Cutting Costs to Save for Travel

I follow a lot of travelers on social media that just travel full time. Sometimes they write articles on how they are able to afford to do all that traveling without having a job. Thats all well and good but what about those of us that have a job, a house, a family (dogs, kids, whatever)? How are we supposed to travel if we can't just drop everything? Here are some things we do to save:

Every year since we have been married we have taken a vacation; some might even say a fancy-shmancy vacation. In 2010 we went to Key West, Florida; in 2011 we took our first trip to Hawaii Island and then went back in and visited Kauai in 2012. We skipped 2013 because we bought a new house and in 2014 we went on a mini tour of Europe and Chicago.

We don’t travel as much as I'd like to; we're constrained by distance (the US is a big place) and vacation time (on average Americans only get 13 vacation days a year... we get 15).  And we don’t travel as much as my ex-pat bloggers do (those luck ducks)! But I wanted to share a few things that we cut back on so we can save more money and in turn take a fantastic vacation every year.

1 - We use the United MileagePlus credit card with Chase to its fullest. We put everything on it, even the $4.00 convenience store purchases. All of our bills go on this card and we even used it when we bought our new car. Keep in mind that we pay this off at the end of each month, if you aren't paying it off you're actually paying them for your points.

We also just opened our first hotel rewards credit card and are planning on using those points for three free nights in Hawaii next year.

*there is a lot that goes into using these credit cards. Please make sure you read all the fine print. Email me if you want to discuss more.

2 - Speaking of a new car, we just traded our gas guzzling truck (everyone has one in Texas) in for a Toyota Prius V. Now instead of getting 13 mpg we're getting on average 50 mpg! I can see the savings in gas already!

3 - We don’t have cable. Yes, you read that right, we don’t have cable and we haven’t for about two years. We have an over the air antenna that lets us get all of our local channels for free. We do share a Netflix account with another family member.

4 - We just made the jump from AT&T to Ting for our cellular provider. We were paying $140 a month for our two iPhones and their data plans and now we're looking at paying about $80 a month and we still have our iPhones. Click here to make the switch and save $25!.

To save on the vacation itself, be smart, by a bundle from a travel agent (AAA has great deals) or rent a house instead of staying at a hotel. And if you are staying in a house cook your own meals. Pack your lunch for your outings and skip paying 4,00€ for a soda. We always pack our lunch when we're on vacation. Bring an empty, reusable water bottle with you and fill it up as you go instead of buying a new one every time. 

How do you save for travel? 

And Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans! 

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Travel Without Breaking the Bank in 2014

Yahoo! Travel has compiled a list of places to travel to without breaking the bank in 2014. Here is the list:

Nicaragua: Round trip airfare will run you about $500 and your best value is travel during their green season, May through September.

{La Catedral de Granada in Nicaragua (Photo: courtesy of the Nicaraguan Tourism Board, Source}

The Azores: Only a 4 hour flight from Boston and air and hotel packages starting at $1,099 for a six night stay why wouldn't you want to visit these islands between New England and Lisbon?

French Polynesia: You can spend 5 nights at the InterContinental Moorea Resort, including air for less than $2,000!

Alberta, Canada: Banff and Jasper Nation Parks are known for having some of the lowest hotel and lift tickets in North America. Winter is the off season so go between November and May.

Waikiki, Hawaii: Anytime is a good time to go to Hawaii! Busy season is in the summer and during holidays.

{Blue waters of the Big Island, Hawaii}

Ecuador: Round trip tickets to Quito from New York and Miami have been under $500. Ecuador is a year round destination but its most busy June through August and in December during the holidays.

New York City: This city is full of free attractions to help keep you on your budget. To stay on your budget stay outside of Manhattan.

{From the Top of the Rock}

Mexico City: The city has over 175 museums and four UNESCO World Heritage sites. The best weather is in the spring between March and May.

America's Free Attractions

When you're on a vacation its always fun to find something free to do. After all you spent all this money to get there and then stay there for however long. I love taking advantage of a free museum or park. Below is a list of America's best free attractions in some major cities. Enjoy!

Original article can be found here.

Smithsonian Museums, Washington, D.C.
The National Zoo, National Museum of Natural History, and National Air and Space Museum — which displays The Spirit of St. Louis — are the biggest crowd-pleasers among the Smithsonian's 18 institutions in D.C.

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
Most national parks encourage you to tune into nature; this one celebrates jazz in its birthplace, New Orleans. There’s live music at the visitor center in the French Quarter and the Old U.S. Mint six days a week, and a kids’ music workshop on Saturdays at Perseverance Hall in Louis Armstrong Park. The visitor center also hosts free talks, video documentaries, and exhibits on local jazz history. You can pick up one of two self-guided audio tours, “Jazz Sites in New Orleans” or “Jazz Walk of Fame.” nps.gov

I am going to consider this if I take my Norwegian friend here when she visits!

The Getty Center, Los Angeles
Maximize your time at the Getty by visiting on a Friday or Saturday, when this sprawling hillside art complex is open late — allowing you to take in sunset views. The light-filled museum interiors display an impressive collection of European and American art. What they don’t tell you is that it will cost you $15 to park, or you can take public transportation for less.  

Conservatory at Bellagio, Las Vegas
Take a breather from the hectic atmosphere of Vegas at the Bellagio’s 13,000-square-foot Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. After, step out onto the Strip to witness the light-and-music show put on by the Bellagio fountains.

We stayed here last year when we took my brother for his 21st birthday. Check out the pictures from the fountain and the conservatory. 

Staten Island Ferry, New York City
Even in the most expensive city in America, you can find great deals like free admission nights at MoMA (otherwise $25), discounted Broadway tickets, and lower hotel rates in July and August. Then there’s the thrill of one of the world’s most beautiful ferry rides on the Staten Island commuter ferry — which also happens to be free 24/7. Board at sunset, when Lady Liberty is silhouetted against a pink-and-orange sky. You’ll pass the Statue of Liberty, with a panoramic view of glittering downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Jersey City.

Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia
Folks line up to see the 2,000-pound Liberty Bell — enshrined in glass — and tour Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution drafted. (Look for George Washington’s “rising sun” chair.)

Royal Hawaiian Center, Honolulu
Free cultural programming sets the remodeled Royal Hawaiian Center apart from your average shopping mall. You can drop by for a traditional Hawaiian massage (lomilomi), lei-making, Hawaiian quilting, or a crash course in playing the ukulele or dancing the hula. There are also free performances, including Polynesian song and dance, and hula ‘auana, which is hula’s modern form. It’s an added bonus that parking is unusually affordable for Waikiki: free for an hour with validation. royalhawaiiancenter.com

World's Best Budget Airlines

Travel can be an expensive hobby—you have to figure out where to stay, what do see and do, what to eat, and more important, how to get there, all without breaking the bank. Flying can often be the priciest part of the journey, especially with all the extra baggage fees and other taxes that are involved nowadays. 

--- See full article here.

JetBlue Airways
Perk: Comfy leather seats and televisions for all
Where they fly: Between major cities in the northeast, southeast, and western United States; the Caribbean; select cities in Mexico, Central America, and South America.

Southwest Airlines
Perk: Fun-loving employees and open seating options
Where they fly: Major cities throughout the United States; Nassau, Bahamas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Mexico City, Cancun, and Los Cabos, Mexico.
Personal Experience: I use to fly Southwest all the time from my college town of Lubbock, TX to home. But once I started traveling internationally and moved to Houston (one of United's hubs) I became a loyal United flier (...well actually I was a loyal Continental flier and then United and Continental merged). 

WestJet
Perk: Connecting Canada with the U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean
Where they fly: Major cities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

LAN
Perk: Your gateway to South America! They offer extensive in-flight entertainment options. Each seat has its own television, and you can choose from more than 100 movies, 42 TV shows, 25 games, and even customize your own music playlist.
Where they fly: Miami is the major U.S. hub. Within South America, destinations include Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Guayaquil, Bogotá, LaPaz, and Caracas among others. Domestic flights are also available within Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

EasyJet
Perk: Affordable flights around Europe and the Middle East. (A search from London, for instance, yielded one-way tickets ranging from nearby Edinburgh and Belfast to cities as far away as Berlin, Munich, and Milan for less than $50.)
Where they fly: Throughout the U.K. and between a number of major European cities; Moscow and various cities in Eastern Europe, Morocco, Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Jordan, and Egypt.

RyanAir
Perk: Cheap flights—but watch for extra fees
Where they fly: Various cities around Europe, Morocco, Cyprus, and the Canary Islands.
Personal Experience: They typically fly out of non-major cities and in my case it took more time to get to that city. With the extra bus and train fare I'm not sure I saved any money. 

FastJet
Perk: Africa's first budget airline - one way $20 Domestic flights
Where they fly: From three international airports within Tanzania—Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar—and Mwanza Regional Airport, with more routes expected to open soon in Entebbe, Uganda, and in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya.

Hawaiian Airlines
Perk: Friendly staff, free island maps and POG juice
Where they fly: Honolulu, Hawaii, is the main hub—you can island hop to the other Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island, or fly to the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Tahiti, Singapore, Australia, and American Samoa.
Personal Experience: Flew them from Honolulu to Kauai and I was supper excited because I have always heard such good things. I loved getting a map (that I will use for my scrap book) and the POG juice was a good in-flight treat!

JetStar
Perk: You have the flexibility to choose how many included amenities you want while booking thanks to their cheap base fares and the ability to add extras as you go—the standard ticket price includes one piece of carry-on luggage (a great value for those who tend to pack light), while other variations include seat selection, food, beverages, and in-flight entertainment.
Where they fly: Various cities in Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines.


Have you ever flown with any of these airlines?

Where the Dollar Goes Further: 2013

Smarter Travel has come out with a list of awesome destinations where you can stretch your dollar. Below is the list with some comments :)

1 - Costa Rica - this is on my husbands list of places to go. Its on mine too but further down. Its further down because I feel like we could do this on a long weekend. It would take us the same amount of time to get to Costa Rica as it would for NYC or Las Vegas. Something to do when we want to get away from the kids in the future (when we actually have kids that is).
2 - India
3 - Iceland - this too is on both of ours list. I think Iceland is doable in 5 days. My only issue is that United doesn't fly there and we wont get our points...boo!
4 - Mexico - living in Texas we hear a lot of horror stories about Mexico...so its not really on our list.
5 - Thailand - I think I have expressed on this blog before how much I want to go in within the year! I have my fingers crossed that we have the mileage points to get us there!
6 - Argentina
7 - Hungary - been there and loved it!

8 - Bali - surprised to see this on the list? So was I! But apparently the exchange rate is in the US dollars favor right now - so now is as good a time as any to pack up and head to Bali!
9 - Czech Republic - been there too and loved it!

10 - Ecuador 

10 Ways to Cut Travel Costs

Here are a few tips to help you save when booking your next vacation.

1. Save when the flight is oversold

If you have a flexible travel itinerary this could save you (make you, depending on how you look at it) money. Airlines always overbook flights because there is a good chance someone is going to miss their flight. But in the event that everyone is present and ready to board the airline is going to offer some sweet credits and vouchers for someone that is willing to take a later flight. They could even put you first class on a later flight...SWEET!

2. Talk to the airline

Talking to airlines has gotten me nowhere in the past. The only time I can see this helping you out is if you have multiple destinations and those can get tricky to book online. Plus if you book over the phone there is usually a nice $25 fee associated with it. 

3. Book airfare and hotels

When we have done our trips to Hawaii we have booked air, hotel and car together in a package and it has saved us money no doubt! When looking at just hotel and car you'll pay that same amount if you also book air. Talk to your travel agent before booking a trip.

4. Fly out of a smaller airport

Eh, I have tried this before when I was studying abroad and in the end I don’t think it really saved us money. We flew out of the smaller airport in Oslo and flew into the smaller airport in London and we had to take a train to London and a little longer bus ride to the airport in Oslo. With the cost of the flight and the extra costs from the train and bus I think it would have been a wash. So this one greatly depends on your starting and stopping locations.

5. Choose the days you fly wisely

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are going to be the best days to fly when it comes to saving you money. Since we don’t have kids yet we tend to fly in and out in the middle of the week because that is when there is less travel. On the weekends you get the families leaving for vacations and business people flying back home and then on Mondays you get the business people flying to their work destinations.

6. Time matters

Those 6am flights and the red eyes are going to save you some money and if your down for catching some z's on the plane why not book?!?

7. Book well in advance

We seem to book our trips about 7 - 8 months in advance. And I'll be honest, if the airline allowed me to book over a year in advance I probably would! Since we do book so far in advance we always get travelers insurance to protect us if something happens (illness, natural disaster, family emergency, etc.)

8. Coupon Codes

I personally have never used a coupon code for an airline but I do watch out for sales! I get emails from United, Southwest and American. 

9. Airport Parking

Luckily for us we are able to get uncovered long term parking for about $4 a day and all we have to do is hop on one of their buses and have them drive us to the terminal doors. If this is something that you are thinking about doing make sure you give yourself plenty of time to catch the bus and let it pick up a few more travelers and get to the terminal.

10. Special fares

I remember looking online when I was in college for student airfare and for some reason or another i never booked anything with them. Probably didn't go to the airport I needed or the times weren't right for my schedule. 

5 Things That Can Blow Your Vacation Budget

1. Resort fees – This can be a real budget wrecker, especially if you are staying somewhere for longer than a week. When we went to the Big Island of Hawaii last year we spent $15 a day for self parking and resort fees (they even charged us $15 for our first day even though we arrived at 10pm). And these resort fees did not include internet, computer time at the business center or printing our boarding passes. It's almost like they were charging us again, on top of our room, for staying there. This year we are going to Kauai and our resort fees are $25 but they include internet, parking and introductory Hawaiian culture classes (things like hula, lei making, intro to scuba/snorkel, canoe making, and yoga/Pilates on the beach). I can really see where the resort fee is going and I fully intend on taking a few of these while I am there!

2. Preferred Seating – Sitting on an airplane can be really tough sometimes, and you want nothing more than to be able to stretch out a bit. Well to stretch out for the whole flight might cost you, some airlines charge an additional $80 per seat to sit in the "preferred/more leg room seats. These seats usually consist of bulkhead seats and emergency exits. Certain people don’t like either of these options; with the bulkhead you have to have everything up and put away upon take off and landing. So that means you will have to get up to get your things from the overhead bins during the flight (kind of a hassle). And if you are sitting in an emergency exit that means you are taking the responsibility of opening that door (to save everyone's lives) if the worst happens…personally not something I want to be responsible for.

3. Hotel WiFi – Like I said above, on the Big Island wifi wasn’t included nor did we choose to pay for it. If we wanted wifi it would have cost us $12 a day or $1.75 per 5 minutes on one of their computers. In this day and age internet is not that expensive, if you didn’t have your smart phone you would either have to pay up or be disconnected from the world…we were in Hawaii so being disconnected was kind of the whole idea. And I have often wondered why huge resorts charge for wifi but small/normal hotels don’t.

4. Carry-On Fees – Ugh…another cost that can get you! Here you have a few options to lower/eliminate this cost. Checking your bag can cost you anywhere from $25-$50 depending on the airline, weight and size of your bag. And that $25-$50 is for one way! If you travel for work or plan on taking more than one vacation a year you might consider getting an airline credit card. You will pay a $95 annual fee for having the card but you will gain free checked bags and priority boarding. Both are worth it to me! You can also sit in first class; in first class you'll get free checked bags, food, more leg room, and your bags will be the first off the plane! Worth the price of a first class ticket? Eh, it's hard to say, try bumping up to first class at the ticket counter.

5. Cashing in Miles – When you are cashing in your miles for your trip the miles are only being applied to the actual ticket price. Not the total price which includes taxes and fees. These fees can start around $40 per person for instate flights and can reach $70 per person for out of state flights (and probably over $100 per person for international travel). These fees include: US Federal Transportation Tax, US Flight Segment Tax, September 11^th Security Fee and US Passenger Facility Charge.

Traveling on a Budget: Pt 2

So I know I have talked about this before but I'm going to talk about it again. How to save while on vacation!

Check out this post on finding things to do for free and packing your own food: Traveling on a Budget

And then look at this one on how get airfare and lodging for next to nothing: How to have an Inexpensive Vacation

They both have some really good ideas that I hope you'll check out!

If you have a travel tip of your own, head on over to Budgets Are Sexy to enter his $1,000 giveaway, in partnership with HotelClub

Happy Travels

How to Have an Inexpensive Vacation

So I am always planning trips and seeing how much it would cost to go to places that I want to visit. While I plan vacations that aren’t happening anytime soon I often wonder two things 1) what is the best way to get free or nearly free flights (because I read about people doing it all the time) and 2) how can we stay in a nice place for not a lot of money. I find this is a topic that is discussed in MANY blogs out there (some even wanting to charge you to let you in on their secrets) but I think I have found some realistic ways to travel cheap.

Airlines

The first way to get some SUPER cheap flights would be to work for an airline. I was reading the finance blog budgetsaresexy.com and learned that the blogger use to work for Continental Airlines. In his post he talks about how employees can get round trip flights in the US for $10-$30 and international flights were about $50-$100. I can't imagine getting a flight that cheap! He did say working for them had some drawbacks; you need to be awesome in customer service (which I am not) and you better have a sofa to crash on in your final destination because they don’t  paid well.

Another way to get discounted or free flights would be to use an airline credit card to earn your points. United Airlines boast on how you can earn 40,000 points in the 1^st year (which I believe is enough for a domestic round trip flight). You also get the perks of priority boarding and two tickets a year to a United Club of your choice (kind of worth having the card just for priority boarding). It took me a long time to convince my husband that this was something we needed to do. It was a hard fight (because we don’t live in debt; therefore using a credit card is the devil). But after taking his first big vacation (to Hawaii) and his first long flight he realized I might be right. We got our card shortly after that and have been using it on EVERYTHING ever since! I mean everything just to get those points, hoping that the year and half of spending will help us get a free flight. And we just pay it off at the end of each month so we don’t carry a balance J

Lodging

After taking our trip to Hawaii we decided that we would rent a house the next time we go anywhere for a long period of time. That way we could save some money by cooking for ourselves and not pay resort or parking fees. With this on our minds we found HomeAway.com. You can get really good deals from people renting out their vacation homes and condos (some for less than $50 a night). Then a few days ago I stumbled upon this article about these retires that were doing home swaping as a way to save money and get to travel at the same time!

This US couple owned their own vacation home in San Diego, California and had never traveled outside the US until they were 60. They started taking short, one week trips to Europe and caught the travel bug! Then they found homeexchange.com and homelink.org. Now what they do is they house swap for a few months at a time with other people around the world. They have been able to live, breath, and take in so many cultures by doing this…can you tell I am SO jealous! After reading this story we decided that this was something we were going to do too when we can purchase a vacation home (I don’t think any ones wants to visit Houston, TX). Check out their whole story here.

Traveling on a Budget

Traveling on a budget can some times be hard; when you're on a vacation you want to splurge, relax and not have a care in the world. But you also don't want to come home with a bill the size of a small mountain either. Here are some tips on how to travel on a budget.

Rent a home/condo

There are so many other options when it comes to a place to stay other then the major hotel chains. For our next trip to the Hawaiian Islands we plan to use HomeAway or some of the condos listed on Trip Adviser. We saw a deal just the other day for a studio condo in Maui; they had a July special for $50 a night! Yeah, its only enough space for two people but you cant deny how awesomely cheap that is!!!

Saver tip: Don't rent any sort of sporting equipment from your hotel, they are going to over charge you! Rent it from the local surf or ski shop.

Hawaiian Style Cafe...yum!

Eat where the locals eat

When we went on our last vacation (the Big Island aka Hawaii) we ate at this awesome local restaurant called Hawaiian Style Cafe. Their servings were big enough for 2 people to share and the prices were really reasonable. Research these places before you go and map them out, it will be worth it! Again, use a search site like Trip Adviser or Yelp to find local hang outs. These websites will also let you  know how expensive the venues are.

Saver tip: If you're traveling to Hawaii you can pick any fruit you find on the island. We were told anything you find you can eat. And we happened to find pineapple, guava, limes, and passion fruit and we ate them all! YUM!

fresh out of the ground

Pack some snacks

This can be a real wallet saver! When I studies abroad I packed the instant oatmeal packs, peanut butter, and granola bars for my stay. I still continue to pack some small snack items when I go. A) you never know when you might need them and B) some times that's all you need to get you going in the morning. A granola bar form your local grocery store vs. the $15 per head breakfast the hotel is offering...granola wins!

Plan your vacation during the off season

This can really help you get those great deals! Most airlines and hotels will have sales to destinations during the off season. So instead of traveling to Paris in spring try the winter, or instead of going to Hawaii in the summer try November - March, the weather is better and you might see more marine life since the humpbacks are there from December to March. 

Enjoy what the destination has to offer

When we went to Hawaii we were able to enjoy beaches and waterfalls for free! Look for state or national parks that can offer you some amazing sights for little or no charge. Do some research before you leave and you're bound to find something fun for free.

Saver tip: Check out Groupon and living social for local deals for your destination. We did this when went to Las Vegas and saved $50 a person for night club/party bus tour.

Kekaha Kai State Park --- FREE

Pololu Trail --- FREE