Kelli Nielsen is a world traveler, toddler mom, cancer nurse, and blogger inspiring people to achieve dream travel on THEIR budget and live their best lives through her business, Trip Fixers. On this episode of CFO at Home, Kelli and Vince discuss traveling on a budget, avoiding travel FOMO, “clean” travel hacks, and more.
- Key Takeaways
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- Conventional “travel hacking” is often based on the practice of “credit card hacking”; opening multiple credit card accounts for the bonuses (dollars, miles, hotel stays, etc) and charging certain amounts over a certain period of time. Kelli teaches “clean” traveling hacking which relies more on knowledge and research.
- The use of credit cards to accumulate bonuses like airline miles is a personal choice that ties back to an individual’s comfort with credit and their ability to use credit responsibly.
- Tips for Traveling on a budget
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- Flexibility - Identify what you can be flexible about; things that you don’t care as much about (destination, lodging, timing of travel, etc) to get the things you do care about.
- Don’t be afraid to start with smaller trips to develop good travel habits and build up to your dream destination
- Think about the “whys” behind your dream travel destination; can you create those experiences in a less expensive location?
- “Clean” Travel Hacks for:
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- Airline travel
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- Typically the #1 expense which makes it a great area of focus
- Use the right sites to look up your flights for comparison shopping (see resources)
- Hotel
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- Be flexible on type of accommodation (Hotel, Airbnb, Vrbo, etc)
- Destination/Activities
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- Consider preparing at least some of your meals. If traveling to a foreign/exotic locale, shop for ingredients in local markets to make meal preparation part of your vacation experience.
