Tag: Crazy Rich Asians

Travel In Style (Without Breaking The Bank) – Part 1 of 2

Travel Buzz

Oman Air flight to Athens (via Muscat)

Not a few of you have been asking how I get to travel in style (business class seats, 3-5 star hotel accomodations, dining out, the whole shebang) particularly now that you’ve seen me in my newly opened Instagram account (columbusbee.gram). As I’ve mentioned in my previous post (Deconstructing A Myth: Travel Is Only For The Rich?), you don’t have to be wealthy to get to travel and you don’t have to be Crazy Rich Asian to travel in style. Truth be told, there are ways to travel in style without breaking the bank. So I’ll let you in to some of my ‘secrets’ so that you too can be stylish jetsetter.

In the last 9 years or so, there has been an advent of promo fares here in Manila and I’m not even referring to a local airline’s one peso fare. These are promotional fares from highly rated airlines, either thru travel expos, tie ups with major credit card companies or their very own flash sale. Looking for good buys is just like shopping for bargains and anticipating mall sale. My first venture into this airfare bargain hunting was going to travel expos. Every year, there is a travel expo around the 2nd weekend of February organized by travel agents association. Multiple airlines would offer marked down prices, especially for business class fares. I remember getting business class fares for $999 to Europe (exclusive of taxes), or something like less than $1100 net. That’s a pretty good deal given that it only costs as much as a regular economy ticket. Of course nowadays, you can’t find that kind of price points anymore. where the good buys would be between $1,600 to $1900 to Europe or US. Anything more than that would already be a rip off in my book (unless you’re flying Emirates or Qatar Airways where a little premium will go a long way).

The second path to a successful hunt is thru airlines tie up with major credit card companies. It is essential then to have a very good credit card for this purpose (you’ll need a credit card anyway when you travel). Personally, there are only two credit cards that in my experience offer the best airline tie ups: Citi and American Express (where the latter is issued by BDO locally). I’ve seen promos from BPI (usually tie ups with Singapore Airlines), Metrobank, Security Bank, etc. but nothing beats these two when it comes to the depth (prices) and breadth (participating airlines). Travel sale for these airlines gives the public the option to get it from their onsite travel sale (similar to travel expos but exclusively for their credit card holders), thru their airline offices, or online. For BDO cards, there are times that there would be pre-sale (usually a day before the actual sale) exclusively for their elite cardholders (ie Amex Platinum, BDO Titanium, etc.) where they can have first dibs on promotional fares. Sorry to say that not all credit cards are created equal. There is a caste system among credit cards but don’t fret, having the right credit card would already get you into this world of low airfares. For example, you don’t need to be an Amex Platinum or a BDO Titanium cardholder. All you need to do is just to have any Amex or BDO card. There’s this Blue Amex that I heard is being widely marketed nowadays (compared to the more exclusive Amex Platinum) and of course your regular BDO credit card. You just need to ensure that you are in their email list where they send announcements of their forthcoming fare sale.

This is how I got my latest promo fare. Oman Air has a promo last April for BDO cardholders (I’m an Amex cardholder). Though the flights to Europe on promo are limited to certain destinations only, Oman Air also launched its maiden flight to Athens starting June, so I decided to make Athens as my port of entry to Europe and booked the promo business class fare for $1,760 inclusive of taxes (so the airfare was about $1,600+). This is a good buy compared to regular business fare of about $2,600 (or about 33% discount) and regular economy fare of about $1,200 for the same airline.

Basking in the sun on infinity pool lounge with the Aegean Sea, beach, and mountains as backdrop (Mykonos Island)

The third path is thru airlines’ flash sale. Here, as long as you have a credit card, you can already purchase promo fares online. Airlines would normally have these flash sales on special occasions (such as airline anniversary, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or any holiday or season that these airlines are celebrating). You just have to watch out for these special occasions during certain times of the year or to regularly check out the websites of your favorite airlines.

Once you have started flying, you can join the airlines frequent flyer programs. I’m currently a member of five (5) programs: Krisflyer (Singapore Airlines), Asia Miles, Miles & More (Lufthansa), Enrich (Malaysia Airlines), and Mabuhay Miles (Philippine Airlines). I’ve flown other airlines as well, but since they are part of airlines’ global alliances (for example, Thai Airways is in the same alliance with Singapore Airlines under Star Alliance) I don’t need to enroll in their own loyalty programs. The miles that I would be entitled to will just be credited to my existing loyalty program (so the miles that I will get from a Thai Airways ticket I will just have it credited to my Krisflyer account). What’s special with frequent flyer program is that aside from getting notified of the airline’s forthcoming promotional fares, they also offer miles sale (where you get free airfare at marked down miles compared to regular miles required to redeem a free flight). I find Krisflyer to be very good at this in terms of depth (miles discount) and breadth (you can have the option to redeem your miles thru another airline that is a member of the global alliance). For example, last December, when I went on vacation to Bangkok and Pattaya, I have an expiring 25,00 miles in my Krisflyer account. I tried checking for the required miles for a business class ticket and there was a business saver promo for 40,000 miles (compared to the regular 80,000 miles). So I transferred 20,000 miles from my Citi Premier Miles (that’s the credit card I would recommend among Citi cards if you like travelling) to meet the required Krisflyer miles for redemption. My business class redemption was confirmed for the Manila – Bangkok leg of the Singapore Airline flight (with layover in Singapore) but was waitlisted for the return flight. So I clicked the Star Alliance button on their website and found that Thai Airways business class was available for my return date. So I flew back (Bangkok – Manila) direct on Thai Airways flight business class for free (ok, not totally free coz only the airfare is free and you still have to pay a minimal amount for the taxes/surcharges). So I got to compare business class experience between these two airlines from these two short haul trips.

(Up next: Accomodations and Incidentals)

Deconstructing A Myth: Travel Is Only For The Rich?

Travel Buzz

Every time I bumped into a Filipino abroad (which is often as Filipinos are everywhere), the first question that would normally be asked is “Kabayan, taga rito ka ba o bakasyonista?” (Hey mate, are you based here or just vacationing?) to which I would say the latter. What would follow after that big smile normally will give me the cringe: “Siguro mayaman ka sa atin, noh?” (You’re probably rich back home, huh?) to which I would respond “No, I just have enough.” Which is actually true, coz my perception of rich (or wealthy) is Crazy Rich Asian, and I was not born with a silver spoon. But that common notion where travel is only for the wealthy is just something that I need to break down and prove that even with a 9-5 job, one can still get to travel. So before anyone thinks that I belong to Philippine royalty or its equivalent (re rich kid of a political clan), I will let you in to some of my ‘secrets’ on how I actually do it (re travel the world without breaking the bank).

Save and Go

Yes, I save money to travel. When I do my budget, it will always be allocated to these 3 items: monthly expenses, travel fund, savings. Monthly expenses are essentially the ‘needs’ (food, utilities, transport, etc.) while travel fund is the ‘want’. Savings, on the other hand, is a ‘must’. That’s for the rainy days ahead which may also be tapped for future investment (ie house), emergency, and retirement. So say you’re a single yuppie earning 30,000 pesos a month and still lives with your parents. You allocate 10 grand for each of the three items and at the end of the year, you will have 120 grand for your travel fund. Throw in your 13th month pay of say 30 grand (give or take), so in a year, you now have 150 thousand pesos. In dollar terms, that’s about $2,850 at current exchange rate.

Planning is Key

Now you have a travel fund. Where can that get you? How do you stretch that fund to cover your airfare, hotel, and incidental expenses? Travelling on a budget requires planning ahead. Airfares and hotels are usually cheaper if you book those long before your actual travel date. That means at least 4 months earlier. But you need to know where you want to go, how long you like to stay abroad, what minimum level of comfort you require, what food you will be happy to live with, and what activities are you willing to spend on. The timing of the trip is also crucial, as seasons dictate prices.

Europe Here I Come

So say it is always your dream to see Europe (of course after starting small with typical Filipino fare Hongkong, Singapore, and Bangkok, and Korea or Japan after your last promotion). Is $2,850 enough? Depends, but I can draw a budget that will make it enough to get you by. Let’s start with airfare. Early in the year, you will see a lot of airlines having promotions usually in partnership with credit card companies (hence it is essential to have a good credit card, which you will need anyway when you travel). I will write soon separate articles on this (so watch out for it). I could easily get you a coach fare to a European destination for less than $600 roundtrip. To ensure that you can stretch your budget further, avoid going to Europe on summers (July – September). Go there springtime (May – June) or autumn (October – November) where you will enjoy the same long daytime (sun sets at 9PM and even at 2AM in the Nordics!) but cooler air. During these off peak periods, you can actually book a 2-3 star hotel for less than a hundred bucks. So for 10 nights, that will set you back for about a grand.

For your first Europe trip, you would probably want to see more than just one city or country. My advise is to look for adjacent countries where you can easily access thru Euro train. If you like to see Paris, then you can bundle that with Amsterdam and Brussels (Netherlands – Belgium – France). On the map, these 3 countries are just adjacent to each other and Euro rail have stops in several cities, including those three. This will save you some intra Europe airfares (though airfares are sometimes cheaper than train tickets, depending how early you can book your airfare). Your train fare would probably cost you about $200. At this point, your expense budget is now $1,800. That leaves you with more than a grand for meals and incidental expenses. For a 50-dollar daily meal allowance, you can actually have a decent meal in a restaurant ($10 for breakfast, $20 for lunch and also for dinner). You won’t subsist on fastfood (though you will sometimes crave for it even if you have enough money for a resto). For this first Europe trip, avoid UK or Scandinavia coz your 50 dollars would only be enough for a single meal. Don’t even think about the peso equivalent as it will only drive you mad and will suck the joy out of the otherwise very satisfying dining experience.

You’re now left with a little over 500 bucks. I suggest you spend some on hop-on-hop-off bus to get yourself acclimatized to your new environment. A 48-hour ticket would be about 40 dollars so in 3 cities, that’s about $120. Since you’re in Europe, museums are best to get some culture and entrance fee would be about 20 dollars (some though are free), or $60 for 3 cities. Airport transfers would be less than 50 dollars, or $100 for a return trip. So you still have more than $200 left, which you can spend on subways/buses (once your 48-hour tickets expire), travel SIM cards, grocery for your midnight snacks, a couple of drinks in a bar, souvenirs, and chocolates at duty free to bring home to Mom.

So there you have it. A dream come true without living off your parents’ money (or lack of). Coz your social status does not define your travel opportunities. It’s your passion to travel that will drive it coupled with hard work, savings, and smart spending.