How to Travel for Free:
Insider Tips on Free Travel and Cheap Flights
There are hundreds of budget guides that tell you how to cut costs on trips. Many of these books contain low-cost travel tips, but they don’t give you the ultimate scoop on Free travel.
Instead of traveling cheap, you could be traveling Free- from transportation by air or sea to lodgings, meals and entertainment. Most free travel requires no special skills, credentials, or contacts.
And it can be just as luxurious- and often more pleasurable than the most expensive paid vacation.
*Disclosure: My aim is to recommend products that will truly benefit you. I believe in transparency and want to disclose that I’ve included certain products and links to those products on this page that I will earn an affiliate commission for any purchases you make.
Complimentary Cruises
Cruise lines generally offer a free passage to anyone who recruits 10 to 15 paying passengers. (Many airlines offer similar deals.) If you can’t lure that many customers you can get a pro-rated discount on your fare.
You can also cruise free as an expert in a pertinent subject.
Historians, anthropologists, naturalists, and ornithologists are in especially high demand.
Your job on the cruise would be to present a series of lectures and to be available for informal questioning. It helps to have a PhD (or at least a Master’s degree) and to have published articles on the subject, but an affable personality and a willingness to share your knowledge with others can stretch your credentials.
Free Cruises are also available to doctors and nurses who are willing to be on 24-hour call, athletic coaches who can help organize recreational activities … to musicians and entertainers who are willing to perform … to cosmetologists who can barter their services for a ride.
There is a strong demand for “hosts”- distinguished single gentlemen who are usually 55 and older. They serve by dining and dancing with the many unattached older women taking these vacation cruises.
Best Travel Credit Cards:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
If you like being rewarded for eating out and traveling, but don’t want to pay the $450 annual fee for the Sapphire Reserve, then the Chase Sapphire Preferred might be the card for you.
- While it doesn’t come with all the same perks as it’s more premium sibling, it offers 2 points per dollar on travel and dining, travel and baggage insurance, and no foreign transaction fees.
- The annual fee on this card is only $95 (waived for the first year), making the Sapphire Preferred a great way to earn valuable Ultimate Rewards points without paying too much out of pocket.
- Sign-up Bonus: 50,000 points after $4,000 spent within the first 3 months
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Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
The Starwood Preferred Guest Card has always been a winner at home, but since Amex removed its foreign transaction fees in 2015 it’s become a winner abroad as well.
- It has reasonable prices for hotel award nights, or you can transfer the points 1:3 to Marriott instead.
- You can also transfer your points to over 30 different airline partners, and you even earn a 5,000 point bonus for every 20,000 points you transfer.
- This opens up some incredible options including transferring to Alaska Airlines or American Airlines to book Cathay Pacific’s incredible first class product.
Welcome Offer: 25,000 points after $3,000 spent within the first 3 months
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One is very unique in that none of their cards have foreign transaction fees. The Venture Rewards card earns miles instead of points, which can be redeemed for travel purchases for a fixed value making them extremely flexible.
- The card now offers 10 miles per dollar for hotels.com bookings made it hotels.com/venture allowing you to enjoy even more rewards on your travel purchases.
Sign-up Bonus: 50,000 miles after $3,000 spent within the first 3 months
Whatever card(s) you decide to carry with you when you travel, make sure you’re not leaving any money on the table!
Odds are you already have a card that doesn’t have foreign transaction fees and if you don’t, there are plenty of great offers to consider before your next big trip.
Insider Tips for Cheap Air Fares:
1. Download Ibotta to save on hotels, rental cars, flights and more.
If you’ve ever needed a reason to (finally) bite the bullet and download the Ibotta app, check out these cash back deals on travel:
- Booking.com: 4% cash back
- CheapOair: $5 cash back
- Choice Hotels: 4% cash back plus $5 bonus
- Extended Stay America: 6% cash back
- Hertz.com: 3% cash back
- HomeAway: $10 cash back
- Hotels.com: 4% cash back
- HotelStorm: 8% cash back
- HotelTonight: 3% cash back
- Hotwire: 4% cash back
- LivingSocial: 4% cash back
- Orbitz: 6% cash back
- Priceline.com: 5% cash back
- VRBO: $10 cash back
2. Fly during off-peak times like Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Wednesday and Saturday are usually the slowest days of the week at most airports. Since these are considered “off-peak” days, you can get cheaper tickets.
4. Fly during off-peak hours too.
Avoid crowded airports, long lines and overpriced tickets by flying early in the morning between 5-7AM, or after 8PM, including those pesky red-eye flights.
5. Follow airlines on social media for flash sales.
If you follow airlines on Twitter and Facebook, you’ll see fare blasts where they offer a limited number of seats for a crazy-good price.
For example, Southwest recently had one-way tickets for as low as $49, and Jet Blue offered one-way tickets for $54.
6. Book early… but not too early.
The sweet spot for booking a flight is 45-90 days before you’d like to travel. Anything before or after that window will be more expensive.
7. Travel in the off-season to save up to 75%.
Plan your vacation in the off-season to save on airfare and hotel accommodations. Try the first two weeks of December, January 7th through the end of the month, during spring (except during spring break times) and in October.
9. Search for flights in a private or incognito browser window.
This should be a no-brainer!
Always search for flights in a private or incognito browsing window (and clear your computer’s cookies) so travel websites can’t use your search history to inflate prices just for you.