Buying air ticket

STEP 1. HOW TO FIND BEST PRICE ON AIR TICKETS

1. Check ITA MatrixGoogle FlightsBing Flight Search (either one you preffer, they provide same prices most of the time) to find out what is the lowest fare available there.

2. Use Booking Buddy or skiplagged to compare many travel agents at the same time (make sure to compare Expedia, Kayak, Jetbue, Southwest, Virgin Air).

3. Use HipMunk for easy comparison of flights by length, layover, departure and arrival – to make your final decision.

4. Check with airline’s website and book directly with them whenever possible, as it will be cheaper and easier if anything needs to be changed or cancelled (see “After booking” section), plus some give bonuses (Alaska gives extra 1000 miles for booking at their website and using Alaska air card)

5. Use Airline fee charts to see bag fees and limits, include this into your total ticket price.

STEP 2. DURING BOOKING

1. Check best seats on the airplane – use SeatGuru and then select your preferred seats.

2. Use cashback sites such as TopCashback to earn extra bonus 2-15%.

3. Make sure to enter your air mileage account number to receive miles for your flight. Note that many airlines allow you to earn miles on their partners (see our airline miles page)

 

STEP 3. AFTER BOOKING

1. Use Yapta to get alerts when price falls below what you paid, and get refund (many companies will offer certificate instead of refund). But your reservation has to be directly booked with airline and not through travel agents.

2. Use Experflyer free account to get alerts when better seats are available.

3. Use TripIt to keep track of all your travel reservations in one place, easily accessible from mobile phone.

4. Use Expensify to track your travel spending.

5. If flight got delayed (more then 3 hours) or cancelled (less then 14 days) – you may be eligeble for refund. Two sites to help you Refundme or EU claim.

OPTIONAL HELPFUL INFORMATION

Use Citicards online shopping mall to get 1% additional for EXPEDIA flights

Save up to 63% on international flights on vayama.com.

$31 off on all International Airfares from USA

To check awards available flights

List of offers for cars, hotels and airlines

Help with airport maps travelnerd.com

EUROPE

All Ferry routes and prices neatly presented and easy to track

Cheap Business class to France http://www.flyopenskies.com

 

Here are some other site you might want to check that are not in available in booking buddy:

For International flights check MobissimoVayama.com.

For North Europe check AirTransat or Condor (discount airlines).

For US domestic flights: Trabber

For Russia check Transaero

Miles and Points

STEP 1 – About Miles and Points travel.

Traveling on miles and points is great way to experience first class (or business class) travel and 5 star hotels for cheap or free.
But there are several things that you have to know and be ok with to play this game.

1. Your travel times have to be flexible. Most airlines would not have all days open for flying with miles, so if you have strict schedule, this may not work, but if you can move your travel several days backward or forward to match availability and book well in advance (8-12 months in advance), then it is for you.
2. Have to have good credit score, anything above 710 would be good. You need good credit score to open credit cards, get signup bonus and close it afterwards. It is virtually impossible to spend enough on credit card to earn enough miles for first class ticket for most people. So best way to go is to get signup bonuses.
3. Have to monitor your credit cards to open and close them on time, to minimize annual fees and to maximize bonuses. So if you are lazy and can not keep track of credit cards, this might not be for you.
4. Pay off all your credit cards every month, do not carry balance. If you have to have balance on your credit cards, pay those balances off before starting miles and points accumulation with credit card signup bonuses.

STEP 2 – Preparation

There are several things that you need to play this game well.
1. Know you credit score and number of inquiries. Sing up for free service to keep track of your score and inquires. Creditkarma.com is free and easy to use for that.
2. Have an option to generate spending.Amazon payments is no longer an option. You may use Amex serve to generate $1000 spent per moth, but can not use it with some banks (large fee applies with some bank’s credit cards).

Amazon payments is one of the options, where you can send $1000 per month for free by paying with credit card (payments.amazon.com). Create several accounts (one per person only) for each member of your household. Minimum of 2 accounts, but much better to have 3-4 accounts and make payments in rounds, from person 1 to person 2, then person 2 to person 3, person 3 to person 1. That way you can spend up to $3000 per month.
When creating amazon payment account ( takes 5 days to complete verifications), add your bank account number and once making a payment, withdraw money to your bank account before making another payment to next person. In the end you make $1000 charge to your credit card, earn points and signup bonus, transfer $1000 from amazon to your bank account, and then pay off credit card $1000 from your bank account. There is no fee, so this spending is free up to $1000 per month per person.
3. Use excel spread sheet to keep track of your credit cards and spending. You may use my excel spreadsheet CC Singup Bonuses – generic.xlsx

Free Tours around the World

Must see places of the WORLD

Everyone must visit at least some of these places in their lifetime, select several of these and make a goal to visit them by a certain age and stick to that plan. BE HAPPY

  • Maldives – Conrad
  • Singapore
  • Conrad Koh Samui – Hilton (stop over at Tokyo)
  • Bora bora – Hilton
  • Japan (Kyoto, Matsumoto Castle, Daibutsu of Kamakura, Ginza, Mt Fuji, Himeji Castle, Todai-ji Hall, Miyajima, SUMO, Sake Breweries)
  • South Korea
  • Oberoi Amarvilas – Taj Mahal India
  • Dubai – Grosvenor House Dubai (starwood points and cash) (use british or ethiad)
  • Castles check in every country
  • France – Bastille day and Paris summer festival, tour de france (July end), Amiens
  • Belgium – Wizards’ Town, Gent,
  • London – check holidays
  • Canada (Montreal, Quebec, Toronto)
  • Luxembourg
  • Czech Republic (Prague, Strahov monastery)
  • Budapest
  • Croatia (Dubrovnik UNESCO World Heritage Site)
  • Łańcut, Poland
  • Austria
    Swarovski museum
  • Admont Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located on the Enns River in the town of Admont, Austria
  • Greece
  • Switzerland – Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes
  • Argentina & Brasil & Chile (including Iguazú National Park water falls)
  • Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia
  • Poland – Krakov
  • Germany – Berchtesgaden, Burg Satzvey
  • Baumwipfelpfad Neuschönau – longest tree top walk in the world (Böhmstraße 43, 94556 Neuschoenau, Germany)
  • China – Great Wall, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Lake of Dreams (Yuangshuo). Painted China Danxia (Nantaizi village or Gansu province).
  • Aruba & st. Lucia & Barbados
  • Madagascar
  • South of Spain (Seville) & Portugal
  • Ireland and Iceland
  • Norway & Sweden & Denmark
  • Australia & New Zealand
  • France – Lyon festival of light, water river private boat cruise
  • Latvia, Estonia & Lithuania

 

 

Checkmark: Continue reading “Must see places of the WORLD”

The Art of Travel

If you are planning your next travel you have come to the right place.

We have split information info several categories to make it easier to find.

You may select the topic you are interested in on the left, for information that did not match any of the subcategories scroll down.

Have fun and email us if you have any questions.