My first international trip was great. I spent $400 on a trip to Mexico. I booked my flight, hotel and activities with that $400. We went to cenotes, horseback riding and even snorkeling! We spent 5 days in beautiful Mexico. As a young adult it was the right place to book a trip. Activities were super fun and there were young people all over the neighborhood. PS this was not going to be my first and last trip there… keep that in mind.
Mexico in my opinion was a great first trip for me. I learned and experienced so much. But I know why you all are here. You want to know how I was able to book a 5 day trip for $400 across the sea. Let’s start with this, I’ve never booked a trip before by myself, nor did I know how much things costed. I googled trips to Mexico. My first stop was Expedia. I saw things ranging from $700-1200 and I was shocked…. for a dang hotel! I was not going to pay that much. I then realized there was filters I can use. As you all know or for those who don’t know, there are several different filters you can use on Expedia. Prices, hotel ratings, neighborhoods etc. You basically narrow it down to suit what you are looking for. Its great. So, I of course filtered the price I did $500 and under. I started seeing COMBO packages. Now those include a flight and a hotel, they ranged from 430-500. But please remember this was strictly hotel and flight. Nothing else included. I liked what I saw but I was NOT hooked yet. Now if you’re into those types of things (booking everything together at once) then do so. But I did not like the idea of it. So, I searched things separately. I searched for flights first, then hotels. The hotel I went to was split between me and a friend. Nonetheless it was under $150 which meant it was $75 per person. Which was fine by me, a hotel in NYC costed $75 per night. Our little hotel had a pool and breakfast every morning.
Please be advised, I scoured all over Expedia for the right hotel, I didn’t just see a cheap price and book it. Reviews are a big thing for me, as they should be for you. Anything that was under a 3-star rating I would not click. I also looked at location, was it in an area I could walk around in and do fun things? If so great, but that was only one box It ticked. I’m not the pickiest person, but I do enjoy a clean hotel room. As should all of you. Our hotel overlooked a lagoon, the pool was great, and breakfast was good enough for me. We had several different types of fruits in the morning, and some waffles and juices. A healthy and clean breakfast and we didn’t spend a dime on it. That saved us some cash. We usually ate breakfast and bought some bottles of waters and headed out to explore or do our activities.
My next step was flights. Flights are tricky, and the company you are flying with is even trickier. We flew with Jet Blue. I did the same thing I did for hotels. I fixed up the filters a bit and changed it from low to high. (price wise) So the page then showed me the cheapest flights. The key is being flexible in times and dates. You must mess around with the dates a little and see what days are cheaper than others. Or sometimes Expedia will tell you a day before or after has a cheaper flight then the day you chose. Its up to you, but its key to be flexible. Next thing is time of departure. You got to be able to work with what they give you especially with the price they’re offering. One time we took a flight and had to stay in the airport from 12am till the morning so we would be able to check into our hotel. But that vacation is for another blog post. Back to the Mexico trip, luckily our flight was around 8 or 9am so we arrived at the destination at a good time, not too early not too late. Another great way to cut costs is making sure your hotel has free airport shuttles. That removes the cost for pick up and drop off by a cab.
Be mindful I sometimes must check plenty of times before choosing a hotel and flight. It doesn’t happen over-night. Prices change sometimes and things change. But the key to cheap prices is being flexible. Being okay with going a day or two before or after the date you wanted to go. I tend to pick a month and a week in that month and then start working from there. You can always find cheap hotels. So, the second thing you must do after picking a week in the month is FLIGHTS! Flights aren’t always cheap, so sometimes you just won’t be able to book that vacation or go to that specific location if the flights aren’t in your budget. I have yet to pay more than $200 for a flight. Which is completely fine, the reason people pay a lot for vacations is because of convenience. Having a waterfront hotel or an all-inclusive resort or even the exact date they wanted to travel. Try also avoiding going at times that are prime time for tourism. Such as spring break, or the holidays even in the summertime. Try to stay local in the summer unless you are already staying in a different country for a prolonged period.
Before choosing to book with Expedia I had looked at all different types of websites but Expedia at that time had the best prices for me and they worked with my budget. I also checked Travelocity, TripAdvisor and CheapCarribean. CheapCarribean is best for booking flight and hotel together aka package deals. But the best deals are when you look for things separately. If you’re interested in more, I will be discussing how I booked a cruise and flight for $300. Finding cruises are a little more intense and difficult because there are so many cruises and you have to figure out the cheapest way to get to the port, whether that’s driving, taking a train or flight. I hope you enjoyed this blog post there will be more coming out!
Summarized Key points:
· Be flexible in terms of time of flight and date of flights. Cheap hotels will always be there flights wont!
· Always check different sites and compare prices. Some sites have cheaper prices for specific hotels.
· Try not to book package deals, instead book a separate flight and hotel for better savings.
· Sign up for emails with Expedia, Travelocity, TripAdvisor and more for codes and discounts.
· Create an account for each website for points every time you book. Points tally up to something free down the line.
· Try to split hotels/Airbnb prices with a friend or another solo traveler.
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