All YouR Travel Questions – Answered Here!
Hey Loves!
It’s been a minute, but I hoped you’ve taken 5 mins for yourself, took a sip of your favorite coffee (or tea), and ready to tackle the day.
I don’t consider myself a travel connoisseur but me and my husband love to travel. In fact, that was a goal we set for our marriage – to hold off on immediately starting a family to travel the world. He’s the best travel partner and over the years, we’ve gotten use to each other and how we travel. I always handle logistics (flight, hotels, transportation), and he handles the itinerary while we’re there.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve gotten questions regarding how/why/when we travel and figured this would be a good place to have a general Q&A. If there’s a question I didn’t answer, leave it in the comments and I promise to get to it!
QUESTION: Do you budget for travel?
ANSWER: Yes, we don’t so much as do set amounts but rather percentages. We both take 15% of our salaries for travel and since my influencer income isn’t dependent on our household bills, I also take a percentage from that and put toward our travel funds. We build our travel funds the year before – so every trip we are currently taking in 2022, we’re using the funds saved from 2021. It helps us create an idea of places to visit next year based on what our funds look like.
QUESTION: How do you decide where to travel?
ANSWER: That depends on our budget. We have places we like to visit every year (Savannah, Destin, etc) and we have a goal that once a year, we travel somewhere we’ve never been to before. Most of the time – that involves somewhere in Europe as that’s my dream continent to move to one day.
QUESTION: What about your job? Do you have enough vacation days?
ANSWER: We’re blessed that both of our companies have unlimited vacation days. We still plan around busy times for our jobs and make sure were not leaving the company in a burden by being out of the office.
QUESTION: Did you use a travel agent to book your trips, or did you plan it yourself? If you planned it yourself, which sites/tools did you use?
ANSWER: I’ve never used a travel agent to book trips. I believe in general booking and research on my own. I don’t have any tricks or magic wands but here’s some tips I use
Flights: I book these directly from the airline. I check sites such as Google Flights to track certain prices and times. I also pay for a membership to Scott’s Flights – a website that gives deals on flights from your home airport. We originally wanted to go to Greece for our anniversary in September but saw a deal on Scott’s for cheaper prices (almost half price) if we went in August, so we took it!
Hotels: I check sites like expedia.com and booking.com for pricing. If these prices are cheaper than hotel website, I simply give them a call. I’ve never had an issue where the hotel didn’t match or even go lower than the price on those websites. You would be surprised what a simple phone call will do.
Airbnb: We normally only do these when were visiting a location for more than a week and need space. In that case, I’m relying on the reviews to give me an idea of where to stay. I also check TripAdvisor for popular neighborhoods and narrow my search from there.
QUESTION: Have you ever had an issue with your luggage?
ANSWER: No (knocks on wood). We have preferred airlines we fly given our credit cards points and have not had any issues with lost/stolen luggage.
QUESTION: Speaking of luggage, how much do you pack?
ANSWER: That depends on where we travel but I never want to be in a situation where I have to pay for my luggage. Southwest has 2 free checked bags. Our Delta credit cards allow us to check 2 free bags and most flights across the pond allow for 1 free bag (just in case you don’t have a credit card – although I HIGHLY suggest getting one. The points alone make it worth it).
I always bring 2 pieces of luggage with me and 99% of the time, the second piece is empty. It allows me to shop without having to worry about where my items will go. Hubby normally does the same thing. We love to shop at local boutiques and stores while on vacay and when traveling to Europe, I always buy a luxury item as it’s so much cheaper than buying here in the states.
QUESTION: Would you ever do a group travel trip?
ANSWER: Short answer, No! I don’t do well with group travel as I love to go on my own some days and feel some people would take offense to that. I also don’t want to be responsible for someone having/not having a good trip
Well, I think that covers most of the questions. Did I miss one? Leave it in the comments below and I’ll promise to answer
