If you’re like me and your answer to the question, “So, what’s on your travel bucket list?” is, “Umm, everywhere… duh,” then you probably understand the struggle between planning your next trip and figuring out how you’re going to pay for it. Unless you’re made of money (or printing some in your basement on the regular), there are simply never enough funds to visit all of the places you’d truly like to — which is why choosing where you’ll go next is always a high-stakes type of decision.

Before packing your bags, before looking up things to see and do, before knowing which type of transportation you’ll make use of, you have to know where it is you’re venturing off to. What’s more, wherever you decide to go next will most likely influence where you’ll go after that, and where you’ll go after that, and where you’ll go after that… So, no, you’re not blowing things out of proportion by treating your decision as a big deal; it is a big deal.

Whenever you’re ready to start thinking about your next adventure, there are a few things that need to be considered. Number one, sadly, is typically going to be the financial aspect of the trip. Do you have enough money to swing it? No? Well, how long down the road would you need to kick the proverbial can before you could realistically make it happen then? Weeks? Months? A year? Should you maybe consider something a bit less expensive that you could make happen sooner?

These are the questions to ask yourself when in the pre-planning stage, and the answers will depend on what type of traveler you are. If you’re itching to see the other side of the world, it’s going to take some time before you have the dough to make it a reality, but if you’re keen on taking less extravagant trips — and there’s nothing wrong with that — you might be able to do two or three (or more) in a year, if you play your cards right. So the question becomes: how do you play your cards right? And what do you do if you have really crappy cards?

If I’m not embarking on a road trip, the very first thing I consider when choosing a destination is the price of the airfare. At this point, I’m not considering what I’ll have to spend on accommodations; I’m not considering how much money I’ll need to eat, or what I might spend on activities or excursions — those things come into play later. The dollar sign next to my selected flight is all that matters, and I need it to be low enough, given where I’m going, for me to be comfortable pulling the trigger.

As many travel experts and bloggers out there would tell you, there is, in fact, an art to finding cheap flights. Sometimes, it means traveling at inconvenient times (think super early in the morning, or during regular mealtime hours); sometimes, it requires being flexible with the dates of your trip (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday are typically the cheapest days to fly); and sometimes, you need to check multiple websites (and not just price comparison sites like Kayak or Expedia, but the pages of individual airlines, as well) to truly find the best deal. It can take a little work, but time is money, and if you spend a little of the former, you could end up saving some of the latter.

Even if money is pretty tight, there’s no need to despair. Yes, you may need to wait until you’re in a better place financially, but there are also travel deals out there, and numerous ways to make paying for flights and hotels less expensive. One way is to take advantage of Expedia’s book now and pay later payment plans, which allow you to spread out the cost of your vacation over the course of a few months. That way, the lump sum cost doesn’t inflict such a blow to your wallet.

Another way to find good deals is to constantly check the Google Flights machine. If you allow Google to know your location, it always shows you a few flight deals based on your home airport. Taking advantage of another option built into Google Flights — the “Explore More Destinations from…” map (this link has Chicago plugged in as the home base, but you can obviously type in whichever airport you need) — is how I’ve ended up taking numerous trips, including my recent jaunts to Los Angeles, Mexico, Colorado, and Iceland.

Because that’s the way travel can be at times: you don’t always choose the trip, sometimes it chooses you. In scouting out a potential trip to Rome, you might stumble upon an amazing deal for Barcelona; while hunting for your next beach getaway, you could find a deal at a ski resort that’s just too good to pass up — you just never know what the travel gods are going to throw your way.

The key is to take those signs, those travel deals that pop up when you least expect it, and run with them. Allow yourself to be surprised, and there are good odds you’ll come away with a positive experience.

-LTH

*P.S. If you’re ready to turn the reins over to someone else entirely — that is, if you’re ready to be truly surprised — go ahead and check out Pack Up + Go, the travel agency that’s just itching to plan a mystery vacation for you.

How to Decide Where Your Next Trip Will Be When Funds are Limited