Traveling abroad is an adventure. Trying new cultures, meeting new people, hearing new languages, and eating different foods are just a few reasons visiting another country is so exciting. It can also be a burden on you financially which could stray you away from even looking into it. How do you even start looking to travel abroad cost effectively?  

I try to travel as much as possible for my family vacations. I want to expose my family to the adventures every part of this world has to offer. Whether it is visiting various cities in the U.S, resorts near the beach, to countries in Europe and Asia, my family and I were able to travel to these destinations very cost effective.  

Traveling abroad you have to factor in airfare, lodging, local transportation, food, drinks, excursions, souvenir shopping, sight seeing, and more. How do I afford this without having an impact financially? Here is my multi-step strategy. 

Plan 

You need to plan ahead of time where you are wanting to travel to. When I mean plan ahead, I’m referring to figuring out where you want to travel for the following year or possibly 2 years from now. It’s summer right now and I’m already trying to figure out where I’m trying to travel to next spring break and next summer. I try to find a few places in case one doesn’t work out.  

Research 

When you identify a few potential places, then it’s time to start researching for flights and lodging options. What airlines fly to your destinations? What lodging options are there? Hotels, home rentals, or other? Start entering flight searches to see flight times and approximate costs/miles needed. If you’re not planning to travel within a year, you likely won’t be able to search exact dates but you will be able to get a sense of the cost. If there are multiple airlines going to your destinations, also try looking for multiple one-way flights with different airlines.  

Same for lodging. Check for the what is available and do random searches to see what the going average rate is. Are there multiple hotels? Where are they located? How much is the rate or how many points are needed? Some hotel chains have it where you redeem a hotel room for 4 nights with points, you’ll get the 5^th night free.  

Money conversion rates play a big factor as well. When you go to another country, how far will your currency go? Right now, the US dollar is fairly strong compared historically.  

Strategy 

When you identify the few places to potentially travel to, you need to create a strategy. Which airlines could you plan to fly with? Which hotels would you stay at? Accruing airline miles and hotel points are going to be one of the quickest ways to getting free flights and hotels through credit card bonuses. I’ve been able to redeem free flights with various airline carriers for many years all through a credit card strategy. The same goes for hotels. As long as you have good credit and pay off your balance in full every month, this is a valuable strategy.  

Keep Checking 

When you look for flights, hotels, transportation, and other accommodations one day, it may not be the same another day. For example, if a flight you’re looking at a flight that costs 50,000 miles, keep checking going forward because it could be cheaper. Prices constantly fluctuate. If you redeemed miles for a flight, continue to keep checking because if the flight goes down in cost, call the airline to adjust your redemption which would lead you to getting miles back. For example, if you redeemed a flight for 50,000 miles and you check the following month and the same flight costs 30,000 miles, give the airline a call and ask for an adjustment. You should be able to get 20,000 miles back. I’ve used this strategy multiple times and received miles and points back.  

Save 

If you’re able to get your flight and lodging free, that is going to lighten the financial burden significantly. You can focus on saving for the other expenses such as food, excursions, and souvenirs.  

I’m currently on a trip in South Korea and Japan which took me 2 years to plan. I was able to accrue enough miles for my flights over those 2 years through credit card bonuses and spending to accrue points which saved me so much. I researched many flight combinations, different dates, and whether to do Japan first then Korea or vice versa. I researched the hotel and lodging accommodations. Once I had a good sense of my itinerary I started making reservations. Afterwards, I kept checking to see if the flights and hotels  prices changed. I’ve had to rebook my flights, lodging, and rental car reservations multiple times because the prices went down. While I’m here, I’m also thinking about next year’s travels. Traveling abroad doesn’t have to break the bank. If you plan, research, create a strategy, keep checking, and save, these steps could help you travel abroad cost effectively. If you are interested in following my journey and their journey, follow them on Instagram and email subscribe to get alerts of latest posts or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.