Welcome to my latest post on my secrets to budget travel! Did you know that in the last twelve months, I’ve traveled to three continents, four different countries, and seven U.S. states?

(Okay, one of the continents was North America, but still, that’s impressive, right?)

I was reflecting on my budget-savvy travels over the last year and realized where they’ve taken me. This year isn’t even out of the ordinary for me and my family; we’re always finding new places to go and new ways to afford getting there.

I wanted to take you all behind the scenes and break down how, exactly, each trip came to be. Where we went, how we went, and how we paid for it. Some of the trips started as family or work obligations, and others were specific vacations we’ve been wanting to take.

So what’s my secret to budget travel?

Overall, we’ve been able to make our travels affordable by using a variety of airfare hacks, redeeming credit card rewards, finding cheap accommodations through Booking.com and Airbnb, and even piggybacking family travel onto business trips.

Read on for our year-in-review of our secrets to budget travel and how we were able to make the trips affordable!

Argentina: Buenos Aires & Bariloche (and bonus trip to Chile)

This year of travel started off with the first of our two trips to Argentina. We needed to keep costs low since we were planning to visit Bariloche two times over the course of six months. 

We started by planning our trips during the tourist off-season to save money on flights and accommodations. We redeemed airline miles through my husband’s Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card for free flights to Buenos Aires. From there, we found $200 round-trip flights between Buenos Aires to Bariloche on Kayak by booking through FlightNetwork.com.

Bariloche, Argentina

Since we were staying in Bariloche for 10 days and had our two sons with us, we booked an Airbnb. I’ve found that Airbnbs are more budget-friendly than hotels, especially when traveling as a family. The additional amenities that come with Airbnb (like a kitchen and washing machine) are especially helpful.

A Quick Trip to Chile

While there are lots of things to do in Bariloche, we also took an overnight trip to a hot springs in Chile that we found on Booking.com (I love that website!). Bariloche is only about a two-hour drive to the Chilean border and we wanted another stamp in our passport, and the cost of the activity was easily covered by what we saved by doing an Airbnb vs. traditional hotel. How can you turn down an affordable overnight stay in a duomo (dome-style cabin) at a hot spring in a new country?

Buenos Aires, Argentina

In addition to Bariloche, we were also able to explore Buenos Aires during our time in Argentina. There are a lot of free things to do in Buenos Aires, so it was an affordable stop when traveling between the United States (U.S.) and Bariloche. I’d highly recommend the city to anyone interested in art, culture, or really good (and cheap!) wine!

Unfortunately, since the miles we redeemed to get to Buenos Aires were for a one-way flight, we had to get creative on how to get back to the States without spending too much money. 

One-way flights from Argentina were astronomical and since we planned to return to Argentina a few months later anyway, we booked a round-trip flight between Buenos Aires and the U.S. We found it was $400/person cheaper to book our itinerary through Las Vegas, then change airlines and take a direct flight between there and Spokane, Washington, compared to booking a round-trip itinerary between Buenos Aires and Spokane on the same airline. It takes a little bit of research, but the savings were totally worth the extra time. Pro tip: this type of secret to budget-travel is often referred to as booking a hacker fare, which I cover in my Airfare Hacks for the Savvy Traveler post.

Secrets to Budget Travel | Wedding in Ohio

After returning from Argentina, we traveled to Toledo, Ohio over the summer for a family member’s wedding. We were looking for budget airfare since we were buying flights for our family of five. I found the best fares on Southwest and used the little-known airfare hack of searching for one passenger at a time, which got us lower pricing than it would have if we purchased all five of our tickets on the same itinerary. Remember to do that when you’re booking for a group!

As we typically do when we travel as a family, we booked a place on Airbnb. It was large house with a pool and it was only $100/night!

Three continents in 11 days: from Argentina to England

North America: Overnight Layover in Las Vegas

When it was time to return to Argentina a few months after our first trip, we did an overnight layover in Las Vegas before continuing on to Buenos Aires. I was able to book a $50/night (+ resort fees) room at The Linq and we ended up getting a free upgrade to a one-room suite!

South America: Buenos Aires & Bariloche (Part II)

Once we got to Buenos Aires we took a $60 flight (score!) to Bariloche on Andes Airlines. We again stayed in an Airbnb while there. We were excited to go back to Bariloche for many reasons, including their up-and-coming craft beer scene. We are beer snobs, what can I say? And by the end of our second trip to Argentina, we had been able to spend 3 days in Buenos Aires, confirming our love for that city.

Europe: Weekend Layover in London

As I previously mentioned, one-way tickets between Buenos Aires and the U.S. are not cheap. Luckily, I found cheap flights back to Washington that had a long weekend layover in London.  Because there are always plenty of things to see in London! We went Buenos Aires direct to London and London direct to Seattle) on Norwegian Airlines. 

We spent about $900/each for this Norwegian Airlines itinerary, but we could have spent around $750 if I’d purchased their Lowfare Economy option. I splurged on the Lowfare+ Economy flight so we could have free checked bags (hey, we were traveling between several different continents!) and free meals and drinks onboard.

Savvy tip: I found when booking on Norwegian that if you select “Norge (Norsk)” to browse, the fare will be significantly cheaper than in “US (English).” Just be sure to use the Google Chrome browser to translate, unless you speak Norwegian.  You will be charged in Norwegian Krones, but that shouldn’t be an issue if you are using a credit card with no foreign transaction fees.

While in London on a budget, we stayed at a cheap but modern micro-hotel and did low-cost activities like visit the Bermondsey Beer Mile.  

Secrets to Budget Travel | Disneyland

I wanted to do something special for our 4-year-old daughter since we didn’t her take on either trip to Argentina. (We didn’t think it was worth the additional cost and hassle since she probably wouldn’t remember it anyway. Judge away.)

Disneyland qualified as special, but also was a potential bank-breaker. I got around that with a suite of creative, budget-savvy methods.

I started by purchasing basic economy flights (you know the ones—you can’t change your flight, check a bag, or select a seat) and used my go-to airfare hack of purchasing a separate itinerary for my husband at a lower cost than what I paid for my daughter and I.  We purchased our hotel and park tickets package through Get Away Today, which offered the cheapest package I could find by staying at a Disneyland Good Neighbor hotel.

I researched specific Disneyland hacks and found cheap eats at Disneyland to save money while on our trip. By doing all of the above, we were able to use some of our savings on a few Disneyland splurges to make the trip even more memorable for our daughter!

Savvy savings: One Savvy Wanderer readers have exclusive access to $10 off a Southern California package with Get Away Today! Use promo code: SAVVY. Must book a 2-night (or longer) hotel stay and ticket package to be eligible for the savings.

Las Vegas, Nevada

I’ve been to Las Vegas at least 20 times. What’s another trip more? Clearly I have a thing for sin City. My husband was going there for a work conference (i.e., company-paid), so all I had to pay for was my flight. I used Southwest to get there and took budget-airline Frontier to get home. The direct flight was only $60 on Frontier! Granted, I didn’t get to check a bag at that price, but I typically stick to a minimalist travel packing strategy, so that wasn’t an issue. Overall, it’s really hard to beat $60 airfare, and I will definitely fly Frontier again in the future.

Dallas, Texas

My husband’s alma mater, Eastern Washington University (EWU), played in the NCAA Division I Football Championship in Frisco, Texas, earlier this year. Frisco is a suburb of Dallas and hotel rooms book up for the championship football game months (if not a year) in advance.

Since teams only find out weeks before the championship game if they are playing in Frisco, how did we manage to travel to Frisco on a budget? Well, for starters, I booked a room at a refundable hotel in Frisco at the beginning of the football season in the off-chance my husband’s team were to make it to the championship game. If EWU didn’t make it, we could cancel the hotel room free of charge.

As for the flight, since there aren’t many options to get from Spokane to Dallas, I assumed (correctly) if EWU won the semi-final football game that would send them to the championship game, then airfare prices would immediately skyrocket. To get the lowest airfare without the risk of being stuck with flights to Dallas in case EWU didn’t make it, I purchased our flights the night before the semi-final game. The U.S. Department of Transportation requires that airlines allow flight reservations to be canceled within 24 hours without penalty. I redeemed airline miles for our return flight and even reward flights can be canceled within 24 hours, risk-free!

In case you were wondering, EWU did not win the championship game.  But we had so much fun in Frisco that I’ve already booked a refundable hotel room for this year’s championship game in case we return!

Spring Training in Phoenix, Arizona

Winters are long where we live. We look forward to traveling south for Major League Baseball spring training every year, and this year was no different. We book our flights for this annual trip well in advance to get the lowest airfare. We also always share an Airbnb with friends to significantly reduce the cost of the trip.

This year we rented a condo in downtown Phoenix through Stay Alfred, which has properties  throughout the U.S. Savvy tip: While their units can be booked through Airbnb, you actually get a lower rate if you book direct on the Stay Alfred website.

Since spring training games do not take place in downtown Phoenix, we needed a way to get to the games that can easily be 45 minutes away. An affordable rental car was a necessity, as using Uber or Lyft wouldn’t have been not cost-effective. 

Family Vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

My husband is an accountant, and he’s so busy with tax season right up until April 15 that sometimes we rarely see him in the spring. He definitely isn’t able to go on a traditional family vacation over our kids’ spring break. But this has actually benefitted us, since there’s nothing budget-friendly about traveling during spring break when the rest of the country is doing the same.

One of our secrets to budget travel is that we always plan a trip for right after Tax Day, after the typical spring-break season is over. This year we headed to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and pulled our kids out of school for the trip (again, judge away).

To get the lowest airfare for our family of 5, I booked our flights 10 months in advance. I’m a planner, what can I say? I also combined the $99 (+ taxes & fees) companion ticket that comes with the Alaska Airlines credit card and some airfare vouchers we’d accumulated from delayed/canceled flights on previous trips to cut down on flight costs.

We decided to stay at an all-inclusive resort because it was the most economical way to pay for our hotel, food, drinks, and entertainment. In fact, many all-inclusive resorts in Mexico allow kids 12 and under to stay free or at a significantly discounted rate. After a ton of research, the Barcelo Puerto Vallarta was the all-inclusive resort we chose. It was a beautiful resort and our family had a great, budget-savvy trip!

Couples trip to the Big Island, Hawaii

Our most budget-savvy trip over the last year was our recent couple’s trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. We spent $675 on two round-trip flights by using the $99 (+ taxes & fees) companion ticket that comes with the Alaska Airlines credit card. Then I redeemed travel rewards from my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card for a free 5-night stay at the Royal Kona Resort.

While we had expenses during the trip (primarily food and drinks), we did Kona on a budget through a variety of budget-travel secrets. For example, we didn’t rent a car and instead used other low-budget transportation options like Uber and the Kona Trolley. We ate and drank at low-cost establishments and stocked up on snacks and drinks at the grocery store.

I know that a lot of people say that it’s expensive to vacation in Hawaii, but in true One Savvy Wanderer fashion, I found a way to vacation on the biggest Hawaiian island without breaking the bank.

Secrets to Budget Travel | The One Savvy Wanderer Way

It’s been a busy year! We’ve managed to travel to all of these wonderful destinations while also working full-time, raising a family, keeping a family home in Spokane, and not breaking the bank. Yes, travel costs money and time, but if it’s important to you and you’re committed to a travel resolution, you can travel the world, no matter your budget. Just use some of my secrets to budget travel to do so!

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