If you’re planning a budget-friendly vacation — read these tips!
With summer right around the corner, many families may be thinking about going on a vacation. While vacations are an excellent way to create lasting memories and bond with your family, it often comes with a hefty price tag.
Keeping a vacation on a budget can be stressful, but don’t fret — there are actually many ways to save! The next time you’re booking a vacation, make sure to keep these tips in mind.
1. kayak.com
With the extensive number of online booking websites (Expedia, Hotels.com… just to name a couple), it can be frustrating to click into every single one and compare prices. Here’s where kayak.com comes in — it searches hundreds of other travel sites for you, so you can view all of the best options at once.
2. Clear your cache
Many airlines and travel websites will monitor how many times you’ve visited their websites using cookies. Cookies are small pieces of data sent from a website and stored onto your computer by your web browser. Based on your cookie, these travel websites will then provide you with different offers and deals.
To make sure you’re always getting the best prices, remember to clear your web browser’s cookies and cache. This will make it appear that you’re visiting these sites for the first time, and you’ll likely see much better prices!
3. Search early (and frequently)
Usually, the price of flights varies depending on how well tickets are selling. The best way to get the best deal is to search early, and search often. As a general rule of thumb, the best time to buy a ticket (on average) is approximately 3.5 months prior to your trip. The worst time is within two weeks of the trip. That being said, the market is volatile and the price of individual trips can change drastically. This brings us to our next tip…
4. Google Flights is your friend!
Google Flights “helps you compare and track airfares on hundreds of airlines to help you find the best flight deals”. Simply enter the destination you’d like to travel to, and let Google Flights do all the work.
5. Look for package deals
You can often find better deals when you book a package (as opposed to booking your flights and hotel seperately). If you’re looking for the cheapest package possible, keep in mind that you will need to be completely open when it comes to the dates and destination.
Vacation packages offered by websites like Groupon and Expedia are usually a good way to start.
