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Being flexible with your time and with your plans is a learned skill.

In the game of travel hacking, putting your initial wants and needs first may not serve you, unless you’re willing to pay for it.

In this episode, I’ll explain to you how being flexible can maximize your travel experience and the steps you can take to do just that.

The biggest expenses in any travel experience is usually airfare, accommodations and transportation. This is very “figureoutable†and here are some tips that break things down for you.
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Quick Tips

The moment you decide you want to travel, first take a big deep breath. Remember, it’s a steady and fun marathon. The journey is what makes the moment exciting so pat yourself on the back for deciding to travel!
Get started with 1 thing at a time. If you want to travel hack with miles, the fastest way is to get a miles earning credit card. If you’re open to paying for the flight, find 2 or 3 different dates in the year that you’d think you’ll want to go. Write it down so it becomes real.
Hook your dates a few days before and after holidays so you’ll maximize your vacation time. I remember when I had a job, I’d take advantage of 3 day weekends by going on a 5 day extravaganza which resulted in me only using 2 vacation days.
Create a budget and work backwards to make it “fitâ€
Without miles or points, you could reasonably fly and have accommodations for 10 days for between $800 to $2,000 per person in just getting there and having a place to stay, generally speaking. Of course, having more people to share accommodation costs will lower your expenses. Reverse engineer from your budget and it’ll make things easier to fit in your budget like a jigsaw puzzle.
Empowered with your big decision and a handful of possible dates, start looking for the cheapest flights. Your reference points are >$400 domestic or >$900 international, generally speaking.
Listen, when looking for an airfare deal, you just have to act. This is not a hard sale by any means but if you hesitate, chances are you’ll miss out. Keep in mind that prices change daily. So if you find an airfare deal for $890, don’t be foolish to hope for a price >$100 than that. It’s silly and the few extra dollars you could potentially save if you held out won’t matter if you lost the chance at the deal you had found already.
My point is you can only control the controllables and learning how to let go of the uncontrollables is a learned skill. And learning that will make you steps ahead from the rest of your friends who don’t travel.
Based on how much your flight cost, find accommodations that fit your budget. There are many options whether it’s a hotel, Airbnb, or hostel. Check out episode 8 for a more detailed look at how I book accommodations the travel hacker way.
Transportation is always tricky. You’ve spent a good amount of time and money just getting there. Of course, it would be wonderful to get to X amount of cities to make your trip an action packed adventure. But, my attitude on this leans towards the notion that less is more. More movement means more money spent. I would encourage you to stay in one or two cities so that you can get a good feel for the place, the people, and the essence of the city. But that’s just me.
And finally, remember that you’re on vacation. You can easily fall into the trap of over planning and stressing out as if you’re still back at work. Keep it simple and allow yourself the luxury of escape, relaxation, and wanderlust. That’s the end goal, at least in my opinion, that gives you the biggest bang for your travel experience.

Have a wonderful Monday and I’ll catch you Wednesday for another episode.

Take care!

Cheers.
-Kevin Le