Time for our next adventure………..
I should be excited but instead I’m sitting amongst the crowds at Heathrow Terminal 5 feeling bleary eyed and tired. If I still drank alcohol I would say it feels like a hangover but as I don’t I’m leaning towards the fact that the last three weeks of unpacking from the last trip and then getting ready for this one have been super tiring and at times stressful.
Before we take off to America I thought I would spend a little time explaining how we try to reduce the cost of our adventures during the planning stages. It’s a question that hubby used to get asked a lot when he was working and his standard response was “We don’t drink, we don’t smoke and we don’t gamble. We choose instead to travel. Plus I have a wife who has always found ways to minimise cost”.
So how do I do this?
Well firstly it’s historic.
When I was a single Mum for thirteen years (see my previous post entitled “All About Me”-https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/03/24/opinion-how-did-i-get-here/ ) and was also in the middle of a pretty hectic career I always ensured that during school holidays I took Wednesdays off.
My job worked over all seven days so weekends were not sacred. By having a Wednesday off my children always knew that we would do something as a family. I was also determined that they didn’t grow up thinking that the only way you could have fun was to spend money so I made sure we had a good balance.
We would go on Treasure Hunts in the local woods, take picnics to local Country Parks along with their bikes and kites, we would go to the beach and at the same time we would go to Theme Parks such as Legoland, Thorpe Park and Chesssington.
But I never paid for any of these, partly because they were really expensive and secondly because if you were savvy you could get in for free or at a reduced price. How?
Mainly by collecting Tesco vouchers which could be exchanged for three times their face value at the entrance to these places.
But I also did the same with Nectar points from Argos and Sainsbury’s.
I also used to collect the tops off cereal packets. Once you had so many you could send them in and exchange them for tickets or money off vouchers. There was always some offer to be had if you looked hard enough.
This then led to me looking at travel and whether these principals could still apply.
Do It Yourself versus Package Deals or Organised Tour Companies:
This is very much a personal choice and since 1999 I have opted for the former. However you do have to be prepared to put in the leg work whereas with a package holiday or tour company it is all done for you. You basically just turn up at the airport and meet your rep the other end at your destination.
We did use a tour company, once, back in 2019 when we went to Costa Rica (where all my photos featured on this post come from) mainly because I had concerns about not being fluent in Spanish and, therefore, worrying about arrangements getting lost in translation. The reality on the ground once we were there was completely different. Everyone spoke English. In fact in order to be employed in the tourist industry, the second most popular job after local Government, you had to be fluent in English!
What we had not envisaged is that we paid a UK tour company to organise our 21 day trip which was then sub contracted out to another company on the ground in Costa Rica. Straight away my financial brain questioned the cost of this. We were, in effect, paying two different companies to deliver our holiday. On the whole it all went smoothly but I did come back thinking it might have been cheaper to do it myself.
That said, package companies buy their accommodation and flights in bulk and in turn are able to pass part of these discounts onto the consumer. I personally do not like being shepherded onto a coach at an airport with forty or so strangers, driving around numerous other resorts while people get off and retrieve their luggage from the hold and then dealing with a travel rep who wants to sell me several other trips, excursions and experiences. I’d just much rather go solo.
Organising your own trip is time consuming and the longer you are planning on being away the more time it will take. You can, of course, opt for a pack n go outlook, which is how a lot of students embark on their travels particularly during gap years, which is something we are thinking about doing next year.
If you do decide to book your own trip it normally starts with flights.
Flights:
Over ten years ago I signed up for a British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card which has the following benefits (I’ve taken these direct from their website):
- Welcome bonus: Get 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 in the first 3 months of Cardmembership. New Cardmembers only.
- Earn rate: Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on purchases
- Rewards: Get a Companion Voucher when you spend £10,000 each membership year which is now more flexible than ever
- Go further: Collect 3 Avios for every £1 spent on British Airways flights and holidays
We use our card to pay the majority of our monthly outgoings such as food, petrol, personal expenditure as well as for all travel costs. Spending £10,000 per annum is, therefore, not hard and we qualify for a companion voucher every year. This means we can fly abroad and pay for just one ticket plus only the taxes on the second ticket.
There are a couple of drawbacks:-
You need to pay an annual fee of £250 but this is more than covered by the savings on our companion flight without other flights we might take using Avios points (the new name for Airmiles).
The interest is phenomenal but if you pay your bill off each month, as we do, you have nothing to worry about.
The final plus factor is you gain Avios points by recommending friends and family to the scheme. They in turn benefit from a higher than normal introductory amount of Avios points than that mentioned above.
Companion Voucher:
The Companion voucher is growing in use and BA have recently upgraded how it can be used (again taken from a recent email I received):
Travel with a companion – Receive a second seat for a companion travelling in the same cabin on the same flight as you for no additional Avios when you make a Reward Flight booking on a British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus flight when booked through British Airways.
Choose to fly solo– use your Companion Voucher on a Reward Flight booking in any cabin, and receive 50% off the Avios price for the flight.
You could pay as little as £1 in cash for your Companion Voucher Reward Flight within Europe and cover remaining costs with Avios. And remember your Companion Voucher is valid for 24 months from issue. Your trip can start from anywhere.
As an example we have recently booked for a flight to Rome next year using a companion flight. Our seats are in Business Class and cost us just £2 return plus some Avios points!
Choose to enjoy Club World – When you use your voucher on British Airways, you will have enhanced access to Reward seats in Business Class when booking a Reward Flight with your Companion Voucher. Solo or together, you can travel in style.
Hopefully this illustrates the fact that flights don’t have to cost the earth!
Collecting Avios points:
Again I’ve been collecting since they were called Airmiles.
I collect points whenever and wherever I can? There is a full list of companies who supply you with Avios alongside monetary purchase on British Airways shopping.
I seriously don’t buy anything on line without checking out their website or app beforehand. I regularly collect Avios from Booking.com, Hotels.com, Air BnB, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Trainline to name but a few.
I also still have a Nectar card so on the odd occasion I shop at Sainsbury’s, buy from EBay or Argos I accumulate Nectar points and have an auto convert to Avios in place.
I buy my petrol at BP and again have a BP card which auto converts points to Avios.
Every month I collect Avios through the purchases made on my BA credit card detailed above, again these convert over automatically.
I book car hire through BA which also gives me points, a second driver for free and an all inclusive insurance. Thus when I pick up my car I don’t have to deal with the sales person trying to sell me all sorts of additional insurance when I’m abroad.
And so it goes on……..
Accommodation:
Saving on accommodation is rooted in price comparison.
I compare AirBnB, booking.com and hotels.com prior to making any booking.
A friend of mine also advised me to always use the apps on my phone for the latter two companies as the deals are definitely better.
Also don’t rely on one phone, if there are two of you and you both look at the same city, for example, and use the same filters you can often get given different prices per night.
I also accumulate rewards on Hotels.com. Once you have 10 rewards you get a free night. I’ve just used this to book our final night at JFK airport prior to flying home from this adventure.
Another option with booking.com or hotels.com is to find somewhere you want to stay and then research their details on the internet. Telephone them direct and see what price they offer.
I always make sure when doing this that they are willing to refund my money by an agreed date if I cancel. I give them my email address and ask them to confirm the price and cancellation in writing before booking.
Often they are paying substantial fees to these companies to fill their beds and are happy to bargain with you. If they don’t offer you a reduced price you can still book on the relevant site and you’ve not lost anything!
Another tip is if you go somewhere you like and are likely to return, always make a point of asking them if you can book direct next time.
I also still use my Tesco reward points but I now opt to get money off Cottage hire for a staycation in the UK or I double up the face value to book via Hotels.com. It used to be treble the face value but this has recently changed. I used this facility to get £60 off a one night stay on this current trip.
I also use my Avios points to book accommodation either in full or by reducing the cost price per night to be paid. I did this three years running to take my children on a four night cultural break in Europe when they were younger.
Finally I have holiday ownership which is similar to timeshare. I’m sure many baulked at this statement but I bought two weeks back in 1999 in the Canary Islands and one week, to be used bi yearly, in 2015 in Grand Cayman.
I made the decision to do this based upon the fact I was a working Mum and wanted my children to have a decent holiday every year otherwise why was I working?
I also wanted to take the anxiety out of the accommodation selection as the places you can book to stay in are of a guaranteed standard.
What can I say? It worked for me and my children got to see not just the Canary Islands but also Barbados, Florida, The Cayman Islands and New York to name just a few.
I pay yearly maintenance on these but this allows me to then visit my “home resort” without paying anything extra, for example I could spend a week in Grand Cayman. The maintenance fee per year is about half the amount the resort would charge me for a one week stay if I was to book it myself.
OR I can bank these into an exchange company in order to then swap them for holidays anywhere else in the world. When I bank each week this is converted into points and I can then select somewhere to stay based upon the points I have. To swap currently costs about £200 per week, depending upon which exchange company I use. I add this cost onto the annual weekly maintenance fee to decide whether in fact I am then getting a bargain.
I’ve utilised this option four times on the adventure we have just started with stays in Chicago, Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale and Williamsburg.
The exchange companies are also always looking for ways to enhance their product so I can also use my exchange points to reduce the cost of hotel stays per night, reduce car hire costs or get additional weeks away without using my banked accommodation. These are at a reduce rate per night or per week.
So there you are….
Hopefully I’ve given you some insight in terms of reducing costs on going away
A Midlife Adventure 