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There are many different ways to get discounts on travel; special deals and unique situations come up all the time. But the smart budget traveler knows how to save on costs every single time he/she travels. Every trip you take involves transportation, lodging, food and attractions. If you can  save money on each of those four, you’ll come out ahead even without a special deal.

• Transportation: Get in the habit of thinking outside of the box on this one. Take a discount cruise to Hawaii instead of flying there, answer that ad in the paper to drive someone’s van back east for them, trade a service you’re good at with a travel agent who can get you deals.
• Lodging: You don’t have to stay in a fleabag motel to get a discount on lodging. You just have to think more carefully about where you stay. Yes, it’s convenient to stay in a city’s downtown area but would it be cheaper to stay in similar accommodations a few miles away? Is camping an option? What about home swaps?
• Food: Add up the receipts from all of the restaurants you ate at on your last trip. That includes the $8 hot dogs the kids got at the theme park. You’ll see that without that expense, you’d have enough money for another vacation. Go to the supermarket, preferably at snack time so the kids can get free samples. Eat in a planned manner instead of an impulse-based one.
• Attractions: Yes, you want to see things at the destination. But you don’t have to see everything. Pick one big attraction for a weekend trip or two for a week-long trip. The rest of your vacation can be spent checking out city parks, window-shopping or catching free performances at libraries–part of seeing another city is seeing what the tourists don’t see.

(Photo via flickr cc)