How to Travel Hack - Broke-Traveler

Photo Credit by: InvestmentZen

Just like with personal financing, you’re going to make mistakes in the beginning of becoming a world class traveler. We’re human; it’s inevitable that we will screw up. You’re going to overspend for a flight or rental car. Forget to pack something crucial that ruins part of your trip (First aid kit in Maui :/). Become overwhelmed with the logistics of your trip. Hopefully these travel hacking tips will prevent you from making the same mistakes I have made, save you some money, and have a better travel experience overall 🙂 I know this is going to be information overload. Read this post a couple of times and let it all soak in. Then try to implement a few travel hacking tips the next time you travel and see if it’s beneficial. If it is, slowly keep adding these tips until you find the perfect balance of saving money and taking more vacations with minimal effort and time spent.

Lodging

Airbnb – Sometimes could be the cheapest option in this list. I’ve used Airbnb in LA, Tahoe, and Atlanta with only minor complaints (Room temperature mainly, No AC in the ones in LA, couldn’t adjust the temperature in the one I stayed at in Atlanta in December). There are going to be tradeoffs depending on how cheap the price is. Just make sure to review the amenities before booking. Ask the Airbnb owner too for discounts, especially if you booked a lengthy stay.
Hotel Tonight – If you’re taking a spontaneous last-minute trip or ok with waiting until the night before to book a hotel (This would give me extreme anxiety), this is a great app to score some major deals.
Priceline – Express Deals (Formerly known as Name Your Price). I’ve used this for Chicago and NYC. Pick which star hotel you want in a specific location, saving you 20-30%. There is a catch though (There always is). You don’t find out the name of the hotel until after you book it. So far, I’m 2/2 with no complaints.
VRBO – If you’re going to the beach, look into VRBO. I used them in Maui and got a room for $200/night. Great deal compared to $250-300 per night hotels were charging.
Booking.com – This one is a great resource for international trips, especially Europe. I used it for my London & Paris trip.
Redweek.com – If you’re vacationing for at least a week, you may want to consider renting a timeshare from this timeshare community.
Become an AARP member. And you don’t have to be 50 to be a member! Anyone under 50 years old can apply for an associate membership where you still have access to hotel discounts.

Flights

There are PLENTY of ways to save money on flights. A lot require little effort. Some require more time and effort than others (Actual travel hacking). With that said, I wouldn’t spend hours trying to save $20 on a flight. If you see a great deal, don’t be afraid to pull the trigger. Yes, you might be able to save a few more bucks if you wait a day. But the price could also go up if you wait. Most travel experts say, “The best day to book is usually today.” The ultimate goal for me is to put minimal effort into booking a flight while saving money as well.

Booking your flights about 2 months in advance will typically save you the most money. Booking flights early in the week could also save you some money because this is usually when sales occur.
Very first thing I do when researching a trip is to switch to “Private Browsing.” If you use Google Chrome open up an “Incognito Window”. When you visit airline and travel sites, those sneaky bastards can record your visits by installing cookies on your browser, which can cause the prices you saw earlier to rise the next time you visit their site.
Next step is to look at Google Flights. Select your destination and time frame and it’ll show you all of the major airlines (Except for Southwest) and their flights on your arrival and departure dates. You can even book a flight directly from their site. Super helpful because you can also scroll through the months and it’ll show you average prices for every day, which allows you to spot the cheapest days to fly to/from your destination. I also recently discovered other flight search engines, Momondo and TravelPirates. They are similar to Google Flights but they also search the small booking sites that Google Flights doesn’t, as well as saving you the trouble and finding the cheapest flights for you by mixing and matching airlines and layovers.
Be flexible. By using Google Flights, Momondo, and TravelPirates, you can see which days are cheaper than others. Typically, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are the cheapest days to fly, with Mondays and Fridays being the most expensive. Early morning and late-night flights also tend to be cheaper.
If you have a good idea of when you’ll be traveling and it’s not for a couple of months, use the Hopper app. It predicts and monitors flight prices and tells you when to book, sending you alerts when it spots the cheapest prices.
Book two one-way flights with different airlines. Sometimes you can find cheaper fares by mixing and matching airlines as opposed to being restricted to using one airline for a roundtrip flight.
Sometimes it’s cheaper to search for indirect routes (Try Skyscanner). Layovers typically are cheaper than non-stop flights. It’s important to keep in mind that if you’re mixing and matching airlines to allow yourself enough time in between flights. Usually 2-3 hours should be enough in case something goes wrong and your first flight gets delayed.
Seriously consider flying with budget carriers like Spirit Airlines. If you don’t mind sacrificing a little leg room, a snack and beverage, a phalange or two (For my Friends fans) and using a backpack for luggage, then this could result in your biggest savings. I’ve flown from New Orleans to Houston roundtrip for $100 and New Orleans to Las Vegas for less than $200! The only downside with Spirit is their luggage restrictions (If you can’t get by with a backpack you’ll have to pay extra) and their limited amount of flights per day.
A recent travel hack i found about is buying airfare for budget airlines physically at the airport. No, not buying them the day you’re flying out. Look up your flights online but instead of purchasing them go to the airport to do it. Budget airlines like Spirit charge an online booking fee, typically $10 each way.
Fly Southwest Airlines if you can. I am a huge fan of this Airline. For the last 3 years they have had a 72-hour sales event twice a year (June and October) that offers roundtrip flights for $49, $79, $99 and $129. They also do Black Friday deals as well. Follow them on Twitter (@SouthwestAir) to catch the sale as soon as it starts. If you become a Click ‘N Save subscriber you’ll receive weekly emails for special deals. You’ll have to book directly on their website though because Southwest doesn’t allow third-party websites to show their prices.
Tired of waiting in long ass security lines at the airport? Sign up for TSA PreCheck. For only a 5year/$85 membership you can enjoy not having to take off your shoes, jacket, and belt when you go through security. No more taking out your laptop and 3-1-1 liquids either. And the best part of the membership…you no longer have to get to the airport hours before departure. 200 airports have expedited TSA PreCheck lines, where 92% of TSA PreCheck member as of this year have waited in line less than 5 mins! For only $15 more you can get Global Entry, which is the international version of TSA PreCheck. You receive all of TSA PreCheck benefits plus when you return from international trips you can skip the traditional customs and declaration lines and head straight to the automatic kiosks. Some credit cards will even include a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry membership as one of their perks. And if you have a TWIC card for your employment, it now includes access to TSA PreCheck. Use your TWIC card’s CIN in the appropriate known traveler number (KTN) field of your airline reservations and airline profiles.
You legally have 24 hours after you’ve purchased a flight to cancel so check the next day if you can get a better deal.

Rental Cars

Skyscanner– A great site similar to Momondo and Google Flights that also offers car rentals. In addition to the major car rental companies, Skyscanner searches and compares prices from hundreds of car rental companies, trying to find you the cheapest price possible.
Expedia / Kayak – In the past I have used these 2 sites to book my rental cars. In the past (I now use Autoslash) I would check every week to see if prices have lowered, up until 24 hours before my reservation, which they usually did. If they do, cancel your reservation and rebook with the lower price.
Autoslash – You can request a rental car quote from Autoslash and they’ll find the best deal for you based upon the discounts you are eligible for. Or you can give them your rental car confirmation number and they’ll track your rental and notify you when a cheaper price is found.
Are you a Costco member? You can book a rental car through them, which uses 4 major rental car companies: Alamo, Avis, Budget, and Enterprise. Booking through Costco can get you a free additional driver at certain locations, saving you ~$10 per day.
Decline the supplemental collision damage coverage offered by rental car companies if your primary auto insurance covers rentals, or if you pay for the rental car with a credit card that offers primary rental car coverage. You don’t have to file a claim with your personal insurance if you get into an accident in your rental and have primary rental car coverage thru your credit card. However, some credit cards only offer secondary rental car coverage, which only applies if your personal car insurance won’t cover the entire bill.

International Travel

Before my first international trip, I was reading about international travel on Reddit and as I was going down the wormhole I came across a post about someone traveling to another country and not being allowed through customs because he had less than 6 months of validity left on his passport. He was turned away even though his passport wasn’t expired! I started to worry because I was traveling in October and my passport would expire the following March, which would be less than 6 months of validity. I had time to renew (takes 6-8 weeks) but I was amazed that if it wasn’t for me reading this random post this could have happened to me. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like this isn’t common knowledge that even though your passport isn’t expired you could still be rejected from entering another country. And some airlines will prevent you from boarding if you have less than 6 months of validity left. To prevent this nightmare scenario from happening to you, check the status of your passport. If it expires in 9 months or less, you should renew your passport now.
To renew my passport, I had to take an updated picture so I went to Walgreens. It cost me $15 for two prints. Then I read on Reddit about someone downloading the Passport Booth app, took a passport photo of his wife using the app on his phone, saved the photo, uploaded on Walgreen’s website, ordered a 4×6 print, and paid only 23 cents! Reddit is awesome.
Shit happens, especially while traveling. You could lose your passport or get it stolen. If this happens, you’ll need to visit your local embassy for a temporary, emergency passport. In order to obtain one, you’ll need to have a photo ID, passport sized photo (bring along the extra 4×6 print), and proof of US citizenship (make a copy of your passport ID page and save it on your phone and print a copy out). Take pics of your driver’s license and any travel passes you may have. Email copies to yourself as well.
Contact your bank or credit card company to let them know you’re going overseas so they don’t interpret a foreign transaction as fraud and lock your accounts. Also ask them what number to call from overseas if your card gets lost or stolen. The toll-free number on the back of your card is usually the number to call when you’re in your home country.
Download the GlobeConvert app to convert currencies.
If you’re traveling alone and your mom is a worrier like mine, download the Polarsteps app to allow friends & family to see where you are and ease their worries. The app automatically tracks your route with minimal battery consumption. Your friends and family do not need an account to follow along. Just share your trip link with them and they can check in on you using the Polarsteps website.
Download the free app Duolingo to learn words and basic phrases in whatever country you’re visiting’s language. I used this for my Paris trip and it was amazing how much I learned by just using it for 10-20 mins per day. Just learning the basics of your destination’s language will reduce stress and give you peace of mind.
Download Google Translate for the words and phrases you didn’t learn with Duolingo.
Before you leave for your trip, download offline maps using Google Maps, to navigate around cities so you’re not roaming or burning through your data.
If you’re traveling in Europe and don’t want to search for Wifi, get a prepaid Europe SIM card with built in data to avoid absurd roaming charges when you communicate with family back home via internet messaging/calling apps like Whatsapp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage (To avoid accidentally sending a text message when iMessage isn’t available and being charged for data roaming, go to Settings, then Messages, and turn off the “Send as SMS” option ). These prepaid European SIM cards come with minutes and texts but you can only use them when texting or calling European numbers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to calling or texting back home.
Recharge your electronic devices overseas using a universal power adapter
If you’re traveling across Europe consider train > flying. Because of their high-speed rails, traveling by train doesn’t take nearly as long as it would in the States (London to Paris takes only 2 hrs!). You also don’t have to deal with the extra time required at airports. Plus, you’ll arrive in a city’s downtown as opposed to most airports that are far from the city.
Rome2rio.com, Seat61.com, Omio.com, and Eurostar.com are the only websites you need to use to research and book your transportation throughout Europe. Think of Rome2rio as Google Flights. It’s a booking engine that’ll show you how to get to anywhere by plane, train, or bus. Seat61 tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about traveling throughout Europe by train. Literally EVERYTHING. Omio (Formerly GoEuro.com) is a booking site for trains, buses, and flights. Or if you want to book directly with the Eurostar train itself, head over to their website.
Research flights using Momondo to see if it’s cheaper to fly out of another city than a direct flight from your home airport. In the past it was ~$200-300 cheaper to fly from New Orleans – Boston – London than a nonstop flight from New Orleans to London.
Use a no foreign transaction fee credit card. Most credit cards charge a 3% fee on purchases made overseas. That can seriously add up if you use your credit card for everything like I do. Capital One doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees on any of their credit cards so if you don’t have any Capital One credit cards and you travel internationally often, you should consider getting one. And try to use your credit card as much as you can. Credit card companies typically get the best exchange rates, saving you unnecessary fees.
If a merchant overseas asks you if you want to perform a dynamic currency conversion (DCC), decline it. This service converts the foreign price to your local currency, letting you know how much your bill is. But there’s always a catch. This isn’t a free service, and can charge as much as 7% of the purchase price! Instead, you can use a free conversion app to figure it out yourself. And if your bill is converted to your currency without your permission, ask the merchant to void the transaction.
Some foreign merchants may not accept credit cards, especially if you’re traveling off of the beaten path. It’s a good idea to have some of the local currency on hand. Never EVER exchange money at airports. They offer the worst conversion rates. Instead, look for an ATM within your debit card’s network. If you have a Visa or Mastercard debit card, you can use it at ATMs in over 100 countries. The PLUS network is associated with Visa, so your Visa debit card will work with ATMs in the PLUS network. The Cirrus and Maestro networks are associated with Mastercard, so your Mastercard debit card will work with ATMs in the Cirrus and Maestro networks. The back of your ATM card typically shows the logos of the networks your card belongs to. Check the Cirrus/Maestro and PLUS locators to find your international ATMs.
Tipping in Europe is not customary but if you choose to do so, the typical 15-20% tipped in the States is overboard.

Essential Items

Backup debit and credit cards
Extra phone chargers
First Aid Kit
Refillable plastic bottles for body wash/shampoo
Umbrella
International power plug adapter
Travel Cable Organizer
Packing Cubes
Hanging Travel Toiletry Bag Organizer
Portable charger
Luggage Lock
Insulated Water Bottle
Backpack
Carry-On Suitcase
Apple AirTag
Hiking Boots

Best Credit Cards for Travel

If you’re new to the travel credit card game, prepare to have your mind blown. There are quite a few credit cards that provide thousands of sign-up points (If you spend a certain amount of money on the credit card within the first certain number of months you receive sign-up points which can be redeemed for free flights). In addition to these sign-up bonus points, these credit cards also offer points for certain purchases made with the card. Some will also have additional perks like access to airport lounges, rental car insurance, purchase protection, extended warranties on purchases, and credit towards Global Entry or TSA Precheck membership. Download the Sift app to view all of your credit cards’ available benefits. Most of these cards do have annual fees but the perks significantly outweigh them. And you can always cancel after the first year. I’ll talk more about that in the Travel Hacking section below. I’ll also talk about how to meet the minimum purchases to receive the sign-up points. Nerdwallet and Value Penguin do a great job of comparing credit cards and their perks.

Travel Hacking

Nomadic Matt does a great job explaining the art of “travel hacking” in one of his posts. For the TLDR crowd…

Travel hacking is collecting credit card points and airline miles and redeeming them for free travel. Usually to collect an insane amount of points that can be redeemed for free travel, you have to spend A LOT of money. The goal of travel hacking is to hack the system and spend as little money as possible while obtaining a shitload of points. There are plenty of travel hackers out there that boast about earning millions of miles every year. They also spend an insane amount of time doing this. If you want to be that person, great. Go for it. But you can also travel hack using minimal effort and time and just earn the points that you need.

The first step in travel hacking is to apply for credit cards. Look for cards with little to no annual fees that also offer plenty of sign-up points. See my post above about the best travel credit cards. The average airline mile in the US in 2019 was worth 1.3 cents. If a credit card is offering 60,000 miles when you sign up, that’s equivalent to roughly $780 in free airfare. However, there is a minimum spending requirement for the credit card before you can earn those bonus miles. Usually it’s ~ $1,000-4,000 within the first 2-3 months. Since the purpose of travel hacking is to not spend extra money, there are ways to get around these minimum spending requirements:

If you’re about to be a first-time home owner, wait to apply for new credit cards until AFTER closing and then buy all of your furniture, appliances, etc. on your new credit cards. Doing this should easily meet the minimum spending requirements. Hell, you could probably meet the minimum spending requirements for two new credit cards.
Pay for 6 months of car insurance upfront. Not only will this help you meet the minimum spending requirement, but typically insurance companies will offer you a discount as well.
Put as many of your bills on your credit card as you can (car payments, memberships, subscriptions, gas, car insurance, etc.)
Buy gift cards that you know you will use in the future to the stores you regularly shop at, such as grocery stores and gas. Yes, you’re spending more money upfront, but not more money overall.
Ask friends if you can put those concert tickets, dinner, flight, or computer purchase on your credit card and they can reimburse you with cash or Venmo.
If you’re close to getting those bonus miles but need a little help, pay your rent, mortgage, student loans, and utilities with Plastiq. It’s a service that charges a 2.5% fee and lets you pay practically any bill with a credit card. Let’s say you need to spend $2000 to receive 50,000 bonus miles. You use Plastiq to pay for your mortgage, car payment, and utilities, which total $2,000. Plastiq pays these bills and charges your credit card $2,050 ($50 in fees). The value of those 50,000 miles is $650. $650 in free airfare > $50 in fees. As long as the rewards outweigh the fees, Plastiq is a good idea to ensure you get your bonus miles.
Pay your US federal tax bill on a credit card. For the 2018 tax season, processing fees range from 1.87% to 1.99% of your tax bill or a minimum fee of $2.50 to $2.69, whichever is higher. If you don’t pay your taxes during the year and instead choose to pay them in one lump sum, you can time that tax payment with a credit card sign-up so you can get the bonus miles. Only do this if the value of the bonus miles is greater than the processing fee.

Now you can’t just sign up for a credit card, collect the bonus miles, cancel, and sign up again. Most credit card companies have a waiting period of 18-24 months before you are eligible for that specific credit card’s sign-up bonus miles again. Nor should you sign up for as many credit cards as you can. Some companies, like Chase, use the 5/24 rule, in which people who have applied for 5+ cards with any issuing bank in a 24-month span cannot apply for a new credit card through Chase (doesn’t count the majority of business cards since these usually do not show up on your personal credit report). And if you apply for a lot of cards you’re less likely to be approved. But as long as you space out applying for cards and sign up for no more than 2-3 credit cards per year you should be fine (This practice is called credit card churning). And there are plenty of credit cards that have sign-up bonuses that you can cycle though on a multiyear basis. If you need help deciding which credit cards to apply for first and in which order to prevent being declined, check out this flowchart. You should also familiarize yourself with all of the banks’ credit card rules for approvals and sign-up bonuses. Fair warning though, your homeowners’ insurance rate might be impacted by churning because your insurance regularly soft pulls your credit and if they see a lot of new credit lines they might increase your rate. And only cancel credit cards that have annual fees that outweigh its benefits. Otherwise just hang onto the card and increase your credit to debt ratio, or if possible, downgrade your card. If you’re a nerd like me and love creating spreadsheets you can create one to track your credit cards, such as the annual fee renewal dates, point balances, perks, and what each card is used for.

Fact or myth? Possessing a lot of credit cards will hurt your credit. Wait for it…….this is actually a myth. Temporarily you’ll lose a few credit points when you first apply for the card. But in the long run it’ll help your credit score. Your credit score is made up of the following:

Payment history – 35%
Total debt owed – 30%
Length of credit history – 15%
Type of credit used – 10%
New credit – 10%

Taking on new credit influences the smallest weighted category and only 10% of your total score. And by spacing out your credit card applications, you’ll allow the temporary dip your credit score takes to bounce back. If you want to kick it up a notch you can do the following:

Register for dining rewards from the 7 major airlines that participate. It can be as simple as registering and then dining out as usual. If you dined at a restaurant that participates in the program, you’ll receive an email notifying you that you just earned extra miles. If you want to dig deeper and score as many miles as you can you can plan your dining out based upon the restaurants that participate in the program.
Shopping via online shopping portals. Airlines and hotels have preferred merchants. These companies partner with airlines and hotels and are featured in their online shopping portals, where customers can purchase products, earning themselves additional points. Where you could typically earn 1-2 points through a credit card’s reward program, shopping on their online portal can sometimes double or triple your points. The cost of some products might be higher on these online portals so it’s best to do price comparisons to make sure you’re getting the best deal. But if the price on the online portal is the same cost, then why not score some extra points?
Use Cash Back Monitor If you have multiple credit cards and want to see which one offers the most miles/points at a particular retailer.

Travel Tips

Buy index funds that pay dividends and use the dividends for vacations. Just remember you have to pay taxes on dividends so set aside some money before you blow it all on a trip. Use interest from a high yield savings account to help pay for travel expenses as well (You have to pay taxes on any interest you accrue).
If you forget your charger’s wall adapter you can plug your USB cable into the USB port on the hotel’s TV to charge your phone.
If you’re lost or need a recommendation for a good, cheap restaurant, pop into a hostel and ask the staff. It’s a good chance they’re a local so they’ll know what they’re talking about. Plus, they deal with frugal travelers on the reg.
Put on your charm and ask for an upgrade when checking into a hotel. The worst they can say is no.
Splurge on your meals at lunch. Expensive restaurants tend to have lunch specials that feature the same food they serve for dinner but at a cheaper price.
Book your tours and excursions online weeks in advance. The closer you wait to book the greater the chance of it selling out. I waited until the week of my trip to book my Statue of Liberty tour and the Crown access was sold out L You’ll also more likely save more booking online versus paying in person.
If you HAVE to check your luggage, take a picture of it in case it gets lost which will help identify it more easily.
Carry emergency cash.
This is one I’m recently learning and trying to implement. Don’t schedule too many things where you’re rushing to move onto the next place. It’s nice to have an itinerary but you don’t have to do everything on it in one day. Space it out and let your day unfold naturally.

Itineraries

Google Maps is a godsend for trips. I’m OCD and need to have an itinerary so I always have a plan and know where I’m going next. Using Google Maps, I create my own custom map of the city I’m traveling to and place pins at all of the places I want to visit. I then color code the pins by location and that typically shows me which places I’m visiting on a particular day. Go to Google Maps – Your Places – Maps – Create Map). You can also share your maps with others. I’ve already done the work for you if you’re visiting somewhere I’ve been to. On each destination post, the custom map I created is at the bottom of the page.