I’ve been asked a few times for tips on traveling, so while I’m on a trip and thinking about it, I thought I would share my favorite tips and tricks.
1–Use a credit card to get started. We opened up an American Express Sky Miles card because if we spent so much money within a certain time, we would earn a free domestic ticket. (I am NOT endorsing getting into debt. James and I have had a credit card since we got married and have never carried a balance. In our minds, it’s a debit card that gives us points for using.). Then use your free domestic trip to get miles. Of course, you need to set-up an account with whichever airline you choose to travel with. We actually have two, Delta and United. We have now switched to a Master Card because it lets us redeem our points as a travel credit. We use our card for almost every purchase we make so that every dollar we spend is earning us points to use for our travels. There is a bit of researching to do to find what you are looking for, but it will pay off.
2-When deciding where to go it works better if you are flexible. Sometimes it works best to fly to the cheapest place overseas, then from there fly to your destination of choice. For example, two years ago we wanted to go to Jerusalem, but it was $2300 from Salt Lake to Jerusalem (way too expensive). However, if we flew to Istanbul it was only $700 and from Istanbul to Jerusalem it was $200. Much cheaper, so that’s what we did. There is such a thing as “Hidden City” This is where your destination is a piece of a longer flight. You would have to book 2 1-way tickets. For instance, if you want to fly Salt Lake to Paris non-stop and it’s $1500, looking around you might find that there is a flight from Salt Lake city to Amsterdam and the first flight is a non-stop from Salt Lake City to Paris and the whole flight is only $900, you can book that flight, pack only carry-on and get off in Paris. On the return trip, maybe you can find a trip from Paris to Los Angeles with a stop-over in Salt Lake City that is cheaper than directly flying from Paris to Salt Lake. (As in all things worthwhile, there is generally a lot of planning, researching, and waiting to accomplish your desired goal. Just be patient, it will pay off). Also, If there is a destination that you really have to visit, use a website such as Kayak, and set up a “fare-alert” to let you know when your destination gets into your price range. There are many different websites to use, when looking for airfare, our favorite just happens to be Kayak.com
3–Now that you have a place to go, how do you know what to do while you’re there? Our favorite website is Viator.com You tell it where you are going, and it tells you the top things to see and do in different categories. You can book trips right off the website, or it can just give you ideas of things to do on your own. In addition, we usually purchase an Eyewitness travel book for our destination, because we love all of the walking tours, maps, and information these books contain. TripAdvisor also has a great wealth of knowledge on things to see and do, (with advice from people who have used it) and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER underestimate the advice of locals. Once you get to your destination, I highly recommend you ask, the hotel clerk, taxi/shuttle driver what the top things to see, do, or places to eat are. (We have had some of our greatest travel experiences by following the advice of the locals.) Sometimes there are also local guides and tour companies that you can bargain with for a good deal on a tour while there at your destination.
4–Where to stay? We have found that traveling overseas the hotel rates become exponentially expensive. Stateside you can usually cram as many people into a room as you wish, overseas you have to book a room based on the number of occupants with the most people in one room being 4 (but usually only 2) If you have more, you must book more than one room. Thus, staying in hotels is more expensive. We have opted to stay in apartments, not only is it cheaper, but it is fun living like a local. We feel it is just one more way to truly feel like a local. Plus, we like how it teaches our kids to be responsible and clean up after themselves. (No maid service) Our favorite website for apartments is airbnb.com. (Also when looking for an apartment, sometimes reading through the reviews you will find that the apartment owner is also a travel guide. That is how we were able to book our travel guide in Beijing, he was the owner of the apartment we stayed in. We were able to book his services for the entire week we were there. We let him decide what things we should see and do and we had a fantastic trip!)
5–Food. We LOVE eating street food. Not only is it cheaper, but it is the food of the locals. We do however, like to eat at a nicer restaurant at least once. Most restaurants overseas add a service fee when dining in. (The cost comparison between eating street food versus restaurant food is about the difference between Chic-fil-A and Olive Garden). Apartments also help save money on food costs. We enjoy being able to go to the local markets and buy our own food. We can store water/ drinks in our fridge, cook our own meals, and have plenty of space to store snacks. We always travel with our camelback backpack. Ours holds 1.5Liters of water and is fantastic to have all that water available without having to hold bottles in our hands. The camelback also has plenty of room for kleenex/wet wipes, hand sanitizer, travel books, maps, bandaids, medicines, and snacks. (You really will want to carry it with you everyday. Especially for the kleenex and hand sanitizer as lots of bathrooms don’t have toilet paper or soap. The camelback is great on the airplane as a carry-on for keeping headphones, treats, and coloring books/games for entertainment.) We also use water bottles in our camelback as well as our flavored water packages to add to the water. This saves on having to buy drinks with our meals. You can get 10 flavored drink packets for just $1 (each packet can flavor a 16 oz water bottle) and a can of Coke or Fanta (12 oz) overseas can easily cost $2.
6–Saving. As much work as it is in finding airfare, a place to stay, things to see and do, and food to eat; it’s probably just as much work if not more in actually creating a budget and sticking with it to pay for this amazing travel experience. If you are serious about traveling, then it takes some serious time going through your finances to decide what is most important and where you want to spend your hard-earned money. (I must admit that my having a job has given us greater flexibility and a slightly better budget to work with but I know that’s not always possible for Mom’s to work as well). We have decided what our travel budget is for the year, then we have automatic payments coming out with every paycheck into our travel fund. We use a cash-based system for our food and household items. When the money is gone-it’s gone. Using cash has really helped determine if something is a need or a want and whether we need it now or if we can wait until the next paycheck. Sometimes it just about going to the most basic and simple way of doing things.
I hope this has been an interesting read and gets you thinking about how and where you are going to travel. I promise you all the work is truly worth it. I’ve been bitten by the travel bug and I hope once you start, you will be bitten as well. This world of ours is one amazing and fantastic place, so go out and discover!
To recap here are some of our favorite websites:
Http://kayak.com– for finding airfare and setting fare alerts
http://airbnb–apartment and perhaps tour guide
and don’t forget to sign-up for a credit card to start earning point/miles and set-up an account with your favorite airline (or 2) to start collecting those miles.
twototes 