What kind of traveller are you and what trips are you planning this year?
I love mapping out the main destinations for the year and make it a goal to travel to certain countries, and of course love an ad hoc trip because yes... life is short. I wanted to sharing some tips and trick on how to maximize your travels in terms of budget and time (this is a huge factor with limited vacation time in North America!).
The biggest factor of time is sitting down at the beginning of the year and mapping out the holidays you have available and referencing the Stat Holidays that you can combine. Plan your trips as extended long weekends, where you may only have to take 1 day off to take a city trip. Even going away for just 3 days is doable (and a really nice change of scenery to refresh your mind). I would then take another 5 day & 5 days to end up with at least two 8 day trips for your main getaways. The holidays is a great time to travel as a lot of companies give extra days off/close for a few days and wouldn't want to spend New Years in a new place!
Let's Talk Points! There are two kinds of people, the points obsessed ones and the one who could care less. I believe that would can get a great deal out of strategically earn your points and then spend them so your trips do not become such a crazy expense! It all starts with finding the right credit card, and familiarizing yourself with the strategies on earning the most points possible (this could be for example, booking on the App vs the desktop and earning extra points that way!).
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Another way is literally putting all your charges on your credit card, yes even your coffee runs because each $ spent, will earn you points! I usually save my points to use for the hotel stays for our trips - and like I said before this way travel does not become an overwhelming expense. There are so many more ways to collect points, like booking with the same Airline and getting free upgrades, meals or baggage! Anything helps, and a little effort goes a long way!
Stay informed, and I say that with super high importance because you can truly save so much money! It is a great idea to sign up for newletters like NextDeparture.com or YYZDeals.com (for Toronto, but I am sure that there are many others) to get information on amazing flight deals. These are crazy deals like $300 from Toronto to Barcelona, or $99 from Toronto to Iceland etc. I personally use both and have booked unreal deals like $600 flights to Asia for our upcoming trip in March.
And now the budget-- there are many ways on budgeting and finding good deals on flights, and trust me I do all of these! Firstly, decide on how much money you are comfortable saving each month for travel (without even thinking about the destinations you want to visit), and then put together an approximate budget of how much it would cost to actually visit the places on your list. If there is a huge difference, either see if you points can compensate for the missing amount, or if you can find extra deals on flights (like booking on a long weekend airlines sometimes offer special deals!). If you cannot make up the difference then adjust your plans and move something to the next year and start saving!
A website that compares flight fares is also a great way to find the best option for you, and I love using Skyscanner.ca. The great thing about this website is that if you have an open weekend or timeframe but do not know where to go, you can leave the destination blank and skyscanner will show you results and options.Depending on your budget you can now decide where to go!
Happy travelling!
