Alright y’all, bear with me as I get caught up on this blog. I have so many stories and trips that I’m behind on, so I’ll do my best to get them up soon. As you may have noticed, a few years ago I caught the international travel bug, and this year has been no exception. In 2015 I’ve traveled to Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Canada, all while maintaining a full-time job. If you count December 2014, I also visited Italy and France. And I’m not done. In just a few short weeks I’m headed to Vietnam again (because I enjoyed it that much), Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia (Bali). I’ll have extended layovers in Hong Kong and Singapore, as well.
You may be wondering how I’ve gotten away with visiting 14 countries in the span of a year… or 13 months to be exact, as this upcoming trip will trickle into late January. I’d love to take the time to share with you just exactly how I’ve made this possible.
Last year I spontaneously purchased a multi-city ticket off Priceline for $480 that enabled me to visit Milan, Paris, and Bangkok in December. This trip was supposed to be $1480, but the 1 was left off the front of the price when it was posted online. Because I jumped on it immediately, the lower price was issued. If you see a price too good to be true, know that it will not last long. Because of the low fare, I was able to be flexible and add on a few additional stops- Rome, Saigon, and Tokyo. Since I stayed in hostels all but four nights, and because of my travel over Christmas and New Year’s holidays and therefore earning a few “free” vacation days from work, this trip was more than feasible. By the way, for those skeptical about the hostel experience, I plan on blogging an honest account in the near future. I’m generally a big fan and I love saving money where I can!
My grand total for flights was $1600 and my total for 15 nights of accommodations, $233. While my one night in Paris cost $111, I was fortunate enough to crash at a friend’s hotel in Bangkok for 3 nights, for free. Can you believe I flew all the way around the world over the span of 15 days for less than $2000?! Neither could I, which is why upon my return, I immediately started looking into my next adventure.
After such a fabulous RTW winter trip, I decided South America would be a fun destination for a summer + birthday getaway. I had less time for this trip and the price was a bit more than I would’ve preferred. Flights to Bogota are inexpensive right now but I wasn’t quite as lucky during the time I booked. Once I found out I had July 3rd off for US Independence Day, I extended my trip with a weekend in Quito, Ecuador (and a 24 hour layover in Panama City, Panama in between- fun)! This certainly upped the price, but to me, time is almost always more valuable than money. This trip required me to use 7 vacation days from work and enabled me to travel for almost 11 days. On a rough estimate, I think I spent just under $1000 on travel (3 countries and 5 cities) and my notes indicate $230 for 11 nights of lodging. Note: you will generally be able to book better prices on Colombian travel than what I spent.
Keep in mind that as I booked all these trips (and almost every other expense, for that matter), I’ve charged these purchases to my American Airlines MasterCard. They have great sign up bonuses, i.e. 40k miles just for joining, plus other opportunities to accrue travel rewards. Before I knew it, I had enough miles to get me almost anywhere in the world round trip. This occurred over just two years of spending (and I was already able to fly RT for free to Puerto Rico last spring)!
What did I do with this good news? I started planning my great escape of winter 2015. For booking I used my reward miles for a free flight into Saigon, Vietnam, and home from Denpasar, Indonesia. Because I saved so much money getting there, I purchased flights to Australia and New Zealand (cheaper from those locations because of closer proximity). My total for all flights this go-around: $1600. And 32 nights of lodging? Only $488. P.s. one of those nights will be on a Vietnamese cruise!
What does my year of travel expenditures add up to once all is said and done? All flights encompassing 14 countries: $4680. Accommodations for all trips (~58 nights): $951 — Almost the exact same as my monthly rent except I paid for about 2 months’ worth of stay abroad for the same price!
Keep in mind this doesn’t include food, booze, and additional expenses while gone but the majority of expenses- travel + lodging– for two months worth of international travel in multiple countries amounted to just $5631. This may sound like a lot of money to some, but to me, it’s practically priceless for all that I saw, learned, and gained.
[Update: In the original posting I completely forgot to mention my Canada trip. My brother and I took our parents to Niagara Falls and Toronto for their 30th anniversary in October. Flights to Buffalo, NY were $120/ticket and flights home from Toronto were $188/ticket. This adds up to $308. My above total of $5631 + $308 = $5939. Still under the $6k threshold for the year… SUCCESS!]
And that, my friends, is how you travel on a budget.
