Several years ago, I became much more interested in living the life I had always dreamed of rather than one that only seemed to go on in a forever and vicious cycle of working to pay the bills. I wanted to travel and see the world. I bought maps, one of the U.S.A. and one of the world, and I pinned them to the bedroom wall. We started marking all the places we've been with a goal in mind to visit all 50 states and many different countries. I began reading articles about travel with the simple intention of just dreaming about going to some of those places some day. Then I began coming across more articles related to traveling on a budget, how to get travel discounts and travel deals. In the last two years we've taken a family vacation to Puerto Rico, celebrated Christmas in Hilton Head, South Carolina, then New Year's in Miami,Florida before visiting Atlanta, Georgia on our way home. At the end of this month we'll be vacationing in New York City and we're currently working on plans for a Maine vacation in the fall. In the spring of 2017 my husband and I will be jetting across the Atlantic to Italy. There are so many ways to save on travel and if you plan ahead and do some research, you can travel on just about any budget. I truly believe that traveling changes your soul. I'm sharing some of the best tips and tricks for getting excellent travel deals that have worked for my family below. If you dream of traveling more, or just being able to take an occasional trip somewhere, you can make it a reality.
Sign up for the frequent flyer rewards program for all of the major airlines, even if you rarely fly.
Listen, it's free to sign up. You don't need to sign up for their credit cards, just the loyalty programs. Once you sign up, be sure to save your log in credentials somewhere they will never be lost or deleted, because trust me when I tell you, if you don't use it often, you'll be highly upset when the time comes to know that information on the spot and you can't find it. Make sure you register with the same name you have on your driver's license or passport, as the registration will be linked to any tickets you purchase through that airline, should you ever decide to buy a plane ticket through that airline at some point. There are some bonus incentives to sign up for their credit cards, but it's not a requirement. Every airline's program works differently and has different rules but they all offer other simple ways you can earn points besides flying. Most of them have an online "mall" where you can click on a link to your favorite stores through their mall, and earn point. I'm telling you, I've earned crazy points just shopping online at my favorite stores, Macy's, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Kohl's, Amazon, even auto parts stores. I once ordered new tires for my car online and earned over 1000 frequent flyer miles by doing so. I've sent flowers to funerals and earned points. Is that tacky? I don't know, perhaps, but the receiving family had no idea and I would have used that same online floral arrangements store anyway. Some of the programs reward you for eating at your favorite restaurants and then give bonus points for giving the restaurants reviews afterwards. Some have surveys you can do, and let me just say, I'm not a big fan of surveys online, but if you're just watching television and killing time, you can earn airline miles while you do it! If you're more of a road trip kind of person, you can link your flyer rewards numbers to specific hotel chains or car rental companies and earn points that way. If you notice that several of the airlines offer the same stores in their online shopping selections, pick one airline as your primary "online shopping" go to, so you earn the most points there. The points rack up pretty quickly if you're vigilant and in no time, you'll have earned enough to pay for a plane ticket using only points or at least a significant portion of your ticket.
Use sites like VRBO and AirBnB.
There are some horror stories out there about staying at someone's private property, and the horrors go both ways for renters and property owners alike. However, if you stay somewhere with established and consistently high reviews, you will be fine. Be sure to complete your profile fully and include a photo. The properties are frequently less expensive than hotels with more amenities and often you get a more local feel for the area you're staying in, even it's a touristy type of town. I've never personally stayed in a "Spare Room" or "Available Couch" experience, we've always rented the entire home to ourselves. However, if you're comfortable doing so, the prices are even less. I like to email the property owner after I have checked out the photos, information and reviews online. Be sure to search on the dates or approximate dates you intend to stay as the prices can fluctuate based on demand during events and peak seasons. Check out individual property rules, as the owners may or may not choose to include things like daily housekeeping, towels, food and so on. It's best to know ahead of time if you're expected to bring your own shampoo and soap! These are usually included but every owner has the right to choose different amenities and rules and you need to be aware of them before you book.
Once I've decided on a couple of places as possibilities I will email the listed owners and I introduce myself to tell them about my plans and what I'd like to accomplish or desire for my trip. If you're friendly and professional, you can often negotiate an even lesser price than the one they have listed for the dates you plan to stay, especially if you are ready to pay up front. Either way, it never hurts to ask for a discount. Just don't take offense if they can't offer one during the dates you've requested.
Sign up for the travel discount emails.
The travel deals are out there, and there are plenty of places that would love to email you their very own travel deal du jour. I already hear you grumbling that you don't want "spam" cluttering up your inbox, and I get it, I really do! So get an email that does auto sorting to a different folder for promotional messages, or set up rules in your account profile for travel messages. Go a step further and create an email account especially for travel. Sites like Groupon or Travel Zoo offer some really fantastic deals. Some of them include flights, hotels and car rentals as a package. If you're flexible about your travel dates and even your destinations, you can get to plenty of amazing destinations for extremely lower than usual rates. Sometimes the packages even allow you to make payments on your trip. The one down side to these deals is that you have to be ready to purchase now, or at least make a down payment quickly. Be sure to use those airline and hotel loyalty numbers for your hotels and flights booked this way!
Plan ahead.
I really can't stress this enough. The earlier you plan ahead, the less expensive your travel will most likely be. You also have the advantage of not having to pay for everything at once when you plan several months to a year ahead. My husband and I "save" for trips by buying them in small pieces. We buy flights or car rental one month, perhaps three months later, property rental or hotel stay, paid up front, finally maybe a couple of months after that we might schedule and pay for any tours, public transit passes or event tickets. I like to arrange trips so that by the time we leave, the only thing we have to worry about paying for while we're traveling is our food and some of our entertainment.
Be flexible!
If you have the option to do so, be flexible with your dates of travel. You can plug in the name of two cities, such as "Indianapolis to Las Vegas" and get flight prices. The search engines and most airline websites offer a "flexible dates" grid where you can select a range of dates with a plus or minus of three to five days. This allows you to see prices if you depart or return on days ahead or after of your originally selected dates. You can save hundreds of dollars just by leaving a day earlier and returning a day later sometimes. When I pay for our trips in pieces, I always get the transportation first, but I always check on the availability of our two or three most preferred places to stay as well. Pinning down and paying for the transportation gives me the solid dates I need when I'm ready to pay for my accommodations. If I have a few top choices in the area to select from, I'm less likely to be disappointed if I have to wait a few months to pay for the place, only to learn it's sold out by the time I'm ready.
Travel during the off peak seasons.
If you're planning to vacation in a tourist packed location, you will get much better pricing if you travel slightly before or after peak seasons. Of course you may want to also avoid the peak time for a locations worst weather, but do a bit of research beforehand. For example, I once visited Phoenix, Arizona in July. Sure, it was hot, but it was amazing. We drove north to the Grand Canyon during our stay and the rainbows we saw after very little rain during our drive were awe inspiring. Northern Arizona wasn't nearly as hot and the canyon was breathtaking. Phoenix does have a definite monsoon season and we did not go during that time. When we travel to Italy next spring, research shows that the best time to visit starts in April and the airfares and hotels raise their prices considerably at exactly that time. So we saved thousands—yes, thousands of dollars—going at the end of March. It may be a little cooler and we may need to bundle up a bit, but it's a Tuscany vacation, so that seems like a fair trade off to me.
Do the research.
You've found a travel deal and you're ready to commit. You've never been to the place, and even though the pictures look great, you really have no idea what is nearby or what exactly the weather may be during the time you want to go. This is the age of the internet. You can find answers to all your questions about your destination in a matter of minutes. Don't be afraid to look up "Average weather conditions for San Pedro in October" or "Best time of the year to visit San Diego". I know I said to avoid peak travel times, but that doesn't mean you don't want to visit close to those times. You'll also want to know things like what types of restaurants are within walking distance, what is the public transit like and how close is it to where you're staying. If you're in a major city with a good public transit system, do they offer week long visitor passes to ride at a discounted rate? Are there discounts for buying tickets to sites ahead of time or in combination with other attractions? Is it less expensive to fly in or out of alternative nearby airports, for example, driving two hours, then flying out of Cincinnati rather than Indianapolis is often quite a bit less expensive, even taking into account the daily parking rate at the Cincinnati airport if you can't get someone to drop you off there. Or you could purchase MegaBus tickets to one of the nearby major cities for $15 or so and then Uber your way to the airport in that city.
