How This Budget Traveler Got His Dream Vacation for Less
A Great Anniversary Trip - How Can We Afford It?
How do you take a cheap vacation in the same year as you celebrate a major life milestone? It's not often one celebrates 25 years together. That occasion calls for something special.
If you're a budget travel writer married all those years to someone who also thrives on the adventure of discovering new places, it calls for taking a really nice trip.
Our anniversary trip covered 15 days and took us to London, Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Dubrovnik, the Greek islands of Santorini and Rhodes, the coast of Turkey, Athens and Vienna.
Circumstances dictated a mid-summer itinerary, which is the most expensive time of year to make such a journey.
This trip easily could cost $11,000. Click "next" and take a look at how we managed to do it for about half that price.
Finding Cheap Airfares
This trip started with a very vague itinerary pointing to southern and central Europe. About seven months before we departed, I saw an offer for a British Airways Visa Signature credit card that included 100,000 frequent flier miles as an inducement for opening the account. I had never seen such a generous offer, and I decided to take them up on it.
Naturally, all such offers come with strings attached, including a prescribed amount of money you must spend within three months to get full use of all the promised benefits.
So by the time I actually had control of those 100,000 miles, most of the routes I would have chosen were gone. What resulted was a patchwork itinerary that involved a layover in London, a flight into Milan (as close to Venice as was possible) and a flight out of Vienna back through London. It all started and ended in Boston.
For the British Airways part of the itinerary, I had to pay $878 in taxes and fees for the two round trip tickets. Standard fare for that itinerary was $2,793. See how savings can add up quickly?
To get to and from Boston, I used frequent flier miles and Capital One miles so that my net costs to get Logan Airport were less than $80.
Chances are you will not find another 100,000 mile offer -- it was truly a unique opportunity. But there are plenty of airlines that will offer 30,000 miles or even 50,000 miles just for opening an air miles credit card. If you decide that an air miles credit card fits your financial needs, an inducement like this might just save you enough for some long-haul travel.
Practicing One Bag Travel
A 15-day trip does not require three or four pieces of luggage per person. It really doesn't.
The obvious savings here starts with baggage fees. But beyond those charges, traveling with one bag makes it easier to do some of the other things that save money and make for cheap vacations. We were able to use public transportation to and from the airports. When we had to store our bags in a London train station, fewer pieces means fewer multiples of £8 on our bill.
The one bag travel strategy doesn't result in dramatic savings like we saw on overall airfares, but you better believe these fees all add up quickly. Pack one bag and save money.
Booking Cheap Hotels
We decided a cruise was the most economical way to see the Greek Islands, Venice and Athens. That seven-night cruise accounted for nearly half of our overnight stays. So we still had eight hotel nights for which to budget.
I managed to average $61/night for hotel costs, which means we spent $487 (including taxes) for those eight nights. How is this possible?
In London, a small and rather spartan room near the airport was ours for $53.
In Milan, we used Priceline.com to get a four-star hotel for $113 -- a reservation that was upgraded to a deluxe suite (pictured above) upon arrival for reasons only the management understands. In Lake Como, we rented a pleasant but modest room that did not have air conditioning. Centrally located hotel rooms in Vienna are often very expensive, but again with the help of Priceline, we got a small suite within walking distance of most major attractions for under $70/night.
Most of these rooms were quite pleasant. All of them were clean and safe. With the exception of Milan, none was opulent. No matter. You can pay $200/night or more in any of these places for an ordinary room that isn't really any better than what we booked.
Using Mass Transit
In Boston, we used hotel courtesy vans and the efficient subway system. Our ground expenses there were perhaps $7. In London, Tube tickets were $13.50 USD round trip. The round trip cost for a taxi from Heathrow to the city center often comes in at about $50.
We also used the clean, cheap and efficient subway systems in Milan, Athens and Vienna. We rarely saw the inside of a taxi. One memorable jaunt came as we were trying to find our way from the cruise port to the Athens metro train.
The cab driver overcharged us because I didn't have small bills available to pay him.
In London, Athens and Vienna, the airports are located fairly far from the central city. If you're paying for taxis in those places, you'll be paying hundreds of dollars. Save your money and investigate public transportation. It's often far less intimidating than you might imagine and the savings are significant.
Buying Second-Class Train Tickets
For our journey from Milan to Lake Como to Venice, it was not necessary to buy a rail pass. Simple point-to-point tickets were the cheapest way to go.
Second-class seating sections are often more crowded than those available in first-class, but on many trains there is little difference in the comfort of the seats or the quality of the view out the window.
Investigate the differences between first- and second-class seats and buy accordingly.
Avoiding Add-On Cruise Expenses
We chose to sail on the M/V Gemini with Quail Cruises. It's a Spanish line that caters mostly to people from Madrid and Barcelona. Its offerings differ in a number of ways from what passengers might expect of U.S.-based cruise lines. Virtually every shipboard announcement was made only in Spanish, and many crew members spoke little or no English. Amenities such as giant pools or water slides were nowhere to be found.
Another difference: All-inclusive pricing. On this ship, there were no extra charges for ordering your favorite beverage or enjoying a multi-course meal in the dining room. The total cost of the cruise was about $1,650 USD/person. That was among the cheaper totals for the itinerary we sought. Add in those charges that every other cruise line makes for a carbonated beverage or a steak at dinner and you arrive at a reasonable bottom line. There were add-ons for gratuities, but at €65/person ($81 USD at the time), they are modest compared to what is suggested at many other lines.
Bypassing Cruise Line Excursions
Cruising provides an economical way to see places like Greece, Italy, Croatia and Turkey. But many people spend that savings very quickly on shore excursions that are overpriced.
This does not mean you should simply remain on the ship and fail to visit the ports of call. It does mean you should usually make your own arrangements either prior to sailing or at the port after you've arrived.
In many places, you'll find guides who are more than willing to negotiate with you on a sightseeing tour.
Be sure you set the price (in writing if possible) before starting the tour.
We did splurge on a guided tour in Turkey that took us to the ancient city of Ephesus. The cost was $90 USD/person, and it would have been lower if we had found other people to join us. The cost was more than offset by the expertise our guide displayed in describing the incredible historic sites and cultural attractions we visited.
Dubrovnik (pictured above) was a place where we paid €16/person ($20) to walk the ancient city wall and listen to 24 pre-recorded lectures at various points on rented headphones. It was nice to take this highly informative tour at our own pace, stopping frequently to admire the sweeping, spectacular views of the old city and the sea.
As you might expect on a 25th anniversary trip, we enjoyed several very nice meals that probably wouldn't qualify as budget travel choices. But we also stuck to an overall strategy of controlling food costs.
The reason we were able to afford those splurges was that we economized at other times. In Vienna, for example, we balanced a rather expensive dinner with an inexpensive one on the night of our arrival.
Here, you can find street vendors who charge just a few euros for delicious bratwurst and tasty gelato.
Are you willing to have one of these progressive dinners in which you eat inexpensive food at a number of places? Would you be willing to assemble a basic picnic lunch at a local market instead of sitting down in a pricey restaurant?
Many budget travelers could have run this itinerary for far less than what we spent. That's a fact I readily accept. It was a 25th wedding anniversary trip, and we did want to splurge several times to celebrate the occasion.
But even with the random splurges, we managed to spend less than $6,000 for a trip that could have cost nearly twice as much. Airfare for two at that time of year could have run up to $3,400; eight hotel nights (at $200/night) could easily run $1,600; a seven-night cruise might cost more than $4,000; cruise extras (excursions, frills on board, etc.) could run $1,000; meals, $1,000; ground transportation (airport transfers, cabs, etc.) $500.
Just those costs add up to $11,500. But you don't have to pay a price like that to buy a cheap vacation -- or a trip you will talk about for the rest of your life.
More Step-by-Step Budget Travel Tips
How do you take a cheap vacation in the same year as you celebrate a major life milestone? It's not often one celebrates 25 years together. That occasion calls for something special.
If you're a budget travel writer married all those years to someone who also thrives on the adventure of discovering new places, it calls for taking a really nice trip.
Our anniversary trip covered 15 days and took us to London, Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Dubrovnik, the Greek islands of Santorini and Rhodes, the coast of Turkey, Athens and Vienna.
Circumstances dictated a mid-summer itinerary, which is the most expensive time of year to make such a journey.
This trip easily could cost $11,000. Click "next" and take a look at how we managed to do it for about half that price.
Finding Cheap Airfares
This trip started with a very vague itinerary pointing to southern and central Europe. About seven months before we departed, I saw an offer for a British Airways Visa Signature credit card that included 100,000 frequent flier miles as an inducement for opening the account. I had never seen such a generous offer, and I decided to take them up on it.
Naturally, all such offers come with strings attached, including a prescribed amount of money you must spend within three months to get full use of all the promised benefits.
So by the time I actually had control of those 100,000 miles, most of the routes I would have chosen were gone. What resulted was a patchwork itinerary that involved a layover in London, a flight into Milan (as close to Venice as was possible) and a flight out of Vienna back through London. It all started and ended in Boston.
For the British Airways part of the itinerary, I had to pay $878 in taxes and fees for the two round trip tickets. Standard fare for that itinerary was $2,793. See how savings can add up quickly?
To get to and from Boston, I used frequent flier miles and Capital One miles so that my net costs to get Logan Airport were less than $80.
Chances are you will not find another 100,000 mile offer -- it was truly a unique opportunity. But there are plenty of airlines that will offer 30,000 miles or even 50,000 miles just for opening an air miles credit card. If you decide that an air miles credit card fits your financial needs, an inducement like this might just save you enough for some long-haul travel.
Practicing One Bag Travel
A 15-day trip does not require three or four pieces of luggage per person. It really doesn't.
The obvious savings here starts with baggage fees. But beyond those charges, traveling with one bag makes it easier to do some of the other things that save money and make for cheap vacations. We were able to use public transportation to and from the airports. When we had to store our bags in a London train station, fewer pieces means fewer multiples of £8 on our bill.
The one bag travel strategy doesn't result in dramatic savings like we saw on overall airfares, but you better believe these fees all add up quickly. Pack one bag and save money.
Booking Cheap Hotels
We decided a cruise was the most economical way to see the Greek Islands, Venice and Athens. That seven-night cruise accounted for nearly half of our overnight stays. So we still had eight hotel nights for which to budget.
I managed to average $61/night for hotel costs, which means we spent $487 (including taxes) for those eight nights. How is this possible?
In London, a small and rather spartan room near the airport was ours for $53.
In Milan, we used Priceline.com to get a four-star hotel for $113 -- a reservation that was upgraded to a deluxe suite (pictured above) upon arrival for reasons only the management understands. In Lake Como, we rented a pleasant but modest room that did not have air conditioning. Centrally located hotel rooms in Vienna are often very expensive, but again with the help of Priceline, we got a small suite within walking distance of most major attractions for under $70/night.
Most of these rooms were quite pleasant. All of them were clean and safe. With the exception of Milan, none was opulent. No matter. You can pay $200/night or more in any of these places for an ordinary room that isn't really any better than what we booked.
Using Mass Transit
In Boston, we used hotel courtesy vans and the efficient subway system. Our ground expenses there were perhaps $7. In London, Tube tickets were $13.50 USD round trip. The round trip cost for a taxi from Heathrow to the city center often comes in at about $50.
We also used the clean, cheap and efficient subway systems in Milan, Athens and Vienna. We rarely saw the inside of a taxi. One memorable jaunt came as we were trying to find our way from the cruise port to the Athens metro train.
The cab driver overcharged us because I didn't have small bills available to pay him.
In London, Athens and Vienna, the airports are located fairly far from the central city. If you're paying for taxis in those places, you'll be paying hundreds of dollars. Save your money and investigate public transportation. It's often far less intimidating than you might imagine and the savings are significant.
Buying Second-Class Train Tickets
For our journey from Milan to Lake Como to Venice, it was not necessary to buy a rail pass. Simple point-to-point tickets were the cheapest way to go.
Second-class seating sections are often more crowded than those available in first-class, but on many trains there is little difference in the comfort of the seats or the quality of the view out the window.
Investigate the differences between first- and second-class seats and buy accordingly.
Avoiding Add-On Cruise Expenses
We chose to sail on the M/V Gemini with Quail Cruises. It's a Spanish line that caters mostly to people from Madrid and Barcelona. Its offerings differ in a number of ways from what passengers might expect of U.S.-based cruise lines. Virtually every shipboard announcement was made only in Spanish, and many crew members spoke little or no English. Amenities such as giant pools or water slides were nowhere to be found.
Another difference: All-inclusive pricing. On this ship, there were no extra charges for ordering your favorite beverage or enjoying a multi-course meal in the dining room. The total cost of the cruise was about $1,650 USD/person. That was among the cheaper totals for the itinerary we sought. Add in those charges that every other cruise line makes for a carbonated beverage or a steak at dinner and you arrive at a reasonable bottom line. There were add-ons for gratuities, but at €65/person ($81 USD at the time), they are modest compared to what is suggested at many other lines.
Bypassing Cruise Line Excursions
Cruising provides an economical way to see places like Greece, Italy, Croatia and Turkey. But many people spend that savings very quickly on shore excursions that are overpriced.
This does not mean you should simply remain on the ship and fail to visit the ports of call. It does mean you should usually make your own arrangements either prior to sailing or at the port after you've arrived.
In many places, you'll find guides who are more than willing to negotiate with you on a sightseeing tour.
Be sure you set the price (in writing if possible) before starting the tour.
We did splurge on a guided tour in Turkey that took us to the ancient city of Ephesus. The cost was $90 USD/person, and it would have been lower if we had found other people to join us. The cost was more than offset by the expertise our guide displayed in describing the incredible historic sites and cultural attractions we visited.
Dubrovnik (pictured above) was a place where we paid €16/person ($20) to walk the ancient city wall and listen to 24 pre-recorded lectures at various points on rented headphones. It was nice to take this highly informative tour at our own pace, stopping frequently to admire the sweeping, spectacular views of the old city and the sea.
As you might expect on a 25th anniversary trip, we enjoyed several very nice meals that probably wouldn't qualify as budget travel choices. But we also stuck to an overall strategy of controlling food costs.
The reason we were able to afford those splurges was that we economized at other times. In Vienna, for example, we balanced a rather expensive dinner with an inexpensive one on the night of our arrival.
Here, you can find street vendors who charge just a few euros for delicious bratwurst and tasty gelato.
Are you willing to have one of these progressive dinners in which you eat inexpensive food at a number of places? Would you be willing to assemble a basic picnic lunch at a local market instead of sitting down in a pricey restaurant?
Many budget travelers could have run this itinerary for far less than what we spent. That's a fact I readily accept. It was a 25th wedding anniversary trip, and we did want to splurge several times to celebrate the occasion.
But even with the random splurges, we managed to spend less than $6,000 for a trip that could have cost nearly twice as much. Airfare for two at that time of year could have run up to $3,400; eight hotel nights (at $200/night) could easily run $1,600; a seven-night cruise might cost more than $4,000; cruise extras (excursions, frills on board, etc.) could run $1,000; meals, $1,000; ground transportation (airport transfers, cabs, etc.) $500.
Just those costs add up to $11,500. But you don't have to pay a price like that to buy a cheap vacation -- or a trip you will talk about for the rest of your life.
More Step-by-Step Budget Travel Tips
