Tightwad Travel Hacks?
 

Hey Pelicans!

I am a tightwad who loves to travel. My schedule in the near future is opening up in a big way and I want to tap the collective mind.

I have been a power user of Scott's Cheap Flights (Now called Going) for years. We have had some killer deals this way.

I ran into a couple in Turkey who game the credit card points in a very meaningful way. I am looking into this and will pick their brains once they get back to N. America - because naturally, they are on yet another big trip.

Anything I am missing? My travel style is to be as non-American as possible. I don't do cruises, tours, or stay in resorts. I am all about eating local. Traveling like locals. Staying in a VRBO type location. Never check luggage. Pack a limited clothing inventory and wash my laundry in the sink if needed.

I am specifically looking for ways to extend my travel via reducing cost.

Anyone have any tips?

Thanks!

Never check luggage is a good one. All that extra crap is never used, so leave it home.

If renting a car...resist the urge for a sports car or a huge suv. Go with economy or compact for less than half the price and get great gas mileage.:)

Traveling on the cheap is an anathema to me.

I really DO NOT want to travel with people who look for the best deal, first........

they always end up being loud mouthed a-holes I wish were NOT at the resort I am staying at.

Local guest houses. Avoid tourist restaurants. Ask the desk clerk where they eat.

I have not been to the UK for three years but would think every country is different. For instance I do not rent a car there anymore. Wrong side of the road and too much traffic. I am used to travelling by train long distances there which is actually more money than a bus but the bus takes so much longer. You can get special rates.

I like bed and breakfast because they are generally good and cheap. Hotels can be expensive but there is nothing wrong with the occasional Holiday Inn.

A. No business involved.
1. sign up for you favorite airline's points reward system.
2. find a points credit card that lets you buy airline miles through your airline.
3. charge everything you can on that card. Pay it off every month.
4. buy airline miles with those points.
5. buy flights with those miles.

B. Business involved.
1. Start / own a business.
2. schedule meetings at travel destination.
3. Fly on thursday. business meeting on friday. enjoy weekend, Fly back Monday.
4. Buy them flights using method in "A" above.
5. Write off / expense the whole trip.


I'm not an attorney or financial professional. This is not financial advice.


edit: there used to be an app called "couch surfers" or similar. Could find a couch to crash on for a night. Or you can AirBNB and use the shared space option. . . or just rent a room (I've done this in Lisbon and Munich, worked great). Also, you can stay in Hostels. Or Bring a tent and make it a camping trip.

Eat your big meal earlier than 4pm....sit next to the lady with the blue hair.:D

Seriously, the food is marked up after that time.

If Europe is on your radar, I would check out Portugal. The cost of living is cheap even at many resort areas.

We stayed at a hotel in Nazare with no reservations, 1 block from the beach for $145/night.

You have to really look hard to spend more than $20/pp for a meal unless you drink a lot. Even then the domestic drafts are rarely more then $2.

If you want a more local experience, you’ll see pensioners hanging by the beach with signs renting rooms in their homes for under $40/night.


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My wife has a website she uses that sells vacation packages that had last minute cancellations. If you do not care where you are going, you can get a SCREAMING deal on a trip

^^^yes please. My schedule is getting very open. Cheap travel = more travel. Please post your wife’s site.

^+1


I like to road trip and have spent many nights in my truck. It's not like i can't afford hotels. I just find it annoying to hurry up and wait to the next hotel.

You know when you are flying somewhere and the airfare is nice and cheap, then the return airfare costs a whole lot more. I'm sure it watches your IP address and knows you'll want to get back home.

also if you are local the airfares are cheap. If you are buying the flight from a different country the price goes way up.

A friend has some software on his PC that gives out different or fake IP addresses. He lives in Wellington NZ but tells the (virtual IP ?) software to use an address in Los Angeles then buys a LA to NYC ticket. He says it works well.

^^^
Everytime I've bought airfare...it's been on a round-trip basis.

I like to get back home. :)

This sounds fun! Spontaneous travel, best kind.

This is known as "manufactured spend" and has a forum on Reddit. Quite a few folks purchase gift cards to accumulate credit card charges and receive award points.

My brother used to have a girlfriend who had all of the scams and hacks figured out…

You can often buy transferable travel credits from people we can’t use them for 25-50 cents on the dollar.

Safeway had a big sale on toilet paper 15 or so year ago. There was some kind of 4x airmile promotion on the stuff on sale. My brother did the math and figured out that if he bought $700 worth of toilet paper, free round trip flights to Hawaii…

His toilet paper cache sure came in handy in 2020 during the pandemic related toilet paper shortage… I’d be lying if I said we didn’t go borrow a few packages.

PM me the info, thanks!

As an avid scuba diver, you can find live a board dive boats for ~300 a day, that's all meals, drinks, diving activities. Cheap really if you add up a hawaii condo, locsl food costs, then activities on top of that.

And when you went to give them back . . . ewww

A VPN. very interesting!