Booking Travel Inexpensively

So you want to take a trip. You’ve found the perfect destination, picked out your hotel or Airbnb and even have started planning excursions. The one thing left to do? Booking transportation. There are, luckily, there are a number of options available for keeping travel costs down. Here are just a few!

Credit Card Points
Perhaps the most rewarding of all the options, credit card companies often offer points that you can spend on travel tickets for using your cards. NerdWallet has a stellar list of credit cards that offer points on purchases that you can use to buy flights. Many have minimum spends to get to a certain reward level, so either load payments up onto the card or consider frontloading expenses by purchasing gift cards for grocery stores or Amazon that you plan to use. The Luxe Strategist has a helpful explainer on using card for all they’re worth. 

Rebate programs
Are you signed up for a rebate program like Ebates yet? You should be. In exchange for information on your purchases, you receive a percentage of cash back on purchases at participating stores, which can include airlines and travel booking sites. 

Apps
Some of our favorite apps for keeping travel costs down include Hopper, Wanderu andKayak’s flight explorer. Hopper allows you to track costs of specific flights and receive alerts when the costs go down. Wanderu, meanwhile, helps you to find the cheapest trains and buses to your destination. Finally, Kayak has a flight explorer that allows you to input your home city and desired flight spend. It then suggests travel destinations based on your budget. 

Pro Tip
Sign up for emails from MegaBus. They send alerts when they make more trips available. It is at this time that you’ll be able to snag one of their coveted $1 bus trips.