The joys of traveling on the cheap

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  • BehindBlueI's

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    I was talking to a guy at work about my upcoming Spain trip and he mentioned he'd always wanted to see Paris and he was the only one of his siblings who hadn't done so. I immediately engaged "enabler mode" and found him tickets, roundtrip and direct from Chicago for $310 and the link to the Airbnb we stayed in when we went. He's surprised his wife with it and they are making plans to go.

    I've been thinking of writing up a quick guide on how I knock travel costs down. If there's any interest I'll try to do so soon. The basics are advanced planning, flexibility, and metasearch sites combined with travel rewards credit cards, reduced price gift cards, and more advanced planning. Especially in Europe, train and bus tickets are much cheaper 45-60 days in advance.
     

    ashby koss

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    This is where they get businesses. Our business trip to China went from 2-3,000 to 8,000 very quickly with rushing everything including visas and schedule.
     

    BehindBlueI's

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    I'd be interested.

    Also, tell me more about your upcoming trip to Spain!

    I got three tickets, round trip, for $1356 CHI -> Madrid. We'll have 10 days there and fly out on the 11th morning. We had originally considered a few different circuits, but have settled on Madrid -> Granada -> Seville -> Cordova -> Madrid. There is train service for each leg except Granada -> Seville which will be a 3 hour bus ride. The final two legs are high speed trains, which will be a new experience for me. I've taken trains in Europe before but not the 180mph versions.

    Granada is actually what I'm most excited for. Alhambra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra) and a day hike in the Sierra Nevada (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_(Spain)) are in the plans, and we rented the top floor of a historic Moorish house.
     

    nra4ever

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    I'm interested. looking at Argentina, Spain, or Thailand as possibilities for this fall. Share what you can please and thanks.

    If I could get 2 tickets for what you paid Spain would be the lock.
     
    Last edited:

    BehindBlueI's

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    I'm interested. looking at Argentina, Spain, or Thailand as possibilities for this fall. Share what you can please and thanks.

    If I could get 2 tickets for what you paid Spain would be the lock.

    Without spending too much time:

    CHI -> Barcelona via Norwegian Air flight DY 7156 on OCT 11. Direct.

    Barcelona -> CHI via TAP (Portuguese national airline) TP 1041 and TP 354, 1:45 layover in Lisbon. Oct 20, 21 or 22.

    $316 round trip.

    Go to Google Flights and play around with those dates.

    Note this is with only a carry on baggage only. Taking checked bags will dramatically increase the cost of the tickets. Which is one of the tips. You often don't need to check a bag.

    Lightweight travel clothes in a small backpack makes the trip easier and cheaper.

    Do it on YouTube and end up getting paid for it. Travel stuff is HUGE over there. Your trip to Spain will be a hit too!

    I am neither pretty enough nor charismatic enough to make any youtube money. Plus it would make travel into work, and bleh to that.
     

    chipbennett

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    I got three tickets, round trip, for $1356 CHI -> Madrid. We'll have 10 days there and fly out on the 11th morning. We had originally considered a few different circuits, but have settled on Madrid -> Granada -> Seville -> Cordova -> Madrid. There is train service for each leg except Granada -> Seville which will be a 3 hour bus ride. The final two legs are high speed trains, which will be a new experience for me. I've taken trains in Europe before but not the 180mph versions.

    Granada is actually what I'm most excited for. Alhambra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra) and a day hike in the Sierra Nevada (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_(Spain)) are in the plans, and we rented the top floor of a historic Moorish house.

    I am sincerely jealous, and hope you have a great time. I finally got to see Barcelona last year, thanks to a work trip. But with two weeks of work and only a weekend to myself, I chose to spend both days exploring the city. (Parc Guell and La Sagrada Familia were absolutely worth it.) That said, I really wish I could have seen Seville and, especially, Granada. La Alhambra is now probably #1 on my world bucket list (having now visited Sagrada Familia). And Spain will be so much fun to explore via train.

    Nice price on the tickets. Delta coach from Indy (through CDG) to BCN seems to be in the $1500 - $1800 range, depending on when I priced out the tickets. (It was actually more expensive to fly somewhat last-minute to MAN (UK).)
     

    chipbennett

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    Without spending too much time:

    CHI -> Barcelona via Norwegian Air flight DY 7156 on OCT 11. Direct.

    Barcelona -> CHI via TAP (Portuguese national airline) TP 1041 and TP 354, 1:45 layover in Lisbon. Oct 20, 21 or 22.

    $316 round trip.

    Go to Google Flights and play around with those dates.

    Note this is with only a carry on baggage only. Taking checked bags will dramatically increase the cost of the tickets. Which is one of the tips. You often don't need to check a bag.

    Lightweight travel clothes in a small backpack makes the trip easier and cheaper.

    100% truth. As a weekly traveler, the thought of checking a bag is anathema to me. I can get up to 8 days worth of clothes in a carry-on. My travel patterns will be changing, so I just bought a cabin bag that will work for up to 3-4 day trips.

    If there is one area where I would recommend not doing on the cheap, it is with your choice of luggage. I swear by, and only use, Eagle Creek luggage. (If you have the coin, pop for Briggs & Riley.) Anything else, you're just wasting money.
     

    chipbennett

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    This is where they get businesses. Our business trip to China went from 2-3,000 to 8,000 very quickly with rushing everything including visas and schedule.

    Yep. I'm planning a business trip to China and Singapore for later this year. I'm already coordinating the timing for my invitation letter and visa application, to avoid those rush fees. The tricky part there will be timing the flight purchase so that it's early enough to be a good price, but not so early that it is before I actually have my visa.
     

    BehindBlueI's

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    I am sincerely jealous, and hope you have a great time. I finally got to see Barcelona last year, thanks to a work trip. But with two weeks of work and only a weekend to myself, I chose to spend both days exploring the city. (Parc Guell and La Sagrada Familia were absolutely worth it.) That said, I really wish I could have seen Seville and, especially, Granada. La Alhambra is now probably #1 on my world bucket list (having now visited Sagrada Familia). And Spain will be so much fun to explore via train.

    Nice price on the tickets. Delta coach from Indy (through CDG) to BCN seems to be in the $1500 - $1800 range, depending on when I priced out the tickets. (It was actually more expensive to fly somewhat last-minute to MAN (UK).)

    I loved Barcelona, and we spent a full week there. I don't recall the ticket price, but we did it on the return leg from Amman, Jordan anyway so it wouldn't be an apples to apples comparison. The Sagrada Familia remains the most impressive man-made structure I've seen. I intend to return after it's completed and see it again.

    Oh, and take a look at my above reply. If you can get to Chicago, fly from there and Barcelona is cheap in October. It's easily done under $600 a ticket, $320-ish if you don't mind a layover and don't need bags.
     

    eldirector

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    My sister used to fly standby with a backpack. If getting there is 1/2 the adventure, it can be done on the cheap.

    She and her husband just went to Thailand. No idea of the real cost, but knowing her, it was WAY below retail. Had a 24-hour layover in Istanbul, so they made an adventure out of it. She contacted friends of friends of friends to find lodging in a local hotel, rather than the Marriott.
     
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