As a frequent traveler, I’ve picked up a trick or two on how to save money. Traveling expenses can add up, so it is important to find ways to save money and alleviate the stresses of travel costs! Traveling doesn’t have to be expensive, and there are smart ways to cut costs. Here are some of my recommendations when booking a trip.
1. Fly on a Weekday
Typically flying during the week is the best time to fly – when it comes to price. Off-peak days are Tuesdays or Thursdays while Fridays and weekends can be more expensive.
To accurately see which days are the best, you can check travel sites like Google Flights to view the cheapest rates. On Google Flights, there are a few ways to do this.
First, you can select “Date Grid” to check the cheapest day to depart and return around the dates you are thinking of traveling on.
Second, you can also sort flights by price and view the cheapest times to travel.
Third, you can select “Price Graph” to see the typical prices over a few months. You can compare dates to see which price works best for you.
If you aren’t sure which area you want to travel to, you can set your departure location and set your destination to anywhere. This way you can check out the cheapest places to travel to during a certain time frame.
2. Avoid Peak Travel Season
The high season usually occurs during summer, winter, and major holidays. Summer peak season is mid-June to August, and winter peak season is the end of November and the end of December. During the summer and winter, most people travel due to their kids being on break, and during the winter, people travel for the holidays or have holiday time off from work. However, shoulder season, or the time between high and low travel seasons, starts from April through mid-June.
If you are traveling in the U.S., there are other major holidays to be aware of such as Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. During these times, flights can be expensive, but if you have to travel during a federal holiday, be sure to book early in advance (at least 2 or 3 months before the departure date)!
If you are traveling outside of the U.S., you should check their major holidays for potential peak times. For example, flights can be expensive when people are traveling to Asia to celebrate Lunar New Year or when people are visiting Germany for Oktoberfest. Being aware of the holidays and avoiding those peak times can help you alleviate high flight prices.
3. Track Flight Prices
If you already have a time frame in mind, you can track flight prices on a travel website like Google Flights. By selecting this option, you will receive alerts sent directly to your email so that you can be aware of when flights increase or decrease in price.
Another tip is to track flight prices across all travel sites. Popular travel sites I use include Kayak, Google Flights, Expedia, and JustFly, and it is important to check to see which site offers the best price to get the best deal. I also check on airline websites like Southwest, Delta, and others. I have personally used Southwest’s deals because they have a lot of amazing discounts. For example, Southwest had a 20% discount for base fares to Hawaii during a 2-month time frame!
4. Purchase Travel Packages
Another potential money-saving option you can do is utilize websites that offer travel packages. For example, Travelzoo offers travel deals that plan your entire itinerary, including flight, activities, and stay all in one. This can help to ease the burden of planning the trip itself, and my friends have had great experiences using it. For example, they currently have an all-inclusive deal with air, hotel, food, and drinks for $599 per person!
A lot of people also rave about Costco Travel. It’s an underrated and underutilized tool that many members do not take advantage of. They offer deals on vacation packages, build your own package, hotels, cruises, rental cars, theme parks, and other specialties. If you have a Costco membership, this is something to look into to best utilize your membership. Plus, Costco has incredible customer service, so they can help you with any questions you may have.
Lastly, I have used Tripmasters for trips around Europe and Asia, and they offer great vacation packages with a lot of flexibility. They curate and recommend great packages, and I liked that I was able to customize their package by adding, subtracting, or changing flights, hotels, and tours on my trip based on my preferences. This website is an all-in-one buildable and customizable travel tool that makes planning a trip easier and seem less daunting. For example, Tripmasters have a deal to 3 cities in Italy for $1,219, and they always allow you to “customize it” to your liking and add more cities to your trip as well!
5. Bundle Activities
Once you’ve booked your flight, it’s time to start booking activities you’d like to do! You can book these activities 1-2 months before your travel date, and I recommend looking for activities that you can bundle at a discount or look on Groupon or Airbnb for deals.
Two of my favorite attraction bundles are offered by CityPASS and Go City. Their bundles showcase the best things to do in a particular city, and there is flexibility on which activities you’d like to do based on their list of top activities. What I love about their passes is that I can do the activities at my leisure, all at a discount. I’ve used these passes when I traveled to Seattle, Chicago, Boston, London, Oahu, and more! These passes always showcase the best and most popular attractions most tourists want to see. For example, you can save 48% on the Chicago CityPass at the top 5 attractions. They even allow you to choose the last 2 attractions from a list of 4 based on your preferences.
Another one of my favorite sites for discount activities is Groupon. You can search for activities in the location you are traveling to and see if there are deals that interest you. I have used this to find activities like jet skiing in Miami, snorkeling in Oahu, and more. You can also search on Airbnb Experiences to see activities or tours hosted by locals in the area you are traveling to!
Thank you for reading this blog, and I hope these tips can help you save money when traveling. Let me know in the comments below if you have other travel-saving hacks!
