Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Save on Your Next Vacation

Episode Date: April 15, 2022

This episode was inspired by a listener's Apple Review (thank you, dear reviewers!). Listen and live your best ~wanderlust~.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. This episode was inspired by a review I got on Apple Podcasts.

Yes, I really and truly do read the reviews, for better or worse, and they really and truly do mean the world to me, the good ones. I appreciate the bad ones, too, kind of. In the review, the listener asked for more travel tips. Well, money rehabbers, ask and you shall receive. You've probably read the same travel tips over and over, right? It's like, don't travel during the busiest seasons. Try to take public transportation. And sure, that advice is totally valid, but it's also pretty intuitive and has been the default advice for, what, the last decade? But a lot has changed in the last decade. I mean, a lot has changed within the last year. Now there are COVID travel

restrictions. And remember in December when the airlines were canceling flights like crazy? Well, to help us keep up with the times, we need some new tips tailor-made for this crazy new normal. And here are the five that I think are most important. Number one, try a road trip. The war in Ukraine has caused gas prices to rise, which has made pretty much every mode of transportation more expensive. It's a hard time to travel on the cheap. I'm not going to lie to you. Flight deals are harder to come by, and so you might want to forego flying altogether and decide to turn your vacation into an epic, epic road trip. Yes, if you're driving, you'll still need to use gas,

but shelling out some money at the gas station will definitely be less expensive than buying a plane ticket. Plus, if you go the road trip route, you don't have to rent a car or worry about transportation from activity to activity. You don't have to go that far from home to have a great vacation. You may be surprised to find out what's within drivable distance. When I road tripped from New York to California, well, road trip, moved, same, same, I used the site roadtrippers.com and I really loved it. So start there and see what kind of inspiration strikes. Number two, consider opening a travel credit card.

Consider being the most important word here. As you know, opening a credit card is not something that you should do lightly. If you apply for a new card, you will trigger a credit check, which will ding your credit score. Plus, anytime you open a new credit card, you need to be prepared to spend with discipline. You don't want this new credit card, you need to be prepared to spend with discipline. You don't want this new credit card to be an invitation for that debt monkey to hop on your back. All that said, travel credit cards are pretty magical. You can pay for an entire vacation using only credit card points, which you know isn't free money because you earn points by making purchases on the credit card with real money, but it's like

you get to spend every dollar twice, which is pretty amazing. My friend Brian Kelly, aka The Points Guy, came on the show and listed his favorite travel credit cards. It's episode 40. If you're really ready to open a travel credit card, you should take a listen. Number three, reconfigure your order of operations. Lots of people decide on where they want to go on vacation and then try to find the cheapest flights, accommodations, and activities there. That's not the way to save money on a trip, though. Instead, you should look to see which places in the world are the cheapest to get to, where you can find the cheapest hotels or Airbnbs, and which

destinations offer the most cost-effective activities and adventures. So instead of choosing your vacation destination and trying to make your finances work, choose the destination based on how it works with your finances. Don't get me wrong, you absolutely should keep a bucket list of places that you want to go visit. Don't get me wrong. You should absolutely keep a bucket list of places you want to go visit. But if you're trying to take a vacation that doesn't work your wallet too hard, keep an open mind about the location. And trust me, just because you want to find a deal doesn't mean you're going to have to sacrifice your vacation dreams and end up in some sad middle-of-nowhere place. I have a friend who just went to a beachy paradise in the Dominican Republic and spent $50 a night at a

hotel that provides free breakfast and dinner. That's what you get when you keep an open mind. Number four. Sign up for loyalty accounts on every airline you use. If you sign up for a loyalty account, which is totally free by the way, you'll be able you sign up for a loyalty account, which is totally free by the way, you'll be able to rack up points when you travel, which will save you big bucks in the long run. You can also use those loyalty points to book future trips or get access to airlines lounges at the airport where meals, by the way, are free or get free checked bags, which otherwise might cost you 50 bucks a pop. And when you can, try to stay loyal to one airline. I know that you maybe just want to book whatever airline is

offering you the cheapest rate, and I totally get that and respect where it's coming from. You got to do what you got to do sometimes. But if you try to consistently book on one particular airline, you'll rack up points meaningfully instead of having a smattering across different airlines that don't really add up to any big perks. Number five, don't discount fancier hotels. Listen, I know the song and dance with hotels. For most of my life when I was traveling, I would sort hotel options by room rates and not even look at any other options over a certain price. It may sound counterintuitive, but don't do this. More expensive hotels might have more things included, like free shuttles to the airport that saves you on Ubers, meals included,

which saves you from expensive meals out, free amenities at the hotel, so you don't need to pay for excursions. And if you're traveling abroad, some hotels may have COVID testing on site, so you don't need to find a clinic and then pay to get that test ticket. So check out Pricero hotels and see if they make more financial sense for your needs. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank.

When you're planning a vacation, you should make a little mini spending plan. Come up with how much you can afford to spend on your vacation and break it down into categories for food, transportation, accommodation, and activities. Calculate the limit that you'll spend on the entire vacation and stick to that. But allow some flexibility in your spending plan so that you can allocate different amounts to each category. You can then spend a little more on a fancier hotel if that means you spend less on food overall. And try to familiarize yourself with your spending plan before you leave so you don't need to obsessively check it.

Remember, this is your vacation. This is why you work so hard. So please don't forget to enjoy it. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are Penny and Mimsy.

Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team Michelle Lanz for her development work, Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.