Cheap Solo Vacations

Many of the best vacation deals are designed for two people. This is especially true of cruises and travel packages to sunny destinations. So how do you cut the cost when you are going alone? Try some of the following tips for cheap solo vacations.

Avoid Package Deals

As mentioned, package vacations are almost always priced according to double occupancy, so just skip them. Instead, design your own package. Chose a destination, and find inexpensive accommodations. Don't book them yet, though. First make sure you can also find cheap airfare. Expedia and other online travel sites are getting easier to use all the time, so start with these. Once you have found and bought cheap tickets, make the hotel reservations. What if you can't find cheap tickets or a cheap hotel? See the next tip.

Be Flexible

There are probably many places you would like to visit in your lifetime. Among them, one or two may be cheap right now, so start with a list of possible destinations and see which one has both cheap tickets and cheap accommodations available. Often you can pay half of what you normally would pay for tickets to one destination, and then do the same for the others at other times.

Use Hostels

Hostels, in case you are unfamiliar with them, are places where you rent a bed instead of a room. There are usually common cooking and television watching areas. You might share the room (and shower) with as many as five others, but this is often a cheap way to go when you're on a solo vacation. In the states you can expect to pay from $15 to $25. In other countries it is often less than that. I paid $4 per night in Ecuador, and that included breakfast and free rum on Friday nights.

This is a way to go to the beach resort towns that are usually expensive for solo travelers. In Cancun, for example, it would be tough to find a hotel on the beach for under $150 per night, but there are hostels in town (you'll have to take the bus to the beach) that are $20 per night or less. You can find out more about hostels and other cheap places to stay on the page Hotels, Hostels, Or....

Find Cheap Airfare

Often the most expensive part of a trip is the plane ticket. Fortunately there are a number of ways you can reduce the cost. Being flexible, as mentioned above, is one way. Another is to fly as an air courier. You agree to travel with only carry-on luggage and give your checked-luggage allowance to the courier company. In return they give you deeply discounted tickets ($258 round trip to Ecuador in my case). To learn more about this, sign up for the Travel Secrets ebook. You can get it for free a chapter at a time on the home page.

For other ways to get cheap tickets for your solo vacations, see the following pages:

Air Travel Tips

Cheap International Plane Tickets