Someone asked me recently how we plan out all of our trips. While we don’t use any kind of detailed map or plan when we travel, Z and I both have a few tried and true tips that have worked for us!
Obviously Zac and I love traveling, but we really love to do things on a budget! Travel doesn’t have to be expensive- we took two trips to Europe last year along with a few trips around the US, and carefully planned each one. We are not in a position to be traveling unless we can get a great flight deal, find reasonable accommodations, or find free/cheap things to do once we arrive!
How to plan trips:
- Follow the deals. We religiously check for flight deals- make sure to sign up for email alerts for several different websites to track the best deals. We love CheapDFW, and they have sites for several other major hubs (see Flights from other cities on their website). We both get their email alerts as well as have the notifications turned on for their Facebook page. We have booked all of our international trips via CheapDFW deals! This is a great site whether you have a specific location in mind or not- it sends updates throughout the day with deals to random cities all over the US and other countries!
- Be flexible. We usually start planning without a destination. For our Portugal trip last year, we saw flight deals for several cities/countries for the same dates. We looked at all of them, compared what we wanted to do and what kind of trip we wanted to have, and eventually settled on Lisbon. Be flexible with locations and dates to find the best deal!
- Start with social media. Once you have a destination, gather ideas for what you want to do when you arrive! If you are headed somewhere new, it can be difficult to find a starting point. Start by searching Pinterest or Instagram with the location you have chosen. Do you want to spend more time in restaurants, outdoors, shopping, hitting up the nightlife? We could have an entire debate about traveling for the ‘gram, but social media can be really helpful for trip planning! I love creating a Pinterest board for each destination or taking screenshots or cool places I see on Instagram.
- Find a place to stay. Z and I have used AirBnB for all of our trips, and we love it! It lets you experience life like a local, you can pick a specific neighborhood, and it’s great when traveling with a group! It’s also great for old cities, like Amsterdam or Lisbon, where you wouldn’t be able to find hotels in most of the neighborhoods. AirBnB has always been cheaper than a hotel for us,
- Earn rewards. We recently started trying to earn rewards whenever we can. Since we usually book based on price, not a particular airline, we try to earn points here and there- they’ll add up eventually! If you can, try getting a credit card that earns airline points.
How do you plan out your trips? I’d love to hear more tips!
