Next Trip Planned
Sorry for the temporary absence. We just booked our next trip. We both work full time jobs so our extra time over the past few days has been spent booking and doing preliminary planning. My husband's motorcycle group (Marine Riders Michiana) is planning a trip to Las Vegas at the end of April to visit the Marine Riders Las Vegas. This means our trip will start in Vegas instead of where we live.
We live in northern Indiana and choose O'Hare International in Chicago as our main departure airport. We have a small airport here in South Bend, Indiana but it can be quite pricey. However, I always check both just in case. We flew to Cancun over the holidays a few years back and paid the same price on United for First Class out of South Bend as we would have for Economy out of O'Hare. We are not sure if they have to offer so many first class tickets out of each airport but it worked in our favor. We are budget travelers so we rarely fly first class.
So here it is - our next trip:
April 21st - Chicago to Las Vegas. We used miles to purchase one of the tickets to reduce cost. The other ticket was $220. We travel enough that is it beneficial for us to have the different airline credit cards. There are perks such as miles, a free checked bag, and priority boarding.
TRICK: If you travel as a couple and both have your own credit - don't put your spouse on your card. We always wait until they offer generous bonus miles and then we both apply for our own credit card. This way we get double the bonus miles. This paid for round trip tickets to Italy in the past.
DOWNSIDE: Some airlines charge annual fees. Make sure you plan to fly with them enough to cover the fee through either miles or baggage fees. Major airlines such as Delta, United, and American offer free checked bags if you purchase the flight with their credit cards. This is one free checked bag per person for the people in your booking. Number of people vary by airline.
April 24th - We are renting a car to get from Las Vegas to San Francisco where will we depart for our first destination Reykjavik Iceland. (Pronounced Rake - ah - vick). It is an 8 hour drive but we do not depart until 10:20pm so we liked the idea of a road trip.
We chose San Francisco because we found a flight on Wow Airlines (wowair.com) from San Francisco to Reykjavik for a great price. After adding a checked bag each and a seat with XXL legroom (first 2 seats on the plane for easy deplaning) we paid $300 US each for a one way flight.
TRICK: When traveling on a budget try to pack as little as possible. Budget airlines usually charge for checked bags and sometimes even carry on luggage. WOW Air is one that charges for everything. You want a bag other than a small personal item - you pay. Oh you want to pick your seat - you pay. However, if you get the ticket cheap enough it is still a bargain in the long run. We normally only take a carry on each. If we think we need more then we take one carry on and one checked bag.
DOWNSIDE: If you only have a carry-on each then you have to keep all liquids 3ozs or under. Hairspray must be travel size. Each person can only have one quart baggy each of liquids. If the trip is over a week in length plan to do laundry. I always take a couple tide pods with me.
We are not the type of travelers that will spend our time in the big city. We rent a car and we drive. We try to find the hidden gems in each country. We use every social media site possible along with google to help plan. This is one of the reasons for our website and blog. We want to help others the way they have helped us.
April 29th - We depart Reykjavik for Copenhagen, Denmark. We will only spend a couple nights here as a stopover to our final destination (Brussels, Belgium). To fly direct to Brussels on our desired date it would have cost us $254 each. We found this flight on Scandinavian Air for $111 each plus $35 for a bag. Then to fly from Copenhagen to Brussels (Scandinavian Air again) was only $49 each plus $35 for a bag. So for a little over $300 each we get to still fly to Brussels and we get to add another city to our trip. I don't thing the $245 included baggage.
TRICK: If your travel plans are Flexible keep your options open when choosing flights. We will go to the wikipedia site for an airport and see what airlines service that particular airport and to what destinations. (It is under Airlines and destinations) Some budget sites won't show up on the travel sites such as Vayama, Expedia, Momondo, Skyscanner, etc. You have to go directly to their website to book.
DOWNSIDE: Always be careful when booking budget airlines. Some budget airlines fly into the smaller airports that are further from the city center. If you are renting a car or taking transportation direct form the airport this is not a big deal. If you are catching a connecting flight - it is a big deal. Ryan Air in Europe is one such example. If you fly into Paris you won't be flying into Charles de Gaulle - you will be flying into Beauvais. Ryan does offer a shuttle service to Paris from which you can take the train to Charles de Gaulle, but it will take time and it might not be worth the bargain.
May 1st - We depart Copenhagen for Brussels, Belgium. I already gave this away earlier. This will be our last stop before we fly home.
May 5th - We depart Brussels for Chicago O'Hare - AKA home. We did use miles again to pay for these one way flights.
Our total cost for all flights with using miles was a hair over $600US each. Not too bad to have a couple days in Vegas and see 3 countries.
We will be posting a lot on our website, blog, and social media sites. Check those out on our website www.travelingmovesme.com. Hope your enjoy!
We live in northern Indiana and choose O'Hare International in Chicago as our main departure airport. We have a small airport here in South Bend, Indiana but it can be quite pricey. However, I always check both just in case. We flew to Cancun over the holidays a few years back and paid the same price on United for First Class out of South Bend as we would have for Economy out of O'Hare. We are not sure if they have to offer so many first class tickets out of each airport but it worked in our favor. We are budget travelers so we rarely fly first class.
So here it is - our next trip:
April 21st - Chicago to Las Vegas. We used miles to purchase one of the tickets to reduce cost. The other ticket was $220. We travel enough that is it beneficial for us to have the different airline credit cards. There are perks such as miles, a free checked bag, and priority boarding.
TRICK: If you travel as a couple and both have your own credit - don't put your spouse on your card. We always wait until they offer generous bonus miles and then we both apply for our own credit card. This way we get double the bonus miles. This paid for round trip tickets to Italy in the past.
DOWNSIDE: Some airlines charge annual fees. Make sure you plan to fly with them enough to cover the fee through either miles or baggage fees. Major airlines such as Delta, United, and American offer free checked bags if you purchase the flight with their credit cards. This is one free checked bag per person for the people in your booking. Number of people vary by airline.
April 24th - We are renting a car to get from Las Vegas to San Francisco where will we depart for our first destination Reykjavik Iceland. (Pronounced Rake - ah - vick). It is an 8 hour drive but we do not depart until 10:20pm so we liked the idea of a road trip.
We chose San Francisco because we found a flight on Wow Airlines (wowair.com) from San Francisco to Reykjavik for a great price. After adding a checked bag each and a seat with XXL legroom (first 2 seats on the plane for easy deplaning) we paid $300 US each for a one way flight.
TRICK: When traveling on a budget try to pack as little as possible. Budget airlines usually charge for checked bags and sometimes even carry on luggage. WOW Air is one that charges for everything. You want a bag other than a small personal item - you pay. Oh you want to pick your seat - you pay. However, if you get the ticket cheap enough it is still a bargain in the long run. We normally only take a carry on each. If we think we need more then we take one carry on and one checked bag.
DOWNSIDE: If you only have a carry-on each then you have to keep all liquids 3ozs or under. Hairspray must be travel size. Each person can only have one quart baggy each of liquids. If the trip is over a week in length plan to do laundry. I always take a couple tide pods with me.
We are not the type of travelers that will spend our time in the big city. We rent a car and we drive. We try to find the hidden gems in each country. We use every social media site possible along with google to help plan. This is one of the reasons for our website and blog. We want to help others the way they have helped us.
April 29th - We depart Reykjavik for Copenhagen, Denmark. We will only spend a couple nights here as a stopover to our final destination (Brussels, Belgium). To fly direct to Brussels on our desired date it would have cost us $254 each. We found this flight on Scandinavian Air for $111 each plus $35 for a bag. Then to fly from Copenhagen to Brussels (Scandinavian Air again) was only $49 each plus $35 for a bag. So for a little over $300 each we get to still fly to Brussels and we get to add another city to our trip. I don't thing the $245 included baggage.
TRICK: If your travel plans are Flexible keep your options open when choosing flights. We will go to the wikipedia site for an airport and see what airlines service that particular airport and to what destinations. (It is under Airlines and destinations) Some budget sites won't show up on the travel sites such as Vayama, Expedia, Momondo, Skyscanner, etc. You have to go directly to their website to book.
DOWNSIDE: Always be careful when booking budget airlines. Some budget airlines fly into the smaller airports that are further from the city center. If you are renting a car or taking transportation direct form the airport this is not a big deal. If you are catching a connecting flight - it is a big deal. Ryan Air in Europe is one such example. If you fly into Paris you won't be flying into Charles de Gaulle - you will be flying into Beauvais. Ryan does offer a shuttle service to Paris from which you can take the train to Charles de Gaulle, but it will take time and it might not be worth the bargain.
May 1st - We depart Copenhagen for Brussels, Belgium. I already gave this away earlier. This will be our last stop before we fly home.
May 5th - We depart Brussels for Chicago O'Hare - AKA home. We did use miles again to pay for these one way flights.
Our total cost for all flights with using miles was a hair over $600US each. Not too bad to have a couple days in Vegas and see 3 countries.
We will be posting a lot on our website, blog, and social media sites. Check those out on our website www.travelingmovesme.com. Hope your enjoy!
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