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I've had a few friends ask me how we afford to travel "so much", especially now that there are kids in the mix. I actually don't think we travel a TON (following a bunch of travel "influencers" has probably skewed my perception). But I counted it up, and in the last three years we have gone to: Iceland, Italy, France, Canada, four national parks, and ten states--including Alaska and Hawaii. Not too shabby for an average middle-class couple! I still don't feel super qualified to give advice on this topic, but there are certain things we do to make our trips more affordable. And I'm happy to share those tips. I would also loooove to hear how you guys travel on a budget! I bet some of you are doing smart things that I've never thought of.
1. Travel during off-peak times. Summer is peak season for practically every destination, due to kids being out of school. So we always plan our trips for spring or fall, when the weather is still good but the crowds are much less. And it's not just the crowds that are less. Everything tends to cost less in off-peak times, from lodging to car rentals to tourist activities. We will continue to do this until our own kids are in school. Flying on off-peak days can also save you big time on plane tickets. I think Tuesday and Wednesday are usually the cheapest days to fly.
2. Stay in vacation rentals (most of the time). We generally prefer vacation rentals, both for cost savings and because we can find more unique places! Vacation rentals are especially worthwhile if you're traveling with a group or as a big family (most hotel rooms have a maximum occupancy of 4). Having a kitchen can also save you a lot of money if you cook your own meals. As a caveat, the cleaning fees and service fees can be hefty sometimes, so it's not always worth it if you're only staying a night or two. But for a week or more, a vacation rental is almost always more cost-effective than a hotel (unless you follow tip #4!). I'm sure most of you have already tried Airbnb, but if you haven't you can get $40 off your first rental through this referral link, or look for an Airbnb coupon before booking.
3. Ask for discounts. At hotels, you can often get discounts if you're a member of AAA, AARP, the military, or even Costco. We've also messaged the owners of vacation rentals and gotten discounts such as weekly rates for longer stays. One time, the best place we found was a 3 bedroom but we only needed 2 bedrooms...so she gave us 10% off and locked the door to the third bedroom. Win-win: we didn't have to pay for that room, and she didn't have to clean it. Lastly, I have gotten discounts in exchange for marketing a place or taking photos for them to use in their listing. I recognize that not everyone can do that, but it's worth thinking about what skills you can trade. And discounts aren't just for accommodations. You can often score deals on activities too.
4. Use points from travel credit cards with big signup bonuses. This is a new strategy for us, but it's extremely powerful and has the potential to save you a ton. In fact, you can get an amazing vacation nearly free if you plan ahead. I've mentioned that we got 4 free nights at a 5-star resort in Kauai. We also just booked flights for our next vacation, and got them free except taxes! I think the BEST card to start with no matter what your vacation goals are is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, because the points are super flexible and can be used for flights, hotels, rental cars, etc. When you sign up and spend $4,000 in the first 3 months, you'll get 50,000 bonus points (just switch all your normal spending onto this card for 3 months). If you own a business, the next card I would get is the Chase Ink Business card, which gives you 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 in 3 months. If you're traveling with a partner, you can have them sign up for the same two cards, and you'll have over 260,000 points between the two of you. That's enough for two round trip tickets anywhere in the world, plus several nights at a great hotel! Of course, this hobby is NOT a good idea if you already have credit card debt or if you'll be tempted to spend more than your normal budget in order to hit those minimum spends. But if you plan ahead and put all your everyday spending on one card at a time, you can rack up a huge amount of points just by paying your bills, buying your groceries, getting new glasses for the year, and whatever else you were already going to pay for. The way I look at it is, normally a big hospital bill (like Emmett's birth) or a big house project (like remodeling our bathroom) would mean we didn't have any budget left for a big family vacation. But with travel credit cards, those big purchases go towards the big vacation. Leave me a comment if you have questions because this is getting long, but suffice it to say this is my favorite tip and I have been telling all my friends about it.
5. Sign up for loyalty programs. If you use the same airline or stay at the same hotel chain over and over, you should sign up for their loyalty program. They're free to join and often give you perks like free checked bags, access to special lounges, free snacks, waived fees, free nights after a certain number of paid nights, free WiFi, late check-out, a higher likelihood of getting upgraded, and more.
6. Eat out less. Restaurants are a huge portion of most people's travel expenses, and you can save big by cutting down on that. Don't get me wrong, I like trying local foods, and I know eating out can be a fun part of the vacation experience (no cooking or dishes, hooray!). But cutting it down to one or two meals per day can save you a lot. We like to buy groceries for easy breakfasts, especially if we're staying in a vacation rental with a kitchen. Then, we eat lunch somewhere that we're excited about, and save the leftovers for dinner. Or if we're going to be out and about all day, we might bring picnic supplies for a cheap lunch, and splurge on a nice dinner. If we don't have a fridge where we can save leftovers, we often split a meal, which saves us money and makes it so we don't feel bad wasting food.
7. Take advantage of lap babies & free child admission. Kids can fly free under the age of two if they sit on your lap. So we saved a lot on our flights to Hawaii by going riiight before Ian's second birthday...although I have to admit, there was a moment when we said, "it might have been worth it to get this kid his own seat!!!!"
8. Don't buy a bunch of kitschy souvenirs. We have stopped buying random souvenirs for family & friends when we go on vacation. Sorry, guys! Most of that touristy stuff is made in China anyways. Sometimes, we bring back some snack food that we can't get here, like Hawaiian shortbread or Icelandic chocolate. But for the most part, they just want to see our pictures and hear about our experience anyways, and an overpriced t-shirt or coffee mug will not be missed.
9. Don't buy a bunch of stuff specifically for your vacation. Let's say you're going to Hawaii. You could use it as an excuse to get a manicure and pedicure, go tanning, and get a full body wax in preparation. You could treat yourself to a bunch of tropical sundresses, three new swimsuits, and a new pair of sunglasses. You could buy new "Hawaii" outfits for your kids and your spouse too. OR you could just do your nails at home, shave/wax yourself, and bring the clothes you already own. Unless you really need something for the trip that you don't already have, don't use it as a reason to go shopping beforehand.
10. Give travel as a gift. This doesn't really cut down the cost of travel itself, but it does help us to budget for it. My birthday is in the middle of May, and Ben's is in the beginning of June. So for the past few years, instead of buying each other gifts, we have put that money toward a vacation around Memorial Day. That's how we did our Hawaii trip, our Alaska trip last year, and our San Juan Island vacation the year before. Calling it a birthday gift helps us to justify traveling, and it leaves more money in our bank account to afford it!
After design blogs, my favorite type of blogs to read are budgeting and personal finance ones. How we spend our money, whether it's on travel or home improvement or life in general, is all interrelated. The more we save on travel, the more we have left for other stuff (and future vacations), so I'm all about optimizing our budget as much as possible! Hope this post was helpful and gave you some good ideas. I'd love to hear your tips for affordable travel too.
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Love it Aileen! I've been doing the credit card trick for years, but it seems so much easier to do it single than it would be for families. I like your points 8 & 9. Most blog posts about saving for travel don't mention those.
Nice! I wish I would have started sooner. My sister-in-law (Ellen) has been trying to convince us for years, but we were scared it would ruin our credit score before we bought a house. It hasn't made that much of a difference though! And yeah, 8 & 9 are both things I used to do until I realized they were totally unnecessary. I've noticed that the less I travel, the more I spend on each trip because I want to make a big deal out of the whole thing (new clothes, fancy meals, souvenirs, etc.) But then it feels like I can't travel more because it's "SO expensive!" So yeah, I'm trying to break that vicious cycle!
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