How To Save Money Flying To a Camping Festival
When I was invited by my group of friends to go festival camping this upcoming summer, I was excited to gain the experience. However, with the location being so far away, I wondered how we would travel with all of our camping gear, without breaking the bank.
How can you save money flying to a camping festival? When you are flying to a camping festival, you will obviously need to bring a lot more gear and baggage weight than a normal flight. In order to save some money, you should bring only what you need and split bags between passengers to avoid extra baggage fees.
In addition to packing light and only bringing what you are really going to need, you should work on finding the cheapest possible airfare. This is a huge component that will contribute to the overall amount that you spend while traveling.
While attending a music festival, there are usually two options on your hands as far as sleeping accommodations go: you can stay at a nearby hotel, or you can pitch a tent and go camping right on the festival grounds.
Festival camping can be the most convenient option for those who are in driving distance of the location, but what about the music fans who want to camp but live a little bit too far away? Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about flying to a camping festival and saving money while you do it.
How To Save Money Flying To a Camping Festival
When it comes to getting on a plane and flying to a camping festival, you will obviously need to bring a huge packing list in order to be comfortable. So, how can you do this without spending a huge amount of money along with it?
In this section, we will be hitting the main points of this question. Take a look at the list down below to find the biggest factors that you will need to consider in doing this.
Here are some ways that you can save money flying to a camping festival:
- Try to find the cheapest airfare
- Cut down on baggage (to avoid fees)
The first thing that will determine how much you spend while flying to a camping festival is how much your airline ticket costs. If you are able to cut down on this expense by finding the best possible flight deals, you will easily be able to knock down the overall cost of your travels.
In addition to the flight ticket itself, you will also need to consider how much luggage you are bringing. When you take a flight anywhere, you are usually allowed to bring one carry on bag and another personal item on the plane with you.
Some airlines allow a checked bag, which is a larger suitcase that you will not take on the seat of the plane with you, but this usually costs more, especially when you are flying with a budget airline.
As a result, you will need to make sure that you can stuff everything that you possibly can into your checked bag and personal item. That way, you will be able to stick with your original airfare price and not have to worry about all of the extra fees.
Now that we have gone over the two main points that are related to saving money on a flight while going festival camping, we will begin to elaborate on each factor throughout the next sections of this article.
Keep reading to get all of the details on finding cheap flights for your festival camping trip and packing your things efficiently, and as cheaply as possible.
The Best Ways To Find Cheap Flights Online
As mentioned in the previous section, one of the biggest components of the money that you will spend while flying to a camping festival is also the most obvious expense: your airline tickets.
When you are going to a camping festival, or any other kind of vacation for that matter, you will probably end up spending the most money on your flight out of anything. This will, of course, depend on where you are coming from as far as distance and specific location, but all in all, you can expect to spend a significant amount on your ticket.
While it is true that taking a flight cannot really be avoided, unless you want to drive for days on end across the country or you happen to own a very durable boat to navigate overseas all on your own.
With that being said, the next step that you can take is trying to save money on your flight. All of the resources that are provided by the internet are more than helpful in this case.
In this section, we will be going over the best ways to find cheap flights online, from where to look all the way to the particular strategies that you can use to find your tickets.
Take a look at the list down below to get some insight, and keep reading for all of the details on the topic.
The Best Ways To Find Cheap Flights Online:
- Cover all your bases
- Check budget airline websites directly
- Know your airports and find a loophole
- Be willing to grab a connecting flight instead
- Settle for the worst seats on the plane
- Book in advance
- Be flexible with your travel dates if possible
When you are trying to find the best possible deal on the Internet for airline tickets, it is very important to cover all of your bases. In other words, you should comb the internet and look into every possible source before you settle for a particular rate.
As an example, think about buying a particular product that you need for your home from the very first store that you find it. You might be happy with the discount that this retailer advertised, but then you walk by another store and notice an even bigger sale on the same item.
All in all, you will not know that you are getting the lowest price if you don’t know what any of the average prices are. You will essentially be going in blind, not knowing if you are really getting a deal or not.
Some of your bases can include checking budget airline websites directly. While some other travel sites might mark up the prices slightly, you can get the lowest prices straight from the source.
It is vital that you do your research on the budget airlines that operate in your area or fly in and out of your departing airport. This will help you to get acquainted with which big names are going to offer the deals, and which ones charge a premium instead.
In addition, you should know your airports and try to find a loophole. Usually, the main airport in a big city will be more expensive to fly out of than a smaller one that is located a little bit out of the way.
The same thing goes for the airport that you arrive to. If you are able to find some kind of hidden deal through an airport that nobody really thinks of, you can really win when it comes to price.
It is very common for the connecting flight tickets to be a lot cheaper than the nonstop flights. This is due to the fact that they are usually the least desirable option, but when you are trying to save money while traveling with a bunch of camping gear, you really have nothing to lose.
Similarly, you will likely need to sacrifice the quality of your seat and find the worst one. Instead of booking first class, you will probably be in the very back corner of the plane.
With all of these things combined, it might sound like a pretty miserable flight. However, if you keep in mind all of the savings that you are collecting along the way, you will be glad that you made the sacrifice.
When it comes to finding cheap flight tickets, booking in advance is always the way to go. This will be even more helpful if you are booking several months before your date of travel. In most cases, the prices will be significantly marked up when you are waiting until the last minute, because the airlines know the flight is in higher demand.
If at all possible, you should be flexible with your travel dates. When you are looking on Google Flights initially, or any other travel website for your tickets, you might notice that a few days before your target date is significantly cheaper.
If you are able to make the proper arrangements to be there ahead of time, you can save even more money on your plane tickets. At that point, all of the camping gear that you are lugging behind you won’t even make a dent in your wallet!
How To Pack Up Camping Gear For a Flight
Now that we have thoroughly gone over how you can save money on your flight to a camping festival, it is time to discuss the other huge component in the overall cost of your travels: your camping gear.
If you have ever been camping before, then you know exactly what is involved in loading up all of the gear, setting it up, and repeating the process.
For a typical camping trip in the woods, you will probably bring a large tent or multiple, the setup components including stakes, ropes, and a mallet, your sleeping equipment, a mattress or cot, along with a whole truckload of your camp kitchen gear.
The point of this conversation is to highlight the fact that the huge packing list that comes along with camping is no secret to those of use who are experienced in the activity.
Along with the space that camping gear takes up, it can also weigh a lot, especially when you put it all together.
When you are going on a plane, everything that you bring with you is placed on a scale and measured for dimensions in order to follow the specific guidelines that the airlines set in place.
With that being said, you will not only have to bring a lot of stuff with you, but you will also have to make sure that you are packing it correctly in order to still save money during your travels.
To make this process a lot easier and avoid the common packing mistakes, we will be going over how you can assemble and put together all of your camping gear before your flight to the festival. Keep reading to get all of the details.
How To Pack Up Camping Gear For a Flight:
Understand what you can take on board with you
Only bring the necessities with you
Split bags between passengers (if traveling with multiple people)
Use compression bags and packing cubes
The very first thing that you will need to do before you can start your process of packing up your things is to understand what you can and cannot take on board with you.
When it comes to flying on a plane, there are so many specific regulations that must be followed, and you don’t want to break any of them. Otherwise, you might have to leave something behind or pay a hefty fee that you weren’t expecting.
For example, you might be wanting to bring your compact camping stove with you on your carry on bag. This will usually not be allowed if it is full of fuel, but you might be able to get away with it if the fuel tank is completely empty. This will vary between specific airlines, though.
By knowing exactly what is allowed on the plane and confirming it with a company representative on the phone, you can avoid all of these common mistakes, and know exactly what you are walking into when you step into the airport.
Once you have figured out what will be allowed on the plane, you will need to prioritize all of your items and only bring the necessities with you. While it would probably be nice to have a 5 bedroom tent with a patio and a set of lawn chairs with you at the festival, this will not be convenient or cheap to bring with you on the plane.
When you are going through and creating a detailed packing list, you should consider only what you will really need to bring with you. For example, you will definitely need a small tent and a sleeping bag to survive your trip, but you can also choose to go an even more minimalistic approach.
Instead of bringing the entire tent setup with you, you can choose to pack a folded up hammock instead. This way, you can hang it on a pair of trees quickly when you get there and not worry about the process of carrying and assembling an entire tent.
The same thing goes for your food and hygiene products. Travel sized everything will be your best friend, along with dehydrated and powdered ingredients. The less space and weight that everything takes up in your bags, the better.
To split up the weight and avoid all of the extra baggage fees, you can split up your luggage between passengers. For example, if one person is carrying 2 duffel bags and a backpack all on their own, they will most likely be charged for at least one of the bags.
However, if another passenger took one of the extra bags or everything was strategically split up into each person’s baggage allowance, you can easily get rid of the additional cost.
You can use compression bags to tightly pack the camping gear that you do need, in order to make the dimensions a little bit smaller. You can also make good use of packing cubes, or something similar, to make sure that everything fits into a smaller area.
As you can see, taking a flight to go festival camping is not as much of a drag as you might have assumed it to be when you first heard the idea. While it is true that most people will load up the trunk of their car and drive to the campsite for added convenience, that does not necessarily mean that it is the only way to do it.
Sure, flying with camping gear on the plane can seem like a daunting task and a bit of a nuisance, but as you can see through the tips that were offered in this article, you can actually do a lot on your part in order to avoid the inconveniences that might come with this activity for someone who is not as prepared.
All in all, as long as you find a way to save money by getting a cheap airline ticket and you pack your gear wisely, you shouldn’t have any problems on your next festival camping trip.
