Travel Tips

Thank you for the numerous feedbacks on my last travel blog. It took a bit of time, but in this blog, I have put together how I personally plan my trips and what works best for me. I hope you can benefit from it:

When

Traveling outside of peak holiday seasons is, of course, the cheapest. However, keep an eye on the weather at your destination. It’s not much fun to travel during the rainy season or monsoon season just because it’s cheaper.

Package Tours or Individual Travel

I have yet to find a package tour where I liked all the components or that was noticeably cheaper than individually planned trips. The advantage of package tours, however, is the legal protection. You have more rights if something goes wrong and are better legally protected.

Travel Agency or Online

I book almost everything online. It's not always true that online bookings are cheaper than those from travel agencies, but usually they are. However, it can happen that travel agencies have contracts with airlines and hotels made far in advance. Especially when inflation is high, travel agencies might still offer old rates. That might have been interesting around the last New Year.

Last Minute Offers

Interesting for those who are very flexible. There are usually more last-minute offers for Europe than for overseas trips. However, make sure to check all the components yourself. Simply enter all the data into search engines and compare the final price.

Destination

Tastes differ: city, beach, rainforest, mountains, safari – everyone has their preferences. However, safety should always come first. Here you can check current travel warnings: Federal Foreign Office - Travel Warnings.

Travel Deals and Blogs

The two sites Traveldealz and Errorfarealerts are my favorites. They regularly post deals, error fares, and other travel tips and tricks. Error fares are heavily discounted flight tickets, usually due to price or system errors in the airline booking systems. This way, you can, for example, get a business-class ticket at an economy price. Since these errors can be corrected quickly, fast action is necessary. Never contact the provider or airline to ask if the price is correct. Most of the time, airlines will honor the booked tickets, or at worst, your booking will be canceled. It is rumored that airlines also intentionally release error fares as a hidden marketing tactic. Although I have seen fewer error fares recently, they do still pop up from time to time.

Visas

Before you even start looking for travel deals, check the website of the Federal Foreign Office to see if you need a visa for your destination country. If so, detailed instructions on how to apply are provided there. It’s also important to check if you need a transit visa, for example, if you have a layover in the USA or Canada. More information is available on the website of the Federal Foreign Office.

Flight Search

Using various search portals is advisable since each platform accesses different data sources. You can enter multiple airports for departure and arrival on all portals. When entering the date, it’s best to use the +/- days function or, on some platforms, to leave it out completely and view the calendar with daily prices. This way, you get the best overview of prices. Some special offers are tied to a minimum stay of 7 days. If the price increases inexplicably, adjust the dates and keep at least 7 days between them. I also filter by airline alliances to collect points. Play around with cabin classes too! Sometimes the price difference between Economy, Premium Economy, and Business isn’t that big. It can also make a difference if you use the desktop or mobile app.

• Swoodoo: I find it the most straightforward and easiest to use.

• Kayak, Skyscanner, and Kiwi: Very similar in functionality, allowing you to leave many options like timeframes and destinations open.

• Google Flights: Has many filter functions and even provides additional information about the aircraft, such as seat spacing, etc. Unfortunately, the site is the least visually appealing.

Hotel and Car Rental Search

Similar to flights, hotel and car rental platforms draw on different data sources and have unique deals with providers. It’s wise to check various sites. Sometimes, the price difference depends on whether you use the desktop or mobile app. My favorites are:

• Booking.com: Very clear and user-friendly. With a few bookings, you can reach higher "levels" and get additional discounts.

• Expedia: I often find better deals for hotels and car rentals here than with the competition. I’ve also booked flights here, but the flight search on Expedia is poorly designed. The aforementioned flight search platforms pull data from Expedia and often list it as the cheapest option.

• Opodo: Opodo has fewer hotels in its database, but it often offers its own vouchers, with discounts of 20% or more on hotel bookings. The flight search is poorly designed, so I search on other platforms first and then use the data to book on Opodo.

• AirBnB: It used to be good, but it’s not really for me. Currently, there are too many “hidden” costs. I prefer good hotel service.

Additional Discounts

It’s important to remember that nothing in the world is truly free. When you use discounts or vouchers from third-party sites, you pay with the information you leave on the internet. Whether that’s a big deal is up to each person. My opinion: anyone with a social media profile leaves more usable personal data than the discount platforms could ever collect from you.

• Groupon and DailyDeal: Not just for travel but also for many other categories like dining and leisure activities. You can buy vouchers here to redeem with the respective provider. The deals used to be better, but you can still find good ones occasionally.

• Shoop, iGraal, Payback, GETMORE: You get cashback if you use these platforms’ links to visit the travel provider’s site and book there. There are often special deals, such as 10% cashback on hotel bookings. Check regularly and make sure all cookies are enabled, otherwise, your booking might not be registered.

Travel Insurance

Our regular health insurance usually covers necessary medical expenses during an EU trip. Depending on your insurance provider, there might be a deductible. It’s best to ask your insurance company what you need to do in case of illness abroad. Of course, there are many other types of travel insurance you can get. For all other travel-related insurance, you can compare options on Check24.

• Trip Cancellation Insurance: You can get it, but you don’t have to. It sounds better than it is. For the insurance to be effective, something drastic has to happen, and in such cases, like a travel warning from the Foreign Office, the airline usually allows you to cancel or rebook the flight anyway. Unless you have a very cheap ticket for around €20, airlines offering such tickets are usually not accommodating.

• Good to know if your luggage doesn’t arrive: Go straight to the airline's counter. You’ll get information on which costs are reimbursed for the time you are without luggage at your destination. Generally, only costs for “necessary” items are reimbursed, such as a toothbrush, underwear, and a few clothes. Ask if there are cost limits and then go on a small, compensated shopping trip :-).

• Liability Insurance: I find liability insurance very important. It covers your costs in case of property, financial, or personal damage you cause while traveling. This can happen faster than you think, for example, if you accidentally knock over the TV in your hotel room and it breaks.

Money

Cash or credit card? When it comes to exchange fees, the cheapest option is to have credit cards that allow free and fee-free withdrawals at ATMs abroad. Or simply use the card for payments. There are now numerous credit cards like Curve (affiliate link) or Revolut (affiliate link) that handle your withdrawals or payments without exchange fees. If you need to pay deposits for a rental car or hotel, this usually only works with a real credit card. A debit card, except for Curve (affiliate link), is usually not accepted.

In Conclusion - Matze’s Practical Tips

Like everything else in life, travel has a downside. Travel is good for personal development, but not so good for the environment. Keep an eye on your CO2 footprint.... stay tuned

This blog is not sponsored and does not contain paid advertisements. All recommendations and links are based on my personal experiences and research.