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Kayak: One of My Favorite Travel Apps for iPhone

There are all kinds of tools and tech gadgets out there for traveling and I will tell you about more and more of them the longer you get to know me. But today, let’s chat about one of my favorite travel apps for iPhone. Most people know Kayak and their “search one and done” tagline for finding hotels and flights. But did you know about my favorite (lesser known) feature called “Explore the World”? IT IS AWESOME! Basically, it let’s you set your parameters and then it tells you where in the world you can travel on your budget.

Let Me Show You How It Works!

In your App Store, search for “Kayak” and then download the app with this little logo.

 

Once you open the app, go to the bottom and click on “Explore the World” (depending on your screen size you may have to scroll down to get to it).

 

Give it a second and the app will autopopulate a world map with a little blue dot representing every “good” fare currently available. Zoom in on any area in the world and those blue dots will turn into clickable price tags showing the fare and date that the app has found. OR set yourself some parameters and narrow down your options by tapping one of the icons in the black banner at the top of the screen.

 

There are six icons you can use to adjust your parameters for your trip. In order across the bar at the top:
1. The Airplane icon lets you change your home airport, the number of days you have available for vacation and duration of your flight.
2. The Calendar icon lets you change the month you are available for travel.
3. The Dollar Sign icon allows you to control your budget.
4. The Sunshine icon allows you to choose what kind of climate you prefer.
5. The Flag icon lets you choose the kind of activities you prefer to engage in while traveling.
6. The Globe icon allows you to narrow your search to a specific geographic region.

 

 

Once your parameters are set, the map will populate again with the best options available within your parameters. Click on a fare price to see available travel dates for your location and book a ticket. It’s that simple!

 

Anyone who is indecisive about where they want to travel will love this app. Likewise, if you have more flexibility in your calendar than your budget, this tool is a must have. If you are just trying to get a realistic idea of the price of flights or figure out when is the best time to vacation in your dream location, then this app is for you. Kayak really is one of the best travel apps for iPhone but I know there are lots of others out there. What travel apps do you love? Oh, and if you’re currently thinking “even if I do get a great deal on a flight I will never be able to afford it” then you need to go check out my post about How to Save Money for Travel!

 

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Funding Your Next Vacation: How to Save Money for Travel

Mike and I travel without putting any of our trips on a credit card. Our policy is to save the money BEFORE we leave home, not pay for it afterwards. As a result, people often ask us how to save money for travel. Wanna know how we do it? Without further ado, here is our secret… we simply to make it a priority! Is that an oversimplification? Yea, a little. But that doesn’t make it any less true! Here’s how to save money for traveling using our system.

Step One: Create an Account

Open a separate savings account  specifically for bankrolling your travel dreams. This is not the same as your emergency fund, retirement fund, Christmas shopping money, or kid’s college fund. This is distinctly different, separate and for one single purpose. Got it? Good.

Step Two: Put Money in the Account

When you get paid (whether it’s a weekly paycheck, a bonus, a gift, or money you found in the parking lot at Walmart) automatically save a percentage of it into your travel account before you even see it in your checking account. I can’t tell you what percentage to save because I don’t know your bills, your travel desires, or what your discretionary income looks like. The important thing is to just pick a percentage and stick to it EVERY SINGLE TIME you receive income. Ours is 10% but yours could be 3% or 30% depending on your situation. Any percentage works but the more you can commit to putting away, the faster you will be able to cruise off into the sunset.

Step Three: Leave Money in the Account

You’ve already decided what you can afford to save towards your travel fund so now you just have to leave it in there.

I say “just” but it isn’t always easy. If you typically find yourself spending your entire paycheck, you WILL be downsizing your spending elsewhere to accommodate the missing funds*. That may mean you have to suggest game night at home when your friends invite you out drinking, or you might have to decline a Saturday night dinner and a movie. It may mean brown-bagging your lunch instead of hitting the drive-through. Maybe it means giving up cable tv or your Starbucks addiction, or driving a vehicle you don’t love instead of a dream car. It takes sacrifice to learn how to save money and not pilfer your travel account away, but I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t regret it when you’re lying in a hammock on a beach in Honduras! (<— Seriously, one of my favorite places on the planet).

Step Four: Plan Your Trip

At first, it may stink to decline invitations or give up convenience items but the benefit of automatically paying your travel account first is that eventually you stop thinking of that money as available income. Once that happens, you will be surprised at how fast the money starts to add up and you can start planning your trip a lot sooner than you think!

how to save money for travel

 

*This is assuming you are one of those people who SHOULD have enough money to take a vacation every once in a while but can’t quite figure out why your account is so empty at the end of the month. I am talking about reallocating and taking control of an existing discretionary income, not trying to dismiss anyone who is just struggling to have their basic needs met.