This blog post originally appeared on personal finance writer Kara Perez’s blog From Frugal To Free, sharing her know-how on living an adventurous life on a low income!
Kara and her best friend in Colorado
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you may have seen a picture or two of my recent road trip. The boy and I hopped in a car for eight days and meandered through Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. It was our first trip together Continue reading
I often get a simple request from readers in the US:
Question: If I am going to get just one credit card, which is the best?
So, let me make it simple for you. For most people:
Answer: Chase Sapphire Preferred
The go-to card for those new to the game. Photo courtesy of wendyperrin.com
I have recently jumped on board as a contributing editor for Point Hacks, which provides Australians with the best frequent flyer deals, bonuses and ways to use your points.
Check out my Q&A with them here.
Hitting the slopes before resting sore feet in the free onsen (hot springs) in Nozawa Onsen, Japan
Good deal from Cathay Pacific, Qantas and China Southern with flights from Sydney to Shanghai from 666 AUD. You can find the details here.
Shanghai’s skyline at night. Photo courtesy of @bjornpilot.
WHY INDIA?
My mum and I decided to go to India for two weeks in January 2016 on a mum-and-son trip. My mum is a counsellor and has worked with a lot of skilled Indian migrants to Australia over the years, and she wanted to better understand their culture.
India had always been on my bucket list as it is such an important country, with predictions that it will have the largest population by 2022, already having the world’s third-largest economy.
Jetting off from Sydney Airport. Our one-way flight to Kochi with AirAsia via Kuala Lumpur was only 340 USD. Mum flew back from Delhi to Sydney direct with Air India and I went to San Francisco on Lufthansa.
In terms of cost, we averaged 38 USD/day for 14 days including accommodation in private rooms at budget to mid-range hotels, eating out for every meal, all intercity transport, and the occasional private tour guide at attractions. I would consider India to be cheap and good value.
A great deal for Australian readers
Qantas has a great Wanderlust sale until February 15 and is excellent value for trips from Australia to Asia, the US and Chile. Highlights from Sydney include:
Santiago, Chile
JetBlue is having a pretty amazing Leap Day Sale, with $29 seats on selected routes on February 29. The luckiest travelers will be from New York, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The sale ends on February 2 at midnight EST.
This is a great deal from Qantas, one of my favorite airlines, on sale for today only.
Roundtrip flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in March, May, June, August and September:
Some of the fun of traveling as been taken out due to lengthy waits at airport security, immigration and customs.
Lines can be a headache
Luckily, if you are a US citizen or permanent resident, you can save your precious time by signing up for TSA Pre-Check and/or Global Entry.
I recently went for a long-weekend trip to New Orleans with my good friend Thom (who has written on this blog about living a location-independent lifestyle).
We found NOLA to be a fun, culturally-diverse and beautiful holiday destination.
Below are our own tips as well as those that we received from our friends and family that have also visited the city. Continue reading
Matt Moffitt 