Traveling on the cheap: Let someone else pay your way!

I'm back with another soapbox on how to travel on the cheap! 

On of the most frequent comments I receive is "how do you afford to go on so many trips?!"

I've got a few different ways to share, but in this post I'm telling you to let someone else pay the tab.

That's right... why pay for your own trips when someone else will!?

I talked briefly about how I used to put all my living expenses on my TJMaxx Mastercard, simply because it racked up points towards gift certificates to there, and I'd turn around and pay the card off out of my bank account every month.

Shortly after returning from Australia and realizing how much more of the world I still needed (not wanted, NEEDED) to see, I realized there were better ways to accumulate "rewards" for these daily things I'll always be buying regardless.

Nowadays my gas, my groceries, my shopping habits, all go towards funding travel.

After a few weeks of reading up on the various 'rewards' credit cards, I decided that the Barclay Arrival+ was the best option for me.

I NEVER use my debit card. But I am also VERY aware of any money I spend and any money I earn, I am not sure I would recommend this if you are one of those people who never has any clue how much is in their bank account or are constantly overdrawing. I would imagine you could end up in deep credit card debt pretty quickly.

So, why did I choose the Arrival Plus? They go on a 'pay yourself back' system, versus some of the other cards I looked into where you have to book your travel THROUGH them (Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Quiksilver, etc, etc.) I choose this based on my own travel preferences. I cannot preach enough how important it is to research the cards first (a simple Google search for travel reward credit cards will yield a ton of breakdowns). I can log into my account and am easily given the option to pay myself back for any travel related expense.

There was a 40,000 pt bonus (equivalent to $400)  if I put $3000 on my card within the first 90 days.  So after receiving my card in March, I had recently racked up enough points to "pay myself back" for roughly $500 worth of airline flights I had booked. By doing nothing but going about my daily life, with my regular spending habits.

Granted, there is an $89 yearly fee on my card. If you consider the perks, it weighs itself out in my opinion. $500 worth of free airfare is the equivalent of 5 years of paying the annual fee.

There are a TON of options. However, a LOT of rewards cards carry obnoxiously high % rates. I am very meticulous about paying off any balance I carry religiously, but apparently I'm a freak of nature, so... just a heads up HA!

If you always fly Southwest, look into the Southwest card (I think they're offering 2 RT flights if you sign up and spend x amount in the first few months... not a bad deal!). Same with Delta, or any other airline. If you are loyal to a certain hotel chain, they probably offer a credit card specifically catering to their perks. Just be responsibly and make sure you know what you're getting into, but all in all I think it's a great option to rack up a few travel perks while living your normal life!

(Note: This is not a sponsored post, nor am I affiliated with Barclay or any other credit company, I am simply sharing my own experiences. Credit cards can be a slippery slope though, tread with caution and make sure you're aware of all terms and conditions before signing up!)

To read up on my other Traveling on the Cheap tips, click here!

Traveling on the cheap: The flights.

I get asked nearly daily about finding/booking trips.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't have access to some top secret travel booking cult, or anything like that. What I do have is a lot of time invested into what I like to call "the hunt".

Now, there are two types of 'deal hunting' I've mastered. The wanderer and the determined.

If you're like me most of the time; have minimal obligations, a boatload of Paid Time Off, and an aching wanderlust... here's my best advice:

Let someone else do the hard work for you!
As I've mentioned before on the blog, I have a separate GMail account just for shopping and email blasts (it's always fun to watch the doubt in sales associates' eyes when you tell them Chelsea Likes To Shop at GMail is your address of choice). This is optional, but it's my own sense of sanity having things organized and separate.

My 'fun' email account regularly looks like this:

You know how I got the wild idea that I wanted should go to Dublin? Hostelworld.

There are a TON of sites that will send you email blasts with a list of great deals, notifications on locations you've requested, cheap flights from your home airport, whatever you want I can almost guarantee there is a site for it.

Some of my favorites:
Airfare Watch Dog, CheapAir, OneTravel, Kayak.

I get emails from them saying "Hey you can fly from Indy to Las Vegas for $250rt in March" and I go 'oh, perfect, let's go visit Vegas!'

Which brings me to the second line of defense: 
IPhone Apps.

I especially enjoy Kayak. I have the app on my phone and have set up notifications for places I'd like to visit, and it tells me when prices drop:

Since I have no specific time I want to travel, and no specific destination I need to go, it's fun to see where I can get on the cheap.

Another app I love is SkyScanner (which I've praised before on the blog, so I won't repeat myself)

Use flexibility to your advantage!
(This applies to everyone, even if you NEED to be somewhere on specific days, for a wedding or work trip, or Spring Break, or whatever)
Don't always try to do Saturday to Saturday weeks, or Thursday to Sunday long weekends... you're going to pay more! Do a Friday night to a Monday night, or a Tuesday to Tuesday trip. Sure it might not always be ideal. But having more cash in my pocket is ALWAYS ideal in my mind!

I've noticed it's over $200 cheaper to fly to Dublin in the middle of the week, rather than weekends.

I use both SkyScanner and Kayak to peruse whole months for the lowest prices. Southwest has the Calendar, almost every airline has a "flexible dates" option that will let you browse +/- 3 days from the dates you input.

Check frequently. 
Airfare seems to change ALL THE TIME. Sure, there are tons of rumors about booking at 2pm on Tuesdays, or 7 weeks out, or clearing your internet cache before searching, etc, etc.

I haven't really found ANY of these to be true.

I never ever ever book airfare when I first search. I search multiple sites.  I search different combinations of days. I search surrounding airports (mostly for cities like New York, I wouldnt recommend flying into like San Francisco if you're visiting a cousin in San Diego or something).

Two words: Hacker Fares
One way trips are becoming more prevalent. Termed 'hacker fares' in the airline industry, don't feel obligated to fly round-trip with a specific airline. Sometimes a different airline just offers a return flight more accommodating to your schedule, sometimes the price is just WAY better. Unfortunately, almost every airline except southwest seems to be a tad more expensive on one-way fares, but that doesn't mean you still can't score a great deal, or a better flight. I've bailed on round-trips that had long layovers, or wacky connections, and paid nearly the same cost to book two one-ways with reasonable times and routes.

Be creative.
I'm in the process of planning a trip to Thailand. You know which airport I'm looking to fly out of? Anything but Indianapolis pretty much.
Why?
Because airlines have affiliates. No airline flies direct from Indy to Bangkok. So if I flight search, it's guaranteed I'll have a connecting flight (typically JFK, ORD, LAX, etc). If American Airlines flies me to JFK than booking it in one fell swoop will put me on an American (or one of their affiliate airlines) flight to Bangkok. And that isn't always the cheapest option. Same thing with my hairbrained idea to go to Dublin.

When booking our Australia airfare, we found that flying out of LAX was always the cheapest route to Sydney (it was around $1300 at the time). If I looked at IND>SYD it would connect me in LAX, but it would be like $1800. And I knew I could find flights for MUCH cheaper than $500rt to LAX. So we booked our LAX>SYD airfare with Qantas, and I found $150 one-way's on another airline a few months later. Saving myself a few hundred dollars.  (If you are doing this, make sure to give yourself plenty of time between flights to ensure you can accommodate customs, minor delays, etc, without stressing!)

When you finally decide to book, the choice is yours. Book directly through the airline, or book through the third-party site (Kayak, Travelocity, wherever). I generally go directly with the airline, I've had to change and cancel flights before, and it seems a tad easier when dealing directly with the airline instead of a third party. But that's just my own two cents.

Good luck, and happy travels! I'd love to hear any other tips/insight you've got! 

(I figured I should mention that I am not affiliated/sponsored by any of the aforementioned companies, I simply love their services! )


To read up on my other Traveling on the Cheap tips, click here!