Cheap Travel Style

Imagine yourself standing alone at the baggage claim check point and waiting for your bag to arrive even after a few hours you shave arrived at the airport. All of a sudden, a thought hit you when you realized that your luggage is lost. To avoid baggage to be lost in the transfers, follow these steps to avoid the avoidable:

Avoid Packing Full

Full and heavy backpacks will create hiatus in the conveyor belt if the zipper burst.

Nosy Scanning Officers

Scanning officers will open up your bag if they think that something is not right and will not bother to pack them back nicely.

Locks, Zippers and Straps are the Enemy in Disguise

The items mentioned above could get stuck in the conveyor belt that is the anchor of the backpack.

Be Punctual

You should at least check in the luggage one hour before the check in counter closed and will not be receiving anymore luggage check in afterwards.

Fragile Items with stickers

There are some luggage handlers who could care less about your baggage. The more fragile sticker you put on your baggage, the rougher they handle the baggage passed to them.

Do you think it is impossible to travel cheap during holiday season? Well, think again. Most westerners travel during Thanksgiving and Christmas even though the price can sky rocket during those particular periods. Planning for a cheaper trip on season can be done by putting some effort on it.

You have to be flexible with your schedule as most sought after travelling days are departing on Wednesdays and returning on Sundays, before or after a holiday. Going after the holiday or in the “dead week” period will increase your chances to get cheap travel deals as there are not many who travel around that time.

Look for an off peak destinations such as the Disneyland in December and January when the prices are at their low because of the unfriendly weather. And holiday means a drop in terms of visits of business travellers in the city and this will lead to hotel rates going down a notch from normal price. For travellers who are looking for cheap vacation, this is the time to book a hotel downtown in major cities around the world with the exception of New Year’s Eve and the New Year.

Most of the travelers would prefer to travel on long flights with seats that give comfort throughout their long trip. But if you are on a shoe string budget style and the fees for seat bookings are putting a strain on your wallet, here are the travel tips to get comfortable the cheap way.

Previously, the airlines made a system of first come first serve basis on pre-flight seat reservation before they travel but this has no longer been practiced since bookings can be made during ticket reservation. Get your preferred seats 15 minutes before departure by asking at the boarding desk as the seats for no-show passengers are available.

You can change your designated seat to choose your preferred vacant seats on board immediately before takeoff, or before the seat belt sign goes on. You are advised to change seats when the passengers are still boarding the plane to avoid seats confusion with the other flight passengers.

An advice for overweight passengers: made pre-reservation for isle or window seat that are already booked by a single passenger as the chances for you to get an empty seat in between you and the stranger will increase.

Are you thinking of getting your friends or loved ones a surprise Christmas gifts? Here are some guidelines to assist you in choosing the best presents for avid travelers that will never grow old in time.

Firstly, do a little bit of homework. If you want to give them a trip to Thailand, make sure that they have the time luxury and interest to travel. After you are sure that they can go for the trip, book a flexible traveling plan such as refundable airfares in case of last minute cancellations. Prepare the necessities like tour/traveling pass and meal or gift coupons if they are on tight budget. Thorough pre-planning can get you the best deal for quite a cheap price. You can deal with the hotel staff to work out a great deal for the gift recipient.

Lastly, make some effort to wrap it in a creative packaging. Literally think outside the box. Make a scrap book of tour itinerary complete with pictures of their destination, events and happenings during their stay, and the hotspots that they should visit when they are there. It will surely be the coolest and the most memorable Christmas gift ever to them!

There are many factors that could contribute to you saving money for your trip abroad. Whenever you are planning to go for cheap traveling, you should book well in advance at least as early as two months before your planned departure date as seats are still available for you to choose from. Remember that air tickets sell like hot cakes especially during peak times like long holidays or festive season.

Secondly, try adopting the Saturday Night Stay style as most of the round trip flight tickets are sold at the cheapest rates which are an advantage to the leisure  travelers like you! Besides that, you can get cheap tickets if you fly in via the smaller cities international airports nearest to your destination and get land transportation to take you to your holiday destination. Last but not least, when you want to travel cheap yet in style, opt for a round trip air tickets as it offers better airfares. Just to be on the safe side, check the rates for both round and one way trip as prices may vary depending on the currency differences and hot deals that are offered by the airlines of your choice.

Cheap does not mean less. So, here is some of the basic knowledge for you to get your air tickets with less money:

• Book online – In this Information Technology world, travelers’ life never could have been easier with e-ticketing so that you can book your air tickets online and save around USD20 for the printed ticket!

• Buy back to back tickets – Rather than spending the extra hundred bucks on unrestricted air tickets – loved by airline consumers around the world – when you follow only half of both the itinerary of your back to back flight schedule but avoid frequent-fliers miles.

• Go Leisure – Leisure air fares are considerably cheaper than business class and still arrived at your targeted destination on time with less money spent.

• Avoid Frequent-Flier Miles Entirely – Avoid being held ransom just to collect the miles points and getting yourself the ‘elite’ status on board. The points gained equals to the more money spent on an air ticket.

TIP: Most airlines might not agree with these kinds of traveling methods although it is legal. So, avoid from getting your travel agents involved in the bookings as their tracking number might trigger the authorities’ alarm bells!

Frankly, there are many ways to cut a bit of space in your backpack yet still being able to bring almost every clothes that you are planning to wear in your backpacking quest. But the most important thing to remember is to cut down your load to the very minimum of your needs and that includes clothes, useful and essentials items, by building a packing list. Once you have got the list, cross out anything that you have doubts on and leave it behind. This will definitely save you more space than you can ever think of.

Next is to constraint yourself from bringing heavy possessions like a normal sized hairdryer, a widescreen laptop, bulky camera and tripod, large torch light, and thick travel guide. Opt of smaller camera, laptop and torchlight and print your travel guide from the internet. You may want to consider buying a few compression bags to compress your clothes, jackets and sleeping bags to a minimum size as possible. It is not advisable to pack your backpack to full capacity and try to keep it less than 75 percent by following the tips that we have provided.