MM Travel Tips

als1982 · December 2014

Xstatic3333's request (and because vacations are my most very favorite thing!), I thought I'd start a thread about tips, tricks and ways to travel in a MM way.

How do you spend less on trips, travel and vacations?

formerlyGDaisy09 · December 2014

we, admittidly haven't traveled as much as I'd like, but we try to be MM about it when we do.

1. most recently we did an all inclusive (Sandals) they had a big sale right before Christmas last year. we took advantage of their no obligation for 30 days refundable $400 down and shopped for flights (we found flights cheaper than if we had included airfare in the resort price). It was all inclusive...but of course there are add-ons...we could have gotten away with spending less than $3,500 for 8 days 7 nights...but once we added a fantastic excursion (no regrets) and upgraded our spa treatment (again no regrets), and boght some souvenirs and thank yous for my parents for watching spotty-dog we came just under $4K for the trip....still not bad for a week in the caribbean.

2. travel to visit friends...seriously analyzed gas costs versus plane tickets if it would be a one day drive. we drove to visit friends 14 hours away (audio-books are an amazing thing) and spent less on gas than one plane ticket would have cost. rather than paying for a hotel for several days you can probably have a place to sleep for the cost of a nice dinner out.

3. look for fun places that aren't too far away, we're 3 hours from Montreal...we can ususally find decent lodging on groupon or hotels.com...or find a city where many attractions are free...H and I are discussing DC in the spring.

in general try to travel just outside of peak season, avoid traditional school holiday weeks (if you don't have kids) and spring break.

dragonstarjk · December 2014

We usually take a trip every year to visit a different baseball stadium!

The first thing we do is make an auto-contribution to a savings account that is designated just for travel/vacation, because travel is very important to us.

I try to plan ahead as far as possible so I have plenty of time to shop around for the best prices on hotels and tickets. Even if you have a hotel already reserved, don't be afraid to shop around and switch hotels. Just make sure you understand the cancellation policy.

We will drive instead of fly as long as we can get there in less than two days. We love road trips!

We don't have kids so we don't have to travel during the summer; we tend to travel in late Spring to avoid the crowds and get shoulder season rates.

Pack snacks so that when we stop for gas, we aren't tempted to load up on expensive/unhealthy gas station snacks. We still splurge on nice dinners out when we are traveling though.

Stay at hotels that offer free breakfast and free parking whenever possible. We usually stay at mid-level chains such as Best Western and Holiday Inn, and we're in their rewards programs so we can earn free nights. Most of these hotels are perfectly adequate if you just need a place to sleep.

Use public transportation whenever possible to save on gas, cab fares, etc.

Save credit card rewards points and redeem them for restaurant and/or hotel gift cards to use on our next trip! We put all of our purchases on credit cards (paid off in full each month, of course) and can usually score a couple hundred bucks in gift cards by the time we are ready to travel. Just have to make sure to redeem far enough in advance because sometimes they take several weeks to arrive!

Xstatic3333 · December 2014

I'd like to get better at budget travel myself! My best finds so far are:

1.) Car rental through BJs travel!
2.) For us, get lodging with a kitchenette so we can cook our own meals. This is also key to me not getting a stomach ache from too much restaurant food.
3.) Be open to places that are expensive to fly to, but may be much cheaper than alternatives once you arrive. This was very true of Bonaire, which I had dismissed for years due to the airfare until I realized how affordable lodging was. This is also true of Thailand, which would be our dream 2016 trip unless we decide to TTC sooner.
4.) We work CCs for free flights, which I realize is controversial. We use the the Capital One VentureOne card so we're not tied to any particular airline. I also just opened the JetBlue Amex for the sign-up bonus which will fund a flight to FL. I wouldn't have done that if we didn't already have our mortgage. We never ever ever care a balance, of course.
5.) On a past tip from @hoffse, I heavily lurk the TripAdvisor forums for any location we're considering.
6.) When eating out on trips, we always try to avoid touristy neighborhoods. Often we sit at the bat and chat with people that way, too.
7.) For local weekends away we pretty much always visit friends or tent camp.

hoffse · December 2014

1) If you get on an airplane (to a far away destination), that's usually your biggest expense. After our trip to France this coming summer, H and I are going to start the Clark Howard travel method: find a cheap flight, buy it, and then decide why you want to go there. For example: right now I can get RT flights between Atlanta and Moscow for $715/person, for travel through the entirety of next summer. That's a stupid low price, and if we hadn't already booked our trip for this coming summer we would probably do it. Out of curiosity I priced out hotels and train tickets between Moscow and St. P, and we could pretty comfortably do a 10 day trip for right around $3,000 plus the cost of food.... all while staying in nice hotels. So airfare deals are really key to traveling on a shoe string.

2) Try to find an apartment when you can - you will have a kitchen, more space, and they are usually cheaper than hotels. It's also a good way to split costs with travel companions. I admit that we don't always do this... I'm just not willing to go crazy cheap in parts of the world with infectious disease/poor water (sneeze: Peru) or where people frequently scam you, but there are plenty of countries where you can do this without getting burned. You just have to do your due diligence. We are renting an apartment for a week in southern France this summer, and it's going to save us a LOT of money.

3) I use hotels.com to book hotels rooms. They have a program where every 10 nights you book through them they give you 1 night "free" (it's really a credit toward your 11th night). I like that it counts per night, not per booking, and you aren't restricted to specific chains or credit cards to get those perks.

4) When traveling in Europe, trains and low cost airlines are amazing.... trains in particular. It's worth researching train fares a few months in advance because many countries release the cheap tickets 60 or 90 days in advance and once they are gone, they are gone. We saved at least $500 in London this past summer by buying our tickets in advance. I use www.seat61.com to learn about train travel in each new country we visit. It's an amazing website.

5) I coupon in other countries. Before we left for London I printed off a bunch of BOGO coupons for various restaurants near our hotel, and we used them. That saved us a lot of money. People forget that google maps is worldwide, so it's very easy to find your hotel/apartment on google maps and then "walk" around the area to see what restaurants and amenities are nearby.

6) When you are traveling to site-see, sometimes buying an annual membership to a group of museums or a city pass can save you money. You just have to do the math to see.

7) If you really want to save money, travel to places where the dollar is strong. The dollar has been strengthening against the pound and euro in recent years, but it's still the weaker currency. You can travel for dirt cheap (and stay in nice places) in countries like Turkey, Poland, and Hungary because they are outside the euro-zone. Same with SE Asia. Getting there is the expensive part, but if you can snag a deal on airfare, travel through that part of the world is very cheap.

8) When traveling it's a good idea to have a chip and PIN credit card with no foreign transaction fees (we use PenFed and Capitol One), as well as a couple of debit cards for cash. Usually withdrawing cash at foreign ATMs is the cheapest way to change money, but you need an American bank that won't charge you a fee to do that. We use an account at Fidelity for this because Fidelity doesn't charge ATM fees anywhere in the world and they don't charge a transaction fee to convert dollars to whatever.

9) Finally, guard your valuables. You are much more likely to be murdered in the US than many other countries (especially European ones), but you're far more likely to be pick-pocketed in Europe or South America than in the US. If they get your passport, that can ruin a trip. It's important to read up on this so you know the scams that are common in whichever country you are visiting. H and I each have a pacsafe bag that we use for foreign travel, and H has a "hidden pocket" that he wears with our passports. They're a bit pricey, but they make it much harder for professional thieves to steal your stuff.

hoffse · December 2014

Oh and shoulder-season travel is a huge money-saver. I know it's hard when you have kids in school, but that's when you're going to see the best price-savings.

To be honest, I'm of the opinion that travel can be one of the most educational things kids can do. So I'm also not opposed to pulling kids out of school for a few days at a time to take a trip to a new country. Obviously attendance policies matter, but if you can combine it with some "free" days (ie: Thanksgiving), that could work.

Oh and travel during the first couple of weeks in December is usually one of the cheapest times of year. So many people go on vacation over Christmas, that hotels often have rock-bottom prices for the couple weeks right before.

hoffse · December 2014

One last thing: don't forget your cash back sites! Ebates and befrugal.com give you cash back on priceline, hotels.com, expedia, etc. Flights are tricky for finding cash back, but there are a few airlines who have it. For example, we're going to buy our flight to France from airfrance instead of Delta. They are the same time, same price (in fact, Delta operates the AF flight), but buying it through the airfrance website means I can (supposedly) get cash back.

formerlyGDaisy09 · December 2014

We often avoid eating lunch at a restaurant while we're traveling by setting ourselves up with sandwich supplies from a local grocery store...we generally stay somewhere breakfast is included so that leaves us only having to pay for one meal each day.

vlagrl29 · December 2014

we travelled to hawaii and only spent 3k……the best thing we do is rent a beach home/cottage/or cabin and cook half of our meals at home. I like it because we are saving money and not feeling like we are gaining 10lbs on vacation food. I also like the feeling of staying on vacation in a home and really they are about the same price per night as a hotel so its a win/win.

Although when we go to st lucia in april we are staying at a resort so I probably will gain 10 lbs

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