Travel Smarter Not Harder
Travel is one of life’s greatest gifts and we should absolutely take every opportunity to go experience something new, go meet new people and try new things. Why limit yourself to one way of being, thinking or doing? Quite literally, by expanding your horizons, you will undoubtedly have exponentially more units of comparison when you are considering things in your day to day life.
During my five month study abroad experience in Madrid, Spain I quite often leveraged online resources, groups and travel pages to get around. Here are my top three resources:
https://www.skyscanner.com/ This is the website that will allow you to maximize your European travels.. Whatever airport you start from just hit the "Can't decide where" option and a list in sequential order from cheapest to most expensive flights will pop up. I think you'll be surprised at what comes up!
Cheapest Flight I ever saw: Skyscanner can find you such great deals that you might just end up flying Round Trip from Madrid to Ibiza for THE COST OF A DINNER (13 Euros).
https://www.hostelworld.com/ In Europe hostels are more popular than hotels. Although a lot of American travels may be hesitant to stay in these hostels. A good number of hostels still have independent rooms for a fraction of the cost you’d be paying at a hotel. If you can get past the shared bathroom element. You’d be saving quite a lot of money in your travel journey
https://www.yelp.com/ When you’re somewhere you’ve never been before, it can feel like everything you’re doing is a guess. Make it an educated one with Yelp. Yelp is a great tool for finding and locating some of the best food places around and it will give you indicators for things like cost, service, food quality and more.
Other travel tips:
If you’ve working full time and only have time to travel once or twice a year, definitly leverage the credit card game. Check out pages like The Million Mile Secret or View From The Wing to learn more about how your credit card points can pay for a large portion of your vacations.
When you’re backpacking around Europe, be sure to take advantage of free city tours. I’ve done this in numerous cities and not only do you learn a lot about their history and culture. But you also learn all the best places to check out later on.
PACK YOUR RUNNING CLOTHES. Not only do I like working out, but taking an hour to walk, jog or run around your hotel/hostel will let you see exponentially more of where you are staying and get a real feel for the cuisine, culture and sometimes you’ll even find some hidden gems. Don’t underestimate the power of going for a random run around wherever you’re staying.
In some countries you are able to haggle and bargain for the things you want. On numerous occasions, I’ve emptied out my wallet to someone and said “this is all I have, can you sell it for this?”. Sometimes you’ll get a yes.
Spend an hour planning out the things you’d like to do before you get there. This one is big because once you’ve already arrived you’re being bombarded with opportunities to do things. So having those things planned out in advance will help you make the most out of your trips
Other Resources:
Smart Traveler App/ Certification - I paid for it and never used it but it will help you get through airports faster at select airports
The Outbound (App) - This is one I’d recommend just to see what’s out there from the explorer’s eye
Lime & Bird Scooters / Numerous scooter apps as these can be fun and fast forms of travel
Booking.com - This is great because it will have a record of your purchase and help get you settled. A couple times, I went to hotels and hostels and they didn’t have the record of me paying. However, because I had the app I was able to show them I did in fact pay and there was no issue.
Airbnb - Super useful for traveling in small groups but I’ve found it to be more expensive if you’re traveling by yourself
Cabify - Spain’s version of Uber (It’s also cheaper)
Hotel Tonight (Website and App) - Great if you get jammed up and need a place to stay. It will give you good discounts for hotels and hostels that don’t have rooms filled. Sometimes you can snag a deal up to 50% off what you would’ve paid
My Favorite Experiences:
Drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini in Paris for only $89: http://www.drive-me-89e.fr/en/home.html
Do a 6 hour boat tour to the volcano, hot springs and more in Santorini, Greece for only $30 : https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductDetail-g482941-d17525405-Caldera_Half_Day_Tour_Volcano_Hot_Springs_Thirassia-Oia_Santorini_Cyclades_South_Aegean.html