Travel is a fun amazing adventure, but it can be quite expensive. In my household, we are continuously saving for our next trip. Whether it’s the $800-$900 for air for two to Mazatlan or several thousand to visit Europe, it takes plenty of planning and saving.
We live in the Tacoma area, which means all of our flights
go out of Sea-Tac International Airport. If you are lucky enough to live in LA
or New York, your air prices are a lot less than ours because your flights are
more direct. Lucky you. When we go to Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta, we choose
Alaska Air flights through LAX or San Francisco because they are the most
direct for the money. For Europe, we usually have to make one or two plane
changes before we get to our final destination. Those extra flights add cost to
our trips as well as time.
There are several factors to look at besides just the cost
of the plane ticket when you are planning a trip. The cheapest ticket may not
be the best choice for you. Routing is very important too. Some airlines only
go through certain airports which can add up to many wasted hours between you
and your final destination, even as much as a whole day. Ask yourself if saving
$25-$50 is worth a whole day of your hard-earned (and in the US, probably short)
vacation. Take Mazatlan from Seattle for example. We can fly the cheapest with
US Air, but it flies though Phoenix, several hours beyond our destination, and
then maybe on through Mexico City, an airport notorious for flight delays. Even
on time, that flight takes 4-8 hours longer than our usual route through LA.
The cost difference isn’t that much and we happily pay an extra $25 bucks to
get to the fun sooner and with a lot less stress. It still takes a careful eye
though, because Alaska Air often does this devilish thing where their connecting fight
doesn’t leave LA to Mazatlan till the next day, and it’s not even cheaper.
Also, routing is an important factor at certain times of the year, such as
winter or hurricane season. We had to spend an extra day in New Orleans once because our
flight via Dallas was cancelled due to hurricane force winds that blew out a
large bank of windows at the Dallas Airport. Know the common weather problems
at different airports for the time of year you are flying. Taking a southern or
lowland transfer in winter over a northern one is a lot less likely to result
in a snow delay for example.
Once you have decided when and how you want to fly, it’s not
hard to start budgeting the cost of air for your trip. A site like Kayak will
let you compare many different flights at the same time. That will give you
your ballpark numbers for air. Then you also need to think about how long you
will stay and let that guide your food and lodging costs. This can vary a great
deal depending on where you are going and what kind of traveler you are. Here
is where a good travel guide and research can help you. This is the time to ask
yourself what style of hotel you want: Do you need air conditioning? Will you
really use a spa or gym? I don’t care about spas or gyms, but control over my
heat and AC are important enough to me to pay a little extra for. A travel guide can help you identify the
average cost of hotels in the low, medium or high-end range for your
destination. Will you be eating fast food or expensive restaurant food? A good
average for meal costs is about $35-50 per person per day. Once you’ve made
those decisions, you will know the total cost of the basics: transportation,
lodging and food. Add in your extras like shopping money, local transportation
costs for buses, trains or rental cars, and you’ll have your final number. When
you see it, do not panic!
NOW you can work up your savings budget number. Take that
total figure and divide it up by how many paydays you have until your trip.
Even though the original number might have been scary, if you are serious about
your trip, your savings number should scare you a lot less. If it’s higher than
you are comfortable with, ask yourself if you can go a little later or shave off a day or two, or if
there are things you are spending money on that are less important than your
trip. Most of us waste a lot of money and this exercise will help you identify
where you might be able to cut back on other costs. Can you change your phone
plan or cable plan to a cheaper one? Do you buy a lot of meals or coffee out?
For the one-month long Europe trip I plan to take with my husband in 2017, I
need about $12,000. At the time I started saving for it, that worked out to
saving $300 a month. I cut back on going out to dinner once I realized we were
spending around $150 a month on dining out when we were just too lazy to cook.
I also modified my land phone line plan, which saved me another $25 a month.
Any tax return money we get will also go directly into the travel fund.
Although it is not part of my budget, it will add to the fun money we have when
it’s time to go. All it takes is planning and some discipline. If you really
want to travel, you can do it. Start saving today!
