I love to travel, and I’m always on the lookout for great deals on everything from flights and hotels to excursions and meals. From time to time, I’ve highlighted some of my great finds on this blog such as my trip to Greece where I scored the week-long lodging/ferry/meal package for $499, the trip to Colorado that cost just over $200, the castle tour of Ireland that included flights, cars and meals for two, and the list goes on. I’ve also listed my tips for how to make discount travel a reality no matter how tight your budget may be (some of these are the very tips I employed to make these current deals work for my interests and budget).

Over the past week, I’ve been on the hunt for some great travel options for 2013. In my quest to find deals that couldn’t be passed up and could make great gifts moving forward, I found the deals below. With a bit of creative budgeting and a whole lot of web surfing, I was able to fund nearly two full trips for two; one to Philadelphia and the other to Kauai.

The original cost of these pieces should have been $1,420.20. The total cost to me? $520.82.

A weekend in Philly for two for $171

For the trip to Philly, I capitalized on a JetBlue fire sale that ran when they introduced the new flights from Boston to Philly. The total cost—roundtrip including taxes—for the two of us ended up being $141.20. The current cost of the same flight for two is now $315.20.

When it came time for hotel arrangements, I happened to remember the $500 HotelClub gift credit I had won over the summer when J$ ran an awesome giveaway (Thanks again, J$!). At first, I thought the credit was just a bunch of junk as the hotels coming up in search results were priced far more than $500 for two nights. Remembering my own advice that patience is a virtue, I continued my search and eventually found a 4-star boutique hotel downtown that was covered completely with my credit.

HotelClub charged my $30.62 in taxes and fees but I scored a two-night upgraded reservation for Rittenhouse 1715. Based on their current loaded prices on their site, this reservation should have cost $478 (not including any additional taxes or fees)!

Island adventures for less than $350

For the Kauai trip, I again turned to my favorite discount travel site, TravelZoo (I’m definitely not paid to promote them, but I really should be…ha!). I’d taken a trip to Hawaii before using a TravelZoo deal for airfare back in 2008, but I had backpacked and stayed in hostels to keep expenses down.

This time, I was looking more for luxury and relaxation more than I was looking for a ‘roughing it’ experience. Score one for TravelZoo when I found a fantastic, 4-star resort offering a 3-night package for two. The original cost of the package? $627. Cost to me? $349.

Now of course there will be airfare expenses eventually added to the cost of this trip, but the deal was for a voucher that can be used anytime between now and June. I’ve come too far in my quest for financial independence to fall back into my extreme spending ways! But I’ll be certain to keep an eye out for additional airfare deals between now and then, and I’ll be booking only when I’ve found a discounted rate that fits the budget.

 

What travel deals have you found recently?

 

Photo credit: Andrea_44