We are seeing a lot of people travelling these days due to growing affluence. Friends, families and random strangers are posting picturesque snapshots of the places they’ve been to on Facebook and Instagram. Sure, travelling can be very exciting, but it does cost money to pack your bags and explore the world.

But money shouldn’t always get in the way of your travel plans. In fact, many travel enthusiasts these days hop from one country to another on a tight budget. And since they are already doing that, it only goes to show that you can follow their footsteps too.

So how exactly should you travel on a shoestring budget? Here are five expert tips:

1. Plan ahead

This is perhaps the cardinal rule in every travel escapade – planning. If you want to keep your expenses low, then it is an imperative that you draw out a strategy in which you can use the least amount of money for your needs when on the road.

Planning should cover everything – from your airline tickets to your travel dates to the places where you will stay and the purchases you will make. You need not dine in a fancy restaurant or go shopping in high-end malls during your vacation especially when your overall goal is just to feel the vibe of your destination. Try the night bazaars or the local food stall where the food is freshly cooked in front of you. While you save hard, you should not fall sick along the way. Part of your plan should include having a travel insurance plan.

2. Search for discounts

When you have already planned ahead, then you have the leverage of finding discounts to save on your expenses. Some airlines offer discounted rates on their flights when you book tickets at least six months before your target travel dates. Discounts help reduce your intended cash outlay, and you are able to get the best deals simply by planning beforehand.

3. Look for secondary destinations

Secondary destinations can bring more colour to your budget travel. For example, if you are going to travel to Thailand, you may want opt to visit Chiang Mai instead of focusing on Phuket or Bangkok. This is because Chiang Mai is cheaper, the weather is cooler and the attractions are unique. Visit the elephant camp, trek the mountain and shop at the famous night bazaar. Stay at small motels, most of them are conveniently located with low cost meals easily available within walking distance.

When searching for secondary destinations, you may want to look at two factors:

• the transportation options to reach the place and;
• the accessibility of the place to other areas worth visiting

By knowing the routes and the transportation options, you will derive more value from your travel expenses. Not to mention more pictures of unique landscape that you can showcase on social media.

4. Hotel vs. homestay vs. couch surfing

Booking hotel stays at heavily discounted rates can be difficult, especially when you are thinking about travelling during peak season. If you have to travel during peak season, you really have to look for cheaper alternatives then. Homestays that offer bed and breakfast to backpackers is the usual first option. Increasingly, couch surfing in case you have friends who can accommodate you for a few nights during your stay, is gaining popularity.

A homestay can be a great Plan B to a hotel since it is not only cheaper but also gives you a taste of how it is like to live as a local in the place you are visiting.

5. Secure travel insurance

Do not see travel insurance as an additional expense but think of it as an investment. It can save you on huge costs later on since you can use it during emergency situations. By being insured, you are saving the cost of a medical bill or a piece of baggage that has gone missing. Think of using the amount saved for an investment where you can make money to pay for your next vacation!

Who says you can’t be comfortable while looking stylish? Here are a few style tips to follow for the ultimate travel wardrobe.

Be it vacations, work-trips or a weekend getaway, we all require a capsule collection dedicated to travel. A travel wardrobe requires a lot of deliberation and should consist of versatile pieces that work well with your travelling needs. Having travel basics help you save the effort of curating last-minute look when packing for a trip.

“Back in the day the only thing people used to look for when packing, was a comfort but thanks to Instagram and the growing rage of celebrity inspired airport looks, a stylish travel wardrobe is a must-have”, says Vikash Pacheriwal, Co-founder of Raisin.

Who’s says you can’t be comfortable while still looking stylish? Here are a few style tips you can follow for the ultimate travel wardrobe.

Right fabric

The biggest perk of having a travel wardrobe is that it can cover your daily needs as well. When making a capsule travel wardrobe make sure to add pieces with the right fabric that are wrinkle-free and don’t take up much space in your bags.

Minimalist quality pieces

While a lot of people prefer going minimalist when travelling, you don’t have to give up on the style quotient. It can be slightly difficult to look stylish considering people want to travel light and not carry too much. In this case, the key to travelling in style is to invest in quality pieces that not only look smart but are also practical.

Denim on denim

Invest in a pair of denim overalls as they are fuss-free and easy to carry but also look totally chic. The neutral nature of denim allows you to pair it up with any and every colour of accessory.

Add some bling

Carry minimalist and inexpensive jewellery to add some bling to your outfit, they require no space and work well with almost every outfit.

Neutral colour

A neutral colour jumpsuit is a great idea when travelling as it saves you the time of coordinating outfits and is super-comfy. A solid coloured jumpsuit or a printed one no matter the style, jumpsuits will always make you look trendy.

A statement scarf will go a long way in taking your basic outfits up a notch. Pair a nice printed scarf with a basic neutral colour dress or a plain kurta, and these scarves will also protect you from unpredictable weather changes which a great perk.

Road trips, drinks with tiny umbrellas in them, baseball games, weekend beach vacations, BBQs, camping, and picnics are some of the most exciting things people are going to do this summer. For the rest of us who need a little more adrenaline in our lives, we skip all the boring cliché summertime events and map a road trip to a theme park that features one of the world’s scariest and most thrilling roller coasters.

Roller coasters have been around longer than you think. Since 1794, the idea of a ride that sent you through a trip that produced negative-G’s has been around and perfected time over time. Today, we wanted to take a look at the most thrilling, or scariest, of roller coasters in the world, just in case you are looking for something else to do this summer. Buckle up!

15. Intimidator 305

• Theme Park: Kings Dominion
• Location: Doswell, VA
• Type: Steel Giga Coaster
• G-Force: 5
• Top Speed: 90 mph
• Biggest Drop: 300 feet

What do you expect from a roller coaster that is designed after the late NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt Sr.? Of course this thing is going to be one of the most thrilling roller coasters in the world, have you ever been inside a NASCAR going 200 mph?

14. Banshee

• Theme Park: Kings Island
• Location: Mason, OH
• Type: Steel Inverted Coaster
• Inversions: 7
• Top Speed: 68 mph
• Track Length: 4,124 feet

An inverted roller coaster means that the riders will be sitting down as their feet dangle below the open air. It is the opposite of a roller coaster in that you’re secured into the track above, not below. The Banshee is the longest inverted coaster in the world.

13. Sky Scream

• Theme Park: Holiday Park
• Location: Habloch, Germany
• Type: Steel Launched Coaster
• Inversions: 1
• Top Speed: 62 mph

Not many of the rides on this list have such a scary theme but the Sky Scream at Holiday Park in Germany features a horror theme designed to create a ride through an industrial complex you might see in an old scary movie.

12. Ultra Twister

• Theme Park: Nagashima Spa Land
• Location: Mie Prefecture, Japan
• Type: Steel Pipeline Coaster
• Inversions: 3
• Top Speed: 44 mph
• Max Vertical Angle: 90 degrees

The Ultra Twister doesn’t last very long but it gives you the chance to experience being lifted straight into the sky before blasting you through a tunnel that twists you completely around. Then, when you think it is over, it sends you backwards.

11. Goliath

• Theme Park: Six Flags Great America
• Location: Gurnee, IL
• Type: Wooden Custom Topper Coaster
• Inversions: 2
• Top Speed: 72 mph
• Biggest Drop: 180 feet

As of now, Goliath is the owner of the world’s steepest and longest drop for a wooden roller coaster while also being the fastest too. There is a ride coming out this year in Dollywood that is supposed to beat these records.

10. Hades 360

• Theme Park: Mount Olympus Water & Theme Park
• Location: Wisconsin Dells, WI
• Type: Wooden
• G-Force: 3.5
• Top Speed: 70 mph
• Length: 4,746 feet

They said you couldn’t do the things the Hades 360 does because it is a wooden roller coaster. Like, the 360 degree roll or the 65 degree drop and that nasty 90 degree banked turn. There are many reasons to ride this bad boy this year, the main is because wooden roller coasters are not supposed to do these things safely. Yet this one figured it out.

9. The Smiler

• Theme Park: Alton Towers
• Location: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
• Type: Steel Infinity Coaster
• G-Force: 4.5
• Inversions: 14
• Top Speed: 52.8 mph

The Smiler has been open since 2013 and has already had several safety incidents, including one where a cart ran into another test cart on the same track injuring 5 people. The number of incidents only makes the case for this one being dangerous and scary at the same time.

8. Full Throttle

• Theme Park: Six Flags Magic Mountain
• Location: Valencia, CA
• Type: Steel Launched
• Inversions: 2
• Top Speed: 70 mph

The vertical loop on Full Throttle is 160 feet high, a world record, and at the very apex of the loop, it almost feels as if the ride is about to stop as it slows down just enough to make your brain go into panic mode.

7. Top Thrill Dragster

• Theme Park: Cedar Point
• Location: Sandusky, Ohio
• Type: Steel Accelerator Coaster
• Top Speed: 120 mph
• Biggest Drop: 400 feet
• Max Vertical Angle: 90 degrees

The Top Thrill Dragster is such a popular track that it has been duplicated and is now used in another park on the other side of the world.

6. Formula Rossa

• Theme Park: Ferrari World
• Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Type: Steel Launched Coaster
• G-Force: 4.8
• Top Speed: 149 mph
• Acceleration: 0-149 mph in 4 seconds

Until people realize that going fast is fun, they will not appreciate just how much fun the Formula Rossa ride is when it reachs the top speed of 149 mph. That is not only fast, it is stupid fast.

5. Superman The Ride

• Theme Park: Six Flags New England
• Location: Agawam, Massachusetts
• Type: Steel Floorless Coaster
• G-Force: 3.6
• Top Speed: 77 mph
• Biggest Drop: 221 feet

As of this month, one of the world’s top rated roller coasters, year after year, has added a virtual reality experience that is going to change how we ride roller coasters. Not only are you going to experience one of the best coasters in the world, you will be able to feel like you’re flying and fighting Lex Luthor at the same time.

4. The Gravity Max

• Theme Park: Lihpao Land
• Location: Houli District, Taichung, Taiwan
• Type of Roller Coaster:
• G-Force: 3.5
• Top Speed: 56 mph
• Max Verical Angle: 90 degrees

The track has to connect right before the drop because it is lifted 90 degrees into the sky. There is nothing about that part of this ride that seems safe. What if it doesn’t connect right? What if the brakes don’t hold the cart on while it is moving? The level of danger is the highest of any rides on this list simply because of this first part of the ride.

3. El Toro

• Theme Park: Six Flags Great Adventure
• Location: Jackson, New Jersey
• Type: Wooden Coaster
• G-Force: 4.4
• Top Speed: 70 mph
• Biggest Drop: 176 feet

As with a lot of the rides on our list, the El Toro owns a ton of records including being the second fastest speed, third-tallest lift, second longest drop, and fourth-steepest drop.It was also named Mitch Hawker’s Best Wood-Tracked Roller Coaster from 2010-2013, four consecutive years.

2. Takabisha

• Theme Park: Fuji-Q Highland Park
• Location: Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi
• Type: Steel Euro-Fighter
• Inversions: 7
• Top Speed: 62 mph
• Acceleration: 0 – 62 mph in 2 seconds
• Max Vertical Angle: 121 degrees

The Timber Drop at Fraispertuis City in Jeanmenil, France owned the record for the world’s steepest roller coaster for 15 days before the Takabisha opened back in 2011. It beat the previous record by a total of 8.1 degrees when the 121 degree angle was unveiled.

1. Kingda Ka

• Theme Park: Six Flags Great Adventure
• Location: Jackson, New Jersey
• Type: Steel Accelerator Coaster
• G-Force: 5
• Top Speed: 128 mph
• Max Vertical Angle: 90 degrees
• Acceleration: 0 – 128 mph in 3.5 seconds
• Biggest Drop: 418 feet

For comparisons, the Kingda Ka is a bigger, badder version of the Top Thrill Dragster. It has the similar look and feel only this one goes faster and the drop is about 18 feet higher giving you a higher G-Force than anything you will ever ride in your life.

Two years before we had kids, my wife, Cathleen, and I were on the Big Island of Hawaii, where we met a 25-year-old Colorado man and his partner, both of whom seemed relaxed, happy and sane as their toddler ran roughshod in the jungly vegetation between a rainforest hiking trail and the beach. Because I saw children in my future but dreaded the lifestyle shift they would bring, I asked this guy how he was managing it.

“If he sleeps when he needs to and eats when he wants to, we can bring him anywhere,” he replied. “So we get to do pretty much what we want, and everyone’s usually happy.”

Over the intervening years, during which Cathleen and I had two kids and dragged them along on a suite of outdoor adventures, we discovered that getting our children into natural environs indeed benefits us all.

Numerous studies support our experience, finding that time in nature reduces stress and negative thoughts and correlates with higher self-reported happiness among adults and children.

That makes sense, says Patricia Hasbach, a psychotherapist in Eugene, Ore., author of “Grounded: A Guided Journal to Help You Reconnect with the Power of Nature—and Yourself.” “We evolved as part of the natural world, but at this time in our history, we have never been more removed from it,” she says, with about 80 percent of Americans living in urban environs and our society-wide dependence on technology. “It’s all very primal, … and we need this re-engagement with the natural world.”

I never analyzed it to that degree, but I knew that I was happiest when out in the wild and that I wanted to share that transcendental joy with my family. Here are some tips gleaned from my 13 years of trying to shape outdoor-loving kid travelers.

Start early. Toting infants and toddlers outdoors is as much about sustaining your own outdoor travel cadence as it is about engendering a love of nature in them. Because if you start using your spawn as an excuse to loll around sidewalk cafes, malls or (gasp!) your house, you might forever lose your mojo.

Admittedly, dragging tiny humans outside for extended time entails Eagle Scout-level planning — diaper bag, nap time, snacks, toys — which makes it wise to …

Start local. The path to 1,000 awesome trips starts within reach of the panic button. Which is to say, when your baby still has that shiny new maternity-ward smell, get your nature reps nearby. For us, that meant walks in Rock Creek and Great Falls parks, during which we realized that Colorado Man was right: Babies have very simple needs.

Thus emboldened, when Kai was 5 weeks old, we slung him out to southern Arizona, where we cradled his tiny mass on numerous hikes, including one into the depths of Kartchner Caverns. Over the ensuing years, Kai, now 13, and his sister, Christina, 10, have dug in (and surely eaten) sands from such disparate locations as Cape Hatteras to St. Martin, hiked and skied all over the country, surfed waves in Hawaii, and biked, canoed, caved and rock-scrambled throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

They might not vote to repeat it all, namely the 2010 camping trip to a music festival outside Cumberland, Md., when hurricane-force winds and hail drove Cathleen and Kai into a sponsor’s RV for refuge. Or the time 5-year-old Christina rocketed down a natural waterslide in a Shenandoah streambed, lost her footing and disappeared around a blind corner. (By the grace of Mother Nature, she landed in another pool, unscathed, just after I lost sight of her.)

I shudder every time I recall that episode, but, as Hasbach says: “Our species has always been adventurers and risk-takers. That’s part of our deep memory, and when young people don’t get those opportunities to have close calls in the wild, they’re going to seek other channels of risk: drugs, promiscuity and other things. If a kid falls out of a tree and breaks an arm, it can be set. But what if the kid never gets to be in a tree? What are we missing?”

Still, it can be tough to pry children away from sedentary entertainment, which is why you must …

Think like a kid. Maxims such as “We’ll all feel better after we do this,” “No pain, no gain!” and “GET IN THE CAR THIS INSTANT SO WE CAN GO HAVE FUN!” don’t resonate well with the under-10 set.

One tactic: Channel your inner child. On an early-pandemic Saturday, as Kai and Christina were upending our living room in a medieval battle and fiercely resisting our plans for a hike, Cathleen suggested relocating the drama to the evil lord’s fortress — in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. By midday, armed with foam axes, plastic swords and a convoluted storyline, we were powering through an eight-mile tromp with nary a complaint.

When all else fails, invite their friends. Kids would rather crawl across broken glass in a vacant lot with their friends than ski in Aspen, Colo., alone, so recruit accordingly. And once you’re out there …

Don’t push it too hard. My cousin Timmy, a former ski patroller in Utah, recounts the time he led his 4-year-old son, Griffin, down a double-black-diamond run after Griffin had successfully skied a couple of single-black-diamonds. “I knew he had the skill to ski it, but he just freaked out,” Timmy said. “I had to carry him down. He refused to ski for three years after that.” Although now, Griffin, at age 16, is a world-class competitor in the grueling sport of ski mountaineering, so make of that what you will.

In general, it’s best to open the door to possibility and let the child determine the intensity level. Have patience, grasshopper: They’ll ramp it up soon enough.

But definitely push it. Children are factory-set for adversity, insulated with fast-healing bodies and an innate sense of adventure and danger. “Things rarely go as planned out in the wild,” Hasbach says. “So kids have to learn flexibility, problem-solving, resilience, and all those things contribute to self-confidence.”

A couple of years ago, we found ourselves pedaling mountain bikes up a seemingly endless Appalachian fire road, and the long, flowy, downhill trail we’d heard about was nowhere in sight. With a mutiny brewing, I recalled the Navy SEAL tactic of assessing a big challenge as a series of smaller ones.

“If we make it around that next bend, it’ll get easier,” I lied to Christina. (Cathleen, with far more sincerity, promised her a cookie.) When the next bend, and the three after it, revealed only more uphill and Christina summoned curses upon my soul, I pushed both of our bikes while singing show tunes with her until we crested the ridge and rolled, to her audible woo-hoos, down a laurel-lined, three-mile trail and back to our campsite.

Never show you’re worried — especially when you are. Lost in the Adirondacks? Out of water in the desert? Fighting upriver in a canoe as a thunderstorm bears down on the gorge? Been there, and even as the hair on my neck sprang to attention, I managed a cheery, all-in-a-day’s-fun demeanor. Ask my children for the first rule of adventuring, and you’ll hear, in two-part harmony: “Never panic.”

What matters most to children is the same thing that matters to us: sharing invigorating experiences with the people we love. And for that, I have yet to find anything that measures up to the outdoors. One day way too soon, Cathleen and I will be excluded from many of our children’s adventures. But until then, they’re stuck with us, somewhere outdoors, living wild.