Feeling the urge to get away for a few days, or longer? It’s easy to love the thrill and exhilaration of experiencing a fun new place. If you’re like many, your big milestone vacations are earmarked for summer travel adventures while your short, last-minute excursions are scattered throughout the year. Those milestone vacations are justifiably expensive and maybe that’s why we strive so much to make our spontaneous travel more budget friendly.
That being said, spontaneous travel doesn’t have to break the bank. The following guidelines should help you get the most out of last-minute travel and maximize the precious dollars you spend.
Three Elements of Practical Trip Planning
Trip planning of any kind revolves around three fundamental elements:
- Budget
- Means of travel
- Where you stay
Maximize each of these during the planning stages of your next trip to get the most bang for the buck on last-minute and spontaneous travel.
Budget, Budget, Budget
As in everything we do in life, budget is also a crucial factor in trip planning. It’s especially important with last-minute travel since most airfares as well as accommodations at popular hotels and destinations have a tendency to go up in price the closer you book to your date of travel.
However, there are online tools that will help you find travel deals that cost less when booked at the last minute. Popular companies such as travelocity.com and expedia.com offer package deals where you can combine airfare, accommodations, and car rentals into a single package purchase so you can be assured your total costs for these essential travel expenses fall within the budget desired.
Further, most major credit cards offer travel packages in their travel services to card holders. The packages not only bundle the same essentials as the online services mentioned above, but also streamline the process of utilizing points or cash back for travel purchases, as well as offering rewards when the trip is booked via a travel partner.
Come Sail Away
Cruises are especially budget-friendly when booked at the last minute, with some recent discounts advertised on the internet at more than 80% off for last-minute bookings.
There are certain drawbacks to waiting until just before the sail date to book a cruise, however. The available cabin style choices may be limited, or many of the on-board and excursion reservations may be filled up, for example. Still, if you’re going to take a spontaneous trip, then there’s little available to match the sense of freedom felt while sailing the high seas.
How You Get There
Choosing the most efficient, cost-effective means of travel will help maximize your spending dollars. Whatever your preferred mode of travel (planes, trains, or automobiles) the method of travel for a last-minute trip may be dictated by price or other factors such as available departure and return dates and flight times.
Car rental rates are important as well. Most airport rentals add an exorbitant airport fee to vehicle rentals at the airport. If driving to your ultimate destination in a rental car you’ll save money if you book that rental to pick up at a location that’s not attached to an airport.
For airfare deals, Google Travel offers search parameters that make last-minute flight deals wickedly easy to find. For added spontaneity, add only your departure airport and travel dates to see the best deals available around the globe on your preferred travel dates.
Whatever your preferred transportation, it’s essential to stay flexible and examine all types of transportation as you seek out last-minute deals to help maximize your trip.
Where You Stay
In large part, trip accommodations consume the majority of the budget. Folks making last-minute reservations seem to bear the most witness to higher-than-usual room rates when plans are made too close to the arrival date.
If you don’t purchase a package deal and, instead, a la carte your travel purchases directly on the hotel’s website, you can sometimes benefit from last-minute hotel cancellations and scoop up rooms at discounted rates. This often happens as pricey hotels sell out regular rooms while the more expensive deluxe rooms and suites remain open. As weekends approach, hotels will often upgrade regular room reservations to deluxe rooms and suites which ultimately opens up more regular rooms right before the weekend and they are often discounted.
Be Flexible
Perhaps the most significant tip for maximizing your dollars for last minute travel is to simply be flexible with timing, budget, the way you get there, and where you stay.
If this weekend is too expensive to visit (x) city, then try another locale this weekend and put your first choice back at the top of the list for your next spontaneous getaway.
Remember, travel is fun–and so is getting the most out of last-minute getaways.
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