How I Found The Best Australia Travel Deal
I knew that this trip to Australia was going to be expensive, and I’ve been planning it for almost 18 months. I’ve learned a lot about planning these sorts of things, and I’d like to share what I’ve learned.
First, the cost of international airfare is dictated primarily by the time of year which you travel in. Traveling to Australia is the most expensive at Christmas, with round trip flights costing over $3,500 at the cheapest. This is because of the holiday travel rush, and because it’s the height of summer down under, while it’s the height of winter up here in North America at that time. The cheapest time to fly that direction is in April and May, which is the low point of the Australian tourist season.
It also matters what day you fly on. In general, air travel is more popular on weekends, so therefore fares tend to be higher. I found the best deal by leaving at the beginning of the week, and returning at the end of the following week.
I also saved a LOT of money by staying in a hostel, smack dab downtown Sydney. I’m not going 15,000 miles so I can hang out in a hotel room — it’s just a place to sleep and shower, and I probably won’t even be back there EVERY night.
I plan on taking nothing but a carry on bag on this trip. This will be the first time I’ve done this, but it’s based on a Tim Ferriss concept that he calls “Buy It There”. That means to buy most of your toiletries and other items at the location, rather than lugging it around the planet. Here’s my packing list so far:
- The clothes on my back, including North Face Denali fleece.
- Two spare pairs of socks.
- One spare UnderArmour undershirt.
- A spare pair of light weight REI Adventurer pants
- Two spare pairs of underwear (UnderArmour and ExOfficio)
- An outer t-shirt, outer light weight travel shirt
- Columbia Titanium rain jacket (folds up very tightly)
- Keen hiking sandals on my feet.
- Digital camera, spare batteries, charger (we’re filming a movie on this trip)
- Cell phone
- Travel tooth brush and small toothpaste – the only toiletry item I cannot travel without
- Travel sanitary bed sheets (required by most hostels anyway)
- Ultralight, compact sleeping bivy
I’m considering other items, such as Garmin GPS to do some geocaching, and maybe a Nalgene water bottle. And, I may even ditch the idea of taking spare shirts and pants, and just buying those there if I absolutely need them.
The point of traveling light is, well, just to avoid hassle, but it also save the $50 a bag luggage fees.
On top of all this, I found a Travelocity coupon code: TSOFFERS75. That automatically gave me another $75 off my trip.
So, total cost for airfare and 10 nights in Sydney: $1,016.
I’m sure that I could have found a better deal, perhaps on Kayak.com or something like that, but quite honestly, I was tired of looking and this was the best deal I found in 18 months. So, I’m going. If I hadn’t booked it today, I never would have.
I’m so excited!