When you are a college student, a simple trip to the market could break the bank. This is why traveling can seem out of the question while you are in college. However, if you get creative, you could travel to your dream location and save money doing it. When it comes down to it, you want to think about creating a budget, but you also want to find the most affordable mode of travel. Some modes of travel, like taking a plane, can be expensive. This is especially the case during the peak travel times. Here are five money-saving travel tips for college students.

1.    Tap into family gifts – your parents may be able to help out with some of the costs. Aren’t parents great? There is a good chance that your parents would be happy to chip in – even it’s for a birthday gift or for an upcoming graduation. No matter what time of year, it won’t hurt to ask. If you can’t ask your parents, consider if there is someone else in your family that would be willing to pitch in.

2.    Go into your savings – you may have a little savings tucked away in the bank. If this is the case, you want to jump in and carve a little corner out for your travels. If the savings are purely for your education, you may be able to argue that a little downtime is critical for your studies. Of course, you don’t want to deplete your savings, but you can budget accordingly and take a little slice. If the account is protected, you may want to ask the owner of the account to allow you access.

3.    Pool your finances together with friends – if you really want to save money, you may want to think about sharing the expenses with friends. For instance, if you want to head to Atlantic city, you may want to do an Atlantic City hotel search and then find out how much you and your friends will owe. There is a good chance that it is a lot lower than if you paid for the hotel all on your own. The same goes for a lot of other expenses including food and entertainment.

4.    Take a less expensive mode of transportation – for instance, you may want to take a train or shuttle as opposed to a plane. Shuttles are great because many of them have WIFI access and you can connect with people while you are on the road. If you don’t want to take a shuttle, there is always a train.

5.    Take a staycation – if you really want to save, maybe you want to splurge on a hotel in town for a night. This is a great way to feel like you are on vacation without spending a fortune.  If you know of a good hotel around you, or even if your parents have a house with a pool, you can have one of the greatest staycations and save a fortune.