My Top 10 Travel Tips: How to Make the Most of Your Time and Money
My Top 10 Travel Tips:
- Use Credit Card Rewards (for Airlines & Hotels). If I could only give you 1 tip, this would be the one. Using our credit card rewards has saved us so much money on flights and hotel stays, and is part of the reason we’re able to afford to go on so many wonderful trips!
For hotel rewards, we use a Hilton Honors American Express Card. I use this card for every purchase I make. Basically, you earn points on your Hilton AMEX by making purchases with it. In turn, you can use those points to pay for all or part of your next hotel stay. The rewards apply to any brand of Hilton hotel, almost anywhere in the world. The main thing to keep in mind is that usually, you have to spend a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time to qualify for the initial sign-up perks. For example, when you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of opening it, you can earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Points. So, we highly recommend opening the card to use for any larger purchases you already may be making (a new refrigerator, getting the roof fixed, replacing carpets, etc.). This helps ensure that you will hit that minimum spending amount and maximize the points you earn. You can then use those points right away and cash in some free hotel stays! The trick is to find the cheapest hotel price so you can maximize the number of stays you get with the points you have.
To save money on flights, we have used both Spirit and Southwest rewards cards. Southwest sometimes runs a promotional deal (which we just took advantage of) called a Companion Pass. This means that for any flight you book, one friend can fly with you for free! It’s an incredible deal and they’re running the limited-time promotion again, NOW through March 10th, 2021. Get all the details here.
Remember: Our advice is to always pay off your credit cards fully and on time. Treat your credit cards like cash and don’t spend more than you have. We believe in being wise stewards of our money, which ultimately gives us even more freedom with it!
(You can read more about the details, terms, and conditions of each program by clicking the links in this blog post. Note that some of the links I’ve provided are my personal referral links!) - Always look for coupon codes or online discounts. For example, if there’s a site or attraction you want to visit that you have to buy tickets for, always try to find a discount code online! Sometimes, places like museums offer a discounted price at a certain time of day (usually in the morning) or on a certain day of the week. Be mindful of those things! Look up what you want to do in advance, and plan your trip around them in order to get the most bang for your buck! Or, it’s never a bad idea to Google “Best Free Things to Do in *insert city name here*.”
- Use Google Flights or an app called Hopper to find cheap flights. Finding the best deal on a flight requires a good amount of time spent researching. Compare flight prices to different days and flight times to make sure you find the best possible deal. And for a bonus tip, check out Spirit Airlines. They offer cheap flights as is, and if you buy your tickets directly at the airport, you can save up to an additional $20 off per person per flight!
- Stay at a hotel within walking distance of the city. When visiting a bigger city, staying at a hotel within a few blocks of the downtown area is a great idea. Not only does this usually imply a fun location, but it allows you to save money by walking to the main attractions in the city. We do lots and lots of walking on our trips. It saves money AND it’s great exercise! Two birds, one stone.
- Consider how you’re going to get around. Figure out the average cost to Uber in the city or cities you’re visiting, look into car rental costs, and determine which option would be more cost-effective. It really depends on the length and details of your trip, but it’s helpful to determine ahead of time whether Ubering or renting a car would be cheaper. Think to yourself: “How long is my trip? Would it be cheaper to rent a car? Does my hotel offer free parking or would I have to pay to park my car there? Do I plan to visit many places that are farther than walking distance?” These are all things to consider!
- Utilize scooters! Not only are they super fun to ride, but electric scooters are a really cheap and efficient way to explore a new city! Almost every major city we have visited in the past two years has had electric scooters (or bikes) for public use. There are multiple companies that rent these scooters out, some of the popular ones being: Lime, Skip, Spin, and Razor. If you’ve never ridden one before, I highly recommend it! Just be cautious – they can really pack a lot of speed!
Check out my referral codes below for a discount on your next ride:- Spin: Use code JAYNIHERSHBERGER to get a free ride!
- Lime: Use code RXLLDEG for a free unlock credit.
- Skip: Use code 163DOFVAS to get $2.00 free.
- Bird: Use code 1RAFXD to get a free ride!
- Veo: Use code AGYBMX for credit towards your next ride.
- Revel: Use code 221v74 for $10 worth of ride credits!
- Always eat local! Now that we’ve gotten the more technical tips taken care of, let’s move into the fun stuff. My favorite foodie suggestion is to always eat local! It’s as simple as googling “Best Local Restaurants Near Me” or “Best Breakfast Spots in *insert city name here*.” When you’re visiting a new town, you want to get the whole experience! Part of that means eating the food and drinking coffee that the locals love. We’ve found some incredible hidden gems (this gourmet ice cream shop in Phoenix, for example) by searching for local favorites.
- Plan out your itinerary. Similar to Tip #2, plan out your itinerary for the week and know what you want to do ahead of time! This helps you utilize your time wisely and make sure you do everything you want to do, without getting frustrated or overwhelmed during your vacation. Don’t forget to plan out time for resting and recharging!
Are you going hiking? Use the AllTrails app to map out exactly which trails you want to hike. Whether you’re in a national park, or just looking for a nearby walking path, this app has been our go-to so many times. We love using it to plan our hiking trips because it shows you the difficulty, length in miles, and estimated completion time for each hike. It also gives you the exact GPS location of each trailhead, which can sometimes be tricky to find!
Are you going to visit a city? Research the city and plan out the must-see attractions. Pick your top few favorites and decide when you’re going to go to each and how you’re going to get there. Think: “Are any of them walking distance from each other? Can we hit a couple of attractions in one day?” If you’re looking for a quick weekend trip – we hit almost all of the main large attractions in Atlanta, Georgia in ONE day! (It was an exhausting day, nonetheless, but a successful one!) - Travel over the weekend. You can easily travel from Friday night to Sunday afternoon or evening! I know this may sound tiring or unrealistic, but it’s very doable. And we have the track record to prove it. We’ve visited 29 states so far, and more than half of these visits were quick weekend trips! We love taking weekend trips for 3 main reasons: You don’t need to use vacation time for work, you can pack light so you don’t need to bring a carry-on (if you’re flying), and you’re spending your weekend making memories and encountering new experiences!
- Last but not least: Prioritize traveling! If you love to travel and have the means to do it, there’s really no excuse. There will always be a better time, a better place to visit, a more convenient weekend, or more desirable weather… but there’s no time like the present. If you make it a priority, it will happen! We have made some of the best memories, enjoyed new experiences, strengthened our marriage, and became better friends all through the time we’ve spent traveling together.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate you as a reader; your support of my blog means more than you know. I truly hope these travel tips were helpful for you or inspired you in some way! If there’s anything else I’m missing, or if you have questions about any of our trips, please leave a comment below this post! I would absolutely love to hear from you. Now – get out there and explore the world! It’s big, it’s beautiful, and it was designed to be enjoyed by our perfect Creator.
