Budget Gay Travelers

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Stay at cheap chain hotels. You can generally expect a minimal level of cleanliness and internet/computer infrastructure.

And book your rooms directly with the hotels. The hotels earn more money that way and are more likely to give you an upgrade.

Always treat the people at reception with the utmost courtesy. They have a lot of discretion on late checkout and room upgrades.

Visit cheaper countries which are still a little off the tourist path (Colombia, Peru). It's insane at what deals you can get for first-class hotels, meals, activities, etc. for a price that would barely get you a Holiday Inn in America.

Shoulder seasons are good times to visit -- right after peak tourist season and probably right before a period of poor weather.

I'd like some tips on how to find bargains for SOLO travelers. There are so many situations where you get ripped off (like on cruises where they often charge double.)

Get a room where the whore doesn't have to walk through the lobby. They know who the whores are.

In popular tourist spots, book midweek instead of weekends. Fewer crowds is nicer as well.

R7 omg please share some more of this fabulous insider knowledge!

I remember an old prissy caftan queen I knew in the 90s who insisted that she only paid for escorts on trips to Canada, because it was so much cheaper to pay in Canadian dollars.

Build a portfolio of credit cards where you get the maximum back in points for various categories (travel, entertainment, hotels, groceries, big-box stores, gas stations, drugstores). Know which ones will get you back the most points in each category. Make sure at least one of the cards reimburses you for Global Entry/PreCheck, which is an $85-$100 bonus.

Pay for everything on credit. Pay the credit off every month in full.

In the U.S., book Southwest (two free bags, no cancellation fees, frequent sales). If SW has a sale, consider a weekender in a city you might not have thought about. Check to see if prices go down on your trip; if they do, SW makes it easy to rebook and get the difference back in travel credit.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually the cheapest days to fly.

Stick with one hotel chain and use its credit card. Hotel chains now have locations from the most basic to the most luxe in their portfolios, so there's something for every budget.

Book directly with the hotel whenever possible, even if Expedia et al. have lower prices. Call and ask the operator if the hotel will honor the lower price directly.

Don't travel when kids are out of school.

[quote] Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually the cheapest days to fly.

And also the cheapest prices when BOOKING the flight (best to book on those days).

In foreign countries, avoid restaurants aimed exclusively to tourists -- they are almost always overpriced (sometimes double or more) and almost never as good as places locals frequent or recommend.

Airbnb will get you an awesome apartment, a place that the host just uses to rent out to guests, so not the creepy staying-in-someone-else's-house vibe so many DLers assume

Think upscale vacation condo rental.

You'll be able to get a place in the part of town you want to stay in for half the price of a hotel and it will be quieter too. Hosts can fill you in on where to get breakfast, buy snacks for the room, etc.

From a big AARP list of ways to be a cheapskate:

Some foreign universities rent rooms to summer travelers while their students are away on break. For example, in Perugia, Italy, you can spend a week at Casa Monteripido for $181 versus about $500 for the modestly priced Primavera Mini Hotel. Go to UniversityRooms dot com.

One, I recommend to youngsters is the Work Away site. You work abroad in somebody's home or business in exchange for free room, board, and usually meals. You can explore the country on your days off. There is a Host and Worker rating system.

Go to the gay bars at night and find a hookup that'll take you in for the night. No need for expensive hotels!

Another in favor in using the hell out of travel rewards credit cards. Chase Sapphire is a good everyday one; easy to accumulate and use points, but I use others as well, for specific airlines and hotel groups. Most cards have a once a year big promotion where they award a large premium for new clients. Take some care to pick cards that are a good fit for you. From sites such as thepointsguy.com and others you can learn about the relative merits of various cards and be alerted to sign-up bonuses. To keep track of rewards, I use a rewardstock.com as a simple means to manually update reward balances. Having a bank of balances from various rewards programs reduces the cost of travel and helps me to budget where and how to use points.

Sale fare and mistake fare alert sites like Scottscheapflights.com (with paid and unpaid membership options) can be great depending on your itineraries and flexibility. I've booked many trans-Atlantic fares for less than half what I would normally pay for that season. Fare predictors and alerts from Google Flights and Hopper and other sites are excellent tools. Finally, as you near the point of booking it can be very rewarding to check the fares every morning, ideally early, like 5am. It's when daily fare changes (often big ones) are typically posted and they often are adjusted to the airlines favor only a few hours later. To my experience Friday through Tuesday are the days with the most volatility in prices.

[quote]You work abroad in somebody's home

Are the types of "services" they provide, um ... negotiable?

R16 It's been discussed before.

R8, fair enough, that was a rather Cpt. Obvious response on my part.

For the truly budget-minded or broke: couch-surfing; pitching a tent and camping in the great outdoors instead of a hotel; always agreeing on a price with a taxi driver before getting in and going; avoid excessive ATM withdrawal fees; avoid getting gypped via exchanging money which puts you at a loss.

The list below promises some of the 17 cheapest destinations in 2019 where you can survive of $50 per day (although I'm skeptical about Germany, Wales, and Spain being on that list).

When you build up status at hotels you are also able to save on deals. Once you have status your breakfast is almost always free and it’s quite excellent and there are hors d’oeuvres in the evening.

Im thinking of doing two weeks next year in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ... Anyone been recently? Suggestions on my itinerary?

R22, I have never been to the Baltic countries but Tallinn looks charming. The site below offers some tips or budget travel to Estonia.

R23: Nice city but thick with stag do's. https://www.tallinnstagweekend.co.uk/stag-party-night-activities

[quote]although I'm skeptical about ... Spain being on that list

Don't be. Madrid is pricey, but Barcelona and other cities are so cheap. You can have a lovely meal (wine included) for less than 10€ just about everywhere

Charles Schwab visa debit card. Use at any atm that accepts it. You will incur atm fees but CS reverses them at the end of every statement period. No need to ask for reversal.

Just used it in Peru and all went as advertised.

R25, good to know! I have been to Spain before, but yes, it was mainly Madrid.

R25, good to know! I have been to Spain before, but yes, it was mainly Madrid.

[quote] Once you have status your breakfast is almost always free and it’s quite excellent and there are hors d’oeuvres in the evening.

This is a wonderful thing if you are in say, Dayton, Ohio for a meeting or at a resort someplace where your goal is to roll directly from breakfast to the beach.

But if you're in Europe or even an American city with good food like San Francisco, you probably want to go somewhere for breakfast that's not the hotel buffet and hit up a bar that night that's not filled with other American tourists from your hotel eating the not-very-good-because-they're-free hors d'oevres in the Honors Lounge.

I have top level at Hilton and the new Bonvoy, but the above instances are really the only time I use those perks. Otherwise I'd rather go somewhere local and explore the city.

Buy two separate tickets. One to a major airport and then another to your final destination. I can travel from LAX to Paris for 450. The ticket to Paris from Phoenix is 1100. It is better to buy a separate ticket to LAX .

Stay at a hostel with bunk beds -- even in your eldergay years. Trust me, it's the best part of the vacation...

This is the "budget" travel thread so no, I do not pass up on free breakfast. Sure, I may make an exception for a restaurant famed for breakfast but otherwise, I eat and stock up on breakfast at the hotel. That gives me more money for lunch and dinner and try local places for those meals.

R32 here, though I agree if the hotel food is really horrible, skip it. Breakfast, though is hard to mess up. But yeah, I have a manager who will insist on staying at the airport marriott or hilton and eat the free evening meal at the business lounge. The food is so crap. And since we're at the airport, the options to dine out nearby is pretty limited. A few years ago, I decided I was either going to stop traveling with him or insist on getting dinner on my own. Luckily, he stopped asking me to travel for work.

I also found out he still files for and gets the dinner per diem even though he's eating for free at the business lounge. I wasn't doing that when I was eating those horrible dinners with him. What a waste.

Whore yourself out if you’re still young and hot enough.

Why Dasani costs $4 at the airport

TL;DR - high rents + high labor costs means they don't make much money.

I’ve found Southwest to be MORE expensive than other airlines recently. I’m getting better fares on American and United - mainly Texas to Northeast.

Recently found some dirt cheap fares on Spirit - like $25! Key is only a small “handbag” type carryon. I have a small backpack that qualifies (smaller than a standard carry-on) and have taken weekend trips for $50 RT. Can get a nice seat for an extra $50.

I’ve found Southwest to be MORE expensive than other airlines recently. I’m getting better fares on American and United - mainly Texas to Northeast.

Recently found some dirt cheap fares on Spirit - like $25! Key is only a small “handbag” type carryon. I have a small backpack that qualifies (smaller than a standard carry-on) and have taken weekend trips for $50 RT. Can get a nice seat for an extra $50.

Skip hotels and stay at all night bathhouses.

Young man! There's a place you can go

Young man! When you're short on your dough

R38, it would be pretty hard to sleep with their all-night thumping music.

I slept in a bathhouse a few times (in Toronto) -- just bring earplugs or noise cancelling headphones.