My spouse and I just got back from a getaway to Colorado.
On Monday we landed in Denver, ate at a Nepalese spot in Boulder (the best meal of the trip), hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park and checked into a resort advertising 19 hot springs.
Tuesday we hiked, drove around, found another Nepalese restaurant, stayed at the Marriott in Glenwood Springs, enjoyed drinks at the hotel bar and took in the scenery from the hot tub.
Wednesday we checked out waterfalls, caves and the ghost town of Independence, hiked at 12,000 feet and spent the night in a tiny hotel in Leadville — the highest city in the U.S. at 10,578 feet.
Thursday we hiked and I played chess in a coffee shop in Canon City, where we used to live.
Friday we visited friends, explored canyons and had excellent Mexican food before heading to the airport.
Two round-trip plane tickets from Tampa, Florida, airport parking, car rental, lodging, gas and meals — it all added up to $376.
Additionally, we paid $250 for a pet sitter — a cost we could’ve avoided if we’d asked friends to watch the cats.
Package vacations can be convenient, but you’ll often save more money arranging travel à la carte. Here’s how we put together such an inexpensive trip, along with our top travel tricks so you can replicate it.
Hunt for the Cheapest Airfare
Aggregators like Expedia and Orbitz are handy for ticket searching, but they don’t include every carrier.
For example, Southwest only sells fares through its own portal. To be thorough when comparing rates, check each airline’s website for flights out of nearby airports.
Be flexible with dates if your schedule allows. I’ve seen price swings of $200 for a flight a day earlier or later.
Because we work from home with flexible schedules, I could test many date and time combinations. Choosing a later return flight saved at least $100 on our tickets.
If you want very low fares, look for “hidden-city” tickets on SkipLagged.com. These are longer itineraries with a layover at your destination — you simply don’t board the connecting leg. This approach only works if you travel without checked baggage.
Although I paid using Citi credit card points, I conserved points by finding the cheapest fare. That left enough points to also book a car rental.
Use Credit Card Rewards for Flights and Rentals
Accumulating enough rewards to cover a flight through everyday spending can take a long time.
However, many cards offer significant sign-up bonuses.
I received 50,000 points just for opening a Citi ThankYou Premier card and charging $3,000 within three months. With points earned on purchases, I had roughly 55,000 points in a couple months.
Top travel cards often deliver better than the typical penny-per-point. My points were worth 1.25 cents each when redeemed for travel through Citibank’s ThankYou portal.
That valued them at nearly $700 — enough to cover two low-cost flightsandall but $2 of our car rental. After using the points, I canceled the card before its annual fee kicked in (the first year was waived).
Frontier had the best fare at $234 round trip per ticket (18,720 points), but it wasn’t visible in the Citibank booking engine. The next-best option would’ve been about $100 more per ticket, so I called the booking center instead of booking online.
They were able to secure the Frontier fares and a car rental cheaper than my online finds.
Lesson:Call and ask about alternatives.
Picking up the Frontier MasterCard might be the simplest route to earning enough points for a flight. It carries a $69 annual fee, but if you charge $500 within 90 days (groceries work), you receive 40,000 points — enough for two round-trip tickets to any Frontier destination.
I plan to use Frontier card points for our next trip.
Book Flights at Off Times
Typical departure and return times often leave less than four full days on a four-night trip.
Flying during odd hours helps. You can often find cheaper fares and reduce the number of hotel nights needed.
For instance, we left Tampa at 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Denver at 9:30 a.m. after a four-hour flight thanks to the time difference. The early start let us use the entire first day.
Our return departed Denver at 11:59 p.m., so we had the whole last day as well. We grabbed a little sleep on the plane and caught up afterward.
Booking those early and late flights got us the cheapest tickets and a full five days of vacation while only booking four hotel nights. Plus, credit card points and staying with friends meant we only paid for one hotel night outright.
Find Lower-Cost Airport Parking
Tampa International charges $18 per day to park — which would have been $108 for us, since we returned on day six.
But an online search turned up a well-reviewed nearby lot charging only $40 with round-the-clock shuttle service to the terminal.
Compare ratesandreviews — you don’t want an off-site lot’s poor service to make you miss a flight.
You can also try services like FlightCar to save money — and possibly earn a little cash.
Watch for Extra Airline Fees
Auxiliary airline fees add up quickly — see my guide to avoiding baggage fees. Frontier charges $25 to $60 for carry-ons each way!
We made sure our backpacks were smaller than 18-by-14-by-8 inches so they qualified as free “personal items.”
On the Denver flight we learned drinks are $2 aboard the plane. We carried empty bottles through security and refilled them at a fountain before boarding the return leg.
Frontier also charges for seat selection — which we avoid. We were assigned exit-row seats with extra legroom. It’s possible to get separated if you don’t pay for seats, but we’ve never had that happen.
Unless you travel light and simple like we do, check extra feesbeforeyou buy tickets.It might be cheaper to pick a pricier carrier that doesn’t charge for carry-ons.
Make Lunch Your Main Meal
We hit a Nepalese buffet in Boulder soon after we landed.
Our bill with tip was about $20 — which would have been $10 more at dinner. To save, make lunch the day’s big meal.
A buffet helps, too. We were so stuffed at lunch that a light snack in the evening sufficed. For more ideas, check my post on other ways to eat out for less.
To cut costs further, buy groceries. Besides being cheaper, it’s handy to have food in the car when dining options are limited. Pick a scenic spot and picnic.
Pick Low-Cost Activities
We missed the free national park day by a couple of weeks, so we paid $20 to enter Rocky Mountain National Park.
But plenty of activities were free.
There was no fee to hike around the Grottos ice caves near Aspen, to explore the ghost town of Independence, or to hike at the nearby 12,000-foot pass.
Keeping costs down doesn’t mean missing out. We’ve splurged on a helicopter ride through the Royal Gorge, a Lake Tahoe catamaran cruise and a train journey through Ecuador’s mountains.
If you concentrate on inexpensive or free activities, you’ll save for splurges.Or you may just be having so much fun you never get around to the pricey extras.
Redeem Points for Hotel Stays
We used eight of the 19 hot springs at Hot Sulphur Springs Resort, which were included with the $118 room rate.
I called and applied my Bank of America Travel Rewards card’s $100 travel credit to the bill, lowering our outlay to $18.
Right now the card offer is even better: you can get $200 toward travel when you charge $1,000 in the first 90 days.
Hotel-branded credit cards often yield the best deals.
We stayed at the Glenwood Springs Marriott for free using about half the sign-up bonus from my Marriott Rewards Premier card.
I regularly use my Hyatt card points for complimentary nights; the current sign-up offer is two free nights after $1,000 in spending within 90 days.
Pick up a Wyndham Rewards Visa and you can earn a free night for even a small purchase — any charge nets 15,000 points.
Stay with Friends and Relatives
While all-inclusive resorts can sometimes be cheap, skip the hotel and crash with friends or relatives.
We spent our final night with friends in Canon City, Colorado, where we used to live. Naturally, friends and family come visit us in Florida each winter.
Many people you know likely live near interesting destinations — include a visit in your travel plans.
If you have enough pals willing to host you for an evening, you can design a route that avoids hotel bills entirely.
Alex Mercer is the author of “101 Odd Ways to Make Money” and runs EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s worked as a repo man, walking-stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram operator, process server, mock juror, and roulette dealer, but of the more than 100 ways he’s earned income, writing is his favorite so far.
