Section #1 – Trip Planning Helps Reduce Cost & Travel Stress

Every Trip Starts With A Plan

     Trip planning helps reduce airfare costs. What is the best way to choose air travel? Planning air travel is the first thing you must handle after verifying that you have the time off of work. Not finding the right flight can end a trip before it even begins. Flights are often the most expensive part of a trip so knowing where to look is the first step. Skyscanner is my absolute favorite application to use. They allow the user to input potential dates months in advance and will email you when those prices on those dates have changed. I have personally saved thousands of dollars on flights using Skyscanner. When using this application, you don’t have to worry about being on the website or app Tuesday morning to try and get the best deal. Skyscanner does it for you.

Travel Tuesdays & Wednesdays

     Speaking of Tuesdays and Wednesdays, these are the days that many people think are the best days to book flights, and generally speaking, they are correct. Tuesday is the day that a vast majority of airlines put their tickets on sale. I book most of my flights on Tuesdays because they are the cheapest. However, this is not always the case and that is where Skyscanner can help you out and alleviate some of that travel stress.

There are hundreds of airlines across the globe and all of them have pros and cons. When it comes to Europe the first two airlines to be thrown out are Ryanair and EasyJet and I have used both of these airlines with minimal issues ever arising. However, both Ryanair and EasyJet have become ruthless on carryon baggage and they charge for everything. For this reason, I began searching outside the big two budget airlines and located Wizz Air.

Wizz Air is a very similar budget airline, but they great options for getting from Europe over to the Middle East. They fly out of Warsaw Poland all the time to the middle east and you can get tickets for less than 100$ to many of the destinations. Just like all budget airlines be sure to verify their baggage requirements. When flying Wizz Air you must always check-in before you get to the airport or they will get you for a fee, I learned this out the hard way. It is one of their trickier ways to make money but if you read their emails it is made clear that this must be done before checking in at the airport. I would think this might get a surprising number of lazy passengers that choose not to read any emails sent their way from the airline. I’d be interested in the statistics on this.

Asia Equal Luxury

     On to Asia, we go. Asia is my favorite continent to fly on because everything just seems more luxury for the same price you pay in Europe and the United States. AirAsia is a great airline that I have used many times with no issues at all. You can get flights flying throughout Asia for less than 40$. I flew from Bangkok to Phuket for 18$. The same trip by bus was over 40$. Due to this travel experience, I now will always check the flights while traveling in Asia even if the bus ride seems uber cheap.

     The final airline I want to discuss offers a very cool added feature that many travelers are completely unaware of. TAP Portugal allows its passengers to have an extended layover in Lisbon or Porto Portugal for no additional cost. I have used this airline many times while traveling from Miami to Berlin. What is so intriguing with this is that the extra layover is not going to cost you anything. How is this possible? I have no idea but I don’t care because it allows for some awesome sightseeing. Flights are the fundamental foundation that most international trips are built upon and hopefully this information will prove useful in your upcoming travels.

Planning Accommodations Await

     Understanding where, why, when, and what kind of budget accommodations are available is the next step in the planning process. Planning accommodation is an essential part of any trip because we have to sleep sometime. In my opinion, accommodations can be the most important part of planning a trip, and here is why. Without the proper amount asleep the brain and body cannot function correctly, that is not my opinion but a scientific fact. The first step in booking accommodations is deciding what kind of housing you want; hostel, hotel, Airbnb, or couch surfing.

Hostels

      The next step in planning accommodations is deciding what application you are going to use to book through. I have used many apps throughout my travels, but a few have stayed at the top of my list. The first two apps are Hostelworld and Booking. I utilize this app combination when I am booking a hostel all the time. The reason I use these two apps in conjunction is because of the reviews. Reviews can be extremely helpful when you are deciding where to stay. However, reviews can also be misleading and skewed by the establishment. Therefore, I do the double app review because it would be very difficult for an establishment to sabotage multiple websites for reviews, not impossible just unlikely. While using this method I haven’t had a single issue in 200+ bookings. If a hostel has above average reviews on both apps, you can rest assure that the hostel is a good one.

Hotels

     I utilize this same approach when booking a hotel but use Booking and Expedia. Hotels are more expensive than hostels, but they are also more private. However, keep in mind that many hostels do offer private rooms not just bunk beds. Perhaps you want to get out of your comfort zone and try a hostel and you can do so with privacy. By utilizing the double app approach for hotels, you can make sure that a hotel isn’t deemed horrible due to one angry customer who didn’t get their breakfast on time.

Airbnb’s

     Next up is the elusive Airbnb. This is my favorite type of accommodation since every single stay can be an adventure of its own. I have used Airbnb on 6 continents and have had some very humorous stories. Most of the time Airbnb is not the cheapest option but it does have its advantages. An insiders tip that lots of people forget about is that the customer has power when booking Airbnb. Airbnb Customer power is the power of negotiation. The power starts when you are in a city and you notice that there are tons of Airbnb’s available. This means that Airbnb in the current area is in a buyers market. The Airbnb host wants to put people in their homes because that’s how they make money.

     The following is how I have negotiated many times before. Start by only booking the room for one night because this is how you get the seller’s information. After you show up and check-in and verify that it is a good stay you can begin your negotiations. Send an email expressing your interest in staying a few more days and noticed no one has booked yet. After which you can proceed to put an offer on the table. Do not ask for a discount! This gives the power right back to the host. Instead, make a reasonable offer on your stay.

     For example, Let’s say that you are staying in the house for three more nights and he wants you to pay 25$ a night with a total being 75$. You could email him saying you’d like to stay three more nights but want to pay 20$ a night. Mention that there are many properties available but also express that you want to stay at his property. Be polite and you will be surprised how often this works. As of the date writing this book I was eleven for seventeen. That is a 64.7% success rate which added up to saving quite a bit of money.

Couchsurfing

     The final option with budget accommodations planning is Couchsurfing. This is a real thing for anyone that has never of it before. Couchsurfing is a very cool concept where homeowners all over the world will offer a bed, couch, or even their floor to a traveler who is low on funds. This is a concept that is much bolder than the other forms of accommodations but that does not mean it is not worth a try. Getting out of your comfort zone is the goal of many solo travelers.

     Many solo travelers choose to start their trip solo primarily because they want to be forced to get out of their comfort zone. What better way than sleeping on someone’s floor for free. Couchsurfing.com does a great job at keeping their reviews up to date very similar to Airbnb. After someone has stayed at someone’s house, they can review them and vice versa. You will book these couch surfing accommodations in the same manner as you would an Airbnb. It allows the couch surfing guest to feel much more at ease by having the option to read reviews. This is the boldest of the accommodation options but perhaps today you are feeling extra BOLD.

Trip Planning Helps Reduce Stress So Get Travel Insurance!

      Travel insurance is a very needed addition to any trip but many times I see that it is passed up by younger backpackers. Planning travel insurance can become very expensive and may seem not to be a necessary expense. I thought this exact thing until I fell off a cliff in Bali Indonesia. I was then on crutches for 8 weeks and I had to do all of this without insurance because I thought it would never happen to me. If I would have had insurance I could have went to the doctors and gotten proper medical care rather than hopping around for 8 weeks in major pain throughout Australia all because I didn’t want to spend the 200$ to get travelers’ insurance beforehand.

     Worldnomads.com & Allianstravelinsurance.com are the two insurance providers I have since been introduced to. Both of these providers have great rates and offer very good customer service. Also, make sure to check with your credit card providers and see if they offer any deals on travel insurance. Chase bank has multiple programs with several of their cards that can allow you to receive free travel insurance if you use their card to book the trip. Check these options out and you may save a large amount of cash.

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