Stop Chasing Cheap Flights To Really Save Money On Travel
Travelers are constantly bombarded with reduced fares, flight deals, and cheap ticket offers making it seem like getting the best deal is akin to hearing the meaning of life. Once you get that low fare after weeks of searching (if you end up taking the flight at all) you’re free to splurge on hotels, food, and drinks, ensuring you completely bust your simple travel budget.
The truth is that you’ll be able to travel more if you focus on saving on all the things many travelers consider as afterthoughts – that is, everything in between flights.
Search For Flights Without Obsessing Over Nothing
Granted, the competitive nature of looking for the absolute lowest fare can be a fun game, especially if you’ve got a few hours to kill at the office on a Friday afternoon. The key to actually traveling however, is to put a limit on what you’re willing to spend and how long you’ll spend looking. You probably won’t magically find a free flight so it’s best not to look at $0.00 as some utopia you’ll never reach.
- Create An Upper Limit – If you’ve got a particular destination in mind, when searching for flight deals, set a price you can afford and put aside a week trying to get as far under that number as you can.
Open Your Options – Flight fares are relative, and if you’re willing to tweak your destination you might find a few deals well within your budget. (Use Kayak Explore to narrow down the search.)- Use Multi-City Flights – Adding a destination or booking individual legs separately can often be less expensive than a straight round-trip route. (Going overland for two closer cities might be cheaper still.)
- Visit Off-Season – That doesn’t necessarily mean go to north Sweden in the dead of winter (but maybe Iceland); generally the spring and fall months aren’t peak for most places around the world. Fares tend to be lower and temperatures nearly as warm or cool.
Finding the absolute, lowest, cheapest fare to be found in the course of human history isn’t (and shouldn’t) be your goal. Find a fare you can afford using the Internet as your personal advantage over the airlines and then you can get down to really saving your money.
Make Those Extra Dollars And Cents Count
Paying close to standard fare for a given flight route doesn’t mean you have to throw your money out the door. While you might not get that extra $45 discount, you can still spend effectively to save more in the long run.
- More Miles – Choose a bank account that helps you earn frequent flyer miles and have each dollar count toward a free ticket or upgrade. (Aren’t a member of any program? Get started with this 8 minute guide for reluctant travelers.)
Rather than wasting time (your most valuable asset) trying to get the absolute lowest fare – which often results in paying more as seasons change – be efficient in your spending and look at the few extra cents as a travel savings account for miles, upgrades, and other perks.
Where The Real Savings Start
Most people typically focus on airfare since it’s a set figure and single payment that’s easy to conceptualize (until you end up paying several fees before checkout). Your leeway for saving on airfare isn’t nearly as great as it is with lodging, eating, and local transportation.
- Make Prices Tangible – We like to focus on set prices and numbers so come up with some for the most common expenses using Budget Your Trip (original interview).
- Consider A Private Hostel Room – Commonly associated with dorms, many hostels offer private rooms at around twice the price of dorms but often half that of a comparable hotel room nearby. (To save even more, try these hostel alternatives.)
- Use Skype Over A Cell – A monthly bill or roaming charges are two things you can really do without to save money while traveling.
- Go Grocery Shopping Just Once A Week – The markup on prices eating out (beginning around 25%) is much higher when compared to the 5% profit margin for the airlines. Though there may not be a kitchen nearby, some fruit or snacks can get you through a meal or two, significantly cutting costs.
Perhaps the biggest impact on how much you spend is determined by where you actually travel to. Think a bit outside of your own personal box and figure out the best places to travel on a weak dollar – or whatever your currency may happen to be.
More Than 356 Thousand Kilometers Of Coastline
Of course most of the world’s shores might not make ideal beaches but if it’s tropical paradise you seek, there’s a low fare somewhere you’ll be happy. That goes for many types of landscapes and cultures as well if you’re just seeking a low fare to fly for.
Plenty of current popular travel hotspots weren’t always so, and by heading to a destination before it’s on everyone’s list of places to see you’ll save much more than by endlessly looking for the world’s cheapest flight.
Generally speaking, the savings on cheap flights are often marginal. Even the lowest fares on budget airlines often come with added fee upon fee exaggerating the initial low prices you’re sprung with. Searching for low fares isn’t a quest in futility yet not an action that should dictate where and how you travel. The savings to be had are at your destination – where it’s more fun to be anyway – rather than in front of a computer looking for cheap flight after cheap flight.
[photos by: monkeyc.net (back of a jet plane), : : w i n t e r w i n e d : : (digital zero), DavidDMuir (office panorama), SimonTheSnowman (black piggy bank), Machine Project (girl looking through microscope)]
A Digital Pocket Guide On Visiting Northern Iraq: Part 2
In Part 1 of A Digital Pocket Guide On Northern Iraq, you learned that the KRG-controlled north is relatively safe, to bring your cash, and where to start looking for a place to sleep.
Now that you’ve laid down the foundations for a trip to Iraq, you’re ready see the unexpected sights and work your way through many-a-checkpoint.
Shared Taxis Through Checkpoints, Checkpoints…And More Checkpoints
Unless you take a flight from Arbil to Sulaymaniyah, moving between northern Iraqi cities requires making use of shared taxis. (Though yes, there are still other ways.) Shared taxis are basically that – a taxi 1-4 people share and split the cost of – to get from one city to another. The average cost, assuming 4 people in the car, between Arbil and Sulaymaniyah is 20,000 Iraqi dinar (~$20) to give you an idea.
Waiting In Garages – Every city has a main garage for shared taxis between cities. Where a given car is going will be loudly announced and they’re lined up by destination. You’ll have to wait around for about 10-15 minutes hoping the car fills up with other passengers, otherwise you’ll be off with a higher rate.- Checkpoints – You will go through several checkpoints on any given trip. An off-hand calculation would be about 1 per 45 minutes if not more. Cars are inspected often, occupants required to get out, and passports checked at these heavily armed checkpoints.
- Questioning – It’s also not uncommon to be questioned at checkpoints depending on your nationality. Your intentions and reasons for traveling in northern Iraq will be the primary focus; expect much more scrutiny if you have an Arabic surname.
It’s also a good idea to note the route a given shared taxi will take. Many direct routes leave the KRG-controlled areas and skim the borders for legs of the trip. While you can pay (3-4 times) more to stay within the borders of KRG-Iraq; which is considered safer, the extended drive time might not be worth the unquantifiable amount of added protection.
What To See And Do In Northern Iraq
Being a large geographic area, this is a section that really deserves to be its own (or several) posts. That said, most travelers will only have 10 days in the area and it may help you to plan your sightseeing around these particular experiences.
- Walk Around The Arbil Citadel – Sitting more than 30 meters above the rest of the city you can meander around this ghost town with great views of below.
- Ankawa In Arbil – The Assyrian/Christian district in the city is quite active at night.
- Deutscher Hof Erbil – Entering this German restaurant located on the site of an old United Nations (UN) base in Arbil is surreal.
- Halabja Memorial – Located in “old” Halabja (make this clear at the shared taxi garage) this memorial stands to recognize the thousands that were killed in a 1988 gas attack by Saddam Hussein. The Amna Suraka Museum in Sulaymaniyah also shows part of this dark history.
There are also the Gali Ali Bag waterfalls in the north, Sulaymaniyah’s bazaars and parks, and my personal favorite for free wi-fi and relaxation, the Shawany Maliek Cafeteria shisha cafe in that same city.
Looking For Food In Northern Iraq
Many of you asked about the food in northern Iraq and when it comes to eating out, things vary widely between cities. Most budget travelers looking for a bite in Arbil will be hard pressed to find anything more convenient than plentiful doner kebab and falafel sandwiches. While there are restaurants with a bit more variety in and around town, the culture of eating out isn’t quite in place yet.
Th
e cuisine in Sulaymaniyah was much more varied; although admittedly it’s difficult to ascertain what’s local to such a cosmopolitan city.
Keep in mind that in northern Iraq, places to eat close down fairly early (around 7pm). For those of you who like to snack however, finding a corner store at most hours of the night won’t be tough at all.
Finally, alcohol is readily available and for sale at a number of liquor stores and small shops around the major cities. The prices, rather surprisingly, are incredibly cheap with major brand bottles of vodka and whiskey for sale from $5-15 and beer for about $1 a bottle.
Basic Travel Safety
Most of the safety questions about traveling in northern Iraq revolve around the violence associated with the country in general. However, in terms of general safety, scams, and street crime, it’s far and few between. In fact, one surprising thing was how consistent the prices I was quoted were. From meter-less taxis, hotels, and markets, none of the prices were above and beyond what I was told they should have been. The streets at night, although quiet, were peaceful and was told as much by everyone I encountered.
In fact, if you were just to fly into Arbil, or be dropped off in the center of Sulaymaniyah, you wouldn’t even realize the instability of war was so recent. The checkpoints and border controls are the few obvious signs of a war zone that’s right outside. Inside, all you see is that the Kurdistan-controlled north is looking forward – even if it’s still got a way to go in terms of tourism.
This Is Only A Rough Start
Such a large and complex area can’t be covered in a single post or two, but this digital pocket guide should get you off to a good start if you’ve ever considered traveling to Iraq (or are now!) It’s not the most straightforward place to navigate – which might be appealing to many travelers looking for a trail that’s not yet well worn.
A Digital Pocket Guide On Visiting Northern Iraq: Part 1
It is often said that northern Iraq is the gateway to the rest of the country and the areas under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are a relatively stable place to start for adventurous travelers. Traveling in northern Iraq is easier than you might suspect – albeit with some drastic differences from many other destinations to take into account.
This digital pocket guide will have you prepared for a trip to this world inside a war zone.
Some Basic Questions Answered First
It’s important to understand that all of northern Iraq is not equally stable or as relatively safe. This digital guide focuses on the areas administered by the KRG; primarily the cities of Arbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok. Also, it should be noted that while there might be a thrill in traveling to Iraq, it’s certainly not a trip for everyone.
- Is Traveling In Northern Iraq Safe? – Depending on your movements within northern Iraq, you’re unlikely to feel unsafe and targeted violence (against tourists) is remote.
- Understanding Kurdistan – Even the name of the semi-autonomous north is controversial in a neighborhood that’s in flux but under high tension.
Finally, before you hop on a flight to northern Iraq, it’s critical you have enough cash on you for the duration of your trip.
There are no ATMs in the KRG-controlled north, not even at the most common entry-point of Erbil International Airport. US dollars and Turkish lira can be exchanged easily by (the abundant) street vendors once you arrive, however don’t count on using plastic – credit cards won’t be accepted anywhere.
Getting To Northern Iraq By Land And Air
Flights to Arbil are probably the easiest way to arrive in northern Iraq from several connecting cities, including Istanbul, Turkey. Currently your best bets are with AtlasJet, Lufthansa, and Austrian Air.
- Keep in mind when searching for flights that “Arbil” is often spelled “Erbil” (in English) with “Irbil” also occurring from time to time.
Finding good deals on flights to northern Iraq isn’t easy, with those from Istanbul on average floating around $600 for a round-trip ticket. The cheaper – yet much more involved – method of crossing overland from Turkey is another option; particularly for intrepid travelers.
- How To Travel Overland To Iraq (Kurdistan) – Wandering Earl‘s incredibly detailed guide to making the crossing, including specific costs along the route.
Visas And Visiting The Directorate Of Residence
Visas upon arrival are issued by the Kurdistan Regional Government for US, EU, and several other nationalities for visits up to 10 days.
These entry stamps are separate from Iraqi national travel visas and also make note that you must “visit [the] Directorate of Residence within 10 days” – which can be a point of confusion.
Upon exit at Erbil International Airport, I was told that this was only necessary for those applying to stay beyond 10 days; though there didn’t seem to be a consensus among the officials I asked. I recommend consulting with your embassy if you have any questions or receive conflicting information upon arrival.
Hotels And Finding A Place To Stay
Booking hotel arrangements online prior to a trip to northern Iraq isn’t easy since most are independently owned and not to be found on the Internet. While there are some luxury hotels on the outskirts of the 3 major cities, the majority are the 1-2 start variety. The most straightforward way to find a hotel (there are no hostels) is to make your way to the given city center – in Arbil around the Citadel - walk in and ask.
- Rates – Obviously they vary but $20-25 is the going price per day.
- Rooms – Many places only have double rooms, though you can book them for a single at the double rate, you might have to look around if you’re traveling solo.
- Reception – Although Arabic and Kurdish are the primary languages in north Iraq, basic English is usually enough to book a room. It’s a good idea to brush up or carry a European-to-Arabic numeral chart (shown below) for rates and phone numbers though.
Also remember that in Arabic, numbers are read from left to right (opposite of everything else).
- Wi-Fi – Most of the budget hotels will not have wireless Internet, though Internet cafes and shisha bars with wireless can be found in Arbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok.
You can begin your hotel search by seeking out Hotel Shahan in Arbil, Hotel Chrakan in Sulaymaniyah (with good food immediately next door), and Hobo Traveler also has a great set of hotels for you to consider in northern Iraq.
In Part 2: Hopping Cities, Checkpoints, And Spaetzle
Now that you’ve got an idea of how to get to northern Iraq, tomorrow in Part 2 I’ll show you how you can move between the major cities of the Kurdistan-controlled region. As you make your way through checkpoints you’ll discover there’s quite a bit to see and do, with the journey undoubtedly being a memorable part of the experience.
foXnoMad’s 2010 Travel Predictions Revisited
At the beginning of last year, as I did in 2009, I made a series of predictions for 2010 that were somewhat more optimistic about the state of travel in the coming year. From increased airline fees to more RTW trip options, it turns out I had (mostly) the right gist but things didn’t turn out quite as dramatically as I had envisioned.
1. Prediction: More Airline Fees
Various airline fees for most carriers did increase significantly in 2010 but not nearly 50% as I had guessed. In general, most airline fee revenue (in particular US domestic), went up about 20-25% over 2010. A steep rise in prices has many airlines now making around 30% of their revenue from addition costs added to plane tickets. You can still, however, avoid luggage fees and work your way around the airlines for free with your biggest ally.
Verdict: Slightly (But Thankfully) Wrong
2. Prediction: Backpacking And Minimalism Go Mainstream
Finding reliable statistics on the number of backpackers is difficult and highly localized; yet numbers on minimalists are even harder to come by. There were already rumblings late last year about digital nomad living going mainstream and cubicle ditching, but whether more press equates to more adventure tours and location independents isn’t certain. I would venture to say that programs like Gap Adventure‘s Wanderers In Residence, show the travel industry is beginning to realize people want a taste of the long-term travel lifestyle by working with full-time travelers.
Verdict: Unclear, But Headed In The Right Direction
3. Prediction: More RTW Trip Options And Price Plans
Jet Blue’s unlimited All You Can Jet Pass made a popular comeback in 2010 and the idea of gap years and career breaks opened up to the larger US audience. While I wish that Star Alliance and OneWorld would have expanded their RTW programs with more options in 2010, there are still great ways to create a round-the-world trip and many more ways to travel longer.
Verdict: Correct
4. Prediction: A Major US Airline Will File For Bankruptcy
Globally, the airlines made an incredible financial recovery this year, earning an estimated 15.1 billion dollars. Considering they lost 9.9 billion in the previous year, I was quite wrong about how well the US airlines would fare in 2010. Not a single major US airline declared bankruptcy in 2010 and globally only 3 did – most notably Japan Airlines.
Verdict: Wrong
5. Prediction: The Rise Of Southeast Asia
Tourism to many nations in Southeast Asia like Thailand, Laos, and the Philippines was up an average of 11% in 2010. While certainly a correct prediction, things would have been more spot on had I looked at the Middle East. Tourism numbers in Lebanon broke national records last year while Syria saw a 49% jump in foreign travelers.
Verdict: Correct
What Are Your Travel Predictions For 2011?
I’m still holding on to the belief that long-term travel options will increase, giving more people the opportunity (or incentive) to take mini-RTW trips. For specific predictions, I’m betting that travel to “dangerous” places, like Iraq in particular, really take off in 2011. On top of that fees will continue to go up and the number of travel blogs dramatically increase; prompting conventional media to take a more serious interest in bloggers.
Now that I’ve made a few predictions for the upcoming year, I’d love to hear your specific travel predictions for 2011. Jot down your best guesses about the travel year ahead in the comments below – we’ll compare notes around this time next year.
[photos by: fofurasfelinas (cat looking in crystal ball), galdi (checked baggage fees), Giorgio Montersino (working on laptop at beach), JohnLeGear (globes in Chicago), Simon_sees (plane in the sky), striatic (man pondering)]
