The Key to Affordable Travel: Flexibility

TripandTravelTips.com

(Trip and Travel Tips.com)  Traveling is truly life’s greatest pleasure. For those of who have been bitten by the travel bug, it’s not a matter of if we’re going: it’s a matter of how many times we’re going.

Obviously, there are limitations as to how often we can just pick up and leave. After all, we only get so many vacation days each year from work. Additionally, travel can be rather expensive. But at least we can have some control over the expense of travel. And the more we save on each trip, the more trips we can take.

The key to keeping the costs of travel down and being able to travel more is flexibility. This one word can mean the difference between taking one trip a year or multiple trips.

At the website Tripandtraveltips.com we constantly remind our readers about the four types of flexibility: flexibility with schedule, flexibility with destinations, flexibility with dates, and flexibility with airports. We call them the “Flex 4.”

Flexibility with schedule refers to your schedule. It means socking away five or ten vacation days or personal days to use on short notice when a last-minute deal strikes. Airlines sometimes surprise customers with a 48-hour sale. If you can get a week off on short notice and have the days saved in the bank, you can take advantage of these deals that are sometimes incredible.

Flexibility with destinations refers to being open to trips you may have not otherwise considered. If you keep your mind open to all destinations (within reason) you’ll find yourself with a lot more opportunities. If you’d like to set up an equator week for some fun in the sun, think the entire Caribbean instead of just Aruba or the Bahamas. Of course there are times where you are intent on visiting a specific destination, but for opportunity trips, keep your options open.

Flexibility with dates is also incredibly important.

You never want to lock yourself into a Saturday-to-Saturday vacation. They are in the highest demand and often get top dollar.

Think 2 or 3 days flexibility on both ends. When using one of the vacation search engines, try a Tuesday to Tuesday, Monday to Sunday or something similar. (Many of these sites allow you to check a box, and the site will automatically run different date scenarios) Sometimes airfare drops by hundreds of dollars, especially when planning a trip for a family. Tuesday to Tuesday may not be your first choice, but if it means being able to take one or two more trips, isn’t it worth it.

Finally, there is flexibility with airports.

A flight to a certain Caribbean island may be a lot cheaper if taken from Miami as opposed to Fort Lauderdale. It’s the same with destination airports.  Landing in Newark may be cheaper than landing in JFK.   When searching for flights make sure to check the surrounding airports box.

The goal for the budget conscious traveler is to squeeze as many trips in as possible each year. If you follow our Flex 4 strategy, you should be able to achieve that goal.

Good traveling from TripandTravelTips.com!