I’m not going to lie, I am pretty much the queen of planning affordable vacations. We once went to Maui for an entire week, stayed in a five star hotel, rented a car, and flew round trip for less than $400. Yes, I’m amazing.
Since we’re on a budget, our family vacations are few and far between and the trips we go on are usually pretty basic. When we are able to go on a more exciting trip, I do a ton of planning and crunching to make sure we save as much money as possible without giving up the things that are important to us.
Our most recent trip to San Fransisco was actually supposed to be a family vacation, but after several consecutive months of solo parenting, no sleep, and missing my husband I begged my parents to take the kids so we could travel alone. We found out a few days beforehand that my parents were able to watch the kids and we were able to go alone, and that made planning everything much easier and much more fun!
My first tip for planning a budget vacation is to fly cheap. This trip we flew on Spirit Airlines and I was pleasantly surprised with the experience! Our plane tickets were $27 each way so even though we purchased tickets for the kids and didn’t end up using them, it wasn’t a financial hit at all. The planes we flew on were all brand new and very spacious, and I’ll forgo complimentary drinks if it means my ticket is 1/5 the price!
The trick behind getting plane tickets for so cheap is to consider flying into smaller, surrounding area airports, to pack in only backpacks (no carryon or checked bags!), and to book in advance. We purchased our tickets about two months ahead and opted to fly into Oakland instead of San Fransisco, and packed for a four day trip in one backpack each. This came super in handy when we had to walk for 45 minutes from the public transportation to our hotel carrying only a backpack instead of lugging around roller bag suitcases! It can be tricky to fit everything in only a backpack, but it helps avoid overpacking and makes you think twice about everything you bring.
If you’re traveling to a city where the more affordable airlines don’t fly, consider getting a credit card that has a mileage sign up bonus. We used miles from a credit card sign up to pay for our round trip flights to Maui for two people, saving us $1000! You’ll want to do some research and make sure you get a credit card when the sign up bonus is at it’s highest, and make sure the requirements to receive that bonus are ones that you can reasonably meet. I recommend reading this blog for tips for finding a credit card that is right for you! (And I personally recommend the Southwest card by Chase, the AmEx platinum card, and the Chase Sapphire).
Along those same lines, consider opening a credit card that offers hotel points and free nights! We’ve used free nights and points from the Hyatt Chase card to book stays in a five star resort in Maui, and four star resort on the Texas gulf coast, and a four star hotel in San Fransisco! On this most recent trip alone, we saved $800 on a hotel and stayed right in the heart of the tourist attractions of San Fransisco.
If at all possible, stay in a hotel that is walking distance to all the attractions you want to see. If you are going to a big city, it will be easier to walk and use public transportation than to pay for a rental car, pay for hotel parking, and search for street parking on the go. Rely on public transportation when possible, and consider Uber or Lyft for longer distances! Some big cities have these fun electric scooters that you can rent for $1 + $0.15/minute that are a fun and different way to explore the city! There are usually apps you can download to see where the scooters are parked and how much battery life they have left. Basically, there are a lot of options outside of a rental car that you can consider when trying to get around a vacation spot!
This next tip I have to give my husband credit for–and it is BRILLIANT! When we travel, we aim to eat out once meal per day and eat at the hotel for the other two meals. This usually means we stop by a grocery store on our way in, but without a rental car we had to get creative. We had an online Visa gift card, and were staying in a large city with access to Amazon Prime Now so we had our groceries delivered! We purchased breakfast food, snacks, and sandwich making items and had everything delivered to our hotel room at the expense of a gift card! Lately, when we eat out we split entrees. We’ve found out that one meal is usually more food than either of us need, so sharing saves us money and keeps us from overeating!
Over the last few years we have really enjoyed traveling and finding ways to make trips fit our budgetary limits. All the work and finagling to get the most bang for our buck makes traveling even more fun, and it turns the whole planning process into a game of sorts. I get such a thrill out of finding good deals and saving money (I’m exciting, I know) so I’m always trying to outdo my last trip! I hope some of these ideas are useful and can help save your money on your next vacation!