7 Unusual Ways to Pay for Your Trip

Put A Trip On Layaway

Travel-layaway programs, which allow travelers to reserve a trip and pay off the cost of their purchase as their departure dates approach, are a popular new way to book trips. Travel-booking site Sears Vacations' Vacation Layaway program sprang up early last summer. But the site, which charges $9 per month on top of regularly scheduled payments, might not be the most cost-effective way for travelers to save for a vacation.

Good thing there are other layaway programs out there. Gate 1 Travel offers a layaway program that requires up to a $200 deposit and allows travelers to pay off trips over time. You must pay for your vacation at least 45 days prior to your departure date, but Gate 1 Travel doesn't charge interest or monthly fees—hooray.

Most of you reading this probably aren't in the throes of a passionate engagement. But the trip-as-wedding-gift trend is nonetheless worth mentioning, as honeymoon-registry sites have been multiplying like rabbits in recent years. Trade the toaster for a trip to Paris, Tahiti, or some other storybook post-nuptial spot by signing up with a site like The Big Day, Honeyfund, or Traveler's Joy. Most of these sites allow wedding guests to pay for part of a registered couple's honeymoon, whether by gifting straight-up cash or covering specific excursions or hotel stays.

Request a Trip for Any Special Occasion

Birthdays, promotions, graduations, and anniversaries can be leveraged to attain seed money for your next big adventure. Just create an account with new start-up site myTab, an e-gift platform that helps users score cash for travel. To get started, put together a myTab page with your trip-budget goal and share it with friends and family. Those who want to throw a little love your way can purchase an e-gift card to help pay off your dream trip. If you go the myTab route, you'll have to buy your trip through the site itself. But since myTab is partnered with Expedia, you'll have access to the same range of flight, hotel, and package offerings you'd likely find on any major booking site.

When friends ask you what you want for your birthday, tell them to "put it on myTab." Yuk, yuk.

Ask Your Grandparents

Those not above soliciting older generations for cash gifts, take heed. Grandparents.com has an idea for you: Apply for a travel grant from your most senior progenitors. (Generous parents would work just as well, we think.) According to Lisa Sonne of Grandparents.com, "An idea emerged from our Travel with Grandparents Group: Grandchildren applying to their grandparents for a travel grant, for the purpose of a shared trip. The concept gives children the opportunity to choose where they want to go, do research on their chosen destination, and write a proposal as to why they want to visit that specific place. We thought, what a terrific idea."

As the cliche goes, it never hurts to ask. If Grandpop or Nonna is a likely candidate for a travel-fund donation, a formal grant request is a charming way to politely make a bid for a little travel cash. Throw in some homemade macaroni necklaces to seal the deal.

Get a Grant

In place of putting together a made-up travel grant for your parents or grandparents, you could, of course, apply for a real one. Students, researchers, volunteers, and teachers can obtain travel grants through various public and private agencies. Your trip has to have some kind of educational or developmental purpose to be grant-worthy. But if you think you might meet the requirements, it can't hurt to look into the many programs that offer considerable travel funds for qualified globetrotters.

Find a good list of programs on Matador Network. StudyAbroad.com also has a useful list of travel grants and scholarships for which students can apply.

Get A Group Together

Having trouble paying for your next jaunt? Invite a few friends. The more people you can get to pool money into a single getaway, the better. Groups of travelers hitting the road together can see huge savings on packages, accommodations, and more, whether by taking advantage of low-priced vacation rentals or snapping up discounted group package rates.

Aer Lingus, for example, regularly offers discounted Ireland packages for groups of four or more people traveling together, with prices that drop much lower than the rates for couples.

Crowd Fund

Take a cue from Kickstarter and politely ask the masses to pay for your getaway. Though you can't use Kickstarter—a site dedicated to financing creative projects—for travel funding, other crowd-funding sites like Indiegogo and GoFundMe are good places to start.

Why would anyone want to pay for your vacation? Sometimes donors promise money simply because they want to help a person achieve a goal. The travelers planning this educational tour of Costa Rica, for example, have raised a few thousand dollars without offering any bonus goodies. But other fundraisers invite donations by guaranteeing special prizes and benefits. Blake Boles of Matador Network suggests travelers leverage personal skills in order to gain traction on crowd-funding sites: "For $100, offer to custom-design a website or blog—a great reward for older, computer-phobic people. For $300, offer to tutor someone in music theory over Skype. For $50, craft a purse made from recycled plastic bags. If you have a skill that could be offered over Elance, Etsy, or Craigslist, you have a potential crowd-funding reward."

How do you pay for your travels? Share your tips in the comments!

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