Making Travel Affordable

Now, we know travel can be unapproachable because of the price tag (at least this is true in the United States). So one of our goals over time is to help make travel more accessible by doing a deep dive into all the ways you can save your hard-earned dollars while seeing and experiencing the beauty of the world. For today, we'll provide an overview of some ways to travel affordably. Future posts will then provide some comparisons in a deeper explanation of some of these options.

Here are some common ways that we have personally saved money on travel:

1. Travel Credit Card Rewards Points One of the biggest contributors to our travel budget is the collection of reward points that grow over time on our credit card. We will use our credit card for all of our daily purchases, such as groceries, gas, household supplies, and holiday shopping, and we pay this off in full each month to avoid interest. By doing so, our credit card rewards build up to later be used to pay off flight, hotel, and excursion expenses for trips. Commonly used cards for starter travelers and travel enthusiasts include Capital One Venture, Bank of America Travel Rewards, Chase Freedom, and Chase Sapphire Preferred. We'll provide a comparison of cards in a future post, but this info can also be found via Google search. We have been collecting points since the start of COVID, which paid for approximately 1/3 of our recent trip to Australia and New Zealand. It could have easily paid for 1/2 of that trip, however, this trip was a splurge for us compared to other trips with.
   

2. Going (www.going.com) A friend told us about Scott's Cheap Flights (now called Going) a couple years ago, and we can't recommend it enough! This website allows you to set up specific airports that you commonly travel from, and emails you alerts when there are good flight sales to various destinations. When you receive an email or browse the website, it will let you know how the current price compares to regular prices, and how frequently you'll find the rate you're seeing to a particular destination. Earlier this year, we found a flight for just under $200 from New York to Dallas, Texas, allowing us to squeeze in an extra trip this year. Once you find a good sale, the site links you to Google flights, which will allow you to make the reservation directly with the airline. Going does not always have sales for ALL airports, but the annual membership fee of $50 quickly pays itself back if you use it only once within the year. If you know where you want to go in advance, this membership is definitely worth it to help you be aware of constantly changing prices. Start looking up to 1 year in advance, and a good price is likely to hit!
   

3. Direct memberships with companies we commonly use. We have used all sorts of websites to try to save some money, and we have learned that there are some cons to booking a sale price with a third party service, such as Expedia, Kayak, Travelocity, and Hotels.com. While these sites help you find great deals on spaces that have not filled up for flights and hotels, it is also very challenging to make any changes to your reservations or address a concern with the airline, hotel, care rental, etc. if you run into any challenges during your travels. Many businesses will not have as much flexibility and support if you have booked your service with a third party. For example, we rented a car last year with Hertz through a third party site to take a road trip to a friend's wedding several states away. We were planning to drive this car through several states for approximately a week before returning home, which would require both of us to be listed drivers on the renter policy. Before even getting the keys to the car, we learned we had to pay $100 to add Alex as a driver because we booked through a third party, and were not Hertz members at the time. We were unable to sign up to be Hertz members in that moment, but quickly signed up, and have been saving $100 per trip since then. We have also had difficulty adding on additional hotel days on occasions when plans have changed. All-in-all, we really don't use third party sites to book trips anymore unless we are extremely confident we're okay taking a risk on there being a problem that is difficult to resolve. We recommend booking directly with the airline, hotel, or car rental service you would like to use, and look into any membership options they have to save you money or build points over time.
   

4. Third party savings sites/apps (Kayak, Travelocity, etc.) While we don't personally recommend using third party sites most of the time, it is true that you can save some money doing this if you keep an eye out for good deals. The more flexible you are with where and when you travel, the more likely you are to find a good price. I know some folks who swear by using these sites, so I'm including them in the list because they may work well for you and your travel goals.
   

5. Traveling on Tuesdays If your travel plans require a flight, you're likely to find the best flight prices if you plan your trip from one Tuesday to another Tuesday. Generally, folks prefer to book trips on weekends or the beginning of the week rather than the middle of the week, so airlines offer lower prices on these days to fill their flights. One additional benefit of traveling and returning on a Tuesday if you work a Monday through Friday job is that you'll get 2 short weeks at work. We realized this benefit of 2 short weeks helps us feel less stressed at work because we are able to spread that before and after vacation workload a bit better.
   

6. Old-fashioned savings account. We work to afford travel through a variety of ways, including points/rewards, deals, and a good old-fashioned savings account - or maybe not-so-old-fashioned. I'll have to look into the true banking history and origin of different savings accounts, but that's for another day. Each month we take a portion of our income to save toward our next trip. The amount saved takes our income, living expenses, and financial goals into consideration. Travel is one of those consistent goals we have set for at least 1 international trip and 1 domestic (USA) trip per year, if possible. To boost your travel savings account, we recommend that you utilize a high yield savings account. As you save your income, your savings will accrue a higher interest rate, up to approximately 3.75% at many FDIC-insured institutions. The sooner you start, the more you'll save!
   

Additional ways to travel on a budget:

1. Utilize remote work opportunities to save money on living expenses Many influencers these days are able to work remotely in the tech industry and travel anywhere they want as long as they have internet service. We have not personally lived this lifestyle, but if this is something you are interested in, I recommend you do a quick internet search for either "van life," "ambulance life," "bus life," or working remotely while traveling. People do this everyday!
   

2. Take temporary job openings where you're traveling In addition to working remotely, some folks traveling all day everyday will take on temporary job opportunities in the cities they're staying in to pay for living expenses and the next step of their travels. When Alex and I were scuba diving near Cairns, Australia last month, the boat owner told us he learned quickly when he was younger that "you can make money anywhere," so he traveled the world doing any and all jobs he could find to afford his living. He now says that he has transitioned from traveling to see the world, and now the world is traveling to see him on his boat! Another common way people travel is by working in positions as an AmeriCorps volunteer, which provides a stipend for travel and living expenses in a variety of places around the world. There are several volunteer programs internationally that will cover expenses like this, and it will give you a longer-term experience in another culture to really get to know a community in greater depth.
   

3. Take advantage of spontaneous last-minute sales (Travel Zoo, Google flights, etc.) If you know you want to travel, and there isn't much pressure on where and when you travel, you can find some AMAZING deals on the internet from Travel Zoo, Google flights, and any of the previous third-party sites we referenced. We have seen international flights for less than half of the original cost as airlines are trying to fill a last minute flight. We've always said we should do a trip this spontaneously someday, but we seem to always have something planned (because we really enjoy planning!), so the time just hasn't been right for us. Two young women we met while scuba diving had booked their flights just days before we saw them, and they didn't have clear return dates back to their homes because they were exploring and saving money to the best of their ability. We tried to stay in touch, but lost contact, so unfortunately we have no way of knowing exactly how much money they were able to save traveling this way.
   

4. Cruise memberships One of my colleagues says the easiest way for their family to see the world is to have a cruise membership in which they make regular payments toward their next trip to help them financially prioritize travel, get there easily (all the planning is done for them), and then they know they'll have their choice of places to go to year after year. They say there is something for everyone on these trips, so their kids love it, and they get some kid-free time as parents when their kids are participating in activities on the ship.
   

5. Build a family trip around a work trip Alex and I each have the privilege of 1-2 conferences to go to each year for our respective fields of work, so we will frequently try to join each other on these trips to make an extra long weekend out of the travel since the room is typically paid for, and we only need to buy another flight and cover any additional hotel nights or food needed. We've had wonderful experiences in Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas, and Nashville by doing this. This is also a great way for us to spend a little time in cities while spending larger amounts of money and time on nature-focused travel, which tends to be more in line with our preferences.

All-in-all

There are so many ways to plan financially for travel, and this is certainly not an all-inclusive list of those ways. If you're not sure where to start, I recommend starting with a savings account and looking into a credit card with travel rewards. Your next steps will depend on your lifestyle and travel interests and goals. Start learning about the options and experimenting to see what will work best for you!

More detailed posts about some of our top ways to save on travel to come!