Getting more for less - travel smart
Making the most of weekends, taking advantage of Black Friday sales, and other useless tips for non-Australians.
Many people ask me how I can afford to travel so often, so far and wide, and “how DO you get so much time off work?” For many years, prior to the work-from-home phenomenon caused by the pandemic in 2020, my number one job was work-from-home (or wherever I happened to be). We used Zoom before Zoom was a thing! Being part-time at this job allowed me to work and travel. A lot! I also had a great boss who let me do this and work the hours that suited me, as long as the work got done.
Spending time working and travelling in cheap countries meant I could do more and save more for next time. At one point I spent almost six months in Malaysia and Egypt and was still able to work that part-time job, coming back home for our last in-person conference in 2019. I always had a second (sometimes more than one), casual job back home in Australia that meant I could jump straight back into work when I was home. Casual work in Australia means you are not locked in to set shifts or times and you get paid a little more than permanent workers because your annual leave and sick leave entitlements are paid in your hourly wage. Basically choose your own shifts based on your availability or need to work.
Casual work, particularly weekend work, funded a lot of my travel adventures pre- and post-pandemic. However, due to the rapid rise in work-from-home jobs during and after the pandemic, the tax benefits changed and, hence, I didn’t get the same benefits as pre-pandemic even though my original, work-from-home, part-time job still did not have a bricks and mortar office to go back to. We had always worked remotely and continue to do so. A little over 12 months ago, I got a second, permanent part-time job, with all the benefits, including paid annual and sick leave, but it meant dropping hours in the work-from-home job, and increasing time spent in an actual office. This doesn’t necessarily mean less time for travel, it just means I have to travel (and plan) smarter.
Whilst I have always been savvy with budget airlines, cheap deals and no-frills adventures, this change in my working circumstances meant that I had to lift my game when planning travel and time away from work. While I still travel relatively often, I work less while travelling now, meaning I get more adventure and travel experience for my time away, rather than spending an afternoon or three working in the middle of my adventure. I am also lucky that in both jobs, I have great bosses who pretty much let me work autonomously and always approve my leave requests.
So what does travelling smarter actually mean? To make the most of both my part-time work and annual leave benefits, I book domestic holidays over a weekend. As I only work four days a week, if I leave on a Thursday morning and return on a Sunday evening (four days) then I only need to take one day of annual leave. If I want to go for five days then I only need to take two days leave and so on. You get more bang for your buck if you work this in to a long weekend that already includes a public holiday.
For example, in 2025 ANZAC Day is on a Friday, which is automatically paid as a public holiday. I could then take Thursday as my regular day off meaning I would have four days without using an annual leave day. Four days is enough to go somewhere either as a road trip within my own state or by air and, as an added bonus, it is not during school holidays although kids would also get ANZAC Day off from school.
This leaves the bulk of my annual leave available for a longer stint overseas at least once a year, when I might spend 10-15 hours on a plane just getting there. I have come to terms with this as being part and parcel of living in one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, so it doesn’t bother me to spend that amount of time on a plane to get somewhere else for a few weeks, as long as I’m not paying full price for that long-haul airfare!
Taking advantage of airfare sales like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, EOFY, and Boxing Day is a no-brainer. While I have always gifted myself a Boxing Day airfare/holiday, I have recently learnt to use other sales to make multiple airfare purchases for shorter trips during the year. While we are currently in the midst of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales (I don’t recall these being a thing here in Australia pre-pandemic, but I have already booked three domestic return flights with Virgin Australia’s Black Friday sale) there are many other sales, happy hours or bonus sales to take advantage of throughout the year. You just need to be aware of them.
I sign up to every airline newsletter, specials, or frequent flyer programs that I can to get the emails with the deals. If you don’t want your inbox cluttered with all the various newsletters you can sign up to something like I Know the Pilot, which canvases all the major airlines and booking apps and gives you a condensed version of the direct emails, but the disadvantage of this is that many sales are over before this email reaches you, particularly for short promotions such as half-day only happy hours (Virgin Australia) or 72-hour sales (a favourite of Fiji Airways).
While I might not use all the frequent flyer programs for points, preferring to redirect them back to my two main Australian programs, they are always good to have for the advance notification of sales or happy hour flight deals (yes, happy hour flight deals are a thing in Australia!) This process has allowed me to book half-price fares to Mexico in 2023 with Qantas, a return flight to LAX from Melbourne with Fiji Airways for AUD1000 earlier this year that included a 5-night stopover in Fiji at no extra charge on the return trip to Australia, and return for free to both Vietnam and Honolulu pre-pandemic with Jetstar (Qantas’ budget airline). In fact, I don’t think I have ever paid a full-price airfare in my entire life. And I plan on keeping it that way.
A major drawback to sale fares is that they are usually only available for a limited time and for a set period of time to travel that generally excludes school holidays (luckily for me I don’t travel during school holidays ever, unless it is for work) or known peak travel times. This means that if you don’t have the immediate funds available or need to confer with someone else before booking you may just miss out on these great deals.
Accommodation options do the same thing. Whether you are booking through a third-party app like booking.com and Expedia or direct with a hotel or tourist park they generally all have Black Friday sales or other discounts available at various times throughout the year. A number of hotels I have recently stayed at or booked have been cheaper by booking direct rather than through a third-party. So book smart, look at the options, always check a hotel direct if possible, as these days it might be cheaper than the “discount” sites. I know I have found this to be true lately and for several of my most recent bookings it has been cheaper to book direct. I have also dabbled in travel auctions recently, but as I’ve yet to take any of the trips I’ve earned with this method I’ll have to come back to this and let you know if it was worth it or not. It’s a bit like “upgrade me bids” to business class with airlines, I guess. You think you’re getting a great deal, but you’re probably not. Only time will tell on this one.
So if you think you don’t get enough holidays or time away, think again. Learn to travel smart and take advantage of all the options!
What I’m reading: The Belburd by Nardi Simpson. An Australian novel. I’m halfway through and enjoying it thus far. I really like books about the Dreamtime.
What I’m watching: Will Trent on Disney+. While I might be late to the party (again), I’ve really enjoyed watching the first two seasons over the past couple of months and can’t wait for the third!
