So Many Travel Plans, So Little Cash

I was enjoying a lovely catch-up session with one of my girlfriend's last night when the topic of travel entered the conversation. Like me, my friend loves to travel. She recently returned from one of my favorite places in the world and sharing her stories of rest, relaxation and a lot of good sangria. Soon a list developed:

London - because she hasn't been since high school
Paris - because we went together with another friend eight years ago and it would be fun to go back and just "reunion"
SW, Florida - because we can all veg out at the pool
Washington, DC - because a good friend of ours is moving there
Portugal - because that was so much fun last year
Sicily - because that's where the "writers for peace" conference is next year (more to come on that later)

...and many more destinations that my friend wants to travel to and of course, destinations that I must see and write about. So with this extensive and exciting list came the inevitable question: how do I afford this?

The dollar sucks, the airline industry is in a financial mess and every day, travelers are faced with more fees, charges and excess costs. My friend suggested I take a moment and offer up some savings tip to help save for travel plans. So here we go (Caveat: these are not all healthy or stable ideas, but they will save money. Use them at your own risk):

1. Cereal for breakfast/lunch. Get a two-for-one at your local grocery store and you've just purchased 10 meals that week at a fraction of the cost.
2. Brew your own coffee/tea. You've seen the cost-analysis on this one -- how much money do you spend a week at Starbucks?
3. Take public transportation or use your feet to get around. Gas is expensive. Save the money you would use for gas and put it in a "trip jar."
4. Make use of public parks instead of paying to enjoy a day at the beach.
5. Empty out the change in your bag every night and put it in a "trip jar." You'll be surprised how quickly the bottom-of-the-bag coins add up to dollars.
6. For every frivolous item you purchase, tack on a 1.5% exchange rate and a 3% credit card fee. Now, do you really need that item?
7. Only drink one or two martinis at dinner, instead of three or four. You just saved yourself $30.
8. Unsubscribe to all the emails you get from retailers announcing sales and special offers to online guests. It's a distraction from the goal and let's be honest, you will look, you will buy and you will not save that much on shipping.
9. Buy a book on the destination you most want to visit. I've done this and it works. Reading about the destination in a beautiful novel or time piece makes you want to visit it even more, so you are more diligent with your money (if only for a few days).
10. Buy a plane ticket. Really. What are you going to do once you buy it? It's non-refundable, so you'd better start saving your cash because you're going on vacation.

There you have it - my top 10 list of ways to save for upcoming trips. I can't promise they'll work for everyone, but it's worth a try and at the end of the day you might even save a dollar.