Our 10 Best Travel Trips!

OUR 10 BEST TRAVEL TIPS!

It’s no secret that Phillip and I love to travel together! It’s so fun to find new places, food, and experiences with someone you love. 🙂

BUT traveling can be very expensive! We aren’t people who pack everything in backpacks for a 10-day trip, crashing at “hostels” and only doing free stuff. We’re ALSO not people who are paying for the most expensive hotels and really fancy dinners. That being said, Phillip and I have learned a few tips to travel to luxurious places BUT ALSO saving money while doing it! 🙂

I hope these 10 tips help with planning your next getaway!

1. Credit Card points! We try to use our card on EVERYTHING throughout the year to rack up points! Everything from our utilities, internet, to food we swipe our card. We save our credit card points all year, and cash them in before trips and will get about $600 cash between our two cards. (Or you can sign up for a credit card that has airline points instead!)

2. Use a travel agent for finding hotels and flights at much better rates! If you’re locked into dates and can’t use flexible or last minute cheap travel options, find a travel agent! We always save money by booking hotels + flights through an agent rather than what we can find online. (Also, make sure they book flights that have baggage INCLUDED, or else you’ll be spending LOTS more on each checked bag round trip!) It doesn’t cost you anything to have a travel agent – unless you’d like to tip or send them a little gift as a thank you.

3. Use public transportation! Taking the time to learn a city’s subway system is WORTH IT saving money versus getting expensive Taxi or Uber rides to your destinations. It can be scary at first trying to get the hang of it, but lots of cities even have free apps with their transportation information to help! Also, try to book hotels that are near multiple subway stops for options!

4. Book your experiences in packages! Everywhere from NYC, to Charleston to London will have “passes” where you can pay a flat fee for entry tickets, and try to cram in as many experiences as possible. If you’re planning on doing LOTS of sight-seeing, you save lots of money buying them as a package than as each individual entry fee! (For example the “London Pass” even has an app to access through your phone!)

5. Look up FREE things to do! It may seem like a no-brainer – but for example I researched and found out in Paris they had FREE MUSEUM entries on the first Saturday of the month. It saved us lots of additional entry fees by scheduling our time around that! Also, lots of cities have FREE walking tours, you can just tip your guide at the end of the walk.

6. Buy a travel guide! We always buy the Rick Steves travel guides, and he goes into so much detail for everything from learning about currency, to walking tours, to restaurants he recommends!

7. Bring empty water bottles! Lots of places charge for water, so we always ask for tap water (if it’s free) or carry around water bottles and fill up at our hotels or public water fountains!

8. Call your credit card companies and banks ahead of time with your travel dates, and itinerary, so they won’t place holds on your card thinking it’s been stolen!

9. Buy an international phone plan for 1 of your phones (it’s only like $40 unlimited through Verizon). OR save even MORE money by relying on wifi! (Be sure to download your Google maps each night at your hotel while you’re on wifi to access the maps offline the next day!)

10. Always eat your free hotel breakfast (internationally the breakfasts are seriously TO DIE FOR) to save money, and we personally choose to never splurge on super fancy dinners. We also bring granola bars for HANGRY emergencies!!

BONUS TIP: DO YOUR RESEARCH. I always plan out each day of travel so we don’t miss out on anything we really wanted to see (Type-A over here) – but I also leave an extra day or so for spontaneous plans! I research online lots of travel blogs, read my Rick Steves book, and browse instagram hashtags and accounts! 🙂

I hope some of these ideas help you plan your next vacation! Let me know if you have any specific questions about a certain place – We’ve traveled to Iceland, Paris, London, Italy, Jamaica, Curacao, Alaska, New York City, Charleston, Savannah, Chicago, Denver, Colorado Springs, Disneyworld, Nashville, Washington DC, Richmond, Charlotte, Asheville/Boone, etc! Our next trips are to: Waco TX, New York City, and Ireland/Scotland in 2020!