Traveling on a Budget with Shereen

I found this amazing blog soon after I started traveling this past summer - it's called Shereen Travels Cheap. I bookmarked it and check back often because I know I want to continue my life on the road without depleting my savings.

I'm a person who wants to just get out there and have experiences, and even though I know I should research and book things in advance, I just… don't. Shereen, on the other hand, "loves planning a trip almost as much as taking the trip itself." Clearly she can offer me advice on more than just saving money. When I had an opportunity to review her book, Shereen Travels Cheap, I jumped at the chance.

The book is organized so that you can check the table of contents and flip right to what you need, but it's also interesting enough to be read straight through. It's a travel tip book that reads like a novel! I read the entire book, then went back and sought out advice to help with the two trips I took last month. Shereen's tips helped me fine a super-affordable hotel in downtown Chicago at the last minute, and gave me more options to price rental cars than I had previously known of.

Shereen agreed to answer some questions, so I tried to think of some fun ones that she was (hopefully!) not sick of being asked all the time.

Did you always travel cheaply, or did you take trips beyond your budget and realize you needed to change in order to keep up that lifestyle?
     Growing up, we didn’t have much money, so we were creative with travel sometimes. We did a lot of road trips and packed our own food to save money that way. Instead of sitting in roadside diners, we had lunch outside in the fresh air. As I got older, we started to go on vacations to places like Disneyland, but we still had to pinch our pennies, so we looked for ways to save on travel. Generally, we would drive instead of fly, because it was much cheaper. Now that I’m married and plan my own vacations, I still feel like saving is something to strive for. Why spend the money if you don’t have to?

Do most of your savings go towards travel, or do you occasionally splurge in your everyday life?
     There are things we do regularly, like go out to eat and the movies. While we do try to use discounts for as much as possible, we don’t necessarily skip something we really want to do if it costs a bit more. We have a vacation fund that we put a set amount into each month. If we are planning a bigger trip, we figure out how to put some extra in there (like maybe not buying those shoes I covet, but don’t need). Generally, I know what is in there and it can be spent on anything vacation, but try to work as much “under budget” as possible, so the extra can roll over to the next trip. Like this year we went to Hawaii, but ended up spending about half of what might have been expected, so that leftover in the account can go towards our 2012 trip to Europe.

In your book, you planned a trip the "regular" way, then also did it your way to show the difference in cost. Do you do this for all the trips you actually go on, just to see how much you're really saving?
     Absolutely! It’s always fun to know how much you saved. I generally start out with my “rough draft” travel plan and write down all the regular prices for things (hotels, activities, theme park tickets) and then write down anywhere that had better prices until I get to the lowest. It gives me something to work with in the beginning and a sense of accomplishment when I see how much money I didn’t actually spend.

That's a good way to make planning seem like a game - I'm going to have to try that next time! What has been your favorite trip so far?
     London has been our biggest and my most favorite trip so far. I’m really thrilled to return in 2012. There is so much to see and do there, even though England is not that big. That can probably be said for most places, but I loved my entire time there and look forward to seeing more. Hopefully, I can find more gems while I’m there, to add to my new blog that will be well into its first year online. Shereen Travels Cheap UK will be focusing on the United Kingdom (traveling to/from there and things to do for visitors and locals) and will be linked to my current blog. I have so many readers from that part of the world, and my love of it just made it seem natural that I would take my blog in that direction. Maybe a Shereen Travels Cheap to London book will be written down the line!

I loved London too, and really hope to visit again in 2012. I can't wait to read your specialized blog (and hopefully book!) about the UK! What places are you still wanting to visit?
     What place don’t I want to visit?! High on my list are Greece and Spain. Eric always names Spain as his number one choice if he could go anywhere, which prompted me to look for things to do there and I’m eager to visit L’Oceanografic Marine Complex in Valencia. Lately I’ve become more and more enamored with the thought of going to Greece. The food, the architecture, the water. It all just sticks with me and makes it hard to wait to get there. I’m thinking that eating baklava and spanakopita while looking at the view all day doesn’t seem like a bad way to spend a week or two! Long term, we still have big plans to go on a safari, but for now, we have those two travel goals set for reaching in the next five years.

How far in advance do you plan all your trips?
     I’m a travel freak. By the time we go on vacation, Eric and I have already agreed on where to go the following year. I then start looking at what kind of budget we’ll need and what we will want to do and have basic plan at least 6 months before we go. Obviously, most people aren’t crazy like I am, but I genuinely love travel planning. It gets me excited to go and gives me time to find the best deals on everything, so we might be able to fit some extra things in.

In your book, you mention packing lightly to save on baggage fees. What are the top three things you can't travel without, even though they may not be necessities?
     The three things I take with me everywhere are probably sunscreen, because I’m paler than pale and burn like crazy if the sun ever comes out, my Kindle, because I love reading, it packs light and the battery life is amazing, and good walking shoes. I can’t tell you how many trips have been ruined by angry feet. Sightseeing is absolutely no fun if you’re in agony all day.


Thank you so much to Shereen for taking the time to answer my questions, not to mention putting all this information out there to help others! I highly recommend you check out her book, Shereen Travel Cheap - it's well worth it! For more helpful hints and great travel stories, check out her blog by the same name: Shereen Travel Cheap.