I love traveling with a burning passion but sometimes it can be stressful to plan trips especially long distance ones. It takes a lot of googling to find the best prices and locations. I’ve planned many trips in the past and they were FFT (Fan-Freaking-Tabulous). Planning ahead and time commitment are a prerequisite to scoring a deal. I prefer to opt for a bit of a luxury vibe type of trips (but at a reasonable cost). Luxury is expensive but there are ways to scoring a 5 star hotel for less.

I personally find that most 4.5 or 5 star hotels are more likely to accommodate to special food requirement and are usually cleaner. Moreover, fully serviced apartment or villa rentals are a good choice if you’re traveling with family, but make sure they provide daily housekeeping as no one wants to be cleaning on their holiday.

I am not one to stay at hostels or guesthouses or share rooms with others. It’s just not my thing. Privacy is very important to me especially when it comes to where I sleep and squat, therefore I personally rather invest a bit more in the location of my stay than to pay for first class tickets.

Below are tips on how to plan luxury trips and still save some dough.

1. Credit Card Reward points

• Check if you’re bank offers credit cards reward points towards some airlines or other incentives. You can earn a free companion ticket with these programs and sometimes you can use your points to fly your whole family at fraction of the cost.

 2. Do Your Research

• Check more than one website for deals. I usually check Expedia and booking.com. I find Expedia to be cheaper for members versus the latter. It can vary from time to time. Just check both to compare.
• Expedia usually offers some bundle deals, which might not seem like a huge deal of savings but sometimes they do. Just do your homework.
• If you’re looking to rent an apartment or villa be sure to check booking.com, AirBnB, and VRBO. They both offer competitive prices.

3. Check Airline’s Main Website

• Compare your home country airline with websites such as Skyscanner or Expedia. Skyscanner provides price comparison with over 500,000 flights. I find sometimes that the main airline website has better deals.

4. EBATES baby! It’s Legit (Not Sponsored)

• Sign up for  Ebates.com. This is the easiest way to collect cash on online purchases such as booking your vacation. Ebates offers up to 10% cash back on Expedia. It’s an effortless click that will put cash back in your pocket just like that. What not love!
• Here is a tip: add Ebates to your bookmark bar. It automatically checks for discount codes and reminds you to click if there is cash back on the website you’re buying from.

5. Plan Your Trip Few Months In Advance

• This tip is obvious but booking ahead of time (at least 2-3 months) in advance could save you hundreds of dollars. As simple as that. It might not always be the case with flights but it sure is with hotels.

6. Spend Time In Fewer Places

• Moving from one country to another or doing island hopping can definitely add more cost. So, pick one or two places that you really want to see and spend most of your vacay there. It will also help you get to know the destination better and it will minimize the cost of renting a car, fuel, internal flights, boat rides, and the struggle of changing hotels, etc.

7. Check-In and Out During Weekdays

• If you’re looking into scoring a deal on your accommodations, it’s usually cheaper if you check in and out during the week and avoid checking-in on Friday or Saturdays.

8. Renting A Car

• It makes sense to rent a car in certain locations. It can either save you so much headache and money or just be a liability. If the place you’re traveling to got many attractions to see and good roads to drive on, then why not! However, renting a car is not always the most logical thing to do in some destinations. For example, in Bali they use scooters to get around and in Capri they use the Funicular.
• Another thing to keep in mind are road conditions. Third world countries don’t have money to invest on road infrastructure so be prepared to drive on unpaved roads.
• Finding parking is another pain in the eyes especially in overcrowded destinations like Italy or France.
• Go on Tripadvisor to find out if it makes sense to rent a car in the place you’re heading to.

Tip on renting a car:

• Don’t buy Expedia’s insurance coverage. It’s literally useless. You can get insurance through your credit card company, which will help save you a lot of money (it could save around $20 or more a day).
• Make sure to read the fine print on the contracts before signing. Also, take photos of the car before and after renting it.

 9. Avoid Peak Season

• This goes without say. Peak season always ramps up the prices on everything. But no one wants to travel during hurricane or monsoon season. I suggest checking dates around shoulder season; they tend to be cheaper with more pleasant weather.

10. Book Accommodations That Include Breakfast

This one is easy. Most 5 star hotels will include breakfast when you book a room. It will save you time in the morning and cost of transportation to find a place to eat. You can always ask the chef to wrap up your breakfast to eat later (that is if you’re not a breakfast person). For example, we had a chef in Bali who made us enough food to last us the entire day. We saved on lunch, and a mid afternoon snack, Cha Ch’ing! We also try to bring our own trail mix from home when we travel like nuts and crackers and if we feel puckish we stop by a local fruit stand somewhere for a quick pick me up.

11. Make Friends With The Locals

Let’s just face it, we the tourists don’t know nearly as much as the locals do. It’s their home and they know all the itsy bitsy details about it. Ask for recommendations of where to eat or where to go next. Often times, their suggestions are worthwhile and can help save you money.

12. Always Pay in Local Currency With Credit Card

Credit cards charge a premium for converting the currency to make it convenient for you but it’s often a rip off. It’s the worst exchange rate possible. Just stick to the local currency and you will save 3-4% in unnecessary fees. Also, make sure your credit card doesn’t charge international transaction fees especially with miles rewards credit cards.

13. Uber vs. Taxi

It depends which country you’re in, as some countries don’t have Uber. When we were flying through Malaysia, Uber was actually cheaper than taxis. Although it’s not always the case, but private car hires can cost the same as taxis do (if not less).

When we were in the Amalfi coast (Italy), Taxis were more expensive than booking a private car. You can book a private transfer online for a good price or even private boat taxi and you won’t have to worry about them changing prices on you after dropping you off.

14. Pre Download Google Maps

This one I learned from my husband. He would use the hotel’s free Wifi to pre download the map before hitting the road just incase you run out of data or don’t have an international data plan.

15. Bargain Your Life Away

Just kidding but if you’re in the mood for bargaining then why not! Somewhere like Asia, bargaining is everything, especially if you’re shopping at their local market or outlet shops. I bargained a pair of headphones from 3500 bahts ($111 US) to 900 bahts ($28 US), crazy right!

That’s all I have for now, I wish you safe and fun adventures.

Be inspired,

MM