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How to Save Money When Travelling Home for the Holidays

With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, you may be planning that annual trip back home for the holidays. Whether it’s to see a huge extended family or just to stay with your folks for a few days, it is something you’ve probably been waiting all year for, particularly how bad 2020 has been. Although it won’t stop you from making that pilgrimage back home, one of the major downsides is that it can often be incredibly expensive. It doesn’t matter if you are traveling by greyhound, train, flying, or driving, travelling comes at a premium.

If you are looking to save a little on this essential journey back home, you’ve come to the right place. In the following post, we are going to highlight several ways you can save money while making the trip home.

Use Price Comparison Site to find Cheapest Flights

Do you need to fly to reach home? Before you book the first suitable flight, if you really want to make some savings, even just little ones, then you need to look at more than one offer. Although you could spend time looking at different local airports, different airlines, and different days of the week, the best way to easily compare and contrast the prices or airline tickets is by using comparison sites. You can filter the searches to find the best at a specific time etc.

close-up photography of white plane wing on sky

Pack the Minimal You Need

While you may not feel yourself normally if you don’t pack three bags of stuff, this will make things very expensive. Particularly if you are traveling by plane and especially if you are going to visit your folks, you should try and pack only a small amount of stuff. It’s unlikely that you will need towels and other items like that, so leave them behind and just pack your clothes. 

man looking on his sitting on plane seat

Look to Coupon Sites

One of the most popular ways to save on anything these days is through online vouchers and discounts. Coupon Dad is just one of the many great sites available dedicated to giving you a regular supply of the best deals and vouchers available. They regularly feature codes and deals from travel operators and hotels, so you may find you can shave some dollars off your budget for traveling home. 

Look for Last-Minute Cancellations

Hotels and travel operators are interested in making sure that all seats and accommodation are filled and not left empty. As is the way with things, peoples plan to change and sometimes they need to cancel their airline tickets, train tickets or even hotel room. To ensure that they make some money from this, you will often find that hotels and travel operators offer reduced prices on their offers as it is better to get something than nothing. Millions of people have been benefitting from last-minute deals, is it now your turn?

stacked round gold-colored coins on white surface

This can be a gamble as you may leave it too late and not get anything at all, but the savings are sometimes too good to let slip by.  

Be Willing to Travel at Less Popular Times

The most expensive flights, trains, and bus departure times will always be during the busiest and popular times. That is why, if you really want to make savings on your travel expenses, you need to be prepared to compromise and travel at less popular times. Could you possibly take that 4am flight, rather than waiting for the 10am flight, the price difference may be a nice exchange for the lack of shut-eye you may need to experience to take advantage of it? 

silhouette of man holding luggage inside airport

Have Gifts Delivered to Where you Are Staying

We spoke a little about how you should reduce your luggage as much as you can. Another way to do this, if you are staying with your parents or other family or friends, is to have all the gifts you are buying for people for the holidays sent to where you are staying. It saves you the hassle of carrying them around and means you can keep the costs right down.