Tips for cheap travel abroad

[chipbennett]

At bigger airports, you don't even go to the counter with Fast Break. Just go to the lot, pick any car in the correct area, and give an envelope to the gate attendant on your way out. Huge time saver.

Same with Avis.

I picked up a car from MSN (Madison, WI) this week. No such luxuries - but definitely got to bypass the long line.

It's especially good at IND, skipping the counter and going straight to your car. I don't know why the lines get so long in the IND rental car center.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Capital One Travel sale - Capital One Travel

Travel smarter with Capital One at every step of the journey, including booking flights, hotels and rental cars. Get more from your next journey with Capital One Travel.

capitalonetravel.com

Sale from Oct 10-17 (buy the flight/hotel during these dates, not necessarily use them during these dates)

Supposed to be up to $200 off, depending on location. Copy pasta below:

During the sale, eligible cardholders will have access to discounted flights and hotels at 40+ destinations (the details of each particular offer vary, customers should review each discount while shopping to see the relevant terms and restrictions).

See full list of destinations below:

• Abu Dhabi
• Aruba
• Asheville
• Aspen
• Atlanta
• Bahamas
• Bangkok
• Barbados
• Bermuda
• Boston
• Buenos Aires
• Cape Town
• Charleston
• Chicago
• Denmark
• Dominican Republic
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• Los Cabos
• Miami
• Nashville
• New Orleans
• Paris
• Philadelphia
• Portland
• Portugal
• Quebec
• Queensland, AUS
• Reno
• Reykjavik
• Riviera Maya (Tulum, Cancun, Chetumal, Bacalar, Mahahual)
• Rome
• Saint Martin
• Salt Lake City
• San Antonio
• San Diego
• Santa Fe
• Savannah
• Seattle
• Seoul
• Singapore
• Tokyo
• Williamsburg, VA

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Capital One Travel sale - Capital One Travel

Travel smarter with Capital One at every step of the journey, including booking flights, hotels and rental cars. Get more from your next journey with Capital One Travel.

capitalonetravel.com

Sale from Oct 10-17 (buy the flight/hotel during these dates, not necessarily use them during these dates)

Supposed to be up to $200 off, depending on location. Copy pasta below:

During the sale, eligible cardholders will have access to discounted flights and hotels at 40+ destinations (the details of each particular offer vary, customers should review each discount while shopping to see the relevant terms and restrictions).

Almost all the flight credits are used up. Several cities still have hotel credits open. Note this you can only use the credit once per city (or, rather, once per hotel and once per flight). I booked a hotel in Lisbon, got $78 off the stay, but the offer wouldn't come up again for Porto even though I hadn't used the full $100 available.

Credit is taken off immediately at checkout.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Deal of the day. I intend to do the Bataan Memorial Death March next year. I tried to do it before but COVID cancelled the race the day I flew out. My wife is going with me on the trip as well, though she won't participate in the event itself. 2 tickets in to Albuerque, El Paso, or Santa Fe all were roughly $1k depending on exact flight and date.

I ended up finding a milage saver rate to El Paso with AA miles. 12.5 k miles + $11.20 cash for me, and 14k + 11.20 for my wife. Not sure why hers was more, unless I got a bonus reduction due to status (she still had 21k miles in her account so got hers separately but has no status with AA). Most comparison sites value AA miles at 1.7-2 cents per mile, so nearly 4 cents per mile is an excellent exchange rate.

Bonus, El Paso had the cheapest rental car rates of all 3 options. Tacked on a few days at the end of the trip to try and do Guadalupe Mountain Nat'l Park if I don't die during the race...

 

[JettaKnight]

Just an FYI for fellow travelers:

I've now flown four flights on Icelandair, two have been delayed over six hours.
(but I still like flying with them)

Be advised that delays, cancellations, and other problems on flights to, from, and within the EU are governed by strict rules about compensation for such things.

I'm hoping to get ~$875 back for the last delay, and now that I finally know about this, I'm going to try to get compensation for the other flight that was two years to the day ago (that one might be a fight).

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Not abroad, but I had some 'use or lose' vacation time and took a last minute trip to Gulf Shores. I get off peak travel is off peak for a reason, and a beach vacation requiring a light jacket isn't for everyone, but it was very nice for us. Airbnb full house for less than 1/3 the summer price, restaurants were nearly empty, light traffic. Obviously too cold to get in the water, but that also meant empty beaches. Seriously empty, like I jogged 1.3 miles before meeting another human sort of empty.

No flights involved, just drove. $2.50-$2.60 gas was nice. Filled up in Gulf Shores, hit the Buc-ees near the AL/TN line, then CostCo at County Line Rd.

 

[Nazgul]

Not abroad, but I had some 'use or lose' vacation time and took a last minute trip to Gulf Shores. I get off peak travel is off peak for a reason, and a beach vacation requiring a light jacket isn't for everyone, but it was very nice for us. Airbnb full house for less than 1/3 the summer price, restaurants were nearly empty, light traffic. Obviously too cold to get in the water, but that also meant empty beaches. Seriously empty, like I jogged 1.3 miles before meeting another human sort of empty.

No flights involved, just drove. $2.50-$2.60 gas was nice. Filled up in Gulf Shores, hit the Buc-ees near the AL/TN line, then CostCo at County Line Rd.

We do this as often as possible. Love Gulf Shores especially off peak season. Ditto on the stop at Buc-eyes.

Fishing on the pier rocks.

Don

 

[JettaKnight]

Just an FYI for fellow travelers:

I've now flown four flights on Icelandair, two have been delayed over six hours.
(but I still like flying with them EDIT Because they fly 737's)

Be advised that delays, cancellations, and other problems on flights to, from, and within the EU are governed by strict rules about compensation for such things.

I'm hoping to get ~$875 back for the last delay, and now that I finally know about this, I'm going to try to get compensation for the other flight that was two years to the day ago (that one might be a fight).

This week I got $1315 in a cash compensation.

I paid ~$1200 in points for the flight.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Europe's ETIAS got pushed back again, Americans still don't need any sort of visa or pre-approval to enter Schengen Zone countries. It was supposed to start January of this year for applications and take effect in March or so. Well, that was the last deadline that missed, it's supposed to have been a thing since 2016, but like our Real ID thing it keeps getting pushed back:

ETIAS - Travel Entry Authorization for Visa-Exempt Nationals

Discover how the upcoming ETIAS Travel Entry Authorization will affect your travels in Europe and find out about the latest requirements for travellers exempt from visas.

www.schengenvisainfo.com

 

[JettaKnight]

Europe's ETIAS got pushed back again, Americans still don't need any sort of visa or pre-approval to enter Schengen Zone countries. It was supposed to start January of this year for applications and take effect in March or so. Well, that was the last deadline that missed, it's supposed to have been a thing since 2016, but like our Real ID thing it keeps getting pushed back:

ETIAS - Travel Entry Authorization for Visa-Exempt Nationals

Discover how the upcoming ETIAS Travel Entry Authorization will affect your travels in Europe and find out about the latest requirements for travellers exempt from visas.

www.schengenvisainfo.com

So, it's still business as usual?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

So, it's still business as usual?

Yup. At least for another year.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Status chasing season begins in 3 days for AA fliers. Loyalty points reset and begin accruing from zero again on Mar 1st.

 

[Libertarian01]

One thing I learned on my trip to Europe was to make certain your flight left before March 31st. That was the beginning of the tourist season. It didn't matter how long you stayed or when the return flight was, just to depart on March 31st or or before.

Regards,

Doug

 

[JettaKnight]

One thing I learned on my trip to Europe was to make certain your flight left before March 31st. That was the beginning of the tourist season. It didn't matter how long you stayed or when the return flight was, just to depart on March 31st or or before.

Regards,

Doug

Where you headed?


We're going after tourist season - in October.

 

[Libertarian01]

Where you headed?


We're going after tourist season - in October.

Nowhere right now. I'm broke...

But when I did this it was 40 days across Europe. My flight was open jaw (for those who don't know that's flying into one (1) city and home from another.)

I flew from Chicago to London (nonstop) and from Brussels to Chicago (nonstop.) This was about a year post 9/11. I departed March 31st (last day before the tourist season) and returned May 11th. My total round trip flight was $340.60.

I stayed in youth hostels, pensions, and a few hotels including a four (4) star hotel in France. First lesson learned in France. I was going to visit Mont St Michel and didn't pay attention to the fact that I was visiting on EASTER Sunday!!! Yes, dump yourself in the vicinity of a 1,300 year old Catholic holy site. Yep, stuck with the most expensive lodging available. It was kindof nice to get out of the shower and have my towel warmed on a towel heater.

Second big lesson was visiting Amsterdam and the only place I could find was a youth hostel in the middle of the red light district. Nine (9) places before that were no vacancy (complete in French.) That was the weekend of the Queen's birthday. Learned that next time always pay attention to local holidays. This was the only place I cried. Toured Anne Frank's house. Very solemn.

I did learn to research and travel mostly on my own. Paid for a few package tours. The really great one was done by the French Peace somethingorother. It was of the Normandy invasion along with the American cemetery, the German cemetery, and a lot of other places. I paid about $75 for a van tour lasting around five (5) hours. The driver was Irish and it was a requirement by the French to speak a minimum of four (4) languages. That's a GREAT tour. Well worth it if your get there. On the opposite end I paid for a tour of Waterloo. Worthless. That one should be a do-it-yerself. The guided tour was basically a tourist trap. I did get some cool coasters out of it though.

One of the coolest treats I gave was to a lovely lady, an RN who worked with cancer patients. I know her through my old boss. She's a very devout catholic. So when I visited the Vatican I called her husband (it was about 6AM Indiana time) and she was already at work. So I called her at work and made them put me through. I told her she was probably the only catholic she knows that every got a call from the Vatican! She asked all about where I was and basically I wheedled my way into a basement cafeteria that wasn't even open yet, but they had a payphone.

As for my "bucketlist" locations. Just a few are:

Ankhor Wat
The Pyramids
Greece
Verdun battlefields (I was in Verdun but on a day with no tours)
Machu Pichu
Japan (up in the hills and small coastal towns, not the big cities)
Romania (always a fan of Vlad the Impaler)
Mardi Gras (New Orleans)
Carnivale (Rio de Janeiro)
The Maginot Line
Northern Scandinavia (to see the northern lights)
Jerusalem (I'm not very religious but it would be moving)
Australia
Schonbrunn Palace (Austria)
Battlefield of Vienna (1683)

I could go on for a long time. There's a lot of history to cover.

One last thing, ALWAYS take earplugs. The Italians never sleep, so very noisy. I shared a room with four (4) Finnish soldiers, an Irishman and his son, and and Asian girl. The next morning the Asian girl was shocked that I didn't wake up because the Fins came back drunk and the Irishman had "words" about them disturbing his son. No physical fight but with earplugs I slept through the whole thing. Earplugs, even in America!

Regards,

Doug

PS - I would also like to take my dad to Cuba to see the old cars still in use.

 

[chipbennett]

Status chasing season begins in 3 days for AA fliers. Loyalty points reset and begin accruing from zero again on Mar 1st.

I hit DM (Diamond) on Delta yet again for 2024. I just converted my use-or-lose rollover MQMs to extend that status for 2025 and 2026. I am now officially free of worrying about status requirements for the next two years. (Delta's loyalty year starts in February, though status accrual starts in January.)

 

[BehindBlueI's]

For anyone who's interested in Portugal, TAP has tickets in early December in the $300-$320 range for round trip from Chicago on certain dates. Premium economy is $1000 on the same dates. TAP doesn't fly every day, so look at the calendar. Direct flight ORD -> Lisbon. Premium economy on TAP is pretty nice, including one of the better airline meals I've had second only to Royal Jordanian.

We've been twice now, and preferred December over April (though both trips were great). Less crowds, perfectly pleasant weather, and everything non-beach related is still open. If you want to see the Algarve regions' sea caves from the inside, then December may not be for you due to rough seas making most tours close down.

Unsure if we'll take advantage of this one or not, but figured I'd throw it out for those who were interested.