| This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. |
Let the destination choose YOU? Sounds weird, right?
I often hear from people who have a trip partially planned for specific dates to a specific place and are just beginning to look for their plane tickets.
If you want to save money or miles, this is the wrong way to do it. It’s possible you’ll find something, but chances are good you’ll pay a lot more than is ideal.
For the best prices, you have to have flexibility with either your dates or your destination – preferably both.
Start with your plane ticket
Don’t plan anything until you’ve found the ticket. Whether you’re paying with cash or points, let the plane ticket drive the destination.
You have lots of bucket list places, right?
I know I certainly do. And some of my favorite trips weren’t even to places high on my list. For example, Kotor, Montenegro became one of my favorite cities after visiting during a longer Balkan itinerary.
Why did we take that trip? Because we found a great Delta/KLM flight to Split, Croatia using Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Virgin Atlantic.
When I found that flight, I started looking for places nearby that looked interesting to add to the trip. We ended up visiting Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania all in one incredible itinerary based on that first flight.
We’ve been interested in a trip to Peru for years. That trip finally happened this summer, because of a great flight deal with Aadvantage miles.
The flights just never quite worked out in the past, so we put it on the back burner until they did.
If you had asked me a few years ago where I’d rather go – Peru or Montenegro, my easy answer would be Peru. But that didn’t stop us from taking an incredible Balkan trip built on a great flight and discovering memorable places along the way.
Do you have a mental list of potential travel locations? For me it’s Thailand, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Chile (and more) – just as soon as the right flight comes along.
The key to traveling affordably is being open to a wide range of destinations, depending on the whims of plane ticket pricing.
Booking with cash
If you haven’t gotten started with points and miles yet, you can still find a very affordable ticket using Google Flights.
Google Flights gives you SO MANY options to find the best flights for you.
When your dates aren’t flexible
Being flexible with your destination gives you the best chance for an affordable trip.
For example, if I want to take a trip to Europe, I can see all the potential prices from my starting airport to different destinations, by selecting “Europe” as the destination. You can do the same with any region or country.
You can click on any airport on the map to see the price to fly into that airport. Even if you know you’re interested in a trip to a specific country, you can still compare arrival airports. For example, sometimes Frankfurt is more affordable to fly to than Munich. A quick train ride on Germany’s excellent public transport system and you’re right where you need to be.
When your destination isn’t flexible
Maybe you’ve always dreamed of a trip to Paris and you’re finally ready to make it happen – you absolutely should!
If your destination isn’t flexible, you’ll save the most money or miles with flexible dates.
Google Flights comes in handy again. Just enter the length of your trip and your destination and it will show you the best dates for travel.
Booking with points and miles
Although there are websites that act as aggregators for points and miles travel, like point.me, I’ve found that they leave out a lot of programs or miss results. I have better results looking directly on the different airlines’ websites.
Where to look depends on which types of points and miles currencies you have.
When I use the word “currency”, I mean Ultimate Rewards Points, Membership Rewards Points, Aadvantage miles, United MileagePlus miles, and others.
If you only have Aadvantage miles, then that’s where you’ll need to look.
If you have transferrable currencies (currencies that transfer to multiple programs) like Ultimate Rewards, then you have many more options.
When using Ultimate Rewards, I like to always start with United. They have an easy calendar view that helps you find the best dates for travel.
For example, I’m interested in going back to Puerto Vallarta in January. Here’s the United calendar for that month.
And here’s the same month using Aadvantage miles.
In this case, Aadvantage looks like the better option. But if neither place had any good flights, I would look at flights to Mexico City (another location I’m interested in) or maybe Oaxaca. I’ll let my travel destination be dependent on the flights and dates I find.
I could also investigate other programs like British Air (can use to book its partner American Airlines) and Virgin Atlantic (can use to book its partner Delta Airlines). Learn more here.
Again, it’s important to simply get on the airline websites and look around at different destinations and dates until you find something that will work for you.
Once the flights are booked, look for hotels
For the best prices, secure your flights first, then continue with your plans. Take a look at the top travel websites before making your decision. I like to look at VRBO and Booking.com before choosing a vacation apartment. If you’re looking for hotels, Tripadvisor is a great bet.
Remember – this is not a once in a lifetime trip
Before I found points and miles, every trip felt like a once in a lifetime trip. I was never sure when the stars would align again to be able to leave the country. My international trips were separated by many years.
After I got started using points and miles, I recognized that every year is an international trip year, sometimes multiple times. This lowers the significance of a single trip and allows us to experiment with new places that seem interesting, but might not reach the top of the list.
Final thoughts
When you keep a running list of possible travel locations and choose the one where the ticket makes the most sense, you’ll save money or points for the next trip.
Let the destination (or dates) choose you!