As the summer travel season begins, 12 trips in 12 days author and travel expert Jen Ruiz joins Wealth! to detail her top budget-friendly travel tips.
“Rule No. 1 is to never waste a purchase you’re making,” explains Ruiz, encouraging travelers to take advantage of credit card perks like points or miles for every purchase. She recommends avoiding Europe this summer, opting for off-season places where travelers can get better deals and avoid big crowds, such as South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina.
For first-time travel deal hunters, Ruiz explains that the best course of action is to “choose a program that you know has good deals leaving from your airport” and receive cheap flight alerts. She also highlights the importance of planning ahead to save time and money, such as choosing to go to a museum on a day when admission prices may be reduced.
For more expert insights and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!
This post was written by Melanie Riehl
See more of Yahoo Finance’s coverage of travel demand and trends ahead of summer:
Summer travel boom: La Compagnie CEO talks about European demand
Mon. Buttigieg: Know your rights ahead of summer travel plans
Group bookings still a big growth driver for Marriott in 2024
Summer trips to Europe are about to get more expensive. Here’s why.
How to avoid travel fraud before the summer holidays
Video transcript
Well, if you, like millions of others, are planning to travel this summer, how do you fare?
So without breaking the bank?
Joining me.
Now we have Jen Ruiz, travel expert and author of the new book, 12 Trips in 12 Months, wait a minute, 12 Trips in 12 Months.
You, I mean, let’s break down what you want, but people need tips for navigating this summer travel season.
Where do they start?
What’s the number one rule, I think the number one rule is to never waste a purchase that you’re making.
So, many people are already buying things online.
They are already paying with credit cards.
You must earn some type of points or miles for each purchase.
So especially if you link, for example, I took a Lyft to get here this morning.
I earned airline miles for my Lyft purchase just by linking my account.
So I think anyone, even if they don’t have a travel credit card, can earn points and miles for these online purchases.
OK.
So with that in mind, where are you visiting and let’s get into your 12 trips?
Because I imagine a lot of other people are also trying to make the same decisions about how to plan their trips.
What are the prohibitions, if you will, what should you observe when starting to plan your trip.
Well, you mentioned that European travel is the most popular place to go in the summer.
I would probably avoid going to Europe this summer and find somewhere out of season where you can get better deals.
The southern hemisphere, South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina.
This is their off season now.
So you can find much better deals with fewer crowds and probably have a more pleasant experience than in high season in Europe.
You know, Rome.
Interesting.
I believe we also have full screen because you broke it down really well in terms of doing this and not doing this.
So I want to look at some of these things and it starts where people are also booking and talking about some of the deal sites there.
How can you navigate?
What is a set of listings that will appear when you start your search and enter the date and time you want to travel?
It can be so overwhelming, right?
And you receive so many alerts, so many notifications, I would say choose a program that you know, that has good deals leaving from your airport.
There are a lot of flight alert sites that will email you and say, hey, there’s a $99 flight to Paris.
Do you want to book?
Click here?
And this is a great way for people who are beginner deal hunters to find deals and just click to book.
And the activities?
I mean, you have to do something when you get somewhere.
So how can you make sure you’re having fun on this trip you’re theoretically taking?
Um, and then you’re not breaking the bank along the way.
You must absolutely plan ahead.
This not only saves money but also time, if you get your ticket in advance you can save an hour waiting outside the museum to get your ticket and will probably save at least 10%.
Look for things like free walking tours that are available in most cities, look for free or reduced museum admission prices, and plan your visits around these offerings.
I need a little fancy calculation, if you will, when it makes sense, you know, maybe a little more leisure about how much you’re spending on an experience?
I think it depends a lot on the person.
But for me, the point of traveling is to have a memorable experience.
So whether you want to splurge on a plate of food, you want something spectacular, you want to go to a Michelin star restaurant or you want to have a more upscale experience, for example, I arrived here today in New York in a helicopter from Newark and on the way, we also flew the helicopter over the Statue of Liberty here.
I really did.
Oh my God.
OK. Good experience.
And is.
It is a shared ride service.
So you’re sharing the cost and you’ll have that sightseeing on the way.
I mean, there’s no better view of the Statue of Liberty than from above.
And you get to the city in five minutes instead of an hour, you’re living like a queen now.
It’s okay, Jen.
I need to know when we’re about to let you go.
What was the main trip?
1212 trips, 12 months title of your book.
What was the top you took?
Well, you know, you’re popular for a reason.
So I have to say that the south of France in high season is quite different to anything else.
The lavender fields, the sunflowers, the Van Gogh art you can see in the real life places he painted.
It’s really very beautiful.
So this was a memorable trip just because it was so peaceful.
Alright, Queen Jen Ruiz who is a travel expert and author of the new book, 12 Trips in 12 Months.
Thank you very much for coming to the studio.
Be a helicopter.
Not less.
Not bad.
