Solo Travel: How to Save Money Pt. 2

November 8, 2019

Everyone wants to make the most of their travel dollars. With this six-part series I want to show you different ways to save money when travelling solo so you can travel more or longer. Use one, some or all of the techniques and you will be well on your money saving ways!

This is part two (check out Part 1 here) of the six-part blog post that will cover the different areas of a trip. I will be writing them in order of how I go about planning a trip.

Trip planning
Flights
Accommodation
Things to do on your holiday
Getting around
Food & drink

Lets now jump into flights.

Use a travel rewards card

One of the easiest ways to save on one the most expensive costs of your trip (flights, accommodation being second) is to start collecting travel rewards. Get a card that gives you a sign up bonus of points and then continue to use this card for All your purchases daily. There is a whole lot to learn about earning and using travel rewards but learning the basics is all you need.

Head over to The Points Guy. This site is a great place to start learning the basics. For people in Canada Rewards Canada gives Canadian specific information, but be sure to also learn some techniques from The Points Guy too. “Free” flights are always welcome…and by free I mean you only pay for the taxes/fees.

Do your research

Looks on different sites, compare prices and locations (where the airports actually are). You want to check out sites like Kayak.com to see the different airlines available, and then check the actual airlines site to compare. You can also sign up for price alerts to know when to book. The research you do before you travel will give you the confidence that you got the best flight and price for your needs.

Compare both round trip tickets and one-way tickets

Nowadays there are not always benefits for booking return tickets anymore. When you are looking for your flights, look at the return flight prices and then also pull up one-way flights for each direction then choose which one is better for you. Another benefit for using one-way tickets is if you plan on visiting a couple cities/countries on your travels, you can fly into one and out of another so you don’t need to back track to your initial destination.

Pack light

Packing light has so many benefits. One of the main ones is saving you money from paying overweight at airports, or checking too many bags. When you pack light it will also decrease your stress levels significantly while you travel.

Know your limits

Just because something is inexpensive, make sure you are fully aware of what that cost entails. Saving $50 or $100 on a flight may result in spending twice as long travel to your destination with a couple of layovers. Also be aware of booking with budget carriers. Some of them fly into outlying cities not the actual city of where you want to be. Take into account the cost and time to get back to the city you actually want to be in.

These carriers fool you with saying the main city on their sites, but when you look to see where the airport is it is usually at least an hour or more to get into that main city. Decide what is important to you in regards of time, money and convenience.

Don’t leave your snack/water/food buying for the airport

When you are packing and gathering everything you need for the trip, be sure to purchase the snacks and food you want to have with you on your flight. Why pay double the price at the airport when you can easily just pick it up at your local store before you leave. I like to have a variety of snacks for the plane. Depending on when I am leaving and what food the carrier actually offers on the flight I will plan to bring a sandwich or something more substantial to eat. Just be sure that is it not liquid so you can get through security.

I also travel with an empty water bottle with me so I can fill it up once I pass security. Having water to drink throughout the flight is essential and those little cups just do not do enough. Plus I don’t want to have my tray table down the whole time while this little cup sits on there precariously wanting to spill with one little bump. Once you finish the water that is in your bottle you can ask the cabin crew to fill it up again for you with their bottled water.

I hope these give you some great areas to save on your flights for your next trip. Every little bit counts so use with abandonment so you can travel more.

Be sure to check out part three, all about accommodations, next week so you can continue to save money throughout your trip.