Thought & Wisdom Travel - Find Hidden Gems, Avoid Tourist Traps

Tips for an Affordable Trip

Clever Ways to See More with Less

Info

This guide isn’t meant to get you the cheapest deals. It will show you clever ways to save money, but it’s meant to give you the best bang for your buck, and to maximize the value of your trip for the price you’re willing to pay.

Table of Contents

General
Destination Selection
Flight Booking Strategies
Utilizing Layovers
Luggage
Stays
Credit Card Benefits

General

Find a flea market or an open air market to get souvenirs. You can usually find something super unique even for just a few dollars.
Food in tourist areas is generally more expensive, so go where the locals go. Shop at markets and go on picnics. You don’t always have to go out to eat. Try to find affordable stays that have a kitchen or at least a refrigerator so you can store food.
For flights, see the section below.
For other methods of travel, such as car rentals and train tickets, you generally have to pay full price. However you can get lucky on car rentals if you happen to have a discount offered by your credit card provider.
For certain trains, like Amtrak, buy tickets in advance because the prices change closer to the date of travel.
Plan ahead and book early. You may be able to save money by booking outside of the typical season for that activity. Look for activity packages.
Know that you don’t need to partake in excursions to have a good trip. Strolling the streets, finding new food, and meeting locals is far better than excursions.

Destination Selection

Balancing Airfare with Local Daily Expenses

How you can save money

Select a destination with a close proximity to your home country
Travel outside of the tourist season
Research to see which destinations offer cheap flights, stays, food, and local transportation
Opt for multi-destination trips to maximize the experience you’re paying for
Check to see if a stopover benefit applies your flight or layover destination

Flight Proximity

Flight prices differ depending on your location and the destination’s proximity to your home country. Consider visiting a country that is closer to your home country. For people in the US, flights to many countries in Central America and the Caribbean are very affordable.

Traveling Out-of-Season

Traveling in the fall or winter has been great for us. We usually avoid tourism, as well as the hottest time of the year. Exploring during the winter can be intimidating, but visiting outside of the tourist-heavy months is a great way to get the genuine feel of a place. Traveling during the winter is also a good way to determine if you ever would want to live in a place. We once visited Denmark during the winter holidays instead of the summer, and although we were worried about cold weather, it was seriously an incredible trip.

Day-to-Day Expenses

When researching potential destinations, consider the destination’s economy along with your day-to-day costs such as stays, local transportation, activities, food, and shopping.

Examples

Countries that are generally expensive

Western Europe especially Scandinavia
Singapore, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Israel, New Zealand, US
Flights to Japan, Brazil, and Argentina are expensive, but food and stays are more affordable

Countries that are generally inexpensive

Many countries in Central and South America
India, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar, Hungary, Greece, Dominican Republic, Cambodia

Maximize with Multiple Destinations

Opt for multi-destination trips. If you’re going to travel all the way to Europe, you might as well add additional countries. We recommend visiting bordering countries to your main destination, or spending more time in an area with a layover. For example, when we visited Denmark, we mainly stayed there but we explored Sweden by train and Germany via a short flight for the weekend. We also utilized a layover in Iceland.

Research Stopover Benefits

Research stopover benefits to see if a stopover benefit applies to your flight or layover destination. If your layover is in Iceland and you are flying with Icelandair, you can opt for a free stopover for up to 7 days due to Iceland promoting tourism. Check out Icelandair’s Stopover Program and the terms before booking.

Check out Reykjavik if you can
- There is an option to buy bus tickets from the airport to Reykjavik on an Icelandair flight
Keflavik is a nice option too
Blue Lagoon is near the airport but requires transportation to get there
- Hot springs with geothermal seawater surrounded by volcanoes
- Will not be open at times due to volcanic activity

Flight Booking Strategies

Finding the Best Time to Book for Low Airfare

How you can save money

Set up Google Flight alerts to be notified of less expensive flights
Consider taking a budget airline (if it’s available via Google Flights)
- If you’re using a budget airline, opt out of paying extra for a carry-on or checked bag
- Use a travel backpack as a personal item instead of a carry-on
Try to fly on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or overnight. Those fares can be less expensive.

Utilizing Google Flights

We use Google Flights to notify us of inexpensive tickets. As flight dates get closer, airlines get more desperate to sell seats. Oftentimes, they do this for out-of-season flights, which has the benefit of avoiding most tourists during your trip.

We went to Copenhagen during the winter instead of the summer, and it was such an amazing trip.

Set up Google Flight alerts

The List & Wait Strategy

A clever way to save money on our trips is to be adaptable. Instead of choosing a destination and being completely set on it, we make a list of places we want to visit. When we receive a Google Flight notification, we check the price and location. If the price is low, and the location is on our list, we let people in our main travel group know. Other people in the group will mention if that destination is on their list as well. If there is enough hype for this ticket price and destination, it often turns into a trip.

The Budget Airline Strategy

Frontier’s booking tool allows you to view flights by price and weekday, so you can pick the least expensive day to fly during that time of year. Typically Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and overnights offer the best price points for tickets. If you can sleep, flying overnight while you sleep is a great benefit.
Frontier isn’t the best airline, but it is a solid choice for inexpensive air travel. Certain budget airlines like Frontier allow you to opt out of bringing a carry-on, and that can lower your ticket price.
- Instead of a carry-on, you can use a travel backpack as a personal item. Always measure the dimensions of your personal item before committing to it. Some airlines will measure your personal item while boarding, so don’t over-pack it.
- Warning: Frontier Airlines will make you do a test on your personal item by fitting it into a metal bin. If it doesn’t fit, you will be forced to check your bag and may miss your flight. Make sure your personal item is not over-packed.

Airline Packing Hacks

We use backpacks as our personal items to avoid the potential of having to check our carry-on bags. Typically carry-on bags are not checked, however airlines often oversell the flight and the staff then forces travelers to check their carry-on bags, which can cause them to miss their flight. We try to avoid that.
Use a large travel backpack as a personal item. It usually fits under airline seats and qualifies as a personal item with many airlines. Personal item dimensions vary by airline, so always check before you pack. Another benefit to using a backpack as a personal item is the freedom to walk around with your luggage if needed. Traveling light provides adaptability and peace-of-mind.
When using a backpack as a personal item, wearing a small hip pack under a hoodie is a way to bring in an additional hidden personal item, depending on how full the bag is.
You can use a collapsible neck pillow for extra storage to extend your personal item. When you stuff socks and small items of clothing into it, you’re essentially just replacing the stuffing of an average neck pillow. Note that walking around with this at your destination can be fairly uncomfortable. Finding a neck pillow that hooks onto your backpack can help.

Utilizing Layovers

Maximizing the Layover Experience

How you can save money

Set up Google Flight alerts to be notified of less expensive flights
Research to see which destinations offer cheap flights, stays, food, and local transportation
Choose flights with 1 layover or less when booking (2 layovers are not worth it)
Check to see if a stopover benefit applies to your flight or layover destination
Opt for multi-destination trips to maximize the experience you’re paying for
Sleep in the airport if your layover is overnight and 6 hours or less

One Layover

Option 1: Sleeping in the Airport

The airport seems like a lawless land; it’s a Wild West of claiming charging outlets, sleeping on the floor, and taking suitcases into public bathrooms. It’s not uncommon to sleep in the airport and it’s generally considered socially acceptable.

If you can manage being uncomfortable, cold, hungry, sore, and consistently woken up by foot traffic or paranoia that some other weary traveler is going to steal your things, then sleeping in the airport is for you. Like most things, there’s a website all about it:

Sleeping in Airports
- Home
Other things this website covers:
- Airport Guides
- Airport Hotels
- Airport Reviews
- Things to do on a Layover
- Airport Layover Sightseeing

If your layover is during the overnight:

Arrive 9-10 PM and depart around 3-4 AM
- We would likely sleep in the airport
Arrive around midnight and depart around 5-6 AM
- We would likely sleep in the airport

Option 2: Stay in a Hotel or Airbnb

We typically choose hotels instead of Airbnbs when we are near the airport. The only accommodations needed are a bed and a shower. You will need enough time to get there, get ready for bed, sleep, get up, get ready and then make your flight.

Check the cancellation policy
Free breakfast is nice when in a hurry but not required

If your layover is during the day:

If your layover is during the day and long enough, go on a day trip and explore the closest largest city. Walk around, eat foods from that city or county and then sleep on the plane when you board.

Things to note:

Layovers on the way to your destination
- Travelers can be generally hyped up
Layovers on the way back
- Travelers can be generally more weary and may want to catch up on sleep

If your layover is during the night:

Sleep in the airport or stay at a hotel or Airbnb for the night so you can sleep.

When is a stay worth it?

6 hours or less
- Typically not worth it
8 hours
- Generally worth it (if not during day)
10 hours
- Could be worth (if not during day)

Two Layovers

Just don’t. It’s not worth the extra time or extra money that can go towards your trip.

Additional Info on Layovers

Delays

To pass the time during flight delays while you’re still at your destination, try exploring the area and eating the traditional food the country is known for. If you’re stuck at the airport, focus on finding new foods to try from a local place within the airport. If you are not at the airport yet and completely explored the entire city or area that you’re departing, you can do the following:

Spend three to four hours at a museum or one to two hours at a cinema
If you still have access to your stay, there’s always more sleep