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With the summer travel season upon us, I'm back with a new two-part series packed full of money-saving travel tips. In this first part of our series, we'll explore why traveling is a smart financial choice and show you the most exciting, affordable destinations for 2016.
Taking vacation time and traveling to a favorite place or a new destination can help you recharge and reduce stress. The change of perspective it provides can help you broaden your mind; it also helps you create precious memories with your family and friends. Yet, in these tough economic times, many people opt for staycations instead of traveling, as they feel that their dream vacation is financially unwise or out of reach. Well, I'm here to show you that you can afford to take a real vacation, and I'll even help you have money left over.
While it's true that vacations are usually one of the big-ticket items on your yearly budget, travel is still a financially smart option. In fact, making the choice to travel and setting that as a goal will help you learn to budget more wisely and perhaps be more frugal in other areas, cutting back on eating out or entertainment, for example.
The good news is that this year is one of the most affordable times to travel, particularly by plane. The dollar is strong, and exchange rates have become much more favorable over the past year. For example, with the pending Brexit concerns involving the U.K. and the European Union, London is becoming an affordable option. The lower cost of fuel has also helped to decrease prices, as has competition from discount airlines.
So, now that your dream vacation is more attainable than ever, which destination should you choose? Let's take a look at some of the places where airfares are most affordable this year. Whether you're longing for a tropical getaway or a taste of city life, you'll find it all on sale this year!
International Destinations
There are great international deals to Australia, England, Thailand, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.
U.S. Destinations
If you are plan on traveling domestically, check out these cities: Chicago, Florida, New York City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles for the best deals.
With all these great destinations on sale this year, the relaxation, education, and precious family time that come with travel can be yours this summer or later this year---save the staycation for another year! So, now that you know why you should travel this year and some affordable destinations to consider, let's begin with our tips to show you how to save on airfare, hotel, and your entire vacation package.
Tip #1: Consider budget airlines
Norwegian Airlines, the winner of the 2015 Skytrax award for the World's Best Low-Cost, Long-Haul Airline, offers flights from New York, Boston, and other U.S. cities for around $200 each way various European destinations. Many of the routes are flown on the new Dreamliner aircraft by Boeing, which along a more modern interior, provides long-distance travelers more comfort and less fatigue.
WOW Air offers a similar service, and many of its routes include a stopover in Iceland. Fares available this summer includes San Francisco to Dublin, Berlin, Stockholm, or Copenhagen for just $219 one-way.
If you're hopping around Europe, low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet can often take you from country to country for less than the national flag carrier airlines. Remember to consider factoring in all extra expenses that these a la carte airlines charge.
For U.S. flights, check Virgin America, WestJet, Southwest, Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant, as they all offer discounted fares.
Tip #2: Be Search-savvy
Snagging a bargain on airfare depends on knowing which booking sites offer the lowest fares. To make sure you do a thorough price check, always search the official website for your airline and several meta-search sites at the same time. Many times, airlines claim they offer the lowest fares through their official site, but this may not be the case, so it's best to check several different sources. Using meta-search websites can also help save money by providing you with different route options and alternative airports that may not be shown on the airline's own websites.
So, which meta-search sites offer the lowest rates? Google Flights is a good first port of call, as it will show you the fares for entire months at a time and also shows alternate airports that might be worth considering.
Skyscanner.com searches over 1,200 airline and travel sites (including Priceline, Expedia, and Travelocity) to find you the cheapest deal. You can view prices for an entire month, across several months, or opt to go straight to the chart of lowest fares. You can set price alerts, and the site will email you when prices rise or drop.
Rome2Rio shows you the cheapest way to get from point A to point B anywhere in the world. Simply enter your origin and destination points, and the site will give you an itemized breakdown of all available transport types (including plane, train, public transport, and private car) and the cost of each.
One very popular app that every traveler should have on their phone is Hopper. If you want to know exactly when to buy that flight to get the best price, Hopper has one of the best interfaces and alert systems among flight-tracking tools. If only there was a Web app.
Tip #3: Use Reward Miles.
If you fly a particular airline often, sign up for their frequent-flyer program. You can earn miles which you can eventually redeem for travel upgrades or discounted flights. To maximize your reward miles, there are many blogs (Frugal Travel Guy, The Points Guy, etc.) that will teach you tricks for how to redeem them easily and help you get the maximum reward for your miles. If you're looking to book a flight with your frequent-flier miles but are struggling to find available flights, there are services like Award Magic that will search reward flights for you and offer you all available options.
Tip #4: Book a Package
That's it for part 1 of the series, I'll be back soon with part 2, where I'll tell you more insider tips, including when to book your tickets for maximum savings.
