Unique digital nomad travel adventures from around the U.S.
Vacations full of fresh fruit and beaches always sound really good to me, but to be honest, I’m just not a hot weather kind of Jane. I prefer sweaters to swimsuits; they are softer and I can eat ice cream without feeling guilty. That being …
I have been lucky enough to find some great travel companions over the years. But I understand that it can sometimes be difficult to find like-minded people to travel and explore this world with. Unfortunately, I do not think there is a magical formula to …
A few weeks ago, B and I went and visited the North Cascades National Park, via the Spokane, Washington, airport. Upon landing, we made our way to the rental car desks. As you can imagine, the rental car section of the Spokane, Washington, airport is not particularly large. The fact that it took us a while to get our wheels and hit the road was a bit of a surprise.
The reason for the delay was the lone family in line in front of us; they were having a heck of a time sorting out their rental car. B and I were confused what the holdup was because we are so familiar with renting cars. If you are like the family in front of us, perhaps this post will give you some pointers so you don’t have to be the slowpoke in line next time you rent.
We’ve talked before about renting cars. There are a bunch of places you can do so: conglomerate websites, the car rental company itself (they would especially love this), your credit card’s website and your automobile insurance’s website, just to name a few. When I am renting a car, I’ll usually go straight to Expedia or Kayak to see what prices pop up.
If price is my main criterion for picking a car, I’ll follow up with Hotwire since that is where I usually get the cheapest rates. Sometimes with Hotwire, you don’t know what agency you will rent with until you complete the transaction. This is only for deep discounts. For Hotwire’s regular rates, you see the agency name prior to making your reservation. Most of the time when I rent in the U.S., I don’t really care which rental car company I am getting. So I feel confident going with the cheapest option.
This rule only works if I am familiar with the rental companies at that airport. For example, when we booked our rental car for Puerto Rico, I didn’t know a few of the rental car companies and didn’t feel comfortable going with an company with whose policies I wasn’t familiar with. In this case, we decided to pay more and reserve a car through a channel where we could pick the company.
You can always rent cars right from the rental counter. But I’m a non-confrontational purchaser, so I don’t like to feel pressured to buy something when the seller is staring me down. I’ve heard the car rental industry is extremely subjective. Meaning if the person at the counter likes you they have the freedom to give you the best discount available, but if they don’t they will charge more.
I like the certainty of an impersonal electronic transaction. So even if I am getting an impromptu car, I’ll do it from a website rather than at the counter. When we flew into Honolulu, we heard the waves were uncharacteristically huge on the North Shore that day. Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we took a shuttle over to the rental car lot and en route, B rented a car for the day on her phone. Gotta love today’s technology!
Cars come in a few different types (they might be named differently depending on the company): compact (real small), economy (better gas mileage but also small), standard/intermediate/full size (these are pretty interchangeable), luxury, SUV and truck. When I’m renting a car with B, we usually go with the cheapest option. If the standard is only a dollar or two more, I’ll go ahead and get it. But if they want $10 or so more, I will purchase the smaller car. The reason is that rental car companies sell out of their cheapest cars and all they have left are bigger ones. We often get a bigger car at the cheaper price. Win win!
A few car companies also have something called a ‘special car.’ You are guaranteed a compact or bigger, but they don’t let you know what it is until you are at the rental counter. I love a good surprise, so if this is in the price running, I’ll usually get it. (It feels like gambling, for some reason.) While renting at the Sacramento airport, the lady behind the Budget counter handed me the keys to a Chevrolet Silverado and said, “You’re from Idaho, you can drive a truck.” Both statements were true, so I drove in style that trip at the same price as a compact.
The Budget lady explained that their ‘special car’ is whatever car they happen to have the most of that day. A few weeks ago, we got the ‘special car’ and ended up with a Nissan Mersa. So it really is a crapshoot what kind of vehicle you get.
The rental car company will want to see your driver’s license and a credit card. Have these handy when you approach the counter. Most times it doesn’t matter if you give them the card you reserved your rental with; they just need something to use for a hold in case you jack up the car. If you decide to give them a debit card as your security, you should have enough money in your account that they can pull out as the assurance fee. It usually is around $250.
Below are a few things to note:
The rental car company will want to know who is driving the vehicle. The reason they care is because this is a nice little revenue maker for them if you want to have more than one driver. It usually costs around $25 to add a driver. Not worth it in my book. I’ve heard tell that it doesn’t really matter if others drive the car you rented because your automobile insurance policy will cover a rental in your name regardless of who is driving. I can’t speak for all insurance agencies, but when I chatted with my friendly insurance customer service agent, he told me my policy only covers relative residents. Upon further digging, relative resident means someone you are related to who lives with you. Sorry B. I suspect there is some gray line between live-in domestic partners, but I didn’t follow up on that line of questioning.
The rental car company will want you to get insurance in case something bad happens. The reason they do this is because this is a nice little revenue maker for them and usually completely useless for you to buy. I say ‘usually’ because each person should make up their own mind as to whether it is worth it or not. 99% of the time I decline because a) my car insurance covers rentals and b) the credit cards I use to reserve the cars have coverage on them also. I know this second point for a fact.
Several years ago I rented a car in Anchorage, Alaska. I was a travel rental newbie back then and while I noticed the crack in the windshield, I figured the agency surely knew it was there and so I drove off without telling anyone about the crack. I returned the car and about a month later I got a bill in the mail for $350 for a windshield replacement. The person who rented the car after me must have reported it and I got stuck with the bill. I contacted my credit card company and went through the process to get the bill paid. It was taken care of in full and I learned a few valuable lessons.
Always check out your rental car and say something if you see anything that is off. In Spokane, our rental had a few scratches on the bumper so I took some pictures on my phone and went and got the guy at the counter to sign off on them. Just in case.
The rental car company will want you to prepay for a full tank of gas. The reason they care is because this is a nice little revenue maker. The idea behind this one is that you can prepay for your gas and return the car empty. It seems good because you don’t have to worry about swinging into the gas station on your way to drop off the car. It also seems like a pretty good price on gas (most have these listed).
The money maker part of the transaction is that most people don’t return their cars on E. So even though you prepaid for a full tank, you really wouldn’t have needed to buy a full tank of gas. If time is money and your time is worth more than the hassle of filling it up, then feel free to prepay. I’m too big of a cheapskate to buy gas for the person who rents the car after me so I always decline.
The rental car company will offer you all sorts of upgrades or extra items. I decline these too; since I know what type of car I am getting when I rent it, there isn’t any reason for me to upgrade to a bigger one. If I wanted a big car, I would have rented one in the first place. Another big offer is GPS.
If you have cellular data on your phone, there is no reason to rent a GPS. Google Maps or Apple Maps does just fine. I have only paid for a GPS once and that was in a foreign country where we didn’t have access to our phones. In Costa Rica we decided on a whim to rent a GPS unit. It turned out to be worth its weight in gold. The roads in Costa Rica don’t have street signs like they do here. If we hadn’t had someone telling us when to turn, we would have been pretty much hosed.
Initial, sign, sign, initial…..the rental car company will have you go through several screens or pages of information that basically says if anything happens you will pay for it. Different companies ask different things: in Spokane I had to initial that I wouldn’t stand on the roof of my Nissan Sentra. Okay, sure thing.
Just after you check out your car for damage and throw your gear in the trunk, it is a good idea to prepare yourself for the drive. There’s nothing worse than merging onto an interstate in a strange car and realizing you don’t know where you are going and can’t see out of the mirrors. When I get into a car for the first time, I’ll get my mirrors ready, pull my electronic cables and iPod and phone out of my bag and either figure out my route (if I’m by myself) or make sure my co-captain knows where we are headed.
Most rental cars are new; they pretty much all have USB, auxiliary jacks and cigarette lighters. You should also check how many miles are on the car; if it is only a few thousand you might have free satellite radio if the Sirius trial period hasn’t expired.
You used to have to make sure you had unlimited miles on cars when you rented a car. In most cases, cars are unlimited. But if you know you are going some distance, you should just double check. In Spokane they had a limit of where you could take your car (most border states ask if you are taking the car into Canada or Mexico) but I haven’t ever come across that before. Good thing. When B and I did a road trip through the south, we hit 10 states and put about 2,000 miles on our rental car.
After you return the car to the designated area, the car rental person will do a quick walk around, ask you how your trip was and print you a receipt. Ever since the aforementioned Alaska incident, I always keep my receipts handy just in case I need to reference something. We’ve talked about the gas option above; if you opt to fill up the tank yourself, it is a good idea to hang onto your receipt. Some rental car companies ask to see it to make sure you’ve filled up within 10 or 15 miles of the airport.
Lastly, you should always always do a look through to make sure you haven’t left anything in the car. This includes sunglasses holders and jockey boxes (for you non-Idaho drivers, a jockey box is the glove compartment) as well as the secret place under the seat where items go to disappear. I left my iPod in a rental car not too long ago. Trust me, it is a pain and pretty expensive to get your stuff back…if you do at all (we left my Grandma’s handicap sticker in a rental car once and never saw it again.)
We love renting cars. Since B drives a truck and I have a station wagon, we will usually opt for a rental car if we are going on a quick weekend trip. They are cheap on the weekends and the money we save on gas mileage typically pays for the price of the rental car (and we don’t have to put miles on our vehicles). By following the ‘how to’ above, renting a car can be a quick and non-intimidating process and you won’t have to end up like the poor family in front of us in line in Spokane.
![Tips to Packing Light [Tips and Tricks]](https://i0.wp.com/janeseestheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/img_3845.jpg?resize=750%2C400&ssl=1)
Last week I talked about the gear and tools that help in packing light. This week, I am going to talk about some specific packing light tips for women. These are the tips and tricks I actually use while on vacation. There is a lot …
Traveling can be a scary concept, but that doesn’t mean you should do it. This post highlights tips to help you stay safe while traveling. But first: Know that things can go wrong anywhere The world can be a scary place. And with the bombings …
![Tips to Packing Light [Tools and Gear]](https://i0.wp.com/janeseestheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Shampoo.jpg?fit=2016%2C1512&ssl=1)
Packing light is an art. It takes years of practice and just when you think you’ve got it nailed, you’ll learn some new trick or find a new piece of gear that shows just how wrong you’ve been packing all of these years. There is a lot of trial and error. But for every item forgotten or every worthless piece of clothing packed, a lesson is learned that you probably won’t forget. Investing in the right packing light tools and gear is the first step.
My very first backpacking trip was a three-week lesson on how not to pack for your very first backpacking trip. I had a great time, but I look back at what I packed for that trip and I have to laugh. Luckily, I learned a thing or two. It only takes one time of hauling around a pair of hiking boots (when you have no intention of hiking) before you learn to ask, “Do I actually need a pair of hiking boots for this trip?” And I have certainly invested in better gear since that first voyage.
Speaking of gear, the right tools can go a long way with helping you lighten your load. Below is a list of some of the gear I use to help me pack light. A few are new to my arsenal but all have been road tested. And most I have been using for years. Hopefully, you’ll find something worth trying out the next time you leave town.
Having the right-sized bag is the first step to packing light. The smaller your bag, the less likely you will over pack. R and I both prefer to travel with a backpack. They are easy to carry, leave your hands free and come with cool pockets. Our backpacks are under the 50 liter mark, which means we can carry them on an airplane and we do not have to check them. Whether you are looking for a backpack, a typical rollie suitcase or another style of luggage altogether, the important thing is that you pick a bag that is not capable of holding the kitchen sink.
My first backpack was a lesson in what not to buy. We went on a couple of good trips together, but it did not take long before I realized we were not meant to be. My next backpack, a Kelty, was chosen with a lot more care. Old Red, as I like to call her, has treated me right over the last decade. She is 40 liters and not top-loading. (I recommend you stay away from top-loading backpacks. They tend to be lighter, but it is a pain when you have to unload everything just to find that one item you are looking for at the bottom of the bag.) I do not plan on replacing this one anytime soon. R recently got a new 46 liter Osprey that she has been trying out. So far things are looking good.
I discovered packing cubes way back when they were rare and expensive. Eagle Creek was about the only company that made them and I used to have to go a special travel store to buy them. Nowadays, you can find versions everywhere at just about every price point. These little gems help you organize yourself and keep your stuff clean. It doesn’t matter if I travel for fun with a backpack or for work with a big suitcase, I always use packing cubes.
My original cubes are still in great shape even after countless trips. They were well worth the money I spent on them and if they ever wear out, I will gladly replace them. My personal favorite is the Eagle Creek Pack It Shoe Sac, Black. This thing has saved me on so many occasions. I can usually fit two pairs in there and it keeps the rest of my stuff from getting dirty. It works way better than a plastic bag or shower cap.
Compression sacks are not an automatic go-to for me. I have used them off and on over the years and although they definitely help with getting more into your bag, they don’t necessarily help when it comes to packing lighter. I find my pack tends to be a little heavier than I would like when I use them. But sometimes, they are just the ticket to getting everything nice and compact. Earlier this spring, R and I took a trip to Whistler, Canada. We planned to ski so we had to pack ski gear. Ski gear, especially snow pants, tends to take up a lot of room. So in this case, a compression sack worked great with helping me get everything in my bag.
If you are packing everything you need for a longer trip in a carry-on, then you are going to have to do some laundry. And unless you want to find a washer and dryer every couple of days, you are going to have to do it yourself. No, this isn’t much fun. But it is a necessary. I honestly do not remember when I discovered laundry soap sheets (like Travelon Laundry Soap Sheets, 50-Count), but I have been using them for a long time. As long as you don’t get them wet (they stick together) they work great for a sink full of clothes. Furthermore, they are small and light. Perfect.
It can be hard to decide whether to pack a towel or not. They take up so much room. But if you are traveling someplace with a beach or a pool, then you are going to need one. And sure, if you are staying at a hotel they are going to have towels. But what if you are camping or staying in a yurt? For years, I have packed one of those micro towels that absorb water really well. But they offer no coverage and they certainly do not work for the beach. Now a Turkish towel, that is another animal altogether.
I had my eye on a Turkish towel for a couple of years. But since I did not know anyone personally who had used one, I was skeptical of whether they really worked as well as people claimed. Luckily, I received one as part of a monthly subscription box. I haven’t been using it long, but so far, I am in love and find it makes a great packing light tool. My Turkish towel is more than living up to its reputation. It folds up small and dries fast—two critical things. In addition to using it as a towel, I can also use it as a scarf or swimsuit cover-up. It is a very versatile piece of clothing that takes up very little room.
I have used many-a-small day bags in my travels—everything from purses to small backpacks to grocery totes. I tend to prefer bags at fold up easily and can fit into my bigger backpack if necessary. You just need something smaller that can hold your money and other essentials. It needs to be something you can go souvenir shopping with or take to the beach or put under the seat in front of you on an airplane—especially if you decide to check your bag. Kipling is one of my favorite brands and I’ve loved every bag I have ever bought from them. (Their wallet, a Kipling AC2084 Creativity Small Purse Pouch Black, has traveled all over the world with me.)
Packing small or travel-sized toiletries seems like a no-brainer when it comes to packing light tools. But you would be surprised how many people I’ve talked to who are still not doing this. Maybe they do not care about paying $25 to check a bag. But they should care about hauling around that full-sized bottle of shampoo!
I love perusing the travel-size section of a store (Target’s is particularly good). And if they do not have my preferred brand or I don’t like the price, I use travel-size refillable containers and put my own product in them. Another great idea is to put things like eye cream in a contact holder. And a trip is the perfect time to use up any free samples you may have laying around.
Side note: Curious about how long that tiny bottle of shampoo will last? Check out this post I wrote about how long travel toiletries really last.
Speaking of toiletries, I have recently joined the non-liquid toiletries bandwagon. Things like shampoo and lotion work great in bar form (I really like the J.R. Liggett Bar Shampoo, Original Formula, 3.5 Ounce). They may not necessarily be smaller or lighter than their liquid counterparts, but they are a lot easier to deal with. Technically, they do save you room in your TSA-approved quart bag reserved for liquids. But the best part is that there is no risk of them leaking. We’ve all had that happen and it is no fun. I would recommend trying any new product out at home so you can see if you like it first. It would be very sad if you didn’t find out your new shampoo bar makes your head itch until you were on the road.
I still prefer to travel with an actual book or two. But in terms of packing light, that is about the worst choice I can make. Most likely, you probably already have a piece of technology capable of downloading some reading material. If you do not, there are plenty of affordable options on the market. With most of them, you can read a book, watch a movie and/or listen to music. One small piece of equipment packs a lot of punch in terms of entertainment and can be a valuable packing light tool. I honestly do not remember what it was like to travel without these options. I suppose I packed my CD player and some CDs? Gosh. I distinctly remember putting four books in my backpack once. Now I usually pack two and download more to my iPhone.
Not that long ago, the seat I was sitting in (from Indonesia I think) had a broken monitor. No TV for me. Luckily, I had downloaded a couple of movies so I was entertained. But that could have been a disaster.
Sorry for the overshare here, but this is something we women have to deal with. Getting your period sucks. Getting your period on a trip sucks even worse. But that is reality, unfortunately. More than 10 years ago I read something about the Keeper, a menstrual cup. I decided to give it a whirl and I have never looked back. I won’t get into all of the nitty-gritty details, but I will say it is light and takes up very little space compared to pads and tampons. You can swim and be your adventurous self without worry. Plus, it is much easier to deal with in less-developed countries. It takes a bit of practice to use though, so I would suggest a couple of practice runs before trying it out on your next big trip.
Having the right gear makes packing easier and, hopefully, lighter. It may take some trial and error before you find the right packing light tools for you. But hey, that just means you need to take a lot of trips so you can get it right.
We may not travel full time, but we sure spend a good chunk of our free time planning our next trip. For every week of actual travel, there are months and months of planning. I can scarcely remember a time when the internet did not …
It is nearing the second weekend in August, which means one thing in the R and B household: Braun Brothers Reunion. BBR is a music festival/camping extravaganza with great music and not so great food. I mean, there’s only so many hamburgers you can eat …
Do you know how to plan and save for a trip? Travel funds and budgets are not something I am terribly good at. However, I have recently been working on them in an effort to prepare myself for a trip to Australia.
As a child, I was obsessed with The Man from Snowy River. My love of Jim Craig runs deep and I still find myself watching the film at least once a year. It is because of this movie that my desire to see Australia was established long before I discovered my love of traveling. And even after I started traveling regularly, Australia remained number one on my bucket list. The only reason it has not been checked off yet is because I want to do it justice. Two weeks and the usual budget are just not good enough for my childhood dream. So I have been biding my time, waiting for the right moment.
That moment is almost finally upon me; I will be flying to Australia this February. While this is all very exciting, there is a lot of planning that goes into a trip like this. I figured I would share a bit of that planning process as well as what I am doing to save up for my time Down Under.
Now honestly, although each trip is unique, the planning process for me is relatively the same for either a long weekend out of town or an epic month in Australia. No matter what, I need to do the following:
R and I almost always know where we are headed next. We start wishing and dreaming years in advance. Now sometimes a really good deal or adventure presents itself and we jump on it. Other times a plan might fall through and we have to make an abrupt change in direction. But for the most part, things seem to fall into place and we are continually filling up our schedule with various activities both long and short. However, if you are struggling with deciding where to go, I suggest you read this post about choosing your next travel destination.
Aside from it being number one on my bucket list, I started really considering Australia about two years ago. I knew I wanted to go for at least a month and I finally felt as if I was in a position at work to ask for that much time off. I also thought it would be fun to make the trip over my 35th birthday. So with those thoughts in mind, I started to put the wheels in motion. Luckily, it did not take too much convincing to get R on board.
Make sure to do some research into what it takes to get into a country. Some visas are free and can be “applied” for when you arrive in the country. Some are expensive, a challenge to apply for and must be done ahead of time (looking at you Brazil).
When it comes to vacation hours, I am lucky enough to earn more than two weeks a year (but not as lucky as my brother-in-law who gets five…oh well). Normally, I spread my vacation hours out. Never have I taken a whole month off at one time.
For this trip, I did some math and realized that if I was careful, I could accrue enough vacation hours by the time I leave to cover me for the whole month. Unfortunately, being careful is not easy for me. I very much enjoy taking a little time off here and a little time off there and I don’t usually pay too close attention to the total amount of vacation hours I have available. But that is not an option if I want to get paid the entire time I am in Australia. So careful I will be.
R is in a very different situation. As an independent contractor, she never gets paid for the vacation hours she uses. So the longer she is away from the office, the smaller her paycheck. This definitely needs to be taken into account when she is planning a longer trip. In this case, she will not be joining me for the entire month—just the first 18 days.
Every employer is different and although mine has always been good about me taking vacation time, being away from the office for more than two weeks is pretty rare. In fact, like many Americans, most of my coworkers hardly ever take a full two weeks off at one time. But I finally reached a point where I felt comfortable requesting more time off.
When I asked my boss if it would be okay if I took a month off to go to Australia, she did not hesitate to tell me yes. Yes! I feel it is important to give your employer as much notice as possible, especially for a longer trip. However, two years may have been a little extreme. My boss even commented that two years was more than enough notification.
Again, R is not quite in the same boat. Although her employer is also good about time off, she is not in a position to take the entire month off. However, given that Australia is my big dream and not hers, I think she is content with a slighter shorter vacation.
I am a little embarrassed to admit that I am not very good at budgeting for a trip. I know about how much I can spend every year on travel given my income and living situation and as long as I stay within that ballpark, I am fine. If flights to a particular destination are more than I am comfortable spending, then I change plans and go somewhere else. If a particular attraction is too much, then I do something else. I am thrifty, but not super conscious of where every penny goes.
But here’s the deal: Australia is expensive. It is expensive to get there and it is expensive to be there. On top of that, I am going to be there for a full month. That’s double my usual travel time. And since I want to make sure I do this country right, I do not want to stay in cheap hostels and forgo certain attractions due to a lack of funds. Taking all of this into account, I knew I would need to approach financing my Australia vacay a little differently than my other trips.
The first thing I did was estimate how much money I would need per day. This is always a challenge but a simple Google search can help. I like to estimate a little high for me just to be on the safe side. After I settle on a cost per day and times that by the number of days I’ll be gone, I add on the cost of a plane ticket. Then, depending on the location and itinerary, I factor in inter-country transportation, visa fees, etc.
COST PER DAY x NUMBER OF DAYS + COST OF A PLAN TICKET
= ROUGH BUDGET ESTIMATE
Like I mentioned earlier, flights to Australia are not cheap (especially from Boise). Since I regularly check flight prices to all sorts of destinations, I knew what the high and low side of a flight to Sydney costs. When it came to my budget, I picked a number on the high side with the hope that I would find a better deal. I knew that the less I paid for my plane ticket, the more I would have to spend in Australia.
Once official planning begins on a trip, I religiously check flight prices—almost daily. I take note of when prices seem to drop and when they are the most expensive. This can be tedious. But it is worth it when you find a decent price within your budget.
Sign up for alerts…but do not depend solely on them. Alerts are helpful, but I have yet to find a system that covers it all. So for now, I continue to do a lot of legwork myself.
Once I settled on a final number for my budget, I divided it by the number of months I had left before my trip. It turned out to be a number I was comfortable saving each month. However, if that number had been too high, I would have had to rethink my trip. I figured I had a few options:
Luckily, I did not have to employ any of the options above. However, I did decide (just to be on the safe side) that any additional cash I might earn leading up to my trip would go straight into my Australia fund. Below is the budget I set for my trip. Read an updated post what I actually spent on my month-long trip to Australia.
The best piece of advice I have is to make your saving automatic. This has made all of the difference for me. Once I knew what I needed to save each month, the first thing I did was set up a separate savings account. I wanted a specific travel fund. After a little research, I settled on My Savings Direct, an online bank that offers one of the highest interest rates for savings accounts.
I set up an automatic transfer from my regular checking account for the amount I needed to save each month. I knew that if I tried to remember on my own, I would fail more times than I would succeed. Plus, I was also worried that when it came time to make a transfer, I might find a better use for the money in that moment. Having the transfer occur automatically made my life a lot easier and I can honestly say that it was the smartest thing I did to save. I highly encourage you to set up something automatic.
There is a plethora of ways to make some extra cash should you need/want to. Don’t believe me? Try Google. Below are a few options I have tried with varying success:
Regardless of what you decide to do, if you stick to it, then little by little you will see your travel fund start to grow. After that, the next big step is trying to find a good deal on plane ticket.
What you pay for your plane ticket can have a major effect on your budget—for better or for worse. When it comes to finding a good deal, it is crucial to do your research, sign up for alerts and check often. I read a lot of travel articles and blogs and although there is a lot of advice out there about the best time to buy, I have yet to find the magic answer.
A few months ago, I noticed several travel articles talking about the low price of plane tickets to Australia. That was all well and good, but I needed something affordable out of Boise and so far, prices had remained steadily high. I wasn’t particularly worried because my trip was still close to 10 months away and I have never bought a ticket that far in advance. Then one day I did my usual checking and discovered that the cost of flights to anywhere in Australia from Boise were the lowest I had seen them in years. Years! The price was almost half of what I had originally budgeted for. For obvious reasons, I was anxious to jump on it.
One lesson R and I have learned the hard way is that if you see a good deal on a plane ticket, jump on it immediately. Even waiting a couple of hours can be the difference between spending Thanksgiving in Brussels or…not. So my best advice: go for it! If you know your dates and you are comfortable with the price, do not hesitate. Did you know that you have 24 hours to change your mind (assuming you booked with the actual airline)? With that sort of safety net, there is no reason to hesitate.
But hesitate I did. The reason: R cannot go for the whole month and we had yet to work out her schedule. But you can bet we started planning frantically to get everything in order. I did not hesitate long because the very next day I noticed that prices had already started to go up on certain days. This time I jumped. And later that evening, R jumped as well. It was so exhilarating to finally buy that ticket and know that I was well on my way to another adventure. (A little fact about B: I have never gotten buyer’s remorse from purchasing a plane ticket. A new purse? Sure. But never something travel related.)
In case you were wondering, the flight I booked was close to $900 cheaper than what I had originally budgeted for. Now I have an additional $900 that can go towards anything I want (e.g. nicer lodging, more shopping, a fancy dinner, etc.).
Now that I am well on my way to saving and the plane ticket has been booked, it is time to plan the nitty-gritty details. Honestly, this is one of the most enjoyable parts of planning a trip and one I feel deserves its own post. So head over to the post I wrote about how to plan a trip.
I like plans and I like lists so the steps discussed above work really well for me. If you are more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of Jane, you probably stopped reading a couple of steps in. Regardless of how you like to plan your trips, make sure to enjoy the ride. Planning a trip is not nearly as fun as taking one, but it is a pretty close second.
How often do you go out exploring your own backyard? This past weekend, we headed to the mountains. Our goal: huckleberries. I am happy to report that we were successful and came home with a nice little haul. R had family visiting from another state. …