Embracing more travel in your life first starts with a decision and then a commitment. Once you’ve got that checked off, you can find clever ways to hack into travel to make it cheaper.
PLUS, if you’re a superb travel hacker, you’ll find ways to earn money.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY WHILE YOU TRAVEL
1.Use you credit card to pay or earn reward points
Use your Membership Rewards Card to pay for your living expenses + travel expenses. Set up a direct debit from your bank to pay off the balance each month. We recommend paying it off in full! I can’t tell you how much we save on travel + how many perks we get for following this strategy. It’s almost like money for nothing as you’re paying for these expenses anyway
2. Clear your cache , enable private browsing
Airlines track your behaviour via cookies, which means if you return at a later date to grab that cheap flight you found in your flight search, they’ve noted your interest through the cookies previously and so will, this time, return a slightly higher price for your flight. #cheeky You can get around this by clearing your cache or enabling private browsing.
3.Use VPN
Flights can be different prices depending on which country you book from. Use a VPN – a Virtual Private Network – which makes it look like you are in another country. You can select a VPN from the US, UK, Germany, Japan, etc. to find the lowest price and book through that VPN. It may take time, but you could save a substantial amount on flights.
4.Use Search engines
Use search engines like Skyscanner, Adioso, and Google Flights who will scan the airlines for you and bring you comparative rates. You can purchase the best deal directly from them. OR, after finding the best deal, go direct to the airline’s website to see if you can get a better. You can then also check to see if you can reduce the price or get free upgrades with your frequent flyer or membership points. Check your favorite airline first. If the price is right, it’s always best to fly your favorites and stockpile those points each time you fly.
5.Use Frequent Flyer or Membership Points
I can’t tell you how many flights we’ve paid for using frequent flyer points. You can collect them each time you fly – as long as you’re a member of that frequent flyer program. Or, you can collect them using our first travel hack – use your credit card to pay for all expenses. You’ll be surprised how quickly they accumulate. Craig just used his frequent flyer points to pay for his flight to South Australia. We get several flights per year, including international, due to our frequent flyer points.
6.Free flight with your credit card fee
There is an app called American Express which has a thing called American Express Platinum Edge. Use that for better experience.
7.Find hidden airports
Some airlines don’t operate in the same alliance or have a codeshare agreement, which means they might not show up together on flight searches even though the option is available. TripCombi uses an algorithm to search connections from nearby airports or between two airlines to track ‘hidden airports,’ as the team calls them. These flights can often offer better rates and connections.
8.Buy an upgrade with points
Some seats on each flight are kept aside for frequent flyers to effectively ‘buy’ using points. These can be seven times less than the Points plus pay seats which are available. These are best suited to solo and flexible travellers. Qantas has the option to bid for your upgrade. The last remaining unsold biz class seats are put to auction with the highest bidder wins! Take your chances!
9.Rent a lux house
Grab your mates, your extended family or multiple families and rent out a luxury house. The initial price may seem huge, but when you split it per person, it will often end up cheaper than staying in a cramped hotel. Now you’ll feel like the rich and famous; you can all throw in to share food costs, which means you can go a little more deluxe with your food choices – don’t forget the champers and morning mimosas!
10.Look for small rental car companies
Check out local tourist brochures and sites to find local car rental dealers.
Better price + convenience = travel bliss.
11.Use travel cards
Many major cities will have travel cards. You buy a card and top it up with money to tap and go on various public transport. They will always be cheaper than buying a direct ticket. Only worth it if you plan on using public transport for several trips.
12.Check out cheap or free travel days
You can often find special days or times where cheap or free transport deals happen. Sydney used to have Family Fun Day – $2.50 per person all day for families to ride public transport unlimited. Sunday was our day to explore Sydney from the Central Coast. On any other day, the ticket for one adult return was $16.
13.Use ATM’s and credit cards rather than currency exchange
99 percent of the time your bank will have the best possible exchange rate. Save time and money by using the bank rather than currency exchanges. Grab money — in the local currency — from ATMs, or pay with a credit card to save time — and your hard earned cash. Withdraw large amounts of money at a time (an amount you feel comfortable carrying) to avoid excess fees. International transaction fees on your credit card can add up so check fees and come up with the best plan to find a balance of withdrawing money to using your credit card. We use both. We like using the credit card, if it makes sense, so that we can accumulate more reward points.
14.Tourism cards and student IDs
If you’re sightseeing, city passes or tourism cards often give you access to discounted prices and free transportation to a city’s best sites.
15.Carry a water bottle
I was devastated the other night after forgetting to bring mine to the movies and was charged $6.50 for water. For WATER!!!!! Carry your own water bottle and fill it for free. In countries where tap water is not safe to drink, carry a water filter. It will save you a LOT of money.
I hope you all travel safe and these hacks help you save your money. I hope you also find someone to travel with because why not ?
VIAJAR 
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