Craig and I are planners. We like to have lots of details sorted before we leave home. Whether it’s a short trip by car or a month-long international journey, we enjoy it more when we know where we are sleeping and how we will get there before we depart. We also ensure we have the up-to-date visa/passport/vaccines necessary.
We Plan a Trip in this Order
When we plan a trip, we book the components in a specific order. If we decide to go on a cruise, we book it before all other tasks. If we are not taking a cruise, then we book in this order:
1. Flights- search using Skyscanner to find flight options- dates, airlines
2. Accommodations
3. Car rental or other transportation such as Parknfly If you are an Ontario educator make use of the EDvantage Parknfly discount code! There are lots of car rental and airport transfer options too.
Here’s our post about how we research airport-to-hotel transfers in different places: https://lifeafter50travel.net/2024/06/14/airport-and-hotel-transfer-options-when-travelling/
4. Activities – I use Trip Advisor to get recommendations for things to do and places to eat. Trip Advisor is still reliable as long as the reviews are recent. Once we select activities, I then search Viator, Gurwalk and GoCity for possible guided tours.
Trip Advisor Searches
Accessing Trip Advisor to search for the latest reviews for places to stay is always part of the research. It is still a great place to begin research as a 50+ traveller. Many of the reviewers are our age:)
Also as a 50+ couple, hotel stays are more reasonable than Airbnbs. Selecting boutique or smaller hotels in the heart of the cities we visit is part of the experience. We are not loyal to one hotel chain.
Expedia Searches
We generally book through Expedia because Expedia bookings are insured through TICO (Travel Industry Council of Ontario) for Ontario residents. We also like their search filters. Terms like fully refundable, breakfast included and/or pet-friendly places are the ones we use most often.
Our earned loyalty points with Expedia provide discounts and often perks at check-in (free wine, breakfast, upgrade options). We also appreciate that all our flight and hotel bookings are in one app! If you are loyal to one hotel chain it is worth signing up for their loyalty program.
Book 90 days out!
We usually make our bookings at or around 90 days before departure. This is usually the sweet spot for the best flight prices and provides a good selection of accommodation choices with free cancellation rates. Many tours can be booked with free cancellation options in case plans change.
Some of our best ideas and travel tips come from travel bloggers on YouTube or Instagram. Ask me in the comments for recommendations!
Travel Credit Card
We have become travel credit card users. We chose the CIBC Aventura VISA Infinity Card. Here’s why we chose this card over the other travel cards:
- We learned that our bank would rebate the annual fee because we have Imperial service at CIBC.
- One of the perks of this card is $100 toward our Nexus card renewals which we needed to do this year
- The signup bonuses were easy to obtain by using it as our everyday card
- The CIBC portal uses Expedia so we know how it works and we earn 2x points for each purchase.
- We hope to have enough Aventura points to pay for some flights in a year’s time.
- VISA is widely accepted and there are some travel perks that we will take advantage of this year. For example, we downloaded an eSIM for free that we will use. We also have a couple of lounge passes to use per year.
- Consolidating our investments and daily banking into one institution simplifies things.
Travel Points – Credit Card Tips
If you want to learn more about maximizing travel credit card options and points we suggest you follow the @karanadnate team that publishes content at:
- Daily Drop Lounge on Facebook. There are 45,000 keen travellers sharing ideas. I tend to mute their FB posts because they are so active. Instead, I use this FB community as a search engine. This is helpful when looking for things to do and where to stay in a specific place. It’s up to date and contains no selling!
- The Daily Drop newsletter is an excellent list of travel tips and travel credit card suggestions (mostly for American travellers)
- If you are flexible about when you travel and are booking further than 90 days from your departure date, consider using one of the following flight tracking sites. If you Join FareDrop– You can create multiple flight price alerts with a paid subscription.
- We use the free option powered by Google Flights called Skyscanner and Kiwi.com to find flights
- Canadians may want to follow RWRDS.ca The Canadian perspective is excellent! They have up-to-date tips on points options/cards/promotions. I like that they highlight when hotel chains have promotions too!
We assemble all our bookings in one place (Google Drive) or our airline or travel app.
We install an eSIM using the Airalo app. That way we have data as soon as we land in a new country. Here’s a post that describes our experience with eSims in Europe: https://lifeafter50travel.net/2024/05/10/airalo-an-esim-solution-for-data-when-travelling/
Before we leave for a trip, we feel ready if our accommodation and flights are booked and we have identified a few top-rated places to eat.
Part of the fun of travelling is in the planning. It builds the anticipation of things to come! We always leave room in our itinerary for unexpected additions and changes. Travelling never goes to plan. The more you travel the more you learn to lean into the unexpectedness and enjoy the wave!
Once you have made your bookings it’s time to pack! Here’s a link to our page for packing suggestions: https://lifeafter50travel.net/packing-suggestions-for-50/
