Let’s face it: Budget travel advice is everywhere. It’s a lot like advice on how to lose weight; there’s a million people saying the same few things a million different ways. What baffles me is how many folks advise blatantly obvious “advice” such “cook your own food, stay away from restaurants.” Thanks a lot! I’ve decided to put together three of the biggest ways to travel on a reasonable budget. With no further ado:

Rock around the world. If you are going to spend more than a month traveling, and want to see additional parts of the world for less money, look into buying a round the world ticket. I’ve seen eleven destinations sold for less than three thousand dollars. The place to find these screaming deals? Check out airtreks.com.

Buy months or minutes before. As a travel agent, it galls me to see so many folks lose hundreds of dollars waiting for the price to go down. Uh-huh. You know you’re guilty of it too. A simple rule to follow for budget travel: buy far in advance if you know where you want to go, or purchase last minute if you don’t. Flexibility is the key; the more flexible you are on dates and locations, the better deals you’ll find.

Average sucks. My beautiful fiance and I rode our bikes around Ireland (a very expensive country) without spending a bundle, and had several really comfortable evenings, including a king size room in an old Irish castle. How? The answer is shockingly simple: We would camp out two days for each night spent in a nice location. The cost averaged out, and we stayed in places that were definitely beyond out budget. By the way, camping is usually a quarter the cost of a hostel for two people, and it’s cleaner and more private.