Author Topic: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?  (Read 3019 times)

LateStarter1

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How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« on: September 21, 2017, 02:12:49 PM »
So I am 33 years old. Never been out of the country. My daughter is 13, never been out of country. Girlfriend has been out a few times.

We want to take my daughter somewhere next June after school is done for summer.

We talked about going to somewhere in Baja peninsula of Mexico. So far just straight pricing that is the cheapest area that is out of the country. (and we want a beach). Flight and 5 nights hotel is $1800-$2000 for the 3 of us combined total. That seemed actually pretty cheap, and will be split 50/50 between my girlfriend and myself.

But I just hate spending money. SO... to MMM I come to find out how we can do a vacation like that for even cheaper. I have heard some of you take super nice ones for free somehow. I'd be stoke to even get it to $1000.

What kind of options or steps should I take to knock some coin off of this?  Just applied for my daughter and myself's passports. I'd like to book the trip in the next 4-6 weeks once the passports come in.

Thanks for any help!

ixtap

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2017, 02:41:35 PM »
Have you looked into packages?

Have you looked into AirBnB?

Are you timing your flights to get the best deals?


LateStarter1

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2017, 02:44:49 PM »
I did look into packages and AirBnB.

Seems its the flight itself that is the most expensive. $1600ish itself for the 3 of us.

4alpacas

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2017, 02:53:45 PM »
http://www.travelmiles101.com/

I highly recommend their course. 

I'm not a heavy credit card churner, but I've been pretty successful due to a work travel.  Look into the Southwest card because you could end up with a companion pass (one free flight) and a generic travel card (Chase has a few good ones) for hotel stuff. 

wordnerd

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2017, 02:56:33 PM »
http://www.travelmiles101.com/

I highly recommend their course. 

I'm not a heavy credit card churner, but I've been pretty successful due to a work travel.  Look into the Southwest card because you could end up with a companion pass (one free flight) and a generic travel card (Chase has a few good ones) for hotel stuff.

Yes, we had a lot of success with the Southwest cards (we each got one) and getting a companion pass. They fly to several spots in Mexico now.

ptobest

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2017, 02:57:51 PM »
Look into flying in/out of nearby cities if you already haven't. You can sometimes find cheaper flights by looking at the cost of flying from a hub city to Mexico, and then booking a separate flight to get you & your family to the hub city.

lentil

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2017, 03:34:41 PM »
Are your dates fixed? That is, are you looking for a trip anytime in June, or just for one exact set of dates? Sites like skyscanner.com will let you search destinations and then look at prices over a whole month, to help find the cheapest days to fly.

Some budget airlines -- Southwest in particular -- don't show up via booking sites like expedia or kayak. So if you haven't already, check Southwest directly, along with Frontier, Spirit, JetBlue (although I think most of those do show up on the aggregator sites). BUT, before you book a flight on any airline, double-check its baggage allowance! Frontier in particular is obnoxious about making you pay for pretty much every bag, which means their "cheap tickets" can come to a whole lot more if you want to bring a change of clothes. Southwest is good though.

You've got a ton of time before this trip, so it probably would make sense to wait a bit and see if cheaper tickets come along. There isn't really a magic window when prices are guaranteed to be cheaper, so I know this can be nerve-wracking, but you're still verrrrry early. I usually find my best deals in the 3-6 month window before a trip (but that's purely anecdotal, of course, and depends a lot on the destination). You could also check discount fare sites (airfarewatchdog.com, secretflying.com, probably many others) to keep an eye out for special deals and error fares. You can sign up for fare tracking with some search sites too, if that's easier than constantly looking.

LateStarter1

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2017, 03:50:57 PM »
Thanks for the ideas!

Dates are flexible but trying to stick to the last 2 weeks of June. So there is some play in there.

I did not know some airlines did not show up in the travel sites. That is great to know.

I checked Southwest (does not fly out of my local airport). But they are showing about $400 cheaper total for the flight. So I will determine drive time back and forth/gas to the nearest airport so see if that is best. Plus if I got their rewards card and made that work, that could be some great savings.  Will look into that for sure.

We usually travel pretty light, so most likely will be able to get by with just carry on luggage.

I appreciate the replies!  If any other thoughts come up, please post!

Thanks!


JoJo

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2017, 05:55:33 PM »
Road trip to Canada!

FireHiker

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2017, 06:01:00 PM »
If you have your heart set on a particular flight route, I recommend airfarewatchdog to keep an eye on deals. The email gets a little spammy, but I locked in my travel for next April this week because of an alert (LAX to Amsterdam, $470 per person on British Air, which ended up being $281 per person because of our Chase UR points). I also track secretflying for deals/error fares.

We haven't gotten real serious in our travel hacking game yet, but the travelmiles101 is a great course to take and get an overview for what's out there.

For June of next year, we are considering Iceland Campervan trip, flying on Wow. I have to wait until about January/February before their flight rates for June will come up, and then decide if we still have the room in our travel budget.

If you get the Southwest card, make sure you read up on timing the minimum spend and the companion pass. I think if done properly it's good for 2 years? I haven't gotten it yet, but I know people online and IRL who rave about it.

surfhb

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Re: How to take my first out of country trip MMM style?
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2017, 09:00:52 AM »
There's a poster on this forum who runs an AirBnB in Baja.   It's very nice!   Does anyone know her name?

I would suggest you stay outside the very tourist areas if you would like to go cheaper and soak in more Mexican culture.