Be A Travel Opportunist

The other approach is to be a true opportunist. This will be difficult for some of you, and entirely unacceptable to others. Nonetheless, the travelers who get to travel the most, go to the widest variety of places, learn the most and do the most, are the opportunists. This will be true until you are so wealthy that you have no monetary limits.

The first time I went to Ecuador, I went there because it was cheap. If it wasn’t, I would have had a great time – somewhere else. The trip lasted a month, and cost $1045, which included airfare and even the $130 fee for a guide to take me to the top of glacier-covered Mount Chimborazo.

I cut the cost by taking a bus from my home in Michigan to Miami, and back again when I returned from Ecuador. The
round-trip ticket cost $158. The round-trip flight to Quito from Miami was only $256, because it was a courier flight, which meant I signed for some luggage (car parts), and could only take carry-on luggage.

Never did I feel deprived, or bored. I had a great time, eating wherever it was cheap and clean, doing all sorts of inexpensive, but interesting things, and traveling across the country to climb Chimborazo. I also met and fell in love with my wife Ana.

How To Become An Opportunist Traveler

Can you drink rum at a dollar per bottle, instead of your favorite beer? Can you eat chicken instead of steak? How about visiting the free sights first, and dancing in the street festival instead of the disco?

Being an opportunist means you’ll have just as much variety, and probably almost everything you want – eventually. You just have to stop trying to get exactly what you want exactly when you want it. If the guide that took me up Chimborazo hadn’t dropped his price from $200 to $130, I would have spent $2 for a bus and gone hiking on El Altar, another great Andean mountain. That would have left me with enough money for several other minor adventures.

More Secrets Of Cheap Travel

Plane Tickets: My wife and I were planning a trip to visit family in Ecuador. The cheapest airfare from Traverse City, Michigan to Quito, was $1720. Out of curiosity, I checked Miami to Quito, and it was only $404. Airfare from Traverse City to Miami was $300. Book two separate flights and save more than $2000! The discount sites aren’t set up to search in this way (yet), so you have to do this on your own. By the way, the whole six-week trip, which we took in 2004, cost $2400, including losing $100, and being robbed of $174.

Food: Whether traveling here or in other countries, it is usually cheaper to buy some healthy snacks in a grocery store, rather than eat every meal in a restaurant. When you do eat in restaurants, it can be cheaper to to order individual items on the menu from the list of appetizers or side dishes. You also may get more variety in that way.

Accomodations: For a long trip, you may want to rent an apartment in an interesting city. We did this for two months in Tucson, for about $600 less per month, compared to even the cheaper motels. Watch for hotel coupon-books in gas stations. The coupons will often save you $10 on a room you would have stayed in anyhow. If you have a conversion van or RV, you can camp a couple nights a week, like we do, to save on motels. We love the hotsprings we’ve stayed at, for a $3 fee to the BLM, instead of $40 for the cheapest motel in the area.

Travel Expenses: Do more and travel less. It is often the traveling part that costs the most, due to the cost of gas, convenient fast food, and expensive hotels you are forced to pay for when you just can’t drive any further. So if you find a place with a reasonable motel, and a lot to do in the area – stay for a while!

Most travel insurance policies are designed for a variety of travel needs but, I emphatically advise reading the fine print of any policy you purchase regarding any deductibles and health situations. You many find your policy won’t cover pre-existing conditions that may cause a problem, or that the medical coverage is only for an injury or an illness — not both. For emergency aid, travel insurance polices are generally dependable and affordable, but there are still a myriad of gaps in the coverage provided.

You can find polices designed for almost any type of trip you may be planning, such as a single trip for hunting, backpacking, cruises, house rentals, and a host of others. But, the specific types and amounts of coverage you get depend on the policy you choose. It’s important to remember that you will only be covered for what is specifically stated in your policy and for nothing else.

Most policies cover trip cancellation, lost baggage, medical, dental, and accidental death coverage. Other policies include emergency evacuation, 24 hour travel assistance, and trip or baggage delay. You may even find policies that include options for collision or damage to rented cars and business conflicts. There are many options that can be covered, but you will have to ask.

The premiums for the policies are generally 5% to 7% the cost of your trip, but fees will vary depending on the your medical history and passengers ages. Many companies offer policies that will include coverage for children at no extra charge.

It is best not to buy your travel insurance from your tour operator. I’ve listed a few reasons why it may be better to purchase through an insurance company separately.

Most travel insurance policies offered by the operator are less flexible to your individual needs;

Provide a lower amount of coverage;

May only cover a portion of the trip;

Your coverage may be secondary and the insurance will only pay for what you own private health or homeowner’s insurance does not cover;

May duplicate coverage you already have;

In the event the tour operator liquidates and goes belly up, you would lose not only your trip, but also your premium.

Many travel agents are not fully knowledgeable when it comes to understanding the details of various travel insurance policies and may overlook something that could be important to you or your family and few offer suggestions. Buying travel insurance may be less expensive purchasing through your tour operator or cruise line, but for the reasons listed above, you should really check around.

If you do choose to buy your policy from your tour operator, be sure to use a credit card. Depending on the policy of the credit card issuer, you may be provided with protection against potential default of the operator.

When buying your policy from an insurance company:

Always get quotes from several companies

Ask if the plan is pre-packaged or if you can custom design your own

Can you waive the pre-existing condition exclusion

Ask if you are covered for cancellation due to a terrorist incident. Don’t count of the company to provide information

Ask any question you can dream up and

Do ask for suggestions

Low prices.
Enter your search criteria just once, and find deals from major airlines and low cost carriers

What follows next are a few tips which we sincerely believe you should use when you’re seeking information about cheap travel. Please be aware that the advice we tender is only relevant to internet information about cheap travel. We can’t offer you any guidance or advice when you are also conducting research in books or magazines.

Travelocity – Cheap Travel
Find cheap travel at Travelocity. Get great discounts on air, rental car and hotel reservations.

A good pointer to follow when offered help or advice concerning a cheap travel article would be to confirm the sites ownership. This could reveal the people behind the website cheap travel integrity The easiest way to reveal who owns the cheap travel website is to look on the ‘contact’ page or ‘about this site’ information.

Any reputable website providing information regarding cheap travel, will always have contact information which will record the site owner’s contact details. The details should let you know some advice concerning the owner’s requisite knowledge. You can then decide for yourself about the webmaster’s familiarity and qualifications, to offer guidance about cheap travel.

After researching these Search Terms for you, I have found a number of offers and much information. This report is the culmination of many, many hours of online research and I am certain you will enjoy learning what is really offered under these terms.

Some entries returned are clearly advertisements for some sort of Informational Products. E-Books that were written to “educate” the consumer on how to travel for free. These include products that will give you the consumer insider information on how to save money on travel. Or how to travel for free.

Here is the real deal. Some offers are contingent upon booking accommodations or a cruise. Such as these:

“Free Airfare”. Due to the volume buying power of a major travel consolidator in the US and Canada, it is now possible for a limited time to receive Free Roundtrip Airfare for 2 valued at up to $1600.00 from this little known source. Visit http://www.free-airfare.info for more information.

This Free Airfare is actually good for anytime within the next five years. This offer is contingent upon booking your hotel with a specific licensed Travel Agency, however, if you are planning a trip to nearly any International Airport destination and are going to be staying in a hotel of any type during your trip, you will essentially be paying only for your Hotel Room with this offer.

The way it works basically is that you purchase up front a Reservation Package. Purchase your Reservation Package here, http://www.free-airfare.info

Once you have the Reservation Forms, you fill in your desired budget and destination and send it to the Travel Agent. The Agent Books the Accommodations for you and sends you an airline ticket along with a Confirmation for your hotel stay. It’s that easy.

If you are planning a cruise then you can also receive “Free Airfare” by booking on the Paul Gauguin Cruise ship. More details here. http://cruises.about.com/cs/cruisenews/a/040217pgauguin.htm
This ship cruises Tahiti annd associated ports.

Another “Free Airfare” offer exists with a Cruise in the Hawaii. More details here. http://www.didioncruises.com/aboutcruise.html

“Free Travel” Strategies: Here is five ways you can travel for free. Not everyone will be able to take advantage of these secrets, but if you can, you can expect to enjoy many years of free travel. Visit http://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/travel-for-free.html

How to “Fly for Free” by giving up your seat Believe it or not, although people rarely like to be bumped from their regularly scheduled flights, it can actually lead to free or greatly reduced flights. Find more details here, http://www.smarterliving.com/advice/advtips/advice.php?id=5470&ctid=i5470c35p420

Here are some ideas assembled by a long time traveller. I would not personally be able to do all of these, however, some of these ideas do seem feasible. Visit http://members.lycos.co.uk/sauntering/misc/freetravel.htm

If you know a group of people who have been talking about going somewhere together or if you want to assemble a group to visit some exotic or tourist destination these agencies will pay your way for booking through them.

Ski or Ride for Free http://www.banchi.com/travelfree.asp

Cruise for Free http://www.connectiontocruise.com/display.asp?page=learnaboutus

If you are a Teacher you could actually be paid for Leading a Travel Group. http://www.etrav.com/group_benefits.asp

If you have writing skills and enjoy writing about destinations, this may be your ticket for free travel. http://www.travelwriters.com/writers/website/view.asp?idnumber=1687&writerid=1621

As you can see there are a few legitimate opportunities online for Free travel. But the time it takes to sift through all the advertisements and listings to find them was substantial. It is my sincere hope that you will take advantage of these offers and opportunities and begin to enjoy the benefits of Free Travel.

You can visit Lastminute.com.au, Lastminute.com.au is the Australian arm of the worldwide LastMinute travel brand. They have just re-launched the Australian website and we wanted to get some buzz happening out in the travel-related blogosphere. The site, IMHO, is a massive improvement on the previous Australian LM site, which was difficult to navigate & not the prettiest site ever built. They would like the focus of the blog posts to be around the main areas of the LM’s business. Last minute accommodation ready to help for your accommodation needs.You can use the last minute flights to explore new places that you do not know, cheap flights can also be found. For the rest you can stay at last minute hotels. With all these facilities you will feel the holidays more enjoyable and memorable.