9 Tips For Hacking Cheap Flights

Ian — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:51:32 +0000

So you want to be a travel hacker? You want to find the cheap flights for your next holiday?

What is Travel Hacking?

The objective of travel hacking is to get the best travel option for the lowest price or best deal (…sometimes even free!). You can achieve this by using things like air miles, hotel rewards points, online research, and using search engines as well as other tips and tricks to make considerable travel savings. It’s all about thinking outside the box and being creative.

Want more reading on Travel Hacking? Head over to Chris Guillebeau’s site. His Unconventional Guides products include Frequent Flyer Master, Travel Ninja, & Travel Hacking Cartel. The guy travels to more than 25 countries a year and has visited almost every country in the world.

For the advanced travellers out there, you may already know a lot of these tips but this series is geared towards the beginner audience. You would be surprised how few people know about saving money this way.

I spent over an hour explaining the system to a girl from Darwin that I met in a hostel in Marrakesh. She was perplexed at how I managed to get flights from Marrakesh to Cairo for 174€ last minute, when flights were being advertised in excess of 500€!

Be Flexible With Your Dates

Ticket prices vary depending on the day of the week and even the season.

It’s cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than towards weekends; more people tend to travel weekends (so prices are higher).

Leading up to major holidays flights are more expensive. So fly after major holidays.

Fly early morning or late at night. The “Red Eye” flights are always cheaper because fewer people want to sacrifice their sleep.

(cc) Marcin Wichary

When researching your flights be flexible with dates, look at other dates around the days you want to travel. Many aggregators have these features built in, which you will find out in my upcoming tips.

Be Flexible With Your Itinerary

If your trip involves more than one city or country you can book a multi-stop ticket, a return ticket, a round-the-world (RTW) ticket, or an open jaw ticket. I prefer the open jaw ticket, which means you can arrive in one airport and depart from another; allowing you to complete the travel in-between in your own time, by your own means (overland for example). Be aware, that open jaw is usually more expensive than the classic return ticket.

Join Rewards Programs

The ultimate way to get cheap flights is by earning rewards points and redeeming them for air miles. It doesn’t matter how often you fly, you should be signed up for the airlines rewards program. Signing up for a new credit card for a one-time bonus can earn you up to 50,000 miles!

(cc) marsmet543

If you’re at home, saving for a trip of your own, and still regularly spending then you should start thinking about credit card rewards programs: given the right program you could be earning up to 3x what you spent in air miles!

Just be sure to pay it off before the interest free period expires. The last thing you need is more credit card debt.

More on credit card rewards programs later, for now you can read more about it at Flyer Talk and Boarding Area.

Subscribe for Promotions (eg. Email, Twitter)

Watch out for special offers and promotions from travel agents and airlines in your area. I sign up for newsletters from all airlines servicing my airport, as well as a few of the well-known agencies (click here to see yours).

No one likes too many subscriptions, but you can apply a filter and label to your newsletters so it gets shuffled away to a folder until you want to see it.

Be warned though, many of the last-minute deals are only available for 24 hours or until they sell out.

For example StudentFlights had a deal recently from Perth to Santiago for $900 return, and I missed it!

Came across some #AMAZING last minute fares. South America from $899*. Won't last long at these prices. Get on it!! - ow.ly/aDRTZ
— StudentFlights (@studentflights) May 2, 2012

If you’re on Facebook or Twitter you can also have these airlines and agencies in your network to get the information in your feed as soon as it happens.

Search with the Big Aggregators & Websites

You need to start your online research somewhere. I recommend SkyScanner because their site services my airport, and their user interface allows very flexible flight searches (week, month, or even year!)

But you need to cross check everything. Use multiple sites and aggregators. More on that later.

Just remember that you need to shop around for an unbiased fare. Many websites, many airlines, and even foreign currencies. It’s difficult to find a booking engine that isn’t biased with their airline affiliates.

Check Foreign Sites & Currencies

By checking the international websites of major airlines you can find small differences in prices. For example, for the tickets from Perth to Santiago I could search any of the countries the flight transits through. Use a currency converter like XE.com to compare the prices to your local dollar, you can find prices are cheaper depending on the region the website is advertised in.

Prices can differ between countries at different ends of a route because market conditions vary and also because of changes in currency values over time. Off the record, some airlines admit they believe more passengers are getting around the marketing barriers by opening bank accounts in other countries or using friends and family abroad to book their tickets. [tweet this] The Guardian.

Research the Airports

Check your airport for a list of carriers (all airlines that fly in/out of it). Cross reference with the airlines that are indexed by the aggregators and websites you have been using. There may be an airline that’s not referenced, and you can go to their site directly for a price.

You can also load your airport on a Google map, and find secondary airports nearby. If you’re researching a long-haul flight (like my one from Perth to Santiago) you can research alternate routes and adjust the layover times and prices.

Call the Airline (or Agent) Direct

Once you think you’ve found a great price, give the airline a call. Let them know the price you found. Perhaps they have a better deal direct? Or perhaps they have a price-beat guarantee. There’s no harm is letting them know you were able to find a cheaper (than advertised) flight by using these research methods.

Book Early

Perhaps the most obvious tip: book early. Book as soon as you are sure you’re going. Otherwise you too could miss out on a great deal on your airfare.

(cc) pixieclipx

For more specific tips, in the upcoming days I am trying to find cheap flights to somewhere in South America. Using that as a case study, I will show you all the techniques I use to find the cheapest flights. Subscribe in your RSS reader, or by email to get notified as soon as the posts go live.

* flickr header image credit (cc)

Mothers Day: Travel Bloggers Give Back

Ian — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:00:00 +0000

I’ve been sitting on this story for months. Since I read about the Travel Bloggers Give Back (#TBGB) concept around Christmas.

Travel Bloggers Give Back is about using our time and energy to convince as many travel bloggers as we possibly can to post stories on their sites about their favorite charity organizations. The goal? To use the power of our collective voice to convince our readers to give whatever they can to the charities nearest and dearest to our hearts. Want to take part? Read more here.

Going public with my story will probably piss off a few people I know (if they read it), but I hope they understand that honesty, truth, and education are more important than keeping secrets.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Did you let your Mother know you love her?

Mother’s Day is a difficult time for my family. You see, over 10 years ago my Mother died. Her death damaged the dynamic in my family. We’ve never been the same since.

My Mother was depressed, there’s probably a lot more to the story than what I know. I was only 18 and too caught up in my own life. But I noticed sometimes.

Sometimes she cried, felt trapped in a life she loved but maybe hadn’t wished for.

Sometimes she felt like no one cared and she had no friends. I’ve had these feelings before myself. Most of us have at one time or another.

Depression is a serious mental illness (and much more common than you think). Talk about it. People will listen. You’re not alone.

BeyondBlue is a national, independent, not-for-profit organisation working to address issues associated with depression, anxiety and related disorders in Australia.

In support of the Travel Bloggers Give Back movement, and in honour of Mother’s Day, I encourage you to make a donation.

If there is one thing travel has taught me: The world is a beautiful place, and while there are always ‘a few loose screws’; in general, we all want the same things – Happiness, Love, Truth, and a Good Story to Tell. So why not make a donation? help those suffering from depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses talk to the people who can help them.

If you’re depressed, talk about it. People care about you, and they will listen.

If you’re not sure, have a look at these free resources by BeyondBlue to to self-check, or call the number on their site for support.

My Mum’s death really screwed us all up. That’s how much we care. 10 years plus, and we’re still broken. Everyone deals in their own way. Dad doesn’t talk, like most Dad’s. We’ve even had one Aunty completely disowned us, because the loss affected her so deeply. There’s not a week that goes by that we don’t think about it in our own special way.

For me, Mothers Day is a reminder to not take those you care about for granted.

If you want to help.. donate, or find an equally good cause and honest story by checking out the tag #TBGB on Twitter, or the Facebook group.

Travel Bloggers Give Back Posts around the web:

To Write Love on Her Arms via @GreenGlobalTrvl
You Bought Me Sleep via @ShelleySeale
Passports With Purpose via @HoleInTheDonut

This is a post for TRAVEL BLOGGERS GIVE BACK, a unified movement of bloggers giving back by posting stories about their favorite charity organizations.

Want to know about other charities I am involved in this year? Check out the Inca Rally which I will be participating in soon. The charities include: Incawasi, a Peruvian charity trying to break the cycle of family poverty; EveryChild, working to prevent children from growing up vulnerable and alone; and Survival International, campaigning for tribal people’s rights worldwide.

On Negativity, Productivity, and Changing the World

Ian — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:48:50 +0000

You may be wondering… what ever happened to that Ian guy? Last I heard, he was in Egypt or somewhere, then he kinda disappeared off the map. Wasn’t he trying to get to Mexico or something? If you’ve checked out the Where Am I? page, you would have seen this:

Where am I now?

Perth, Western Australia

Where’d I just come from?

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Where am I going next?

Mexico City, Mexico

Well, here’s a quick update on what’s been happening since I returned from Dubai (and before that, Egypt) almost 10 weeks ago.

On negativity

I’ve been surrounded by a lot of negativity. I came home, I dealt with post-travel (and post-awesomeness) depression, and losing most of the friends I spent years making [You go away, and peoples lives go on. It's not that I haven't tried to reconnect, but we are in different places now. I'm sure "it will all come out in the wash", bridges that need to will be mended].

So yeah, most of the negativity has been coming from the family. I’m living at my parents place, because over a year ago I decided to rent out my place and travel to Europe for a couple years. That was a hell of an adventure. I still haven’t written over 100 blog posts about it. On to newer things already. So anyway, the old man is giving me grief about wasting time on the computer & not paying any rent, and not being paid for what I do. Baby Boomer Generation. Only a few of them have figured the whole Web 2.0 thing out.

I just don’t need the negativity. If you have nothing good to say… then just S.T.F.U.

I have a plan, I’m an entrepreneur, a traveller, and an adventurer. I have a Bucket List to cross off dammit!

On Productivity: What’s in the pipeline

I want to start an email newsletter, because it appears that no one reads RSS. So if you signup to that, I’ll try and get a newsletter out once a month to let you know how things are going (sort of like this post). Now, I’m a 100% one man show around here, so there’s a lot of trail-and-error, so bare with me.

I’ve read that to have a successful newsletter you have to offer something to get people to signup. Maybe a free eBook? Well, I don’t have time right now to write an eBook. So signup on the promise of a free eBook some day. Or just fire me an email telling me about the rut you’re stuck in, and I’ll send you some inspiration to help you get out and live a life of eager existence. I can tell you this much. Lot’s of juicy things happen in a year of solo travel, and even in the 10 weeks spent catching up with folk at home. The type of juicy that I don’t need hosted permanently on my blog. The type of juicy you can’t wait to sink your teeth into. So just sign up already.

You may have seen my entry for the Hawaiian Travel Blogger contest on YouTube? You need to go vote for that on Facebook, so I can win, and you can win yourself 2 free tickets too.

I’ve also got a big announcement coming up, on what I will be doing in August. If you follow me on social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) then you might already be aware of it. I’m working hard on that, and learning a lot of new skills in the process… albeit skills I don’t want to learn; wish I had the budget to outsource.

I still don’t have tickets to Latin America booked, nor any sort of Inca Trail tour. I really should get onto that.

On Changing the World

I was just reading The 17 Habits of People Who Change the World via @_Scott_Dinsmore, and after that I might have my mojo back.

I will be successful.

How do I know? Well, because I already try new things, measure against my own standards, know who I am, constantly seek adventure and explore, and many other things on the list. Now it’s just a matter of getting productive, and making things happen.

On re-branding

I was reading through my old post on why I started this blog, and realized that I’ve branded it all towards travel and the big Europe trip. Now that that’s over, I need to move closer towards the original branding of lifestyle-independence, travel, fitness, and all the other cool sh!t that I enjoy. @EagerExistence is more of an internet brand & online personality rather than just another travel blog. If that’s too hard for you to swallow, let’s just call it my personal blog.

I look forward to sharing with you.

On Guest Posting

I am still open to guest posting, I want to hook you up with great content from my perspective; and I have a tonne of empty “categories” on this blog for you to fill. So get in touch.
* header image credit

Vote for Me!! American Tourister Hawaiian Travel Blogger Contest

Ian — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:30:32 +0000

Good news everyone, I made my first YouTube video!

I’ve entered the American Tourister Hawaiian roving Travel Blogger Contest on Facebook.

Be sure to head over to the American Tourister Facebook page and vote for me, if my video is selected.

You can win a 10 day holiday for 2 to Hawaii just for voting!

It took me a week (and lots of takes) to shoot the video and all the b-roll, and another 5 days to edit, not including the few days it took to learn how to use the software. But I had a lot of fun doing it, so you can expect more videos coming from me (especially if I win this contest!) on my YouTube channel.

My first time in front of the camera. I didn’t realise I had such a Kiwi accent. And I guess it’s true what they say, you really do put on 10lbs on camera!

Watch the video, and let me know what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Please vote

If I win, it means 10 days in Hawaii for me and a friend, touring the islands and completing a series of activities and video blogging for American Tourister along the way!

The trip is free including flights from Hawaiian Airlines, accommodation with Outrigger Hotel Resorts, spending money and American Tourister luggage.

Please share the video on social media, and let people know to vote on Facebook.

* flickr header image credit

Anzac Day at Gallipoli: Dawn Service

Ian — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:27:09 +0000

Anzac Day Dawn Service at Gallipoli is a pilgrimage many Australians and New Zealanders make every year.

On this day (of national remembrance) we honor the WWI Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACS) who landed at Gallipoli, Turkey, on 25th April 1915; however, the significance of the day has expanded to encompass memory of all Australian & New Zealand soldiers who served.

Why Gallipoli?

The Anzacs wanted to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to allow the allied forces access to the Black Sea. However, navigational errors meant they arrived further along the coast at Ari Burnu (Anzac Cove). Instead of a gently sloping beach, they encountered almost sheer cliffs and ridges where they were fired upon by Turkish troops.

The Anzacs built kilometres of trenches at Gallipoli, given orders to ‘dig in’ rather than retreat for fear of further casualties. They remained in the trenches for the entire 8 month campaign where 8,709 Australians and 2,721 New Zealanders died.

What makes Anzac Day so moving is the fact that many of these soldiers were young men who were excited to be having an overseas adventure, serving their country in what they believed would be an easy victory. But they were shot down by snipers as soon as the sun came up, and for 8 more months struggled to gain any ground. So many lives lost in vain, for a war that wasn’t even ours.

The Dawn Service

The night before the service there are not many people getting sleep. It’s very cold, but still an emotional experience.

view of the anzac memorial sites

A sea of total strangers huddle together in thermals, sleeping bags, blankets, and whatever else they can find to get through the night, and wait for the sun to rise; brought together to remember lost soldiers and the importance of mateship.

thousands in their sleeping bags at anzac cove, night before dawn service

It’s an extremely well organised event. The organisers play commemorative speeches, documentaries, and slideshows on big-screens throughout the night.

packing up at anzac cove after the dawn service

I went to Gallipoli as part of an organised tour, it was the start of my European adventure, and only the second time in my life I’d travelled alone. Being so far from home, I wanted to make the pilgrimage, but with like-minded Australians my own age. So for me, going in a tour group was a given.

You don’t have to sign up with a tour to attend the dawn service though. It’s free to attend, just read the things you need to know before attending.

An experience for every Australian

Being a part of the Anzac Day service at Gallipoli is an experience I will cherish, and one that I encourage every Australian or New Zealander to have. To stand there, on the anniversary of the landing, at the same time, knowing how much blood was shed and lives lost.

The silence is eerie, and moving at the same time. As dawn breaks, everyone has woken up, and stands in silence. All you hear is the lapping of the waves on the shore. The shore where in 1915 thousands of allied soldiers lost their lives, a complete massacre. All the boys were looking for was an adventure, an easy victory against the Turks, and they would be home in no time. Oh how they were wrong.

Then you hear the last post (click to play) played, and the tears start to flow.

On respect and mateship

The Anzac legend helped define our country, and put us on the world stage. But Gallipoli was a great loss, there is no glory in war, we make the pilgrimage to remember the ordinary man and pay tribute to those who fought for our freedom.

There is a great respect between Turkey and Australia today, as there has been ever since the 8 month campaign. Perhaps the well respected Ataturk’s words sum it up best:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Now that’s coming from the guy who led the Turkish campaign at Gallipoli. No wonder he went on to become Turkey’s first president, and a national hero.

the memorial at lone pine

For more information on what ANZAC Day is all about, see the Australian War Memorial website, or read the article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Turkey’s ambassador to Australia.

Lest we forget