Everyone has goals they want to achieve, mine is a minimum
of one international vacation a year. So far I’ve been to Africa, Canada,
Chili, Spain, Ireland, Dominican Republic and Mexico. Sometimes I travel with friends
or by myself on a guided tour. Just the flight alone from the United States can
seem like it’s going to break the bank. Many international flights can cost you
from $1,000 to $1,600 and when you add on hotel, spending money, guided tours
and etc. now your total cost could end up around $2,000-$3,000. Now I will say,
I like to be comfortable when I travel and I don’t stay at hostels or couch
surf.
So how am I able to travel like I do? I use sites like
Google Flights, and Sky Scanner where I can search the costs of all flights out
of my desired airport months in advance. I also use my old tried and true
financial allotment. I have $100 a paycheck automatically deposited into a
savings account. Over 26 pay periods I end up with $2,600 a year to use for travel.
Some years I may travel to a country with a cheaper cost of living, meaning I
don’t end up spending all of that money and can add any leftover money to next
year’s total for travel to a more expensive place. For instance, when I
traveled to Africa for two weeks I stayed in an apartment with a cleaning lady
for $100 and spent less than $500. My plane ticket was $1300 so my total cost
was $1,900.
Using sites like Google Flights and Sky Scanner and looking
months in advance you can find international flights for as little as $300 one
way depending on what airport you fly out of.
Then using financial allotments to save money in a savings account that I
have ear marked for travel I am able to cash in on cheap flight deals. Now be advised that many times the best deals
don’t fall during holidays but can be the most adventurous vacation you’ve had
or sometimes thinking outside the box like the time I traveled to South America
in February. It was our winter but it was summer there, you can even look at Africa
as another destination during our off season or traveling somewhere in the
winter just to see the northern lights or experience Christmas and new year’s
somewhere else.
When traveling, make sure you look for credit cards without international
usage fees and banks that will reimburse for international ATM fees. Many
military banks have this feature but if you are not military Nerd Wallet has
other recommendations for banks to use. I love using this because I can hop off
the plane walk right up to an ATM and get the local currency immediately without
being charge a change fee.
Ms. Smart
