Saving Money on a Trip

When planning a trip timing is everything. I wish more times I could take impulse vacations, but it's not in my DNA. Every March we take a trip to an NCAA basketball tournament site. This year we're going to Jerry's palace down in Dallas. First of all know what you can afford before any decision is made. Don't put yourself in a tough situation financially. Approximate what everything is going to cost you.

Transportation

It depends on how many people are going. It also depends on preference. If you're comfortable enough with the distance you're traveling take cheap public transportation. I am not a big bus guy. I like having my car available to me and not paying for cabs. Next drive when you can. For the most part one person can drive cheaper then he can fly. Always look at flights though. I live by a small airport making it difficult to find cheap flights. With four of us traveling from Iowas to Dallas it's a lot cheaper for us to drive. Plus we have 4 drivers. Personally I am a fan of driving. You have to get to the airport early, you're limited to their times, who knows about layovers, and you're without a car when you get to your destination. With technology airfarewatchdog and kayak are great sites. Here's the thing though sometimes there are cheaper flights in different cities due to different competition. If you're planning an international flight it's important to try and find a city with cheaper flights as airlines won't make these connections for you. DC is a great place to fly out of for select places. DC has some good competition though for international flights. Key to traveling though is to constantly scour. Airfarewatchdog is a great alert website that will send you alerts. Kayak will really get you the best results.

Hotel

Once you've figured out your flight dates look at hotels right away. One google search goes a long ways. Hotel.com is a good website. For certain destination sights all inclusive hotels can be the way to go. Know yourself. For me on certain destinations I need to go with all inclusive so I am enjoying my trip without being a penny pincher. Always estimate and compare though. If you estimate safely that all inclusive won't be cheaper, you can control yourself, and have fun go that way. Pretty simple figure out what each meal is costing you going all inclusive and figure out what each meal would actually cost you. Always do your research. Find a place and price your comfortable with on an alternative website and go to their homepage and compare sites. This has only made a difference for me once, but it did for our trip to Dallas. Our requirements are that we want a pool a good place to watch basketball. We need a good continental breakfast as well. The last few years we've gotten lucky with non franchise hotels. I prefer to really go decently cheap on the hotel. If we can save money on parking and transportation to location it makes sense to pay more. If you need a nice hotel and you are staying at a franchise make sure to get reward points. The higher end hotels it isn't cost efficient to up based on the fact you're getting "reward points." Which is just a way of saying you have store credit. Which means you have to pay that higher price to use the points. You're really just sleeping at the hotel for the most part. Get enough that you're comfortable in. There's no need to splurge.

Meals

Meals are where budgets get busted. Make sure you budget correctly to know what you can afford. If you want to eat out and enjoy the culture budget for more high end prices. If you want to do things cheap go to the grocery store. Really the best way to do it is a mixture of both. Still enjoy the town go out for dinners maybe every other days on a long vacation. On a short vacation maybe you eat dinners every night, but lunches are from groceries.

Enjoy your trip. Know what you can spend and be financially fit when you return. Make a budget you know you won't overspend. When you go down most of the big costs have probably already been incurred. Have fun and enjoy the trip.