How to Budget for Trips: When to Book and How to Avoid Hidden Fees

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

Learn how to budget for travel, save on flights, and maximize credit card rewards for your next trip.

How can you budget and save money for travel? How can you maximize credit card rewards and travel points to help lower trip costs? Hosts Meghan Coyle and Sally French discuss budgeting strategies and travel rewards to help you plan smarter for your trips. They begin by sharing new data that might impact your budget for spring break travel, give some highlights of new airport lounges that opened in Las Vegas and Philadelphia, and discuss a change coming to the Uber app that could affect you if you’re traveling abroad. Then, they dig into some options for setting a travel budget, with tips on estimating costs using Google Flights, creating a dedicated travel savings fund, and planning ahead for rising airfare prices. Meghan and Sally also explore some of the ways you can leverage credit card perks and travel rewards to stretch your budget even further.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• LAS Centurion Lounge Review
• Capital One Lounge Las Vegas: Hits the Jackpot with Food and Drinks
• What Credit Cards Can Get Me Into Chase Lounges, And Where Are They Located?
• Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards
• The Best Days to Book a Flight and When to Fly
• Best High-Yield Savings Accounts
• The Best Travel Credit Card Welcome Bonus Offers Right Now

In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: travel budget, how to save money for travel, best travel credit cards, travel points and miles, airline rewards, Google Flights price alerts, budgeting for flights, cheap flights, best time to book flights, credit card travel perks, Southwest Companion Pass, travel savings account, airfare inflation, high-yield savings for travel, vacation budget, flexible travel dates, how to maximize travel rewards, best hotel rewards programs, credit card sign-up bonuses, when to use travel points, credit cards with no foreign transaction fees, airline lounge access, how to get cheap last-minute flights, and unexpected travel expenses.