When you think of traveling the world, do you imagine expensive round-trip tickets and either expensive name-brand hotels or shady local inns where they don’t speak a lick of English? This doesn’t have to be the case. There are ways to make travel work for you, on the cheap and all it takes is a little flexibility. With the world still in a hazy and international travel not quite the the level of domestic travel, now is the perfect time to start planning your trip for when you receive your vaccine passport. Here are 3 ways to travel the world cheap once the borders open back up.
#1 Loopholes in airfare
While airfare is generally the biggest expense for an international trip – especially when traveling with multiple people sharing a hotel room – it doesn’t have to be. These methods work for domestic travel as well as international travel. The first step to travel the world cheap is to find your airfare. Up front, I will say that this can require some flexibility on your part – time of the day you fly and which day. Give yourself a range of days you are alright leaving and coming back. Last minute deals can lead to greater savings depending on your comfort level with not quite knowing where you’re going until the last second.
The first method to find cheap flights is to use a service such as Skiplagged. Skiplagged searches all the usual travel agencies such as Kayak or Trivago as well as using loopholes to save you money through creative routing. These loopholes look deep into the routing system and find the weird deals. If you’ve ever seen a flight from Denver to San Francisco (DEN-SFO) for $110, and then added another destination like Arcata (DEN-SFO-ACV) and seen the price go down to $100, you’ll know what I mean.
This can lead you on some interesting routes across the US (or other countries) before arriving in your destination. But hey, it’s about the journey, not the destination. Don’t be a binge traveler trying to see 14 cities in 7 days, it will go by as a haze. Embrace slow travel and give your self time to appreciate and immerse yourself in the culture.
#2 Travel Reward Points
The two extreme opinion on credit cards are either that they are evil debt-machines, or that they are free travel. It all depends on how they are used. Certain credit cards give points (1x or 2x per $1 spent generally) that can traded for loyalty points with various hotels and airlines. These points can supplement cash and help you travel the world cheap.
The Chase Sapphire is one of the golden cards of travel. Points can be spend as $0.01 on Chase’s travel portal that ties into Expedia, or transferred to travel partners. My favorite redemption is with Hyatt as good hotels start at 25,000 points. Just putting everyday purchases on cards like these can help passively build up free flights and hotel nights. Signup bonuses and annual awards can be huge boosts as well. A signup bonus for the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) of 100,000 points means a free roundtrip ticket to Europe or Asia, a night in a Ritz-Carlton, 5 nights in certain Marriotts, or $1,500 in Chase’s travel portal to divvy up between flights, hotels, and entertainment.
One of my favorite cards is a Marriott Bonvoy card from Chase. I don’t put many purchases on it, but I love having it in my wallet and gladly pay the $95 annual fee. If it sounds absurd to pay $95 a year for a card I don’t use, you’d be right if it was most other cards. This card gives me a free night at a Marriott worth up to 35,000 every year. Marriott has many properties in Japan that fall in the category of 35,000 points or less per night. The average cost of these hotels depending on the season is between $200 and $300 a night for a standard room. Every year I get a free night at one of these hotels guaranteed at $95. Platinum status means I generally get upgraded to a larger room or a suite that can range from $300-$500 a night at no extra cost!
For more ways to optimize your travel using points, check out The Points Guy, my go to blog for staying up to date with all things hotels, airlines, and reward programs.
#3 Travel the World Virtually
While not as exciting as visiting the location in person, you can still get a taste of what the location has to offer, or the general vibe of the city. Sites such as Drive & Listen exist to do just that. Perks of this method of seeing the world are that it’s free and covid-friendly, enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Should you virtually visit Japan, pick yourself up a souvenir of a craft import from Rambling Merchant.
Drive & Listen and similar services are great for preparing for a trip, whether to hype you up by seeing the sites and hearing the sounds, or just getting a feel for what the roads are like at your destination. Travel blogs are another great way to brush yourself up on a culture before visiting yourself. If you missed out on Sakura season in Japan this year, read about the earliest bloom in 1200 years here!
When you do have the chance to travel to another country, make sure you know what to expect! What are your tips for traveling the world cheap? Let us know!
