For Better and Worse, Travel isn’t what it used to be. Before one might simply buy tickets and show up.
Remember those blissful days?
Today, Travelers have to prepare like Athletes before each game. Just like an athlete prepares with exercises, charts, diet and psychology; we get the best experience from our travels by preparing for them … after all Travel Is A Contact Sport. To make matters worse, sometimes we are not even sure what sport we are playing or how to adjust to the ever changing rules.
We use information and references from Reference Books, Bloggers, Websites and our own research to solve the riddles of how to increase the opportunity for great experiences while safely navigating through each phase of our next adventure.
Although we don’t consider ourselves professional travelers, since we don’t travel continuously, we are seasoned and have the scars to prove it !
Disclaimer warning: All opinions and discussions on our blog are our opinions only that we have drawn from our experience. What works for us, may not work for you so make sure you follow up with your own research. After all, everything is just a Work In Progress.
This RESOURCES page will continue to grow EACH WEEK as we update it with new topics and lessons learned. We will also continue to bring in some of the Tools we use each week so keep returning. We may not travel every day but we’re always have travel on our minds as we relive some of our adventures and share the knowledge and experiences learned along the way.
You can use the TABLE of CONTENTS to find your way or use the SEARCH BUTTON below. The search button is definitely a work in progress as we define the structure and shape of our RESOURCES Page.
These are Tricks of our Trade and we hope they help you get to where you where you want to go. Good Luck and “Let’s Go Travelling!”.
Books, Guides & Blogs
Are Travel Credit Cards Worth It?
What Are The Pros of a Travel Credit Card?
Since you can book Hotels and Flights with Credit Card Points, your overall costs will be reduced. So instead of paying for a hotel, you can simply book it with points.
The accumulated points can be used entirely or you can “top up” the points with cash if you don’t have enough points to complete the transaction
Many Travel Credit Cards offer VIP Lounge Access at major city Airports. These Lounges offer “free” food, drinks and some even have showers and beds you can rest in. The Lounges typically have comfortable seating with side tables, lamps and charging stations. We use the term “Free” loosely as of course one has to pay for the Card each year. Each Credit Card has a different limit per year. We have one that gives us 6 visits a year and another that gives us 4 visits per year.
Still, with collecting travel points, we find the benefits far outweigh the costs for us. If you have to wait in the Airport, you might as well have refreshments and a bit of comfort!
What are the Cons of a Travel Credit Card
The Travel Credit Cards do have an annual membership that is typically around $100. Therefore if you don’t use the points for travelling or other purchases, the cost may not be worth it.
We find the VIP Lounges at Airports one of the biggest perks while travelling. Although most of the major airports will have VIP Lounges that match your Card, the smailler ones will likely not.
What Travel Credit Cards do we Use?
Since we are from Canada, we use the Scotia Passport Visa and the CIBC Aventura Visa.
We carry 2 different Visa Cards in case we run into a problem with one, we have a spare.
The Scotia VIsa offers 6 VIP Lounge Visits per year and the CIBC Visa offers 4 VIP Lounge Visits per year. Therefore we get 10 each calendar year.
Additionally both have Travel Insurance built in although we always top up our Insurance just in case.
Do Travel Credit Cards Cover Travel & Medical Insurance
Most Travel Credit Cards have some form of Travel and Medical Insurance but obviously each one is unique and naturally they have many caveats that you need to follow to get a claim.
One of the most important features with most credit cards is that they will only cover Travel Cancellation or Interuption Insurance if you use that particular card for 75% of your trip. So we put all of our major purchases on one of our cards and use the other for supplemental items.
Our Tips for Booking Flights
Best Time To Book Flights
We find the Best Time to Book Flights is between 6 to 3 months before your departure. It’s often worthwhile, to monitor the prices for a week or more to see if there is any fluctuation.
Who Do We Book Our Flights Through
We will usually book through the Actual Airlines to ensure that we have completed transactions.
However, we will always use Skyscanner website to check up what airlines service the area and what days have the best prices as typically each destination will have specific days that are less expensive than others.
A TIP for Skyscanner, if you have the flexibility, you can just select a complete month for departure TO and return FROM and you will see the complete monthly trends.