3 Ways Most Anyone Can Afford To Travel

by Janis on February 11, 2015

You are so lucky! I wish I could travel like you do.”

People often ask us how we can travel so frequently.

Here are 3 Strategies That We Use to Make Travel More Affordable

1) Budget for Travel

Strategy #1 isn’t glamorous or magical. If you want to travel, you need to make it a part of your budget, and/or save your dream trip. Depending on your travel style, you can visit most places in the world for $3,000 or less. So if you have a dream destination, figure out how you can save $10 a day for 300 days, or $5 a day for 600 days (that’s less than 2o months or about 1 and 2/3 years), and you will have enough money to go anywhere in the world.

Perhaps skip dining out for lunch or that morning latte and scone, and redirect the money to your “dream trip travel fund.”

If saving slowly isn’t your style, perhaps you can look at how to cut your biggest expenses (often housing and transportation.) Maybe you can get by with only one car, or an older car, or have a roomate.

The point is, if you want to travel, make it a priority in your budget.

2) Pick a Few Travel Brands and Be Loyal

Loyalty pays, especially in travel. Pick an airline, a hotel chain and a rental car company, and be loyal to those companies to rack up the benefits.

Even if you only fly a few times each year, it is worth picking one airline (such as Southwest Airlines) or one airline alliance (such as United Airlines, part of the Star Alliance.) Pick your airline and/or air alliance strategically — choose one that flies most of the places you want to go. For example, we are huge fans of Alaska Airlines, and it made sense for us to be loyal to that airline and its partner airlines when we lived in San Francisco and Seattle. But it is a poor choice for us living in Kansas City as the airline only flies to Seattle out of our market.

It often makes sense to choose the “hub” or biggest carrier in your market, but if a competing airline offers good service to the places you want to go, that may be a better choice for you are not an elite level flier. For example, if we lived in Atlanta, we might focus our loyalty on United, as you can fly most anywhere in the world from Atlanta on United and its partners, but you aren’t competing with as many elite frequent fliers for upgrades as if you are flying on Delta, Atlanta’s hometown airline.

For hotel stays, pick one family of hotel brands such as Hilton or Marriott or IHG. Within each hotel “group” there is a loyalty program that includes a range of hotel brands at all price points. For example within the Marriott Rewards Program, whether you stay at a Springhill Suites or a Renaissance or a JW Marriott branded hotel, you are earning points and night stays in the rewards program. 15 nights a year gets you “Silver” status in the Marriott Rewards program, bringing extra perks. If you just travel to a convention or two and a couple of weddings and/or business trips each year, choosing a hotel that is within your “brand” pays off.

3) Get Frequent Flier Miles and/or Hotel Points for Every Dollar You Spend

The way we get the majority of our frequent flier miles is by simply choosing credit cards that reward us in airline miles or points. We put almost all of our daily expenditures on credit cards that give reward miles, and the miles really add up.

This strategy absolutely does not make sense if you are carrying a balance on credit cards. But if you pay off your credit card balance in full each month, you can earn significant free travel by paying for your normal spending expenditures through mileage credit cards.

The Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards, the Chase Sapphire and the Marriott Rewards Visa are a few of our favorite cards. Check out the Million Mile Secrets blog for in-depth advice on choosing the right frequent flier credit card or cards for your travel goals.

Whether you are planning your first big dream trip, or you just want to travel more, try these strategies to make travel more affordable.

Do you have a different strategy for affording more travel? Please share in comments below.

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