Through our years as The Traveling Professor and taking people on small group tours to Europe, Machu Picch and Peru, and Canada, we have gained some knowledge on how to travel smart. In this blog post The Professor passes along 5 tips on how you can become a better traveler.
Get a Good Travel Credit Card: A good travel credit card gives the travelers some good benefits like free travel insurance, preferred seating, no baggage fees, bonus points that can be used for flight awards, lounge access and a lot more. Some of these basic cards have no fees or spending limits. Those cards are terrific for the occassional traveler. Some of the premium cards are better for the person who travels more frequently.
Annual Insurance Policy: If traveling overseas, it is an absolute must to have an insurance policy that at the very least provides health coverage and emergency evacuation insurance in case you need to be transportated back home for medical care. If just looking for health/evacuation insurance, Annual insuranace policies are just about the same price as individual trip policies. We like the annual Geo Blue annual Trekker polcies with a price of about $150 per year. For a policy that covers health/evac plus trip cancellation/interruption, take a look here.
Know How to Book Airfares, Especially Multi-City Airfares: These days, airfares have become increasingly complicated to book. For instance, why can a traveler fly R/T between New York JFK for $1500 but when a connection through Boston is added in, the fare drops by almost 50%? Why you should never book one-way tickets on legacy carriers to/from Europe? A smart traveler knows the basics of booking airfares and The Professor can give some quick and easy tips on his airfare blog posts.
Buy the City Card: It always amazes The Professor why so many people go on vacation to cities like Paris, Rome, Florence, and Oslo then pay to wait on line to see things like the Louvre, the Colosseum, David at the Accademia, or the Munch Museum. Almost every city as a Museum Pass like Paris Museum Pass, The Roma Pass, the Firenze Card, or the Oslo Pass. Most of these passes offer admission, VIP entrance, and some offer public transportation throughout the city. In terms of value, they can be absolutely excellent. In terms of convenience, they are even better.
Book Direct: The Professor always cringes when he sees a traveler book airlines, cars, and hotel rooms through a website like Expedia, Booking.Com, or Orbitz. When booking directly with a hotel, airline or rental car agency, the traveler is likely to get the best price and service AND in case there is some type of issue (gee, are there ever issues with flights?), the least amount of hassles.
The Traveling Professor will follow up with more tips on what it takes to become a smart traveler. LIke and follow The Professor's Facebook page and sign up for his Monthly Travel Newsletter.