By Arry Schofield —

Spring break is a much needed time away from school, so why not go big? The thought of traveling scares college students because of how costly it can be, but if you’re careful, it doesn’t have to break the bank.

Here’s some tips on cheap travel:

AirBnB

Want to live like a local? AirBnB makes it easy. You can choose to rent a single room, or an entire house, depending on your budget or who you’re traveling with. For most places, renting a single room can be as low as $30 per night, which beats the high rate of hotel rooms.

AirBnB homes tend to be cleaner than hotels. The host’s reputation depends on how well the reviews for their home is, whereas at a hotel you don’t know what bugs or weird stains you might encounter.

Hosts using AirBnB are generally very accommodating, most of the time offering free coffee, snacks and guides for the area. They do live there after all, so they have the best knowledge of fun things to do while you’re in town.

Google Flights

Google Flights is the holy grail of flight tracking websites. You don’t even have to have a destination in mind to see flight prices across the world. Found a flight but you’re not ready to purchase? Google Flights lets you track the ticket prices. Every time the price changes, Google notifies you so you can catch the lowest price.

Pack light

Many budget-friendly airlines charge expensive fees for checked luggage. Avoid these entirely by learning how to pack light. It may sound tempting, but you don’t need to bring 24 shirts on a five day vacation. Choose outfits that can easily be layered so you can adapt to the temperature changes.

Going somewhere cold? No matter where you’re flying from, wear your coat on the plane.

Destination

This is the most important factor of all. Where do you want to go? Short road trips are usually the cheapest travel option, with cities like Nashville, Cincinnati and Chicago within driving distance.

If you put in the research and track flights, a round-trip ticket to New York City or San Antonio can be as low as $72.

International travel, of course, will be much more expensive.  Most countries in Asia and Africa have a much lower cost of living than Europe but can still satisfy the travel bug. To save on airfare, pay attention to detail. Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy separate one-way tickets rather than a round trip. If you take this route, traveling to more than one country can be hundreds of dollars cheaper.