Tag: Travel Tips

The Day Pass Travel Hack

So you’ve contacted me for a cheap vacation to wherever right? You want to save as much money on getting there and sleeping there right? You realize you may not be able to afford the 5-star hotel or resort on your budget, but you still feel like you SHOULD experience the finer things in life right?

Well I’m here to put you on for a travel hack I’ve been using since forever.

The Day Pass Travel Hack.

Last week on my Twitter page I had happened to mention I was planning for my upcoming trip to Antalya, Turkey. I’m there for nine days and tried to find a nice cheap place to stay for that duration, even though this specific city has a plethora of beautiful all-inclusive beachfront hotels/resorts as options. I didn’t go that route because 1) I’m not paying that much – 2) The purpose of me being there is to get my teeth done – 3) What’s the point of an all-inclusive when there might be days I may not be able to chew? Etc etc. But only because I can’t afford to be in one of those/don’t want to be in one for whole time, doesn’t mean I don’t want to hang out there for ONE of my days. So I began sending e-mails to some of the nicest places I could see to inquire if they offered day pass options. (Hopefully they respond and say yes.)

This is how a whole thread on the usage of day passes came about. I realized with the interactions I got that not everyone has necessarily tapped into this simple travel hack. So here we are. Let me put mans on.

First of all, there are plenty of apps and sites nowadays for day pass options. I personally have never used one because I like dealing with the place directly via e-mail or in person, but just to name some:

daypassapp

resortpass

resortforaday

daycationapp

So if you don’t want to take the leap and contact places directly, I guess try one of those. Again, I personally haven’t tried any of them myself so I have no feedback to give. Just here to provide information and options.

I will give you four examples of how this has worked out VERY WELL for my personal travel experiences and for the awesome fancy pants pictures you’ve seen on the blog.

Santiago de Cuba:

I’ve been going to this city since about 2012. It is my favourite place in all of Cuba, but it lacks something the rest of Cuba has an abundance of. Beach. There are some beaches nearby, but they aren’t the picturesque white sand images you usually see in Cuba and they’re kind of far via taxi. So how do you cool off in a busy city with no beach? Well your only option is either standing naked in front of your air conditioner or going to a pool. (I don’t judge either way, FYI)

For the three times I went to Santiago de Cuba, I would always stay in the same casa particular. This was basically a guest house a wonderful couple would rent out to me for $25 a night which had a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and they would also make me a fresh breakfast every morning. Unbeatable price. Down the street from where I’d stay was the Melia Santiago de Cuba. This hotel is impossible to miss with its tall frame and red paint. The cost of staying there for two nights would run you about $200. So to show you the math of that, $25 x 7 = $175.00…. what I’d pay for a week in my casa particular would be less than what the cost of two nights at the Melia were.

Now, the one thing the Melia had that was of use to me was a very nice pool to cool off in. There was a bar there, kitchen, numerous lounge chairs and a really attentive staff. For $10 CUC ($13.47 Canadian today) you would pick up a day pass at the front desk to be by that pool THE WHOLE DAY, aaaand it would include a whole pizza and two drinks!! Seriously. Is that not an amazing deal or what?

I capitalized on that deal at least 3/7 days I’d be in Santiago. I hope they still have it.

Views from the Melia pool…..
Views from the Melia pool…..

Bali:

When I went to Bali back in 2016 I tried to do it on a pretty small-mediumish budget. My hotel for a whole week had come to about $215 and I loved being there because it was located in the center of Kuta where all the action was. Unfortunately, if you have ever seen the beach in Kuta it was somewhat lackluster and didn’t look as inviting to go swim at. Totally awesome place to hang out by and people watch, yes. Definitely do that if you are ever in Kuta, but when you’re in Bali you want some nice beach time as well you know?

The person at the front desk of the hotel I was staying in had mentioned he previously worked at this hotel/resort that had a really nice beach and that they offered day passes. I believe it use to be named something completely different, but when I was there this hotel was called The Hilton Bali, in Nusa Dua. The cost of staying there for two nights will cost you about $400. So again, the math, $215 for seven days at hotel I was staying at vs $1400 for a week at the Hilton. I refuse to spend that much money on an island that is as thrifty as Bali. But I did want that beach life.

I took a taxi down to Nusa Dua and spoke to the front desk. If my memory serves me right, the day pass was about $20 USD. ($26.94 Canadian today) Although their day pass didn’t include the food and drinks like the spot in Cuba did, it was worth the peace and quiet. The resort is beautiful, the staff is really nice and the beach was secluded. My favourite kind of beach. There was at least four different sized pools, numerous lounge chairs by the beach and you could help yourself to as many towels as you needed. Along with that, you could order food to your lounge chair!! So I had a burger and french fries served to me on the beach and just paid with cash.

The day pass was totally worth the chill day on a beautiful beach.

The Maldives:

This is where the SUPER DUPER pricey stuff usually is. We all think of getting to the Maldives and getting one of those sexy overwater villas we see on fantasy IG travel pages.

I went to the Maldives in December of 2017 with my best friend Sherry. We opted to stay on a ‘local’ island called Maafushi because we wanted to get a full experience of being around people from the Maldives just as much as relishing in the incredible beaches and views. Not to mention, have you seen the goddamn prices for those villas and for staying on the private islands? To hell with that. I don’t need liquor that much. The cost of our beautiful (beachfront) hotel on Maafushi was $495 per person (so $990 total) for six nights. Definitely a steal.

Naturally though, we did want to at least visit one of the super fancy resorts on a private island so we could fulfill the Maldives dream, if only for a day.

Our hotel (and many, if not most hotels on the local islands) offered various excursion packages/day passes to these private islands. After Sherry and I discussed it, we decided to go with The Olhuveli Beach & Spa resort. If you guys had seen this place? Oh my goodness.

It took about 30 minutes to get from Maafushi to Olhuveli via our hotels speed boat and from seeing the place as we arrived to exploring the island – complete paradise. Perfect white sand, places to drink, a beautiful infinity pool and just an overall idyllic setting.

Again, time for the math. For 6-nights at THIS place the cost for the cheapest room was $3004 total vs the $990 that Sherry and I had paid. This is for the CHEAPEST room, if you wanted like a fancy room or maybe the all-inclusive option it would be north of $5000.

Sherry and I each paid $125USD ($168.35 Canadian today) which included the roundtrip boat transfer and getting to be on this amazing island for about 7hrs.

Well worth the money to indulge for a day in a place that looks so perfect. I should also note, this day trip reaffirmed that we made the right decision to NOT stay for a week on a private island because it was all couples and families. Yawn.

St. Moritz:

If you’re ever in the mood for feeling broke – go to St. Moritz in Switzerland.

In December of 2018 I had made it to one of the places I had dreamed about for a long time. I took a day trip from Zurich (6hrs roundtrip) to get to St. Moritz. This is the place you think about when you’re young and wonder if you’ll ever be wealthy enough to finally see in person. I definitely was NOT wealthy enough to fully immerse myself to the depths that others may, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t take advantage of experiencing some part of it.

Prior to traveling to Switzerland I did my research on things to do in St. Moritz and this one spa kept coming up. The name of the hotel it is located in is Badrutt’s Palace and the name of the spa is Palace Wellness.

I will give you a second to go peruse the website to see the luxury of this place.

Okay, you good? Yeaah, you see what I mean right? So fancy pants.

The hotel I was staying in for the four nights I was in Zurich I believe came to about $300 total, which is a STEAL for Switzerland’s insane pricing and exchange rate compared to the Canadian dollar. So now, the math for this? ONE night in the cheapest room at Badrutt’s is $467 CHF which is $619.89 in Canadian. So very VERY simple math was that four nights in my hotel cost me 1/2 of ONE day at the hotel in St. Moritz. Remember what I said about being in the mood for feeling broke?

I got very lucky though. While doing my earlier research I found out the spa inside Badrutt’s offered day passes for $100 CHF ($132.74 Canadian today). I e-mailed the spa directly and asked if there was availability for the day I intended on coming and they got back to me the next day saying that they didn’t have many spa bookings so I would be more than welcome to use the day pass. YAY.

The pictures don’t even do the spa any justice. I realize they are pretty, but absolutely nothing can compare to exiting out of a pool indoors to go directly into an outdoor hot tub where you’re surrounded by the snow-covered Swiss Alps. Nothing. You get to use the pool the whole day, the hot tub, mingle with the actual super wealthy who are staying at the hotel and you can pay with your card and have food brought to the lounger you’re relaxing at with the touch of a button.

Spend the time to come here and get this day pass if you’re ever in Zurich or in any other part of Switzerland. You will not regret spending the $132.74 for a memory like this.

So there it is. Don’t pay lavish prices to stay somewhere that you could totally just go visit for a day at like 1/5th of the price of the stay. Before you go on any vacation, look up somewhere that might look like a fairy tale or dream you’ve once had and go make it a reality for a couple of hours or a day.

Although we may not be wealthy yet, doesn’t mean we can’t also enjoy the finer things sometimes. I’m super happy when I can find a cheap (safe + clean + well located) place to sleep for the duration of my trip. This leaves more money to eat all the yummy local food and get to experience places like I mentioned above. Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford actually staying at places like this, but let’s be serious, I’d probably still want a cheap spot to stay and just go visit 2-3 of these places for a day.

Do your research. Reach out to resorts/spas/hotels and find out if they offer day passes to whatever it is you’d like to see. Even super popular family places like Atlantis in the Bahamas and/or the naughty Hedonism in Jamaica offer day passes. Go live lavish on a budget, even if it’s for a day!

  • Mirna

Things To Do In Bali

I realize there are probably a MILLION pieces online for what folks think you should do while you’re in Bali. Look, I’m about to be 1,000,001 OK?

Because I plan SO MANY Bali itineraries I get asked frequently what I would suggest people do while visiting Bali, so instead of me having to send screenshots and links every single time, putting it in a blog post made the most sense. So here goes nothing, I hope I manage to steer you in the correct/fun direction. Everything listed below is something I actually did during my trip, so it isn’t hearsay or second-hand knowledge. I did this shit, and would suggest you do some of it too.

(Note: I tried to include as many descriptions and links to stuff as I could! So click around.)

Tanah Lot at Sunset

If you do absolutely nothing else, make sure you catch the sunset views at Tanah Lot. There will be at least another thousand people there with you so don’t expect much romanticism or mystique – but you will love it nonetheless. This temple looks unreal in person! Sometimes the water comes up really high and you can’t walk too close to it, but other times I saw people trying to walk/swim as close to it as they could for the perfect picture.

Spend the Day at Potato Head

This is the activity I did for my 30th birthday back in 2016. I literally spent the ENTIRE day here. What you do is show up at 9am and pick the cabana you want on their map. Once you do that you are given a little wooden ticket and have to come back at 10am when they open to enter your cabana. There are also choices for lounging chairs by the pool etc. I opted for the cabana because obviously I wanted to go all out for my birthday.

The minimum spend on the cabana was $1,000,000 Rupiah which converted to $100.00 Canadian. So to have the cabana for the whole day, I had to eat/drink $100 worth alone? Very easy. Very very easy. Embarrassingly easy. The cabana is awesome and you should definitely splurge on it. You have your own shade, towels, pillows and there’s a man with an AK-47 next to it guarding your stuff while you go swim. So quaint.

I really had an awesome time spending the whole day at Potato Head because you get to meet so many people from everywhere in the world that are looking to party, as well as getting enough relaxation by the pool and beach while profusely drunk and full of delicious food. Make sure if you can’t go early to get the cabana, that you still make it later in the day to at least get a drink and watch the sunset. Awesome day spent.

Visit the Rice Fields in Ubud

I truly hope the day YOU do this it isn’t 42 degrees outside like it was for me. The rice fields in Ubud are a must-do when in Bali because your eyes will thank you and you could potentially work off some of the food and liquor you’ve ingested while doing this activity.

The cost of a driver for an entire day in Bali is usually between $35-$40 and you should have the person get you to these rice fields at some point during this day. Make sure you wear some very comfortable running shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty because if you intend on going up and down on these hills, the mud and lack of traction are a bitch. The day I was visiting the rice fields was blistering hot outside so also make sure to wear a hat and a lot of sunscreen since there is no where to shelter yourself from the sun.

If Ubud is too much out of your way (depending on where you choose to stay in Bali) this website has an awesome list of other places in Bali to see the rice fields!

Spa. Spa. Spa.

My biggest regret from being in Bali was not going to the spa EVERY SINGLE DAY. The cost of going to a spa in Toronto for one hour won’t be under $100.00 at the very minimum. But in Bali? I spent almost 2 1/2 hours there for $35.00. THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS. I got a 45 minute neck/scalp massage, a 30 minute facial and a 60 minute full body massage. The spa I went to was in central Kuta and the name of it was Smart Day Spa. Recently, two of my fellow travelers took my advice and went there while in Bali also and enjoyed it just as much as I did. Not only is the service cheap, the spa is really calming and nice to be in. Don’t expect that you’re walking into some musty place with sketchy people! Make sure you hit the spa in Bali.

Take a Day Trip to Neighbouring Nusa Lembongan

One of the things people won’t tell you about Bali is that their waters are no frigging joke. To swim there you’d better be a hell of a swimmer or really into surfing. I consider myself a pretty good swimmer and even with that, when the undercurrent on the Balinese beaches hits you?? Yep, suddenly you’re 20 meters out into the sea. It happens so quickly and for someone who is more accustomed to the tranquil waters of the Caribbean, there is no wading in the water to chill. You better swim for your life! (kidding, little over exaggerated)

This is where I would really recommend a day trip to Nusa Lembongan. It is a really small island but the beaches are very clean and tranquil. You can take a walk around town where they sell beautiful shawls made on the island by hand or you can just hang out at the beach. This island was definitely the more chill version of Bali, it was like Tulum where all you saw was hipsters and surfer dudes/ladies wandering around. When I went to Lembongan there was an excursion that had a party in the middle of the water and a canoe that would bring you over to the island as well and I think it maybe cost $125.00 for all of it.

Get a Day-Pass Somewhere Private: The Hilton

I love day passes to places. It’s like you get the experience of that location, without having to pay the full price of staying there as a guest overnight. This is how I made my way to The Hilton Bali.

There are probably dozens of high-end hotels/resorts you can get day passes to in Bali but I happened to stumble onto The Hilton because the owner of the villa I was staying in told me he used to work there and that it was worth the $20.00 charge. Sure. Twenty bucks will do.

This ended up being a really good place to relax all day because majority of the people at the beach were 60+ year old foreigners without kids that just wanted to tan. You pay the fee for the day pass and get to use their pools, get your lounge chair on the beach and access to their change rooms with towels etc. I especially loved that even though I wasn’t a guest of the hotel, I could order food to my lounge chair on the beach and just pay with my debit card for it. (or cash)

Try the Coffee and Tea

I do not drink coffee nor do I drink tea. Figured I’d get that out of the way before beginning this section. The only time I drink tea is when I’m horribly sick and coffee? The smell of it alone makes me a little nauseated. HOWEVER, whether you like or do not like them – you have to try and make it to these coffee/tea plantations where the stuff is made super fresh.

Fun fact – the most expensive coffee in the world is actually Kopi Luwak Coffee which is big business in Bali. Basically, this animal called a civet (super cute, you get to see them on the plantations) eats coffee beans and then poops them out to become, yep, the world’s most expensive coffee. Now I know you’re wondering wtf is wrong with me, but trust me, you have to try it. I tasted EVERY tea and coffee on the menu you see in the picture below (yes, they have you try a sip of all of them) and it was the first time in my life there was a coffee I enjoyed the taste of. I even bought a whole bag of it, Coconut Coffee.

Splurge at Kisik or Rock Bar: Ayana Resort

If you are about spoiling yourself, this part is for you. The food in Bali is very cheap so there is really no need for you to go to this place, but naturally, I am extra AF so I had to do it.

I took myself out on a $200 date in Bali. Now, that is the equivalent to $2,000,000 in Rupiah. Most of my meals were under $8.00 until this point, just for comparison. Sometimes you have to spoil yourself and do fancy things right?

While researching my trip to Bali I had read about this place called the Ayana Resort. I believe the cheapest room there per night is $300.00, meanwhile MY hotel cost $300.00 for a whole week. Crazy right? But there were two awesome bars/restaurants on the grounds of this resort calling out to me to visit.

One is called Rock Bar and from my understanding it is seating for only hotel guests. I had my eyes on their other restaurant called Kisik. I made a reservation a month ahead for seating at this restaurant because they fill up very fast because of their incredible views, and incredible food.

I ate a seafood skewer, I drank and also bought a whole lobster to myself. In the picture below you will see they even had my name on the table because I told them it was my birthday week so I felt extra special. Fresh seafood and an awesome view at sunset, there truly was nothing more perfect. I did have a small heart attack when my bill came but it was also expected, kind of.

Make sure if you choose to go to Kisik to make a reservation for around sunset, get there early so you can wander around the Ayana resort and definitely walk over to Rock Bar to take pictures as soon as you finish your dinner. Splurge a little on yourself, you already made it all the way to Bali right?


Trust me, Bali has so many activities and incredible things to do that you will never ever be bored there. This list of mine didn’t even touch the surface of all the beautiful places you could go see in Bali that I didn’t even have time to make it to. (I.E: Broken Beach in Nusa Penida, Mount Batur, Mount Agung and of course the Uluwatu Temple) There’s just so many things you can fit into your itinerary while there because one of the best parts of being in Bali is – RELAXATION.

I hope those of you reading this make it to Bali one day and get to do some of the aforementioned activities. If you have been to Bali before and think there are other MUST DO activities or sights for Bali newbies to try, please make sure to leave it in the comments!

  • Mirna

5 Things to Keep Calm and Bring in Your Carry-On

After this last trip to Barbados, I realized I got really annoyed when the people sitting around me on the airplane were missing a crucial carry-on item.

Have you people NOT flown before?

How could you NOT have that on you?

Urgh, rookies.

Then I calmed my judgy self down and thought about that yes, indeed this might have been some folks first flight. They just don’t know any better. Fine.

This post is for the people who don’t know any better. Those who aren’t seasoned travelers. I want to make your next (or first?) flight easier to get through so you have no surprises and look like you know what you’re doing. I’m going to put you on the five things you need to have in your carry-on.
 

  1. Food: So you’re gearing up for your 5 hour or 15 hour flight and you see in the booking that there will be food served on the airplane. If you are like myself, you have read reviews about what kind of meal this airline will be serving and the quality of it. Unless you are flying in business or first class, likely, it is some less than desirable meal. I have had some delicious meals in economy however, it is like a 2/10 occurrence. Make sure to bring snacks onto whatever flight you are taking. I know different airports have varieties of sanctions about which food you can actually bring through customs, doesn’t matter. BRING. FOOD. ON. THE. PLANE. When I flew to Shanghai in December I was in the air for a little over 14 hours straight. There was three meals to be served and drinks in between. I had taken the time to research the food that China Eastern typically serves in economy, and I knew right away to make sure to purchase food at the departures terminal to have with me. It saved me on my flight. It really did. The food was mostly inedible for my tastes and imagine not eating much for 14 hours? No way. I stocked up at the departures gate on sandwiches, chips, nuts and brought on two 1.5 liter bottles of water. Even if you have a shorter flight that may be only 4-5 hours, bring something to munch on. I know airport prices for food are exorbitant but I rather you spend some extra money and have a happy belly on a flight than end up landing miserable and starving.  
  2. Pen: This item was the sole reason behind me writing this blog post. This is the crucial carry-on item aforementioned. HOW THE HELL DO YOU TRAVEL WITH NO PEN TO FILL OUT THE CUSTOMS FORMS???? I get so annoyed at this, that it triggered a blog post and the usage of caps lock. Look what you made me do. For the love of god people, please carry a pen or two on you when you fly. I will tell you why this is important. Not only will it save you from being the head-ass who has to ask strangers to borrow their pens because you’re unprepared, it will also save you time getting through customs. I don’t want any of you being those poor people who didn’t have a pen, didn’t have anyone to borrow it from and now you’re standing at that little table scurrying to fill the forms with that pen on a rope while everyone else is already in line to go through customs. This will save you time! I promise. Bring a pen.  
  3. Headphones: I thought all of us traveled with these anyways, until I flew from St. Lucia to Atlanta. The flight crew announced over the speakers that they had run out of their own headphones to distribute to the passengers and I heard a big sigh in the plane. You people don’t travel with headphones? Not even the little shitty dollar store ones? Really? Do not expect these airlines to have headphones to give you every time you fly OR be prepared for some airlines to charge you to purchase them. Always have a pair of headphones on yourself for flights because listening to people breathe or children crying will drive you absolutely mad. Also, you might miss out on watching movies that came out in 1999 on the TV in front of you – I want better for you.
  4. Portable Charger: Most of the flights I have taken recently have the charging ports for your cellphones for each seat, however, some still do not. If you have been paying attention to recent news, a flight earlier this month in Ottawa stayed on the tarmac for six hours. For those six hours, the passengers were not allowed to leave the plane. They just sat there waiting to disembark the entire time. Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I had a phone that was dead and I couldn’t cuss the airline on Twitter throughout those six hours – I probably would have been escorted off the plane forcibly by border guards. Furthermore, imagine you have family or friends waiting for you but you can’t let them know the situation because your phone is dead. Or (heaven forbid) in case of an emergency, you want to have that phone charged. I bet Gilligan would have turned his roaming on and risked the data charges to be found on that island after being shipwrecked.      
  5. Warm Top: If you have ever stepped a foot onto an airplane, this tip is pretty straightforward. If you have not, you need to do this. It doesn’t matter if you are flying to a place that has weather of -40 or +40, the airplane is going to be an icebox. I do not get cold easily, I am usually a warmer body, but on airplanes? Forever cold. Anytime you get ready to fly somewhere, bring a light sweater to have on for the duration of the flight. I know some of my friends even bring small blankets and yes, some airlines will provide you with blankets as well. I’m paranoid and the blankets that others have used before creep me out, so I recommend just bringing your own sweater to keep you from freezing.

Special Mention to: a) Hand Sanitizer + b) Entire Outfits.

a) I recommend keeping a small hand sanitizer on you at all times when you fly because airplanes and airports are cesspools of sickness just waiting to attack your frail body during/after all that travel.  

b) If you have luggage to check-in, make sure you keep one or two whole outfits in your carry-on when you are traveling to your destination. Many of us have had the unfortunate circumstance of an airline losing our luggage and suddenly you have nothing to wear for 24-48 hours until the airline gets your entire wardrobe back to you. You could also opt to JUST fly with a carry-on so you don’t worry about things being lost, click HERE to read about how I managed to do that for a week in Barbados. 

I hope this post helps some of you embarking on your first flights one day. The rest of us had to experience some of this bullshit so that you may never have to. 

– Mirna 

Whose Mans?; My Cheap Travel Tips

So you’ve booked your trip, you feel good about it and then suddenly – you have a conversation with the person next to you on the plane about how they paid less (much less) for their flight. SHITTY. Or, as it has happened recently, you paid for your flight and went onto my Twitter page as I scolded folks for paying too much without adequate research. Yep, you feel shitty again.

‘You should have just asked me to help.’ 

I must say this line at least 10 times a week at this point on my Twitter feed. I do this for free, I’m always trying to help out and offering to do so – if you are so sure of the awesomeness of your flight price, does it really hurt to double check?

There isn’t too many ‘travel tips’ I can really offer up that most of you don’t already know via the other thousands of travel blogs. However, I would still like to offer up a few just in case you missed some. Also, I would like to offer a special travel tip that keeps happening personally to me as I went to book my flights for my 2017 travel. 

My first tip is – DO NOT WAIT TO BOOK. The days of that ‘last minute’ stuff are long gone guys. Let it go. The earlier you book the better the price will be. In a lot of cases I don’t mean necessarily book a whole year ahead, but definitely in that 6-9 month range is always great for flights. Yes, there is sometimes gems for last minute flight deals, but if you actually have a place in mind and aren’t flying by the seat of your pants? Book it as soon as you have the funds. Recently one of my followers (who shall remain nameless) asked me to help him find a flight for a carnival in the Caribbean. At the time I found him an incredible $427.00 direct round trip flight from Toronto for the exact dates he needed. It was actually an immaculate find given that carnival flights tend to be very expensive.

Did he book it though? No. He did not. He came back to me about six weeks later and asked me to look again. $800+ with layovers now for the same damn flight. Shame. He will no longer be going to that carnival this year. 

My second tip is to use Booking.com! This website has saved me money and headaches on so many occasions I cannot even begin to name them all. Not only does the site have really good prices for hotels everywhere you want to go, many of them have a ‘no prepayment and free cancellation‘ option. Therefore at the time of booking, you owe no money to secure your stay at the hotel and if you choose to cancel before the date they outline for you, this will also cost you nothing. To use a perfect example, when I was planning my trip to Chicago back in April for my boyfriends 30th birthday, I must have picked four different hotels. I would find one I like, book it and then a week later see a nicer one that may have had 40% off so I would cancel the first one and book this new one. No money lost. No penalties. No fuss. This is such a wonderful option for people who have ‘maybe’ trips coming up as well. Those who aren’t sure if the trip will go through but you see a great price for a hotel during the time you’d like to be there. BOOK IT! If it has those two options, what do you have to lose? Not all of the hotels on the site have that option, but it is nice that many have it available! 

As someone who must have about 9 travel-related apps on their phone, the one I use the most is Skyscanner. I do prefer the online interface for it, but the app also does this job just fine when looking for cheap flights. The reason I think this is a gem to constantly check for flight options is solely because of that ‘whole month‘ option they have. If you are thinking of going to Rio next year but aren’t settled on a date – go to the Skyscanner page, put in your departure airport, put in Rio airport as your destination and then under the dates put in ‘whole month + cheapest month’ and let it do its magic. It will give you a breakdown of the cheapest departure and arrival dates for the year and you can also move it around to see how it compares to other dates during the year. I have saved large amounts of money flying just because I used this feature to find out flying two days before I wanted to would cost me $400 less. Also, if you are just a wanderluster like myself, sometimes you just want to see your options and let your imaginations soar for that long weekend you have coming up. You can do that on there too! Put in your departure airport and put your destination as ‘everywhere’ and click the dates you have time off. The site will give you a list of all the places flying from your location and what price they are. The possibilities are endless. 

I would say packing light is another one of my travel tips because it will make it cheaper and a less fussy trip for you – but I already wrote a whole blog post about that. 

My final travel tip is the one I said I have been looking at since December. I recently also helped four different people use this information to find cheaper flights for their respective travel destinations. This one will save some of you a lot of money.

It isn’t a secret that flying in and out of Toronto is abhorrently expensive. Many of us have looked at the option of flying from Buffalo to get to many American-based destinations because 9/10 times this is a much cheaper alternative. But what do you do when it isn’t an American-based destination and flying out of Pearson to said location will cost you two months rent? AH HA! This is what I’m here to put you on. (I even have examples!)  

Do not ever accept the prices given to you only going from Toronto for flights. If you aren’t particular and like to save money flying, you should always look at the alternatives to Toronto. Furthermore, this does not only apply to Toronto. This can be used for other trips as well. I learned this personally twice this year, and just yesterday I proved this point with one of my followers. Here are the examples. 

**(all examples will be from Skyscanner since I am a member of Skyscanner Elite and it is the site I know best for use)**

Example 1) This year I am going to Barbados for Cropover. I made the mistake of taking too long to book my flight (clearly didn’t follow my own instructions) and was only able to book my flight TO Barbados.  The flights returning from Barbados were looking in the range of $1000-$1300 just to fly direct from Barbados to Toronto on August 9th. ONE WAY = Cost of my roundtrip to Bali last year? Absolutely not. 

So I began looking at alternatives one day and I found something awesome. 

Here is the cost of the ONE WAY direct flight home from Barbados on Aug 9th. Cheapest amount is $1,318

Here is the cost of the ONE WAY (with layover) flight from Barbados back to Toronto on Aug 9th. Cheapest amount is $681

Look at the difference in price. That is quite the sizable difference in price. 

I realize this requires a layover, but this means I also get to spend the whole day in St. Lucia while saving $637.00! All of this is just because I checked out how much it would be to fly Barbados to another small island and from there back to Toronto. Well worth it for me. Basically saved the cost of my costume for carnival.

Example 2) I am going to the Maldives this December with one of my best friends and the second I saw the flight prices going from Toronto to there I wanted to cry.  From December 19th to December 31st the price of the flight has been hovering around the $2,400 mark per person. I knew Maldives were expensive, but I was/am still refusing to pay this much for a flight there.

So naturally, again, I began looking at alternatives.

Here is the cost of the roundtrip from Toronto to Maldives, which includes a long layover in Frankfurt (somewhere I’ve been) and would require two stops on the way home taking 62hrs to get back to Toronto. Cheapest amount is $2,376

Now if you were to add those two up, that would give you a total of $1,788 roundtrip. Making it not only shorter travel time to get back to Toronto but also $588.00 cheaper than flying from Toronto. 

If these were small amounts like $100-$200 I would save myself the fuss and just fly from Toronto. But as you can see here, these are not small amounts being saved. These are entire/or at least half costs of hotel stays being saved in flight cost.

Example 3) One of my Twitter followers messaged me that she wanted to go to Dubai for a month. She told me the cheapest she was finding was $1600+ from Toronto to Dubai. 

Again, I went to look for alternatives to these prices just yesterday.

I realize the difference in these prices isn’t as large as the ones aforementioned, but this is still a difference of $295.00 just for flying out of Detroit. 

These three examples are tiny compared to all the combinations that I am sure exist. So wherever you live, make sure to check alternative departure places to potentially make your trip much cheaper. 

Also, just as an extra tip – never just check one generic site for your flights. There is Google Flights, Skyscanner, Kayak etc. Just the other day that SAME $681.00 one way flight I showed you above from Barbados was $2,639.41 on the Expedia page. 

Do your research.

Book early.

Don’t stick to one website to book.

Read reviews of airlines. 

Tweet me: @impatientourist or e-mail me from my contact page

I am here to help! 

Extras: If you plan on using AirBnB for the first time, click here for a free credit towards your stay OR if you choose Booking.com for the first time click here for a free credit. Also, if you plan on using Uber for the first time, click here for a free credit towards the ride.

– Mirna