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What does the word ‘travel’ mean to you? Does it mean going on a beach holiday? Does it mean getting in your car and driving somewhere? Or does it mean a backpacking adventure?

The truth of the matter is that there is no solid definition of what travel means. Travel is loosely about taking a journey, but what kind of journey?

The great thing about this conundrum is that you are free to travel in your own comfort zone, meaning you don’t have to be off trekking Machu Picchu to say you’ve travelled, although that would be pretty awesome.

I think most of us would say we wish we could travel more, but the basic fact is that travel costs money, and when you have a house to keep, a car to run, and bills to pay, you can’t just up sticks and travel the world whenever you feel like it. This is why I prefer to go on several smaller holidays per year, and I try and immerse myself in as much of the culture as possible whilst I’m there. You can easily cut a few costs on your travel, which will enable you to see more, and if you’re clever with how you book your flight, you could grab yourself a bargain.

One of the secrets of budget travel which I stumbled upon last year was the idea of traveling from a different airport to the one I normally would, and taking advantage of lower airfares as a result. I booked a hotel through Airport Hotels.com, and travelled down there in leisure and comfort, knowing that I would be calm and collected when I arrived at the airport, and I would have had enough rest to see me through the day. This is something I would recommend to anyone, and the costs are surprisingly low. I’ve stayed at many Manchester Airport hotels when taking advantage of lower airfares from larger airports, compared to more regional ones, and it has certainly enabled me to see more as a result.

If you are looking at booking a holiday to one of the popular summer tourist hotspots, such as Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, or Egypt, then you can still head off and explore a little during your time away, without making it an epic adventure of backpacking proportions. Most tourist resorts are surrounded by small towns and villages, as well as many areas of cultural significance, and reaching them could be as simple as hopping on a bus.

Travel is about what you are comfortable with, and experiencing differences to what you normally would in your own day to day life.

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