We’re sharing the best travel tips to save time and money when planning and traveling in 2024. We know you all have “travel more” as a new years resolution and we’re here to help by sharing some of the best ways to get more out of your trip duration and your dollar to see and do more across the globe this year. Featuring extra travel tips from The Joys of Jet Lag, At Home in Ireland, and Prince of Travel.

In this episode we share several gadgets and tools that help make travel easier that wed use for all our trips:

• Thrifty Traveler Premium – Use code TS10 for $10 off your first year subscription
• Liquid IV – Use code TRAVELSQUADPODCAST for 20% off your order
• Airtag
• Trip Planner
• Trip Itineraries
• Collapsible water bottle
• Travel Summit by Prince of Travel

Time & Money Saving Travel Tips – Episode Transcript

1 (44s):
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast and happy new year! This week’s episode is full of tips to keep you traveling and saving money and time in 2024.

You know this year my New Year’s resolution is to travel as much as possible, do it for as cheap as possible and still get the best travel memories I possibly can. You know, we love a good deal and for all of you OG squats, you know, when we say fuck ’em hard, what we’re really meaning is yes, we’re getting a killer deal. And in this episode it is all about sharing those moments so you can take advantage of them too.

2 (1m 22s):
Honestly, I’m really ecstatic about this episode. A Tips and Money Saving episode like this really makes me feel like we’re getting back to our roots since a lot of our earlier episodes centered around topics like this. One of my favorite things is when we get asked questions by family, friends, or even emails or dms from you squads regarding travel advice more particularly about making travel more easy Saving time and money and really effing them hard, right? So travel advice like this never goes out of style or it gets old.

0 (1m 54s):
With this episode, we don’t have any tips for you because it’s all tips. So we’re gonna go right on in. First category of tips for 2024 is all about maximizing time. There are many different ways that you can get the most out of the time that you have on the trip, but what we’re talking about here is pairing your vacation days with calendar holidays, things like New Year’s, Memorial Day, 4th of July, labor Day, Thanksgiving. Especially those ones like Labor Day, Memorial Day where you’re not necessarily always gonna be getting together with family or having these big celebrations are kind of just bonus days. These are good holidays to earmark for your travel planning for the year.

2 (2m 35s):
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve actually utilized a Labor Day or Memorial Day holiday to get those extra days in on a shorter little vacation, whether it be domestic and for us here in the us even international, no, you know, you can fly to Mexico, fly to Canada. Yeah, it’s international. Yeah, it’s far, but it’s also close enough to where it’s like okay, it’s not really jumping across the ocean and we maximize those holidays all the time. And the best part is when you go to another country, whether it be Mexico or Canada utilizing that, it’s not a holiday over there. So you don’t have any holiday crowds or anything like that for the locals. Everyone is just going about their life and I love it.

1 (3m 16s):
I know you Kim, you have time off between Christmas and New Year’s and I know it’s popular amongst some other companies. My dad and brother, they both work for different companies and they both have that same bonus and perk too. So they’re always trying to plan something between Christmas and New Year’s to maximize their time off. And I think that’s really great and for those of us that don’t have that perk. But I work in healthcare so I have other perks. Like I work three twelves in a week and so I stack my days together to work five or six in a row and then I take a longer vacation and I can usually get anywhere from six to eight days off utilizing stacking days together. Just working really hard several days in a row and then taking a break in between.

0 (3m 57s):
I will say one thing about this, when you travel around holidays here in the US airline flights sometimes can be more expensive, so watch your costs, try to book as early as possible if you are planning for that. Or it’s a good weekend to do something like a road trip where you don’t have a big airline expense.

1 (4m 17s):
Ooh, that’s a great tip. I love a good road trip. Another tip for you guys is to have trips to visit friends and family and using where they live as a home base and hub to get the most out of that visit. You can also maximize money too ’cause you can usually stay for free if you’re visiting friends or family.

0 (4m 34s):
Nice.

2 (4m 35s):
Yeah, so like as a good example, you know Brittany’s sister lives in Dallas and whenever we fly out there, you know, we obviously are spending time with family staying at her place so we’re not really having to pay for a hotel. But on top of that, when we’re there we say, well what’s close in proximity to us? And so one of the last times we were there, we drove to Oklahoma City, just explored around a little bit for the day. We also did that Squad trip when we went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, hot Springs National Park. You know, we’ve talked many times about how much we love that. So finding cities where family and friends live and if you’re fortunate enough to find other locations that are of interest to you that are within close driving distance of their home location, I think it’s a really great way to utilize that and see other things

0 (5m 20s):
That Hot Springs, Arkansas trip was a really good one. We got to stay at your sister’s house for free and then we did the trip and we, you know, spent one night in a hotel but we also got to use her car for free so we didn’t have to rent a car. That was amazing.

1 (5m 35s):
That was great too. And you also don’t feel as guilty when you use like family and friends as the home base ’cause you are seeing them. So it’s like a twofer like oh hi, we’re spending time with you but we’re also doing something additional bonus points if they go with you so that it could be like a little family or friends trip

0 (5m 49s):
This year, honorary Squad member Leah, she doesn’t know it yet, but she moved to St. Augustine Florida a while ago and I’ve kind of been planning out what each month I have going on and I’m like, hmm, there’s nothing yet going on in March. Maybe I’ll go to St. Augustine, Florida and hit up Leah. So Leah, if you’re listening, just know I’m gonna be reaching out soon. You

1 (6m 12s):
Know, Leah is definitely listening in and that’d be great to go. We had, we actually did a side trip there too when we went to Florida last year. So it’s definitely a fun trip and you’re gonna meet up with a friend and explore a new destination, which is great. I don’t know how many times over the last year Jamal and I have gone home to our hometown of Woodland and to visit his parents. We’ve done side trips to nearby destinations anywhere drivable, so we get to see them for a little bit, get to spend the night, get it for free, then go explore other places around. And this past summer we did a little trip to Philly and Jersey. We got to hit up Philly and meet up with our squads, hit up a new state.

1 (6m 53s):
We went to the Jersey Shore, which we’ve never been to. We got to explore that new area, visit our friends Bob and Lorraine. And then we also went to Cape May and got to see another friend of mine. So it really maximized both time and money for that.

2 (7m 6s):
And I really think that last little bit there where Brittany was mentioning, you know we did Philly and New Jersey, which are of course you know different states ’cause Philly’s in Pennsylvania, right? But I think it’s one of those things where coming from the west coast we sometimes really forget how in close proximity major cities on the east coast are. So if you’re really looking to be like, oh I want to go to one city in particular as a good example, Philly, there’s so many other major cities around or oh I’m going to Washington, DC so many other major cities around, it’s like you can spread yourself, check out a few different places. So that’s definitely maximizing your time that way. That way you don’t have to take another flight sometime in the future to go back to that general same area and spend more time and money.

1 (7m 51s):
Another tip to maximize Saving time is to plan trips with friends and families and meet up in that destination. We’ve done this ourselves with our friend Robin for the last two years. We’ve picked a location we’ve met up in that destination. That way you’re not spending time just to go meet up with someone and then doing something in their home city, especially if you’ve already done their home city multiple times. You can have these experiences together, which I think is really great.

0 (8m 16s):
It’s so fun to meet up with your friends in the airport when you’d be like all arrive and you see each other for the first time. I love that feeling.

1 (8m 24s):
Yeah, when we just went met up for our Georgia trip this last year, that was really fun to like see you and like, hey, when’s Robin coming out? Like everyone’s waiting. Although we didn’t see her at the airport ’cause she was taken forever, but it’s really fun. Another thing too, and this is something that I learned from a friend, our friend Lorraine, we stayed at her beach cottage in the Jersey shore with her. She was telling us that they have a family tradition where every single year when her kids were growing up, a different person in their family would pick a destination and they would be the travel ambassador for that location and plan everything to the T and then just the whole family would just book and show up and that’s kind of how they spent time together and explored a new destination.

1 (9m 6s):
And I thought that was really cool. Like you’re never in charge every single year someone gets to pick something. So you might not, it might not be on the top of your list, but you’re going to have that experience and spend time with family. And she said they did that for several years in a row and they always had a really good time.

0 (9m 21s):
Hmm, that is a really cool idea.

2 (9m 23s):
You just gotta know who you’re letting plan that trip for you, right? Otherwise it could end up backfired on you depending on, but also, I don’t know how many times on this podcast we’ve talked about certain places that are not on the top of the list that we go to because there’s travel deals or specials and the unsuspecting places actually surprise you and you enjoy a lot more. So I really do like that idea that Lorraine has and told us about. So that’s a good one to put into practice. But kind of speaking about meeting up with family friends in a specific destination. I just wanna remind our squatty, come June we have a meetup in West Virginia, more particularly at New River Gorge National Park and we are doing a squatty meetup and we’re having our friends and family come join us on that too.

2 (10m 12s):
So if you haven’t looked into the details already on that, go to our website, Travel Squad Podcast dot com, find them and be sure to book and join us out there and utilize this very travel tip that we’re talking about right now. Meetups in other cities.

0 (10m 26s):
We also have a Squad trip to the Napa wine country in November of this year and it’s gonna be a three day wine experience with wine tasting breakfast buffet, hot springs. We’re meeting in the San Francisco airport so we’re gonna be like rah rah rah. You know that feeling we were just talking about. So two opportunities to maximize your time, hang out with us and get some travel in. Another one here is utilizing long layovers to get a bonus, just the tip taste of another city. I really love this one. I’ve done this a couple of times now purely because of how much money it can save on your flight when you book through another city and get like 12 to 24 hours in this place.

0 (11m 12s):
I most recently did this coming back from Greece, got a bonus like 20 hours in London. It was just enough to see Westminster Abbey, big Ben, the London eye and Eat bangers and mash, which is now one of my favorite foods that I crave like every day. And it gives you a just a little bit of a taste so that you kind of are more motivated to wanna see that city again in the future. And you’re then would be going in with a little bit of a baseline knowledge of like what the city looks like or how to navigate it or what kind of amazing food that they have.

2 (11m 47s):
Well not only that too for this trip when you come back, but a lot of times when flights have those longer layovers they tend to be a little bit more cost competitive than the ones that don’t. So it’s kind of a two for you’re Saving a little bit of money and you’re actually getting to explore a place that you know you happen to be passing through with that long layover. We did that before when we went to South Africa, came back through New York, decided to take that layover and actually make it a day or two since we were kind of already there. Brittany and I are in the process of planning Thailand right now and a lot of flights when you go to Thailand to transit through Hong Kong and we’re thinking to ourselves, well should we make a quick little day trip or two in Hong Kong and just utilize the fact that we’re there.

2 (12m 32s):
So don’t underestimate utilizing those long layovers and just getting bonus time in another city. That way you can maximize it. And I just want to say this, several airlines, more particularly Emirates, which has a hub in Dubai, they have a program where if you’re flying through Dubai and going somewhere else, you can actually for free have the airline book you a hotel and stay a day and then take off the next day in another one. So that’s something really to look into. So if some people are coming from the east coast of the United States trying to actually get to Asia, maybe you have a flight going through Dubai, utilize that and search because there are other airlines that do do that and give you complimentary layovers and pay for your hotel when transiting through.

1 (13m 18s):
Our last tip in this section for Saving time is if you or your partner or a friend is taking a work trip, maybe tagging along for that trip and exploring the city while they work or after they work or after you work. I know a lot of people are doing that and they get to see more of the destination if you know that the trip is gonna be during the week, maybe staying the weekend after two to maximize the time there if you have the opportunity. And I think it’s a really great way to explore and save time ’cause you’re already going there. Anyways,

0 (13m 48s):
Great tip. I’ve actually done this in New York City. The first time that I went there, it was for a work trip. I stayed another night and kind of explored on my own. I also just did this in Dallas. I went out there for a work trip and then stayed a little bit longer to kind of just explore a little bit on my own, see it before coming back. I mean you’re already there, why not see it?

2 (14m 8s):
Another great topic is maximizing money. Who doesn’t love to maximize the money That way you have more money to spend on vacation, right? And one of our favorite things to do more particularly as of late, and it’s not always a number one, yes go-to ’cause the sale has to be right on it and it doesn’t always pan out. But when you do the math and it pans out, it’s a really great tip. And that’s actually buying airline points because sometimes the points will be cheaper than actually buying the ticket itself.

0 (14m 41s):
And sometimes you don’t need to buy the full amount of the points for the trip that you’re trying to take. Maybe you have 9,000 points but the trip is 10,000 so you only need to buy the 1000 and that would be cheaper than paying the full dollar price for that flight. So you definitely have to do your research and plug the numbers back and forth. I just spent a few hours doing this or a couple months back when I was planning for December and January and February flights, I had points in Southwest. I had points in Chase ultimate rewards that I could transfer into Southwest, but I was still short about 5,000 points. So I didn’t wanna forego the point situation for the dollar price of the flight.

0 (15m 24s):
I looked at the points it was gonna be about $150 for 5,000 points and that was on sale. But Southwest was doing a promo on top of that where if you bought more than 7,000 points it was 50% off on top of it. So 7,000 points was actually $105 versus 5,000 points for 150. So it was a no-brainer. Got a few extra thousand points, spent the money, boom, boom, boom, got my flight.

1 (15m 51s):
It’s a great tip. Kim, another tip for maximizing money that we’ve been using for a few months now is Thrifty Traveler Premium service. We signed up for the Premium service and you find amazing cheap flight deals. They send you emails and alerts to notify you and they search over 200 US and Canadian departure airports. The deals that they have are bookable with cash or points and miles and they, they break down on economy business or even first class cabins if they have them available. So I think it’s a really great service and if you haven’t signed up for it, you definitely should.

2 (16m 25s):
And what I really like a lot about Thrifty Traveler is in those emails you write, a lot of times you’ll hear people talking about oh utilize your credit card points, do this, do that. And they just really kind of leave it at that, utilize your points, transfer it to airline partners. But a lot of times when they show these deals on here, they go in above and beyond in the detail that they give you on how to use it. Like as a good example, you know they’ll actually say, well you know, why don’t you transfer your credit card points to this airline? But technically you’re not booking with that airline, you’re booking through a partner who they codeshare with and the points are of more value through them and cheaper for you. So they give you lots of good advice that way.

2 (17m 6s):
And I really love it because this is the first source that I’ve really come across talking about points that I’ve really been like, alright, I can understand this a lot more and makes it really simple. Some

1 (17m 16s):
Examples that they’ve had recently are, they had flights to Italy that were business class 58,000 points each way. It’s usually about $3,000. And then I also saw a nonstop flight to Fiji that they were showing was available for $695 and it’s usually almost double that at like 1200. But on top of that I also love the other non flight related information that they send. They send emails about travel tips, travel credit cards, airline loyalty status and so much more.

0 (17m 48s):
So the emails have a ton, ton of really good information in them. They will inspire you warning, they will have you booking and looking into a lot of trips because the deals are amazing and the email system that they use for Thrifty, Traveler Premium is a paid subscription for the year. We have a promo code for you if you Use code TS 10, you will get $10 off of your first year of your subscription. And based on what we’ve been seeing in the emails, the full price is definitely worth it for the deals that you can get. And then you get a little $10 bonus off the top.

2 (18m 24s):
Another really good great tip is gonna be opening up a travel credit card. We kind of touched upon it here when we’re talking about 50 Traveler utilizing points of course, how can we have a topic about maximizing money without talking about opening up travel credit cards. There’s tons of them on the market, we all know this, we’re inundated with advertisements for it. But nevertheless, each one is different and each one is different and better for the type of traveling that you do and of course your individual spending habits. So be sure to do your research on that. We’ve talked about it a lot on this podcast that my personal favorite is the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.

2 (19m 5s):
But Brittany, which one do you have?

1 (19m 7s):
I have two. I have the Venture X credit card and then I have the Chase Sapphire preferred card as well.

2 (19m 14s):
And so what are some of the benefits that we can get minus accruing points with these travel credit cards?

1 (19m 19s):
Well for the Venture X they do a $300 travel credit when you book through the portal. I actually just booked two hotel stays recently and used my travel credit on those. And then the Chase offer I preferred you also get a $50 hotel credit every year. But on top of that, depending on the credit cards that you’re looking into, some of them have give you options for a priority pass. Some of them give you credits for like Lyft or Uber or different other different statuses. So there’s a lot that goes into deciding what credit card works best for you and your lifestyle. But there’s some really good contenders out there and I would say Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve at the top I

0 (19m 58s):
Have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and like you’re saying there’s a ton of benefits that you can use in your daily life too. Lyft pink membership, Instacart free, I think 15 bucks a month, DoorDash free $10 a month and no fees. So if you’re ordering food, you’re taking Lyfts, it’s gonna benefit you there. And then this last year I got to use the travel insurance aspect of it and like my New York trip, the flight was canceled because of weather, had to stay at a hotel, had to get a really long Uber from San Antonio into Austin. Chase reimbursed all of it, baby

1 (20m 34s):
Hell. Yeah. Another thing too is the credit cards also have travel portals and if you book through the travel portal you accumulate more points. So sometimes you can get up to 10 times points for booking hotels or flights or sometimes it’s five times the points for rental cars. So you earn and stack more points by using the travel portals. Sometimes they have deals within them so be sure to check them out and look at them regularly. And then of course your credit card points, you can see which airline partners they transfer to to maximize your point value, which of course saves you money. And sometimes the airlines will offer, if you transfer this many points you get like a 25% bonus, which is really great so that you’re Saving both points and miles and also money at the same time.

2 (21m 21s):
Yeah and there’s a lot of stuff that we’re seeing being talked about right now in the travel industry of hot contention of like, oh you should never book through the travel portal. You don’t really utilize your points very well through there. It’s better to transfer them to other partners, do this, that and the other. And that may be true in a lot of things are in case by case, but what Britney is saying is if you actually book just the trip through the portal, save your points maybe if you don’t even want to use it but they give you like 10 times the points as a good example when you book through it. So you’re getting 10 times the points of the cost of that trip. And so there’s lots of ways to really hack it and that’s a whole episode in and of itself. But definitely once people really understand the credit card game, it is so money Saving and money hacking for your travel.

2 (22m 8s):
It’s ridiculous.

0 (22m 9s):
I know when we had Prince of travel on, he was going into some of the ways that you can hack to build points and it was like buying an Apple computer through the portal and you get bonus points through it or any of their other partners that they have and all the bonuses there. That was the one that was the most eye-opening for me during that interview. It was like, oh my god, you’re right. There’s so much more you could be getting through that portal from purchases you’re already making.

1 (22m 35s):
Yeah, actually just last night I was looking at one of the credit cards I have in the portal and they were offering 20% cash back on Chewy and I buy pet food all of the time anyways. And I was like, oh 20% cash back. That’s, that’s a great savings. Plus I’m getting the points on it as well. Might as well use what you have man,

0 (22m 55s):
I just did a chewy purchase. I should have looked in my portal first.

2 (22m 59s):
I know. Well it’s one of those things sometimes you forget, right? But you can buy things online through major retailers through your credit cards portal and get bonus points when you purchase through them. So don’t forget to utilize and get points that way for you guys. But another one of our favorite money Saving hacks and tips is actually going to be to res shop and rebook rental cars, especially when you purchase it or at least book it through Costco Travel and Brittany is the go-to on this one. But so why don’t you tell ’em why Brittany?

1 (23m 31s):
Yeah, so if I know I’m doing a trip months in advance and it works sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t, I’ll book the car ’cause I’m assuming that I may not get a better price. So I book the rental car but I’ll continuously look every few weeks or months and see if the price has dropped or changed or not. If it has, I will just completely rebook that reservation and save that money. They don’t charge you until you actually pick up the rental car. So it’s not like you’re getting refunded and then waiting for that credit to come back or anything like that. So it’s just like automatic savings. We had booked a rental car for Georgia and originally it was $350 for the weekend. By the time I, I kept checking it, it incrementally went down to like 2 75 and then I think officially it went down to about 2 30, 2 50.

1 (24m 19s):
So we saved about a hundred dollars just by re-looking and re-booking something I do often. It doesn’t usually work for places like Hawaii. Usually the price goes up but I continuously watch and sometimes the closer you get to the trip the better the deal is but not always. So it’s just one of those things that you may get it, you may not and it’s worked about 50% of the time for me.

0 (24m 41s):
Hey those are pretty good odds. Yeah,

2 (24m 43s):
They’re pretty good odds as Brittany’s saying that. I’m honestly thinking, I feel like it happens more often than 50% but you know like she says, it’s not necessarily every time but don’t book and then just forget the fact that you booked and let it go do that recheck. And there’s been a couple times or more than a couple times on trips where literally we’ve checked it leading up to every day the five days before the trip and then it’s gotten a little bit cheaper and a little bit cheaper by like several dollars, five, 10 et cetera. Just kind of making its way down and hey that’s money for your gas when you’re there or money for your cocktail on that rooftop bar or whatever food you want. So definitely can save a lot of money that way by rebooking your rental cars.

0 (25m 23s):
Hey Britt, I know you do rebook often and you’ll, you’ll do it several times so you’ll save 30 bucks book again, save another 20 book again, save another 30. How quick does the return money come or do you not actually pay until the day you get the car?

1 (25m 40s):
You don’t pay until the day you get a car so you never even, money’s not involved until you actually pick up the car.

0 (25m 45s):
Oh amazing. So there’s no loss except a few minutes of your time to check and rebook. Exactly

1 (25m 50s):
Right.

2 (25m 51s):
And again we’re talking about booking through Costco Travel. So you have to be a Costco membership. Some rental car companies if you book direct with them or if Expedia or other resources that you can potentially get rental cars, they may have different rules and regulations on maybe paying a portion up front or maybe a little bit later. So we’re specifically talking about Costco travel. So all you Costco lovers out there don’t under utilize this resource, use it hardcore check those rental cars.

0 (26m 19s):
Next tip we have, we’re gonna talk about Southwest here. We love Southwest. You all know that and there’s several ways that it just works in our favor when it comes to Saving money. So Southwest is one of the few airlines that does not charge a change fee if you wanna change your flight. And so if you book a leg of your trip and it’s 200 bucks and the price a month later goes down to one 50 just like the rental car, you don’t have to actually rebook it from the beginning. You would go into the app to change your flight book the exact same time and whatever the price difference is, you get that money back in travel credit or your points back.

2 (27m 2s):
Yeah. So you won’t get it back like you said Kim in terms of it being refunded to your credit card. But if you’re traveling often it just stays in your Southwest travel bank of money that’s there for your next trip. And very recently Southwest made it that your actual travel reimbursement money when you do those types of adjustments never actually expire. So you can just let it sit there and let it grow or wait for your next trip. And we do this all the

1 (27m 30s):
Time. Yeah actually one of the last times Southwest had a sale, I think I had about six flights already booked so I went through every single flight to see if any of them were on sale and at the end I got about $300 back in flight credit, which is definitely enough to make another trip. Like I was like yes that’s like a round trip to like Austin or Sacramento or wherever San Francisco. And I was so stoked about it.

0 (27m 55s):
This happened to me too. The price didn’t go down. Actually I, this happened to me too. I’ve, I’ve had it where the price goes down. I’ve also had recently where I canceled a flight and then rebooked it with points because I had got enough points for it for whatever reason. When you see that flight credit amount in there, it’s like free money almost. You’re like even though you know you paid that money at a certain point in time, it’s just sitting there and you’re it to me it’s a free flight and that makes me very happy.

1 (28m 25s):
Travel math, baby travel math,

2 (28m 27s):
It’s travel math, you already spent the money, you already got charged for it and now it’s just found later so it’s free then at that point, right? It’s all a matter of perspective. Yeah,

1 (28m 35s):
I know that some people are haters on Southwest but we definitely rep them and we love them and like they do not sponsor us, I don’t think this is sponsored by them but they’ve also made some updates to just like their everyday travel. So like if you do same day standby for any flight, this could work for nonstop. You can potentially get on same day standby for an earlier or later flight if you wanted to not pay any money for that. And then also they have like four different fair classes. Like they have the wanna getaway, which is the cheapest, they have the wanna getaway plus. So anything wanna getaway plus or equal, you can get the same day flight change for no additional fee.

1 (29m 15s):
So if there’s something that happens to your flight or there’s something that happens to your schedule and you wanna change the flight and you were eyeing a flight that was maybe a more expensive and they still have room on it and you do it within 24 hours of the flight, you can get on that same flight for no additional charge.

2 (29m 32s):
Wow. And that’s so awesome. And I wanna reiterate ’cause you kind of said for no fee, right? But what you really mean is no fair difference because Southwest doesn’t actually charge change fees. So to re-articulate fair difference. Yes,

1 (29m 46s):
Same day. Yeah, no fair difference. So if you were seeing a flight that was maybe a little out of your budget and that day you wanted see if you can get on it, they allow that as long as you’ve a booked something that is in the wanna getaway plus fair or higher.

0 (30m 2s):
Hmm that’s nice because you could have booked a cheaper flight that has a layover and then do same day standby for the direct flight and not have to pay the more expensive price for it.

1 (30m 13s):
Absolutely. Another really amazing thing about Southwest is they offer the companion pass and we’ve earned this a few different times. I think we’ve earned it probably three or four different times. But basically that companion pass allows someone to fly with you for just the cost of taxes, which is $5 and 60 cents per flight. So round trip, $11 and 20 cents, we’ve literally saved thousands of dollars by me having companion pass and Jamal flying for free or vice versa. And we could go into whole episode on companion pass, how to earn it, the best way to use it and all of that. But I just wanna say do your research, look into it and if it makes sense for you, try to earn it.

0 (30m 57s):
Here’s another good one. The holiday season just passed and every holiday season you give gifts and you get gifts and some of them you love and some of them you could have done without. No one will ever say a trip was a bad gift. And what’s also great about it is it’s like it’s a gift for someone but it’s also a gift for you. So you give a little, you get a little.

2 (31m 24s):
Yeah, absolutely. And I can’t tell you how long Brittany and I have been preaching this tip. I feel like for the first two years of our relationship when we were younger and our teens of course we would get Christmas birthday gifts, anniversary, whatever. But even before we started doing like major, major traveling, we got to the point where we’re like alright, we’re not gonna buy gifts for each other, we’re actually going to utilize that money and go on trips and that was someplace maybe like Disneyland or somewhere else within the state and doing something real nice. And of course as we’ve gotten older, you know that’s obviously expanded a little bit here but we’ve been on this boat for quite a while and just imagine, you know how many birthdays come and go in the year.

2 (32m 7s):
There’s the two of us anniversaries, Christmas, other things that’s just like that money instead of a gift man that’s a trip now, which we love.

1 (32m 15s):
Yeah. And if you’re going to buy something for someone else, like let’s say Kim, I know you’re going on a trip and it’s your birthday and I’m like hey would you, do you want a free like wine experience at this? I think that’s like a really great way to like celebrate someone’s birthday without giving them something physical. It’s like a memory that they’re gonna enjoy. I know for like our honeymoons people purchased things that we were gonna do on our trip so that we already had like our tickets for the Eiffel Tower or things like that. So it was less money that we spent, we enjoyed it and it wasn’t anything physical that we didn’t need.

0 (32m 51s):
Hey then that makes a good point. Ask for trips or experiences when your birthday’s coming up, your anniversary or Christmas and someone asks you what you want. Like throw that out there.

2 (33m 2s):
Yeah to let them know like, hey I’m going on this trip, why don’t you go to Via tour and just purchase me like one of my tours for the day or something. Just send them the link and you know you’re good to go on that.

0 (33m 12s):
Hey in fact we’ll link it in the show notes for you. Absolutely

2 (33m 16s):
This one tip coming up here, classic but a goodie. And obviously as we’ve gotten older we’ve kind of gotten out of doing this ’cause sometimes you know it’s worth spending the extra money for a little bit of comfort. But a lot of times now, even when we still travel as a Squad, if we’re gonna be in a place like one day or moving from place to place, you know we still share a hotel room and I mean 150, 200 a night for a split amongst however many people are in the room up to four versus spending $200 each for two rooms, now you’re at 400. It just makes sense. So some people don’t want to do that and then that I completely understand, but let’s not forget, you know, if it’s just kind of one day going somewhere, somewhere in transit real quick, it’s definitely worth it and cost Saving to do that.

0 (34m 3s):
Also make sure that hotel has a free breakfast buffet. Ooh,

1 (34m 7s):
Love me a breakfast buffet. I was also gonna say on that point too is we’ve done this a few times. It came up while we were in Canada, I booked us a suite and it was a two bedroom suite and it was pretty affordable. So Kim, you got our your own room Jamal and I got our own room and it wasn’t that much more expensive than just a room with two queen beds for our upcoming trip in February, Jamal and I are going to New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, we’re going to Biloxi, Mississippi and and also Alabama. But well Jamal’s mom decided that she’s gonna add on with us. And so I was looking at hotels for her and one of the hotels we’re staying at has a two bedroom suite as well and it was 250 bucks versus if we both booked just two regular rooms separately, it was gonna be $200 each for for each room.

1 (34m 59s):
So instead of $400 between us, we’re paying like two 50 instead split. That’s

0 (35m 5s):
Awesome.

2 (35m 5s):
And if it’s a suite and we have separated rooms, then it kind of makes sense to do that. It’s not really sharing a room at that point. Keeping on with the theme of money Saving when it comes to hotels. I know Kim, you mentioned breakfast buffet, we love the breakfast buffet, right? But sometimes you can’t stay at a place that has one or find one, right? But what you can do is look for a hotel that has a mini fridge of some sorts. And a lot of times too, you could save a lot of money by actually going to the store, getting some fruit, putting in the fridge, yogurt, this, that and the other. Especially if you’re gonna be staying there a little bit of a while versus really being like, oh I’m going out and buying breakfast every day.

2 (35m 45s):
So utilizing the resources that you have in your room to save money on your first meal of the day. Sometimes we’re not really eating heavy one ’cause we’re just something real quick can get out, you know, start our day. That really does go a long way. And we’ve talked about this many times in other episodes we even had a specific episode talking about the benefit options of hotel, Airbnb, et cetera. But if you’re gonna be someplace for a long time, we’ve actually saved a lot of money When we’re in an Airbnb, we have a kitchen and we are making, you know, breakfasts every day, sometimes even dinners, but of course you want to go out and eat where you’re at. But you can save a lot of money by getting those groceries and utilizing a kitchen in an Airbnb.

2 (36m 30s):
When

0 (36m 30s):
We were in Kauai, this totally saved us. We made breakfast, we packed lunches, we had dinners at the house. Probably saved like three grand just by doing that.

2 (36m 40s):
Oh I know. And then when we were in Virgin Islands just as well, every day breakfast was made in our Airbnb. We bought stuff to actually take out in the ice chest for our lunches. So we made sandwiches to go and we ate out for dinner every night when we were there. But you know, breakfast and lunch, we were good to go because we had a kitchen, you know, and of course Virgin Islands were in beachy area, so just sandwiches, chips on the beach, you know, fruit, this and that. It really went a long way and as a great money Saving technique.

1 (37m 11s):
I mean when you think about every meal being 20, possibly 20 or 30 bucks depending on the location you are, especially if you’re in Hawaii or the Virgin Islands, that’s like potentially $60. You’re Saving per day just on breakfast and lunch and that if you’re there seven to 10 days, that really adds up quickly and you’re Saving that money so you can do other activities, excursions or have a better dinner experience or go to that rooftop bar and splurge a little bit more.

0 (37m 37s):
Yeah, and honestly I don’t like going out to eat a lot when I’m on a trip, like one per day. I don’t wanna go out to breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day on a trip. I feel like all you do is eat at that point and it’s like half your trip, you’re spent finding a restaurant and sitting down and waiting for your food to come out. It’s like, no, we’re go, go, go. We, we need to save some time and bonus saves some money while you’re at it.

2 (37m 59s):
100%.

0 (38m 0s):
I mentioned this one earlier, but I wanna talk again about getting money back if your trip has gone wrong. This is especially true after covid everything you book travel-wise, there is usually an option for trip protection, which in some cases could be a good option to purchase the added funds on there just to protect yourself. If you have a wishy-washy friend who might bail or you know you’re prone to getting sick or you don’t have your work schedule yet, that can come in handy. But also leverage your travel credit cards. I mentioned I have the Chase Sapphire reserve. My New York trip was disrupted because of weather. I submitted a claim, not really I guess believing in the system, but they did get back very quickly, provided proof of what had happened and almost $300 was reimbursed back to me.

0 (38m 49s):
So it was like getting a bonus night in New York City on Chase’s dime. And then last one with Saving money is one that I will be using for the rest of my life because have you ever been to an airport and did not bring your water bottle and the water fountains in the airport? Were chasing night crap and just not doing it for you. So what do you do? You go buy the five to $10 bottle of water, you really don’t have a choice, right? Because you’re parched, you’re dehydrated, you need the water. The airplanes don’t actually give you much water anymore. Some of them don’t give you water at all, so you’re kind of forced into it. But it’s painful to pass over $5 for a tiny bottle of water.

2 (39m 33s):
You’re getting robbed in the airport anyway as it is for food and drink. But when they really bend me over on the water price, it really, it just really stings a lot. You know what I mean? I I, yeah, I hate it.

0 (39m 46s):
So you can actually take water through TSA, it just has to be completely frozen. So if you wanna bring a water bottle with water in it and you don’t wanna refill it in the airport with the nasty water, why is the water always nasty in the airport? That’s beside the point. Freeze your water bottle, pack it when you go there. Depending on how long your transit is to the airport, it might melt a little. So drink the, the rest of the water that has melted or poured out before you actually go through TSA. And you’ll be good to go because water when frozen is a solid, not a Liquid and you can bring it through.

2 (40m 25s):
Have you add a hundred percent success rate on this one Kim

0 (40m 28s):
110%,

2 (40m 29s):
110% look at you. Wow. I’m gonna have to try it. Although I do always have my water bottle on me and airports are getting better about having those little filter ones. But you’re right, even still you could find rink water and it’s gross.

1 (40m 44s):
But do bring your reusable water bottle with you. Sometimes if you’re on a long haul flight, they’ll leave water bottles in the back. So you could take your reusable water bottle, go into the galley, fill up your water and then go back to your seat. So that’s one way to enjoy it too. And then you’ll have your reusable water bottle while you’re at your destination. But that is a solid tip, Kim. Love it.

0 (41m 7s):
That tip reminds me of like the pillowcase filling your pillowcase with clothes so you don’t have to pay for luggage.

1 (41m 14s):
Yeah, while you’re on spirit.

0 (41m 16s):
There you go guys.

1 (41m 18s):
But before we get into our next section, we’re just gonna take a quick detour to talk about one of our favorite travel products. Liquid IV. Liquid IV keeps us hydrated while flying and traveling.

2 (41m 28s):
It’s full of electrolytes and hydrates you two times faster than water alone. We use them during flying when feeling Jet lagged. After a long hike or after a long night out in a new city, they are super easy to carry and keep stocked in your suitcase. Carry on Dayaks or Purse

0 (41m 45s):
Liquid IV comes in regular and sugar-free flavors. Our favorites are the Tangerine with immune support sugar-free peach and sugar-free lemon lime. You can get 20% off your order when you go to Liquid IV dot com and use our promo code that’s Travel Squad Podcast at checkout for 20% off. Hey Squaddies, have you ever wanted to make a podcast? Spotify for podcasters lets you make one super easily distribute it everywhere and even helps you earn money. It’s all in one place and it’s free.

1 (42m 14s):
Here’s how it works.

2 (42m 16s):
Spotify for podcasters lets you record and edit audio right through your phone or computer. So no matter what your setup is like, you can get started creating today, then you can distribute your podcast on Spotify and everywhere else podcasts are hurt.

1 (42m 30s):
What’s cool is they also have video podcast capabilities and when you wanna take your conversations to the next level q and as and polls are the best ways to get them talking. We’ve started using polls on our episodes and we love seeing your guys’ feedback.

0 (42m 43s):
With Spotify for podcasters, you can generate income for your show with ads and subscriptions and best of all, it’s totally free with no catch

2 (42m 50s):
Ever since we discovered Spotify for podcasters, we feel like we’ve had more engagement with our audience and are getting more listens through the Spotify network. We highly recommend you give it a try. Download the Spotify for podcasters app or go to spotify.com/podcasters to get started today.

1 (43m 8s):
So our next section that we’re gonna dive into is all about reducing stress. Flying and travel can be really stressful, especially if the airport’s really crowded. There’s a lot going on to get up to your trip. Usually you’re working up until the last minute. And so reducing stress is super important. And one of those ways to reduce stress is using one of your travel credit card perks of using your priority past membership and getting into a lounge before your flight to relax, get a few drinks, get some snacks and it’s amazing.

2 (43m 40s):
It’s only fitting that this is the first tip because it’s also kind of a money Saving tip too. I can’t tell you how many hundreds if not thousands of dollars we’ve saved by getting food in the lounge, free drinks. And when I say drinks, I’m not talking, you know, water sodas, I’m actually talking adult beverage cocktails to get you really nice and ready for that trip, right? So a lot of the travel credit cards give priority past membership, which gives you access to lounges in certain airports, but definitely they are in lots of airports. And what better way to reduce stress than knowing you’re Saving money, getting food and having a cocktail to relax before your flight? Nothing better. Ah,

0 (44m 20s):
So good. One of the least stressful experiences is when you go into that lounge and they have all the bottles set up for you so you can just walk up, grab the wine, pour it yourself. You don’t have to wait, you don’t have to tip it is there, it is in abundance and you are setting yourself up for just an amazing trip ahead of you.

2 (44m 39s):
Speaking of no stress, another great feeling is when you have global entry or TSA pre or even clear ’cause clear is now a big thing these days I see ’em in every airport. But what these are, are they are programs that kind of let you have some sort of expedited transit through security where you don’t have to take off your shoes or move liquids, do this, that and the other and you’re not standing in a long line. More often than not that line is quick and easy. When you’re looking at the other non TSA pre line and stuff, it’s not quick breezy. It is looking like a mess in there. And so sometimes, you know, I don’t recommend cutting it short to your flight, but a lot of times, especially if it’s an airport that we know and are transiting through, I know rest assured with my TSA pre that okay, I don’t have to get there exponentially early to pass through security and there’s nothing more stress relieving than that thought.

0 (45m 33s):
You don’t have to take your shoes off, you don’t have to take your laptop out, you don’t have to take your belt off, you don’t have to put your arms up like a convict and get searched most of the time. It’s amazing.

2 (45m 45s):
Well, you know, I don’t mind putting my hands up if it’s a hot little TSA officer, you know when I’m walking off through it and I’m sure you ladies my same, the same if it’s a nice looking man, but you know, for the most part you’re right. You know, it is kind of dehumanizing if you really think about it. Like step in the box, put your hands up, you know, you don’t really have to do that with the TSA Prius’s, just a normal me metal detector walk on through and I feel human when I use it. The

0 (46m 9s):
Global entry too, on the way back from an international trip and just how much it expedites getting through customs, that is worth a million dollars. That’s so amazing to spend five minutes going through custom versus standing in a massive long line. Yeah, that’s worth the $100 every five years that it costs.

1 (46m 30s):
And if you have a good travel credit card, it will take care of the cost for at least one of the global entries.

2 (46m 36s):
Global entries are TSA pre and we also mentioned Clear. Now Clear is run by a private company that’s not government related, although of course they have approval from the government to give expedited passage through security, right? But at least for global entry, TSA pre, you can go to the Department of Homeland Security website should you be approved. It’s for five years. TSA pre is 75 bucks. Global entry is only a hundred, but Global Entry gives you TSA pre with it. So spend that extra 25 that you’ve saved from all our Tips that we mentioned before in the past and just get that global entry and make life easy. Another

0 (47m 14s):
Thing that can speed up your customs is the mobile App Passport. It’s becoming much more popular and I actually haven’t downloaded this one just yet on my own phone because Global Entry has kind of been doing this for me, but I’ve been hearing a lot of things about the passport in your mobile app. So for everyone that maybe doesn’t have global entry or even if you do get that app on your phone so you can be expedited through customs.

1 (47m 40s):
Another stress reducing tip for you is to purchase air tags and put them in your check bags when you travel. I even check put them in my carryon bags in case my carryon bag has the potential to get checked. Definitely we’re gonna link it in our show notes, but it just allows you to track where your bags are. So if they happen to get lost, you can actually see where they were last left. If you are in the airport that they are lost at, there’s actually a feature on your phone to make it chime so you can hear it if you’re kind of close to it and you haven’t been able to like visualize it yet. But it just gives you some peace of mind while you’re traveling to make sure that you know where your check bag

2 (48m 19s):
Are. There’s no better feeling than when we’re on a plane when we’ve checked a bag and I have Brittany pull up the air tags to see and I’m like, oh, the luggage is on the plane. But let me tell you something real quick. One time when we were coming back from Morocco, for whatever reason the internet was just a little bit funky and it wasn’t catching like a good signal and it read that my bag was actually not on the plane for whatever reason. It read its last like location, like maybe what, 20, 30 minutes previous and we took off and that was a devastating feeling thinking like, oh shit, my baggage is left in Morocco. But rest assured when we landed in our new location and turned it on, it happened to be there. So just that one time.

2 (49m 0s):
But that was a bad feeling, I just wanna say bad feeling.

0 (49m 4s):
It added stress,

2 (49m 5s):
Yes, that was. But we have a 99% success rate with these ones on the stress relief.

0 (49m 11s):
Another thing that can really help relieve stress is to have a trip itinerary. We talk a lot about these because we have several of them on our site and it really does help just to have a route that you know you’re gonna go on. You know the mileage, you know the attractions you’re going to visit, you know how long it takes to drive between them, how much time you need at each one. Like truly, if you’re not someone that has time to plan or isn’t a great Planner, Itineraries are amazing.

1 (49m 43s):
And like you said, Kim, we have several Itineraries, we have domestic ones, international ones. Some of our favorite ones are the Japan ban or Spain, and then some popular US ones or Kauai, the US Virgin Islands and Utah’s Mighty five national parks. So definitely go to our site, check out our Trip Itineraries. But beyond the Trip Itineraries, we also have printable planners. We have them in five different colors. You can fill them in, print them out, keep them for your trip planning process to help keep you organized, especially if you’re new at travel planning. This is a great way to make sure you have everything on your to-do list, you’re checking everything off and you’re keeping organized with listing out your hotels, where you’re staying, what you’re doing, what your flights are, what you’re doing each day, what the must-dos are, and just helps keep you really organized and reduces your stress while you’re there.

0 (50m 33s):
And when I am planning a big trip, I usually build an itinerary out in Google Docs. And even though it’s my trip, I know what I’ve booked, what I’ve planned, where I’m staying, I refer back to that so much during the trip ’cause it has restaurants that I’ve listed, the hotel address, anything that’s already booked, like notes on what time to try to get there. I plan my own itinerary and I, and then I check it every single day. So you know, there’s options for if you want all the planning done for you or you wanna plan along yourself, but having some kind of itinerary to follow so you don’t forget about those little things. I can’t do it without it.

2 (51m 13s):
I don’t know the last time we kind of went on a major trip without really having an itinerary. But with that planning process, I just want to say it goes a long way even if you don’t have like a full blown itinerary. But you know what you’re gonna actually do or want to do. If you’re in a city that is really good for mass transportation, you should do some research on the mass transportation system, the buses, the metros, how from this location while I get to this location, what’s the best line, et cetera. Because you don’t wanna be in country or in a different location and have to spend that time figuring it out. You make an itinerary, put that in your itinerary notes when you’re there and it’s just like, oh I, I’m good to go.

2 (51m 53s):
I already know exactly where I’m going. It makes life so much easier

0 (51m 57s):
Also because when you’re in another country, sometimes your internet is slower and so it will take more of your trip time to look up transportation while you’re there than if you did it ahead of time.

1 (52m 8s):
Yeah, that is so true. Another stress reducing tip that we have for you is to book your excursions act and activities in advance. This not only saves time, it also saves stress because when sometimes when you go to a new location and it’s a really popular museum or attraction, the line can be an hour to three hours long. So if you purchase these things in advance, not only are you Saving time, but you’re also reducing your stress and maximizing your time in that location. And sometimes you can find promo codes to get a discount off you purchase online as well. So it can save you possibly money as well.

2 (52m 46s):
Well definitely money. I mean we talked about travel math before. I mean if you’re buying this well in advance, you’re not spending that money on the trip. It’s already been paid for. That activity is free. You know what I mean?

0 (52m 56s):
Oh my God, I love that. When everything is paid for and booked and you go on the trip and you’re like, I don’t have to pay for

2 (53m 2s):
Anything. I know like the only thing I spent on this trip is food. Oh, that’s, that’s great. You know, so I really love booking these things in advance because of all the reasons Britney mentioned. Plus the psychological aspect of I’m not spending money on vacation. That money’s already spent.

1 (53m 18s):
That is one of the reasons I love Gate one so much ’cause ’cause you have to pay for everything in advance and you can pay it over time. And so like your flights paid for, your hotels, paid for your transportation’s booked, all of the excursions you’re doing is all paid for. So, and some yields to you. So like when you go, it’s like minimal expense when you’re actually there. Yeah.

0 (53m 36s):
Our last one here on Saving Yourself Distress. I wanna talk about passport support. I know that a lot of people that are applying for a new passport or renewing their passport lately have been experiencing extremely long wait times that are really pushing up against the date of their travel. And I went through this recently before the Greece trip. My travel partner was needing to renew his passport. It was going to expire within six months of the trip. And so when that time period is there, there’s some countries that will not let you fly. So submitted it for renewal several months in advance shouldn’t have been a problem, but different hiccups kept happening and it wasn’t coming.

0 (54m 19s):
The trip was getting closer and closer and closer and all of a sudden it’s within that two week period where you can start calling the number but the number’s not very helpful. That is stress inducing right there to have to call that number. And then they tell you they’ll try to find you an appointment or they’ll, they’ll submit a note to the team and it’s, it’s so stressful because it’s like a black hole of no information. But here’s the tip. If you find yourself in this situation, email your representatives and your senators with your passport number, the situation when you applied, what’s going on the date of your travel and ask them for help expediting it. I didn’t believe this, I actually saw this hack on TikTok, but it works.

0 (55m 1s):
Within one day of the trip the passport arrived FedEx priority thanks to a senator that helped us out.

2 (55m 10s):
When you told us that story originally, like I really thought that passport was not gonna arrive on time for your travel partner to go with you. I know. And then you told us that and sure enough they gave you a tracking number and they really expedited that. So I guess this is one of the few instances where they say message or write your local congressman or senator and it works out. So definitely do that if it’s a little bit long and your trip is coming up close because it worked out for you. And that is quite impressive.

0 (55m 39s):
I’ve also seen where if you live in a city where they have like the capitol buildings or state buildings, you can actually go in and get it printed same day. So just reach out to the people and they’ll help you figure out the best solution for you.

2 (55m 55s):
Solid tip.

1 (55m 56s):
So we have a little bonus section for you and we’ve reached out to a few people within the travel community for tips that they recommend. And our first one is from Katt Medina. She’s the author of the Joys of Jet Lag. We’ll link her book in the show notes, but she recommends that if you plan a trip with a travel buddy that that intends to go but cancels still go and do everything that you wanted to do because you might as well not waste the opportunity. And then another tip she had as well was to kind of go forego the advice of our parents and to talk to strangers. It’s one of the best ways to learn about a culture, create unexpected, deep connections with people all over the world.

1 (56m 36s):
And sitting down and talking to locals is probably a really cool thing to do that we’ve enjoyed, like learning about what it’s like growing up in that country, what they, where they like to eat as a local kind of getting that inside scoop is just like makes your connection to that place so much deeper. Yeah,

0 (56m 54s):
And you can learn a bit more about the place too. I know when I was in Greece, the guy was telling us how the tourism industry has really changed in Santorini. And it used to be this wild, you know, vacation destination for Greek people, but due to the economy and things. And so like things that I never, ever would have known if I had not just asked a local and started talking. Well

2 (57m 17s):
I think all of Kat’s advice is really just take the trip regardless, right? You know, don’t, I don’t wanna say don’t listen to people because sometimes advice is good, but a lot of times people are always airing more so on the side of caution. So I think that last tip of just go talk to strangers is really good. You know, advice and really comes practical ’cause you learn a lot about it. Another person who wanted to give a little bit of their thoughts on this matter is Ricky from Prince of Travel. And he said one of the biggest tips that he could give is take advantage of airline alliances, right? So for example, if you racked up a good amount of American Express membership rewards points to transfer it to its main partner Delta, and you can actually redeem Delta skymile points for travel with any other Sky team member.

2 (58m 6s):
So remember back in this episode when I was talking about how you should transfer points to a certain, you know, airline and then maybe book it through a different one who’s co-share with them. This is kind of what he’s talking about right here and utilizing it that way. And I think it’s a really, really good tip.

0 (58m 22s):
He also said it’s also good to note that you should aim to earn rewards for the things you’re buying anyway. I would suggest always checking if a preferred airline offers a shopping portal that will allow you to earn rewards for the goods you are already buying online. And we talked about this one earlier too, the chewy purchase that you made. Brittany like, Hey, if you’re already buying it, why not do a two second check on the travel portal to see if you can get some bonus points out of that Prince of travel also has a travel Summit coming up in April in Toronto. We mentioned this on our interview episode with them. But if you’re wanting to get serious about maximizing the points and miles and the travel game, this would be an amazing Summit to go to.

0 (59m 5s):
It will probably pay for itself in all of the learnings that you come out of it with.

1 (59m 9s):
And if you haven’t been to to Toronto before, spend a few extra days and go explore the city

0 (59m 15s):
Roam around the sixth.

1 (59m 16s):
Another tip that we got from someone in the travel community is from Kathleen. We interviewed her and her, her partner leave. They own the business, live and invest overseas. And she actually wrote a few books. One of them’s called At Home in Ireland, but she has a few tips for you. She said, if your passport has been gathering some dust over the three years in the pandemic, do a quality control check on it before you’re booking your trip. Little things like a torn page water damage can actually have you rejected at immigration for the country that you’re trying to visit. And also make sure to look at your passports issue and expiration dates and make sure that you’re keeping with the rules and the place that you’re visiting, just like Kim was talking about too, because places like Thailand and Singapore and a lot of other countries actually require you to have at least six months of validity for you to go on the trip.

1 (1h 0m 5s):
So definitely take a look at that.

2 (1h 0m 6s):
Well, not even the time. Some countries believe it or not even have a year that I’ve heard. But more importantly, I remember when we were going to Africa to, they told us you need to have at least several blank stamp pages in a row. In a row so that they can put their big stamp in there and it needs to be blank, this, that and the other. So if you’re an avid Traveler and you’re going to a country and you still have a few spots left for them to stamp, it still may not be enough for certain countries. So always check the requirements

1 (1h 0m 37s):
And to add on to that. If there’s an option when you’re renewing your passport to get the larger book, definitely do that. We’ve been traveling so much more in those last few years. So the last time we updated our passports, we made sure to get the passport book with more pages just so we didn’t run into this problem. Alright,

0 (1h 0m 55s):
Squats. Well with all of these tips to save money, save stress, save time. We hope that you have an amazing year of travel in 2024 and put some of these Tips to use. Thanks so much for tuning into our episode this week. Remember to keep the adventures going with us by following us on YouTube TikTok Instagram and send us in your questions of the week.

2 (1h 1m 17s):
If you found the information, this episode would be useful, or if you thought we were just playing funny, please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always, guys, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

1 (1h 1m 30s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode. We have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you.

0 (1h 1m 36s):
Bye Squadies!