Language Nerds Do Earth

Episode 18: Getting the Most Bang for Your Travel Buck

Wanna travel? Not a millionaire? We’ve gathered some fantastic insider’s tips on how to enjoy yourself on vacation but not break the bank! There’s a lot of advice in this episode so here’s a basic outline with as many links as possible: (p.s. these are not affiliate links! Just stuff we’ve found or had experience with)

  1. Check peak seasons! Summer is generally the most expensive time to fly.
  2. Check Skyscanner for the cheapest times to travel to certain locations, and also use it as a destination search engine along with CheapCaribbean.com, and Travelzoo
  3. The day of the week you fly matters! The best day to depart is Sunday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, and the best day to return is Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
  4. Go off the beaten path — even though the flight might be more expensive, it might be worth it in the long run when you take into account the price of food and lodging.
  5. Consider signing up for Airfare alerts like from Kayak.com or Airfarewatchdog
  6. Airfare prices are often the lowest on Tuesdays and Thursdays!
  7. How soon should you book the flight? If you’re flying outside of the US, going to: Canada: 47 days out; Central/South America: 96 days out; Caribbean: 144 days out; Middle East: 213 days out; Mexico: 251 days out, Europe: 276 days out; Africa: 262 days out; and Asia: 318 days out
  8. Use social media! Travel websites often tweet deals to their followers or give special discounts to people who “like” their page.
  9. Some fantastic apps for saving money when you travel (website below): Hotel Tonight saves you up to 70% off standard rates on last-minute deals; Autoslash helps you find the best rates on rental cars, Dayuse lets you book hotels at extremely low rates for when you have an extra long layover during the day and would like to rest in a hotel, and Skiplagged gives you a visualization of what days are the cheapest for the flights that you want. Roomer also lets you sell hotel nights you booked and can’t cancel, and buy them from people who did.
  10. Don’t shy away from loyalty cards! You can get some free nights or flights just from booking from the same website habitually (Patrice has done this with Agoda and Orbitz!).

Here’s a website where we got a lot of this advice:  https://www.moneycrashers.com/cheap-vacation-deals-save-travel/  and here’s the one on some of the best travel apps: https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/mobile-apps/best-new-travel-apps and finally, a website on travel hacking: https://travelhacking.org/how-it-works/

The app that Rachel’s mom uses is Mileageplus — it’s just for United fliers, but she swears by it and loves it!

We mention some other fantastic resources and ideas from our own experience in the episode (we talk for 48 minutes, what do you expect?), so be sure to give it a listen!

In language news, it is actually possible to completely forget your own native tongue! In adults, this often happens as the result of a major trauma. But Cubans who move to Miami and speak Spanish with others from different Latin American countries tend to lose their traditional Cuban accent, whereas Spaniards who move to the UK where they predominantly speak English tend to keep their Castillian intact. Here’s the article we referenced for this episode: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180606-can-you-lose-your-native-language

Finally, a huge thanks to Linus for giving us his hilarious Lost in Translation moment about pretending to understand what was going on at his Cambodian family barbecue. Don’t forget to submit your lost in translation moment, along with the standard sacrificial goat that we require with all submissions. You can record it in our contact section or send a voice memo to languagenerdsdoearth@gmail.com!

 

Spread the love

Leave a Reply