Make planning your next amazing journey a breeze!
Travel Insurance
Medical flights home are EXPENSIVE! Depending on the policy you choose it can also offer coverage for other parts of your trip, such as delays lost baggage, damaged baggage, etc…
There are a bunch of companies out there, we keep going back to Squaremouth Insurance. Safety Wing is also a reliable choice for boomers! The policies offered will ask for the duration of time for your trip, where you are going and an estimate of the cost of your trip. You may include all members of family that will be traveling together. Choose the coverage you want. If you plan on being out of the country for more than a month, you might consider a plan that will include seeing a doctor, hospitalisation, medication and so on. We have never needed to use the medical part of a policy, however, we have with lost/delayed baggage.
Pets and house
Leaving your home and fur (or non human) babies can be the most stressful part of the planning process.
Recommendations from friends, family and colleagues are a great source. Give them a “try out’ by going for a weekend getaway and see how it goes.
If you have to use an outside source, we highly recommend TrustedHouseSitters. Check out their website! They have different memberships available with yearly renewals. We have the membership for just sits and have had really great people for sits. However, you could do both and have a sitter come for your pet and subsequently, travel somewhere cool and do a sit with their pet and stay for free! The members are highly invested in taking care of your home and pets and in exchange get a free place to stay and the opportunity to explore a new place! If you do the math, it’s an amazing WIN. Also, we do not receive any paybacks, perks or free memberships for endorsing them.
Travel Rewards! Love the deals!
The list of airlines, hotels, travel sites offering reward points is daunting! We rely on them to collect amazing discounts and freebies for all of our travel. Through trial and error we have learned that consolidation of a handful vs. a bunch enables us to use them towards meaningful rewards. Our go to list for accumulating miles is mostly through our airline and travel reward credit cards. Although, we are pretty heavy hitters with Expedia. I typically can a collect enough points to pay for rooms and/or enjoy added discounts for our status with them. The list on the side shows the cards and sites we depend on.
Credit cards. Edit and consolidate!
So, the low down on using credit cards and getting the most from what they offer is to really familiarize what they do offer and what you have to do to optimize that. If you own your business, many distributors will allow you to use a credit card for your purchases. (This has really declined in the past 5 years. Fewer companies are accepting cards for business transactions. Always ask first.) If you are getting even 1 mile per dollar spent, that can really add up!
Tips for optimizing your credit card (s) and airline cards. You can immediately gain a ton of miles just for signing up with a travel card. You get those deals by mail or email everyday, right? Well, they really can be great deals. Just know that you are expected to pay (by using the card) the benchmark amount and timeline stipulated on the “deal”. Usually, $3000 or so within 3-6 months. Those bonus miles can sometimes be enough to cover your next trips flights.
If you already have travel reward cards, check out their linked offers with other retailers online. Check out linking your cards with Uber, Lyft, rental car companies…you get it. You just need to remember what the card is linked to! Sign up! It doesn’t cost a thing. If you use the company, just make sure you use the card associated with it. Also, consolidation is key in amassing reward points and miles.
Credit cards to check out for miles and rewards.
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- Capital One Venture (Miles. Never expire and can be used in a variety of ways. The yearly membership fee is not bad.)
- American Express Platinum (Points that can be applied toward purchases. Many membership benefits with the. Hotels, airport lounges, insurance coverage, etc. Expensive yearly fee.)
- Delta Platinum American Express (Miles. Less attractive than it once was. Many benefits have been eliminated.)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred ( Points. Very similar to American Express Platinum. Many membership benefits are similar to Amex plat. Expensive membership yearly cost as well)
- With the American Express and Chase cards large yearly fees look closely at how often you want to travel and the perks you’re looking for. We take advantage of the lounge access with both cards be it in their own lounges or other lounges they are affiliated with. Such as Delta’s affiliation with American Express. Also, booking accommodations or car rentals, etc., with either card we have found the prices are the same, if not better than what’s listed with the other travel websites and plus you get the extra points. They may not have the selection that you might find on other sites.
Travel websites for points and advice.
- Expedia (points. Expedia, Hotels.com and VRBO are now consolidated into OneKey. This means you collect points with all three websites.
- Marriot (points. Part of Bonvoy, which means points are earned with any Bonvoy property)
- Seat Guru (A definite go to when choosing seats for any airline. They show the pros and cons for seats on the flight/plane you will be using.)
- Trip Advisor (Always a great source for researching all parts of your trip, including activities. Although, we don’t recommend them as your sole choice.)
- Travel Zoo (Deals for all kinds of trips. Typically hotel deals at considerable discounts. Tried and true! They truly are great deals if the dates of travel work with your schedule. We have booked several times through them and have yet to be disappointed)
- The Points Guy ( You will find a lot of information for credit cards and such. However, occasionally the information is new and impactful. Especially when luxury credit cards decide to drop important benefits.)
- GetYourGuide (Super website for booking activities and they also have good reviews. Along with Trip Advisor we use them a lot)
- AirBnb and VRBO ( Good for longer term stays or accommodations that have some of the perks of home, like a kitchen, laundry, etc. Just be aware that their fees are quite large, making what seems like a reasonable nightly rate, quite expensive. However, if you need those perks then it may be worthwhile. VRBO is part of OneKey, so at least you get points that you can use for lodging)
Travel guides for the localities you are visiting. (Researched and written by locals in the area you want to visit). They can’t write anything untrue, however, embellishment isn’t lying and many times restaurants, activities and accommodations pay to get mentioned.
There are many other travel websites to check out for accommodations, activities and such, however, we are only mentioning the ones that our go to.
Apps to have on your phone. We highly recommend these. Be sure to acquaint yourself on how to access and use them before you need to.
- WhatsApp. This should be on your phone if you travel ANYWHERE outside the USA. You can call and message easily with the app. Also, many times you may be asked to provide your WhatsApp contact for places you stay or activities you do. Check it out and use it. Sometimes that may be your only way for communication.
- Google Translate. There are others out there, but this is the easiest to use. Just practice with it for a bit before you need it. You can speak or type. Speaking is the more reliable, so practice doing it so you’re not self conscious.
- App for the airline you are flying. Offers information such as boarding passes, flight or gate changes and with some airlines will let you know that your bags have been loaded. You can also book flights through it as well.
- App for your bookings. Such as Expedia, etc.
- Google Maps. You can download directions for destinations when you have WiFi if you can’t or don’t have data for that.