2nd in the "Are you ready to check-off “Visit my Clan Homelands” on your bucket list?" series
Now you that you answered the “when” and “where” for your trip, it’s time to look at your Travel Budget. Let’s start with Airfare for this blog.
Finding the best deals on flights can be wee bit tricky but over the years, I have found that signing up for “price alerts” such as Hopper.com, Airfarewatchdog.com or Scott’s Cheap Flights has helped in keeping the prices down. I don’t always use their site to buy my tickets but I know I can check the airline directly and usually get the same price. You also want to compare prices so use search engines as well like Kayak.com, Google Flights or Skyscanner.com.
So how far in advance should one buy their tickets. The average for Europe flights which include the UK and Ireland is approximately 120 days. I have bought tickets in October for the following year’s April trip and bought in May for October trip both with great prices. All because of the price alerts I received. They say practice makes perfect which is not necessarily always true but by spending some time looking at flights, you’ll know what the average prices are during the year. This helps you spot those good deals.
If you have the opportunity to use any unused sky miles or avios points, use them! If not, sometimes signing up for a specific credit card will get you miles quickly to use for your flight as well. There are tons of credit cards that give you miles for purchases but my favorite that I have used for the past 8 years is Capital One Venture card. It has the best all-around deals I have found for travel and points.
Time to start researching prices! My next blog will cover the accommodations, travel insurance and actual transportation methods once in the UK for your Travel Budget items.
More from me in 2 weeks!
~Gwen
gwenmcn.cmaa@gmail.com