Author Topic: Travel Hacks for Mustachians  (Read 3404 times)

hoyahoyasaxa

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Travel Hacks for Mustachians
« on: September 16, 2013, 05:02:28 PM »
My wife and I are traveling to Ireland for 11 days in October.  It's a long overdue trip and we're excited to finally be going.  We're trying to make this as Mustachian a trip as possible. 

Right now, we're planning to fly out of NYC (any airport) on October 4 bound for Dublin (cheapest Irish airport in which to fly into that I've seen) and returning on October 15th.  The cheapest flights I'm seeing on Kayak are $650 per person.  We're planning on staying in Dublin for the first 3 nights and I've found an AirBNB listing for $48 (for two people) a night, thinking of staying in a hostel in Tralee for $60 (for two people) a night for the next 4 nights, staying in a hostel in the Castlebar area for the next 2 nights for $50 a night (for two people) and the last night in Dublin for $45 at an AirBNB place.  We've yet to book anything so I'm open to any travel hacking ideas people have to cut costs.

Given this itinerary, is there anything people can suggest for cutting costs when traveling internationally?  We're going all over and are renting a car which is pretty affordable for less than $200 for 11 days with unlimited mileage (although the gas prices in Ireland are killer).  Anybody who has experience with Ireland who can make suggestions for our trip?

seattlecyclone

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Re: Travel Hacks for Mustachians
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2013, 05:19:41 PM »
This might be too late for you since you're traveling next month, but you can get some good deals on airfare by using credit card sign-up bonuses. My wife and I recently took a trip to South America. We each signed up for Delta's credit card that gave us 30,000 miles after spending $500 on the card. We combined these bonus miles with miles we had earned on previous flights to get round-trip tickets for 40,000 miles and about $60 in taxes and fees. This strategy does take some advance planning though. It takes a little time for a Mustachian couple to spend $500 on each of two new credit cards, some time after that before you actually get the sign-up miles credited to your account, and some time after that before you can find a well-priced award ticket available on the airline's website (check every day and one will usually show up eventually).

olivia

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Re: Travel Hacks for Mustachians
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2013, 06:09:20 PM »
Along with staying at Air BnB places and/or hostels, I like to go to the market/grocery store and pick up stuff for sandwiches and snacks and wine/beer.  You may or may not have access to a fridge but you could get a hard salami, bread and hard cheese and make a sandwich for lunch or dinner.  For breakfast if I don't have a fridge I'll grab a yogurt from the grocery store along with a piece of fruit.  (I buy several if I have a fridge to use.)

Depending on the kitchen at your Air BnB place you could also throw together a quick salad with tuna fish on top for an easy meal.  Or there may be inexpensive foods you can snag from food carts or local cafes.  (On my last trip to Spain we could get a decent breakfast for 2-3 euros so we did that most days.)  I will definitely still eat out so I can experience the local food and culture, but I do it only occasionally or I'll do it on the cheap. 

Also, museums typically have free or pay what you want days, so those are worth searching for.  I think it's the first Sunday in a lot of European countries, not sure about Ireland though.

And refraining from buying a bunch of souvenirs helps keep costs down, too.  I'd rather buy 1 special item if I find something I love, or just skip it altogether since I'll still have the memories. 

travelbug

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Re: Travel Hacks for Mustachians
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2013, 09:21:52 PM »
As you are only going for two weeks, this does not apply for this trip; but we try to stay somewhere for a week and you can generally get a cheaper weekly rate.

If we see cool stuff we want to buy for novelty value, we take a photo. That seems to do the trick. (eg: In Disneyland our children wanted everything they saw so we took photos of them wearing the hats and ears etc and they were happy.) (and no, I know DL is not mustachian, but we are Aussies...)

We also eat breakfast usually at "home" or dinner. Lunch is our main meal out and lunch is normally a cheaper meal than dinner.

Have fun on your trip, it sounds wonderful!