travel blogger.

That means I may travel more than the average person.

In the past, I stayed at around fifty hotels a year.

Still, most people have to work a forty hour job.

Sure you get your two to three weeks off for vacations, but during other times of the year, a weekend trip works.

Day trips take less time than even you overnight trip.

This will not only give you time to travel but also time to prepare for the work week.

No one wants to be exhausted after a weekend of traveling only to have a long week ahead at work.

Summary

Day trips are one of my favorite things to do for trips that are only two to four hours away by car.

You get to get away without all those extra costs required of on overnight stay like a hotel.

You can also explore new places and learn something new.

What more could the budget traveler ask for?

At times when you don’t need an overnight stay, save all that money for bigger trips that are a greater distance and do a quick day trip.

My trip to Atlanta may require a hotel.

I honestly did not know people were staying at hotels during this time because of the pandemic.

Day trips are just another tactic to save money.

As always, it is what works best for you.