This week we will be highlighting five travel tips. Travel can be stressful even for the most experienced traveler and we hope these travel tips help ease the stress you might have.
Tip 1: Advance planning!
Plan, plan, plan – we cannot stress this enough. The four of us are all planners and this helps when we plan for our trips. We plan each trip far in advance. We normally plan a year in advance – yes, a year! The reason we do this is because we secure good deals on travel arrangements but most importantly it helps us with our trip budget. The far advance we plan the easier it is to budget for a trip.
Here are some of the items we purchase as early as we can:
Airline tickets
Traveling by air can be expensive but the earlier you buy tickets the cheaper the fare. When we travel abroad we usually purchase our tickets a year out because those fares will start adding up the closer the departure date.
Airfare travel watch sites such as Airfarewatchdog help track when airline tickets drop in fares and will notify you by email.
Lodging
As budget travelers we live for a good deal. As you plan for your lodging make sure to sign up for hotel reward programs, most hotels offer ‘member only prices’ which sometimes can be a discount of 20% toward your stay. Or they offer “Pay in Advance” options which give a small discount for paying in full upfront.
When traveling stateside or traveling abroad we sometimes use Airbnb. If you are looking for a longer travel stay, need more space or just need privacy, Airbnb might be the option for you. Make sure to plan ahead to secure a good rental. We recently traveled to London and booked our Airbnb rental seven months in advance because of the location of the rental. We stayed in a popular location and when researching our lodging options we found that rentals and hotels in that area were booked at least five months out.
When traveling abroad we also look into staying into hostels. This option is for some people might not be for others. Just like hotels, hostels offer great discounts when booking in advance. Booking in advance also gives you the pick of rooms available. We like to use Hostel World when staying in hostels.
Attractions
Most of your budget -besides lodging and airfare- will most likely go toward the attractions you go to. From museums to walking tours to shows – you will find things to do that often costs money. We purchase all of our admission fees before we leave on our trip. This is very helpful because when we get to our destination all we have to worry about most of the time is our meal budget.
We HIGHLY recommend using Viator when booking attractions. Viator offers a variety of options of tours and attractions to most cities. Sign up for their email to receive alert of sales.
When booking in advance you not only save money but you have a clear plan on your trip.
Traveling Abroad?
Lastly, if you are traveling abroad you also have to look into items such as travel restrictions and visa requirements. When we travel abroad we like to plan very far in advance not only are we planning for airfare, lodging and attractions, we have to consider additional items such as:
- Travel restrictions – is the place we have selected safe? What restrictions do we have to worry about.
- Visa requirements – do we need a visa to the country we are traveling to?
- Money – do we have the right currency of the country we are traveling to? Where do I convert my money?
These are questions we consider when planning a trip abroad and when you plan in advance you will cover all your bases and won’t be left with any surprises when you land abroad.
These travel tips work for us and they may or may not work for you but we hope they help you as you plan your next adventure.
Navajo Traveling Sisters 