Travel Tip 98
How to travel during a recession
When you’re buying flights, play around with the time of day to find the best deals.
I’m not trying to scare anybody.
I’m not an economist and I don’t know where the economy is going. Still, it’s on a lot of people’s minds these days, so we might as well talk about it. Here’s my top five tips for anybody who wants to make travel more affordable.
1. Know the right time to book
I usually tell people to book hotels and tours as soon as you have your flights – and to track flight prices so you know when there’s a good deal. However, if we’re headed into a recession and fewer people are traveling, hotels and tour operators might get desperate to fill rooms & tours two or three weeks before and drop prices. It’s a gamble, like buying flights is always a gamble, but it’s one to keep in mind as the economy slows.
2. Be flexible
If you bought your flights then didn’t book hotels and tours because you thought prices would drop more, what will you do if prices don’t drop, or if they go up? Are you flexible enough to do something else entirely? This is when I recommend picking a destination that has lots of things to do. Hawai’i has expensive golf courses, scuba trips and fancy resorts, but it also has free walks on the beach and snorkel gear. If you’re going to New Orleans and the prices for hotels in the French Quarter don’t drop, can you stay in a different part of the city? You may have to be more flexible than usual this year.
3. Figure out the finances
There are quite a few ways to make travel more affordable, but I’m not a financial expert and I don’t push credit cards. My basic advice here is: have a separate savings account for travel, get a credit card with travel benefits, and figure out how to use credit card points. My travel credit card isn’t great, compared to the best rated ones, but it’s for the airline that I fly 90% of the time. Read what the experts are saying about which credit cards have the best travel perks, but also consider if you’ll be able to use all those perks.
Multired Atms in Peru are the only ones that don’t charge any fees.
4. Track currency & exchange rates
Some currencies are very volatile and if you watch the exchange rate go up and down a lot, you’ll have a good idea when you can get the best rate. I use XE.com to track exchange rates over time. I use Wise to exchange payments I get from companies who buy my writing that pay in British pounds or euros and I wait to exchange those funds until I can get more dollars for each transfer to my US bank. You can do the same by opening an account with your home currency and the currency of where you’re going. This only makes sense if you’re going somewhere with a volatile currency and if you’ll be spending enough money to really make it worth it or if you go there frequently. If you go to Europe or Mexico every summer, I think it makes sense to get a euro or peso account and exchange your money when the rate is best, even if that’s not when you’re traveling.
The other exchange rate you have to watch is when you get to the country and want to exchange cash. Kiosks in the airport tend to have the worst rates, so I never exchange money at airports. In most countries, withdrawing money from an Atm will get you the best rate – but not always! In Argentina I got twice as many pesos per dollar exchanging for cash on the street as I got withdrawing from an Atm. Research where you’re going on traveler blogs and check social media for people who are there now and ask them. Also watch Atm fees. In Peru, Banco de Credito de Peru (BCP) has Atms everywhere, but they also charge about $10 USD per transaction. Banco de la Nación has fewer Atms but they don’t charge any fees – and if your bank at home doesn’t charge fees then you’re in luck.
5. Choose travel insurance wisely
It’s a total pain, but you have to read the fine print before you buy travel insurance. Don’t pay for extras that you won’t need and make sure that things you want covered really are covered. I recommend first deciding what you want insurance for and second making sure you’re not paying for anything else. If your credit card covers rental car insurance and pays to replace lost luggage, don’t waste money buying more insurance for that.
I have SafetyWing insurance because it let me choose the options that I don’t already have covered by other insurance. This is my only sponsored link because I really like SafetyWing. If you buy SafetyWing insurance with my link, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Think of it as a great way to support my blog and all the free information that I give travelers!
Arequipa is surrounded by extinct volcanoes, has a main square full of trees, fabulous architecture and so much more.
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Top Ten Best Things to Do & Places to Go in Arequipa
Here are my top ten favorite places and activities in Arequipa. I love this city. If I lived somewhere else in Peru besides Cusco, it would be in Arequipa. I have been several times and while none were very recent, I just finished the blog this week. I have been so many places in Peru and done so many things that even publishing a blog every week it’s hard to keep up.
