More ways to save on Travel

Travel Tips

Hotel Intercontinental ChicagoIn today’s trying times, bad news about the economy chases even more bad news about our retirement savings and future outlook. In times such as these, we can get fantastic deals, as travel companies struggle with the sharp decrease in travelers. Most of us travel during times of economic prosperity paying more for the limited spaces available. And while everyone went into panic mode, I chose to take advantage of the situation and got some good deals out of all this mess. I am a streetwise traveler, good at identifying deals. I will share some of my tricks with you to get you out there to enjoy the less crowded places right now!

Flights

During my last trip to New York and Canada, I tried a new strategy. It was during the height of the oil crisis with oil topping out at $147 and airfares taking off like stock when the Fed sneezes.

I used to leave on Fridays and return on Sundays. This time I wanted to fly from San Francisco to New York City and from Chicago back to San Francisco. I got each flight for about $130 during the height of the travel season by spending a few hours with my buddy Travelocity. I massaged their booking system into total submission, bombarding their servers with requests.

Be flexible

I had a pretty good idea when I wanted to go, but I wasn’t completely tied down with the dates. So I selected flexible travel dates and started with the cheapest flights, checking every single date for available seats, until I found two matching flights that I liked. With two computers at once, we booked the flight from San Francisco to New York and from Chicago back to San Francisco virtually at the same time. Sometimes I am just a bit too paranoid and I didn’t want to risk getting one flight and not the other. I ended up leaving on a Wednesday and coming back on a Tuesday. This way I still got two weeks travel time. Although not quite as convenient, I saved so much money for these flights alone that it was well worth the slight inconvenience.

When you are booking your next flight, check our article summarizing all those additional surcharges airlines have come up with. This way you have another reference point for comparison.

Hotels

After we booked our flights, the next price surprise disarranged our happy-neurons. We poked around some of our destinations for hotels and got a sticker shock from pretty much all of the Hotels in Canada. Thanks to Washington’s stellar financial performance, the Dollar was about on par with the “other” Dollar.

I remembered booking through Priceline a long time ago and getting outstanding deals. This time we also booked through Hotwire, Captain Kirk wasn’t negotiating hard enough, but other times Priceline was cheaper.

Although Hotwire does not reveal which hotel you are booking, they give enough hints (stars, Tripadvisor ratings and approx. number of reviews, amenities) so that we could narrow it down to either just one or maybe two hotels that fit the description. If both were acceptable, we did not hesitate to book and we were right every single time, being able to “guess” the correct hotel.

This means that you can outsmart the Hotwire and Priceline systems with a little work and take advantage of their rates that are often more than 50% discounted.

The crown jewel was without a doubt the unbelievably cool Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. We paid about $99/night for a room that usually costs over $300. Not bad at all and although it was almost too much luxury for our sore asses, it was really something special.

Car

Making reservations for a car driving from New York to Chicago through Canada seems to be a small obstacle for some car companies. Some outright forbid Canada travel and others require telephone reservations. All of them had exorbitant prices reminiscent of more prosperous times.

I finally found a deal on Hertz for about 50% off. The special “four door car” turned out to be a Toyota Prius. I still had to call to make the reservation, because I wanted to go through Canada. Naturally, I used this to present them with an additional Hertz discount code. Those codes may be available through professional associations, bank credit cards or your employer.

The deal I ended up getting was about 45% of the price for a 2 door small car elsewhere.

Better yet, the Prius was not available. Since I showed some unwillingness to upgrade to a Sonata, I was given another bribe, a $50 coupon towards a future rental.

The people at the counter always try to sell you the full insurance package. If you have insurance in the US and you are renting a car in the US, your coverage usually transfers, check with your insurer. I don’t have full coverage for any of my old buckets, but I have liability insurance. This meant I only had to add accidental damage saving tons of money.

Food

Food Court in ChicagoWhile we were galloping through the prairie in our now beloved Sonata, we were overcome by our usual travel feeding issues. It had to be fast, cheap and we could never agree on what kind of junk to stuff ourselves with. Not only did we not want to sit down for lunch and dinner, we didn’t even want to lose all this time.

Finally we had the glorious idea to use our GPS to find large malls for lunch or dinner. The food courts are diverse, cheap and fast and best of all, multifaceted. While she can eat what she likes, he can indulge in his very own pleasures. Not a bad compromise.

City transport

Many large cities have excellent public transport. It would be reckless to attempt to drive there. Fortunately, they all offer day passes or discounts for public transport. If you plan to hop around a lot (as we did in Chicago), you should buy one of those (the day pass in Chicago cost $5).

However, it is not always the best choice. In New York we only used the subway a couple of times and thus the price for a day pass was not warranted.

Try to guesstimate what you will do during the day and how often you will need the public transport. Add up all the single fares and then decide if a day pass is cheaper for you.

Other good deals

It never hurts to do some research to take advantage of the many freebies big cities offer. The Staten Island ferry in New York is as close as I ever got to the Statue of Liberty and as close as I ever needed to get for some great shots. Best of all, it didn’t cost a dime.

Parks, Churches, City Halls and many other great tourist places are free too. In the summer many cities have free concerts, parades or parties that are a lot of fun.

Also check out the travel deals we get from our partners. If any of them fit your travel plans, they are going to be hard to beat.