These Are The Best Travel Tips We've Gotten so Far!
Travel Blog, New Places to Love, Share Their Travel Tips!
- Tell us a bit about yourself and your blog: It is our mission to travel the world while keeping our full-time jobs. We love our careers and the city we call home (Chicago) so we don't want to be gone most of the time. We want to share with others that it is possible to have this lifestyle while still traveling everywhere we dream of going and show others how it's possible. We found that there isn't many other travel bloggers out there that have a home base or aren't digital nomads. It can be discouraging to think that is the only way to see the world.
- How did you get started with your blog? We look at travel blogs for advice for every trip we go on. We know what to look for in blogs and what has helped us in the past. Our goal is to provide our readers with helpful information for different destinations as well as general travel planning tips.
- What is your favorite travel app and why? DuoLingo is one of our favorites. We try to learn the basics of whatever language of the country we are traveling to on DuoLingo before we arrive. (We recently wrote a blog post on all of our favorite travel apps-- check it out to see more!)
- How do you find good deals for traveling? A lot of research. We are constantly looking at flight prices, different options for accommodations and comparing prices for tours or day trips. Our favorite sites are Skyscanner for flights and Booking for hotels.
- What are your packing essentials? Our camera, outlet converters, portable battery pack, hiking shoes, windbreaker, a variety of medicine just in case and a journal.
- What are some packing tips to pack lightly/efficiently? Pack items that you can wear multiple times that are versatile and will go with many different outfits. We bring a lot of layers and mix and match what we have. We also make a point to do laundry when we travel so we can re-wear socks/ underwear to save space.
- What is a mistake that you have made from your travels/learning from? My first time visiting Paris I had a bad sinus infection and needed antibiotics. I went to the pharmacy there and got some but the medicine made me so tired and loopy I had to stay in bed for two days. Now, we always bring some antibiotics with us just in case whenever we are traveling internationally so we don't have to worry about taking medicine we aren't familiar with.
- How do you make time fly by on a long flight? On the way to a destination I love to read something on the destination I'm visiting. On the way home, I journal about the trip. We also love to play two player card games on flights.
- How do you discover fun things to do in new places you travel to? Mostly by reading other travel blogs and using apps like Trip Advisor to find the best places to check out in a new destination.
- What is your next travel destination and what do you have planned so far? We will be going to South America next! We start our trip in Santiago Chile, make our way up to the Atacama Desert to visit the moon valley, salt flats and enjoy the star gazing. After Chile, we will make our way west to Mendoza Argentina to one of the best wine regions in the world and treat ourselves to wine tours and gorgeous scenery. Next we are heading up to Cusco, Peru to acclimate in the city for a few days before hiking the 4-day Inca Trail up to Machu Picchu. Last we will visit Lima to enjoy some of the best food in South America before heading back to the US.
- What has been your favorite travel destination and why? Chiang Mai, Thailand. There are so many reasons this is such a hub for digital nomads and a popular destination in Southeast Asia. The city is laid back, surrounded by beautiful temples, delicious food, cheap prices and endless places to explore. There are also many great day trips from Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.
- Are there any travel hacks you have discovered, such as when is the best time to purchase flight tickets? Rumor has it that Tuesday and Wednesday is the cheapest time to book flights. That has been the case for us sometimes but not all the time. We usually set up price alerts for flights on our next destination. If we are going to multiple countries we always book the flight out of Chicago into the cheapest country to fly into and travel around from there.
- What are some additional travel tips you can share with us? Credit card points have been huge for us. We have Southwest for domestic flights and Capital One Venture for international flights. Do your best to research the best card for you and take advantage of the sign up reward bonuses. In 2018 we didn't pay for a single flight we took either domestic or international! One thing to keep in mind is if you find a great flight deal, it may be better to pay in cash and redeem points rather than use up your points on a crazy cheap flight. Credit card companies also offer incentives for referrals. We have referred many of our friends and family and received tons of points that way, too.
- Where can our followers/subscribers find you to stay in touch?
www.newplacestolove.com, @newplacestolove on Instagram, New Places To Love on Facebook and New Places to Love on Pinterest
Looking for a new travel credit card? Check out the overview of the best travel cards for 2020 here: https://money.com/best-travel-credit-card/