Oh, the world of the workaholic Americans! Is it that we love our jobs so much or that we simply can’t afford to travel anywhere on a vacation for more than a couple of days at a time? Hmm. You’ve got your pricey tourist attractions, your overpriced airline tickets (who now charge for every single bag you bring—any minute now they’ll be charging for the bags under your eyes), and the utterly insane cost of bed bugged, dirty, stained carpeted hotels. That R&R you were looking forward to, just cost you several $1000. Happy vacation. Now get back to work and earn some more money so that you can take another two days of vacation. Fun, huh?
How free is free?
For those who travel by airplane, free means using up your frequent-flier miles. 25,000 miles isn’t much when you’re traveling by air and that’s right around the normal requirement for cashing in your miles. Some credit cards, as an incentive, will offer 25,000 free miles if you sign up for their card. Other credit cards will offer as much as 50,000 miles; some even more. Hotel stays, shopping portals which are airline-branded and credit card purchases will also land you more frequent flyer miles. When it comes to cashing in those miles don’t forget that the sooner you make your reservation the better chance you have of getting the ticket that you want.
Sometimes, the online booking system won’t get you your desired flight, in which case you might consider calling the airline directly and discussing other options. Try not to burn up all your miles at one time if at all possible. Frequent-flier miles also come in handy for savings other than your airfare. One more; car rentals and hotel stays can often be discounted or free through the use of your frequent-flier miles.
Sign up for airline newsletters
Signing up for airline newsletters sometimes alert you to getting bargain rates or first class seats for a bargain price. All you have to do is to sign up for their newsletter. Airlines always want to notify their potential customers first so you will be sure to get a great bargain.
Once you reach a destination, then what?
You’re going to need transportation. Not having to spend a lot of money on your transportation can be a little tricky but not impossible. Public transportation and free shuttles are a good way to start traveling from place to place cheaply. A lot of hotels located near airports will have a free shuttle that goes from the Airport to the hotel and back again for the customers. The casinos in Las Vegas are more than happy to send a shuttle for you when you land at the Airport. Go figure.
If your destination is more of a tourist attraction, let’s just use Disney as an example, hotels will once again, get you to the park and back to the hotel with free shuttles. Weekly or even daily passes which allow you to ride buses or subways all day or all week are available at many airports. Don’t pass up an opportunity to save big with these passes. Why spend $40.00 on a cab when you can ride public transportation all day or all week long for far less?
One method of a free place to stay is getting more and more popular by the day. It’s called house swapping, or apartment swapping. Basically what it boils down to is that you stay in someone’s house where you want to vacation and they get to come and stay in your house so that they can vacation. It’s all on the up and up and there are websites that are devoted solely to house swapping. Sometimes these home exchanges include bicycles, boats and other vehicles that are part of the home exchange deal. If it’s not immediately offered there’s no harm in asking. If that doesn’t exactly trip your trigger, open up your laptop to the web site called CouchSurfing.net. This site exists for no other reason than to find you a place to stay for absolutely free, free, free! The only thing you have to give them in return is to please be polite to the people at the location which end up staying.
Don’t forget to use coupon codes
Did you know that many of the best travel deal destinations can have coupons that make travel even cheaper? Yes, if you use a coupon code for orbitz, you may be able to receive up to 5% off a hotel. This can be significant for the frugal traveler. Southwest also operates a vacation booking site that offers some fantastic coupons to use at checkout. Combined with their already low flight rates, southwest can really make it easier on the wallet. Don’t forget to apply a southwest vacations coupon at checkout.
Once you’re through the doors, don’t hesitate to take advantage of the freebies
Many hotels will offer free breakfasts (don’t feel bad about pocketing an extra piece of fruit or a bagel), cookies, popcorn, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and more. And if you’re willing to get your hands dirty some organic farms will offer you free food and lodging for a day’s work in the field. Seeing the sights, when done correctly, can be done for little to no cash. Many museums, even though they have extremely steep admission prices, have certain times of the day or week when it is free or next to free admittance. While you’ve got that laptop open go ahead and type in the words ‘free museum day’ and see what you can find. If you’re looking for something a little more nature friendly than a museum, 100 of our nation’s National Parks, even though they have regular entry fees, allow free admittance for exactly 29 days annually. Government websites will have the details for this freebie.
And let us not forget when visiting New York City that the Staten Island Ferry is free!