Just think about that for a minute. $1,500 is close to what it costs me to stay at home and subsist

How I Pulled Off a 36 Day European Vacation for $1,500 discount codes for dollar rental car | Well Traveled Mile Top Deals The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® - Earn 40,000 discount codes for dollar rental car Bonus Miles! Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® - Earn 40,000 Bonus Miles worth $400 in free travel! Well Traveled Mile Maximize discount codes for dollar rental car airline frequent flyer miles, hotel and credit card points Miles Points Travel TRIP REPORTS Destination Guides Monthly Travel Expenses Top Deals Beginner s Guide FAQ Credit Cards Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards Airline Credit Cards Free Credit Card Consultation What s in My Wallet Travel Resources Airline Stopover and Open-jaw Rules Airline Award Chart Comparison discount codes for dollar rental car Hotel Award Chart Comparison Airline Award Charts Frequent Flyer Programs Hotel Award Charts discount codes for dollar rental car Hotel Loyalty Program Signups Redeeming Miles + Booking Tools Airline Mile + Point Transfer Partners Discussions About Contact Disclaimer + Privacy Policy Home / Barclays / How I Pulled Off a 36 Day European Vacation for $1,500 How I Pulled Off a 36 Day European Vacation for $1,500 Posted by: Well Traveled Mile in Barclays , Planning , Travel 17 February, 2014 4 Comments
Cheap, long term travel is usually associated with Central America or South East Asia Europe, not so much. While those regions are affordable discount codes for dollar rental car on a backpacker s budget, the Balkans are a highly underrated region in Europe that is still very cheap, relatively safe, convenient and still considered to be off the beaten path compared to Central or S.E. Asia. Tea time in Kas, Turkey
When I first started to plan this trip I scribbled Montenegro on a piece of paper, that quickly turned into a side trip to Croatia, a couple of days in Bosnia and then a two week stopover in Turkey. With a big trip in the works and little money, I was determined to travel on less than $50 a day on a month long trip.
Though the Balkans don’t have the price tag of Western Europe, they still do cost more than typical ‘shoestring discount codes for dollar rental car budget’ destinations. With that said, I set out to travel hack an amazing month long vacation through Turkey and several Balkan countries.
Using my own set of travel hacking tools that I’ve picked up, 36 days in Europe cost me around $1,500 USD , averaging $42 USD per day and I wasn’t ‘roughing it’. This includes every expense I incurred on the trip flights, hotels and hostels, food, transportation, drinking, shopping, and activities.
Just think about that for a minute. $1,500 is close to what it costs me to stay at home and subsist on a graduate student budget. Instead I took a 36-day European vacation. You’re probably thinking: you must have stayed at some pretty low caliber accommodations and eaten peanut butter and jelly day-in-and-day-out. How Did I Pull it Off?
This wasn’t a backpacking trip through Europe. My goal was to have over a month long vacation and to show how it’s possible to travel well for very little discount codes for dollar rental car money. These methods can be used for travel anywhere in the world, so even though I did it in Europe, you can apply them anywhere.
Before heading off on the trip I decided: I wanted to stay in very few hostels, I wanted to enjoy all the local food (thus eating out often), and I would not turn down an attraction because of the cost. With the money I was saving by not paying out-of-pocket for airfare and hotels I could budget more for daily enjoyments (e.g. grabbing a coffee at the street cafe or trying out the local beer). discount codes for dollar rental car Our room at the Radisson Blu Dubrovnik
Oh yeah, I also wanted discount codes for dollar rental car to rent a car. In my opinion, this is one of the best ways to truly explore a new country. Although it’s often not as cheap as traveling on buses or trains it gives you the ultimate flexibility to choose your route, stop where and when you want, and mix-up the itinerary as needed. Note: I was traveling with my girlfriend so the cost of the car was split between two people.
Using my United Airlines frequent flyer miles I booked a round trip flight with a stopover and an open-jaw to Europe. I flew in Business Class on Turkish Airlines to Europe, but was unable to book a business class seat on the return due to limited award seat availability. My round trip ticket cost me 80,000 United miles and $74.20 in airport taxes and fees. Turkish Airlines business class
I also took advantage of United’s generous routing rules and added a stopover in Denizli, Turkey for free. By doing this I flew two segments of my itinerary in Business Class and visited another destination for no extra cost. For the open-jaw portion of my trip I bought a cheap flight from Istanbul to Sarajevo, then traveled by bus to Dubrovnik where I picked discount codes for dollar rental car up my rental car which I used for the rest of the trip.
Note : United recently devalued its award chart and it will now cost more to fly on partner airlines. Since airline frequent flyer miles are essentially a currency, they can be devalued discount codes for dollar rental car over time, this is where thus earning miles on different airlines becomes key. How did I earn all of the airline miles?
To tell you the truth, I got most of these miles from not even stepping foot on a plane. How? By signing up for lucrative credit card offers. The quickest way to earn a lot of free airline miles is by applying for one of these travel credit cards.
I have earned over a million airline miles and points through signing-up for credit card bonus offers, various promotions, and spending bonuses. I ve written widely about these, but here is a quick rundown:
Sign-up for a co-branded airline credit card. Whether discount codes for dollar rental car you are a frequent flyer on an airline of choice or just starting, you can greatly increase discount codes for dollar rental car the miles you earn by signing-up for a travel credit card. Typically a sign-up bonus offer will give you 25,000 to 75,000 points after meeting a minimum spending requirement. That’s discount codes for dollar rental car enough for a round trip flight to many international destinations. This is the best way to jump start getting free travel from airline miles and points. There are many credit cards that offer sign-up bonuses and you can work your way through the best ones, earning 25,000 miles here, 50,000 miles there. Soon you can have 200,000+ miles on each airline frequent flyer account.
Sign up for a co-branded discount codes for dollar rental car hotel credit card. Apart from airline miles you can also get hotel points that you can use for free nights. Many of the co-branded hotel credit card sign-up offers are worth at least a couple of free nights, but depending discount codes for dollar rental car on what level of hotel you want to stay at you can get a few free nights at a luxury hotel or up to 15+ nights at a lower-tier hotel. With the Club Carlson Visa you get 85,000 points as a sign-up bonus. discount codes for dollar rental car When you use the points for free nights you can get up to 3 nights at a luxury hotel or 18 free nights at a lower-tier hotel. A huge perk of the card is that it gives you a second night free when you redeem points for stays of 2 or more nights.
Sign-up for a travel discount codes for dollar rental car rewards credit card. Other cards, like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® discount codes for dollar rental car , offer flexible miles or points that you can use for cash back. The Arrival Plus card has a 40,000 miles sign-up bonus that is worth $440 in free travel when redeem for travel. The best part about this card is that you can redeem these miles for any travel expense which makes them super flexible. discount codes for dollar rental car I highly recommend any general traveler to sign-up for this card, but signing up for ANY travel rewards card with a bonus is a great way to get free travel.
Earn extra miles from promotions. You can earn extra airline miles and hotel points through special promotions. Hotels often have promotions that award bonus points discount codes for dollar rental car for certain stays or offer discounted hotel stays using points. discount codes for dollar rental car Similarly, airlines run promotions discount codes for dollar rental car that offer extra bonus miles for flying certain routes, 100% mile purchase deals, and even extra miles for doing online shopping through their shopping portal. The best way to stay tuned to all of the promotion discount codes for dollar rental car is to sign-up for airline and hotel mailing lists. Taking advantage of some of these promotions can quickly multiply the amount of points you earn in a short amount discount codes for dollar rental car of time.
I always write about the best current deals, so if you want you can sign up for my free newsletter to get updates on the best ways to earn free airline miles and hotel points. There are numerous other great resources for learning about all of these deals such as FlyerTalk discount codes for dollar rental car and FatWallet . Accommodations
Since I signed up for four hotel credit cards within the year before the trip I had enough points for around 20 free nights at luxury hotels. I ended up only redeeming points discount codes for dollar rental car for 12 nights since many destinations in the Balkans discount codes for dollar rental car do not have large hotels. View from the club lounge at the Radisson Blu Dubrovnik
Chase IHG Rewards Club Visa. This card offers discount codes for dollar rental car 80,000 points that can go a very long way when staying at middle-tier IHG hotels . I stayed discount codes for dollar rental car three nights discount codes for dollar rental car at the Holiday Sisli in Istanbul which normally runs around $350 per night. I was upgraded to a suite with the Platinum elite status that comes with the card. I used 45,00 IHG points on this stay.
Club Carlson Premier Rewards discount codes for dollar rental car Visa. I had actually discount codes for dollar rental car signed-up for both the personal and business version of the card, but only used a portion of the bonuses on this trip. The sign-up bonus for the card is 85,000 points and the card gives you a free night when you redeem discount codes for dollar rental car two or more nights. With this in mind, I booked two night stays at the Radisson Blu Bosphorus, Radisson Blu Dubrovnik, and Radisson Blu Split. On top of that I received room upgrades discount codes for dollar rental car at all of these hotels with the free Gold elite status that comes with the card. I spent 138,000 Club Carlson points on these stays.
Marriott Rewards Premier Visa. The card offers 70,000 points and a free night at a Marriott category 1-4 hotel. I only used the free night at the Renaissance Beach Resort Antalya, so I still have the 70,000 points.
Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card. I also stayed two nights at the Doubletree in Zagreb using Points + Cash, and only used part of the 50,000 bonus points from the sign-up offer. discount codes for dollar rental car Each night cost 12,000 points + $