As summer soon approaches, so do summer travel plans! Whether you are traveling stateside or planning to travel abroad, these Top 5 Travel Tips will help you be prepared for your vacation.
For domestic flights, the best time to buy a ticket is six to eight weeks before the desired date of travel. And the best day to buy a ticket is on Tuesdays at 3pm. The reason for this, is airlines release their flight rates on a weekly basis on Mondays, so Tuesday is when airlines see each other’s prices and reduce their prices to be competitive. And if you are traveling internationally, then the best prices will be eight to ten weeks out from the desired date of travel. Just make sure to check that your travel dates don’t align with any domestic or foreign holidays, as this will increase the price of the ticket as well as the pricing and availability of hotels.
Subscribe to airline/train/coach buses newsletters. However you plan on traveling, subscribe to these newsletters as they are always competing to give you the best-offered price and deals on tickets. I like to fly with Alaska Airlines domestically, and once a month they send me a newsletter for very cheap flights which require me to pick dates up to two months in advance. When I lived in Europe, I subscribed to Eurostar which also offered a similar newsletter deal for cheap train tickets to certain destinations.
Buy tickets in advance. This may seem obvious, but if you can buy a ticket online in advance then do that. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying more on the day of. I made the mistake of buying a train ticket from London to Paris the day of and it cost me 4x the normal price. And since the train was already full, the only ticket option available was first class. This tip applies to all types of tickets. For example, if you are planning to go to Disneyland/Disney World, then buy the tickets online since they will be the same price in person and then you get to skip waiting in another line.
Research what you want to do/see and where you want to eat. I use Pinterest to look up free activities to do in cities I travel to, as well as where to find vegan restaurants. What’s great about Pinterest is that there are a lot of blogs linked to the site. And if you are searching for cities, a lot of these blogs are written by locals, which means you can make the most of your travels by visiting the city like a local and less like a tourist. And I’ve used this for everything, from finding vegan food to getting step-by-step directions for using the metro in Paris.
Try to plan to do one or two things a day, and not much more. Whether this is sightseeing at two spots or visiting a museum followed by dinner, this minimal planning will make your vacation feel less stressful and more enjoyable. To plan on doing one or two things allows time for traffic and traveling from spot to spot without any rush. It also allows you to feel accomplished if you get to do everything you set out to do. If you plan to do 5 or 6 things a day, you’ll find it harder to fit everything into your schedule and end up feeling rushed or you’ll feel disappointed that you didn’t get to do everything.
I hope these tips will help your vacation be more affordable and less stressful. And Bonus tip, become an expert packer and read our article on how to pack a capsule wardrobe to make the most of your suitcase. Make sure to check it out and to follow these Top 5 Travel Tips to make your next vacation a relaxing, stress-free holiday.
