Want a Luxury Vacation At Budget Prices? Here's the Destination for You

This episode discusses affordable luxury travel destinations and practical tips for traveling economically without compromising luxury.

1. Albania and Puerto Rico are highlighted as affordable luxury travel destinations.
2. Traveling during shoulder seasons like April or October can significantly reduce costs.
3. Using points for travel expenses, especially in all-inclusive resorts, can optimize travel budgets.
4. Cultural and legal considerations are crucial, especially for LGBTQ+ travelers in conservative countries.
5. Practical tips like booking longer layovers and using credit card points strategically can enhance travel experiences.

1. Introduction

Nicole Lapin introduces Brian Kelly and sets the stage for a discussion on luxury travel on a budget. Brian Kelly: "Travel has opened my eyes to the budget-friendly yet luxurious possibilities around the world."

2. Family and Budget-Friendly Travel

Kelly discusses traveling with family and managing costs effectively, highlighting all-inclusive options. Brian Kelly: "All-inclusives can drastically reduce the unpredictability of travel expenses, especially for families."

3. LGBTQ+ Travel Considerations

The episode addresses the challenges and considerations for LGBTQ+ travelers, using the Maldives as a case study. Brian Kelly: "It’s crucial to research and understand the cultural and legal landscape of your travel destinations."

4. Navigating Travel Mishaps

Practical advice on handling common travel issues, from unexpected costs to cultural misunderstandings. Brian Kelly: "Always ask for a better rate or a solution—negotiation can lead to surprising savings."

5. Leveraging Travel Points

Discussion on how to best utilize credit card points and rewards for travel, maximizing the value of each trip. Brian Kelly: "Transfer your points to travel partners to get the best value, like upgrading to business class."

1. Travel during shoulder seasons: Opt for months like April or October for lower prices and pleasant weather.
2. Use travel rewards effectively: Redeem points for high-value options like business class flights or all-inclusive stays.
3. Research destinations thoroughly: Especially important for LGBTQ+ travelers to ensure safety and comfort.
4. Plan for contingencies: Always have backup plans for travel mishaps, including additional funds or alternate routes.
5. Engage with locals safely: Understanding local cultures and laws can enhance the travel experience and prevent legal issues.

In the second part of Nicole's conversation with Brian Kelly, AKA The Points Guy, Brian tells Nicole which vacation destinations are up-and-coming (and therefore, still cheap!), what you need to know if you're traveling with kiddos and what in the world is going on with Boeing.

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Brian Kelly

Guest Name(s):

Brian Kelly

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Nicole Lapin
I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert. You don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab.

Brian Kelly
I know you just loved the first. Part of my episode with Brian Kelly, aka the points guy. Last week in that episode, he told me all of his favorite credit cards for all sorts of perks, like travel, cashback and more. If you missed that one, definitely go. Back and check it out.

Nicole Lapin
My conversation with him was so, so good as it always. So I split it into two parts. Today you're going to be hearing about the up and coming travel destinations that Brian says are still affordable, how he got dual residency abroad, and the travel etiquette questions you have always wanted answered, but we're too afraid to ask. Here he is. Brian, Frank, and Kelly.

Brian Kelly
Welcome back to money rehab. It's good to be back. How are you doing, fellow pisces? Not only pisces, but birthday twinsies. What are the odds?

How many other March 7 people do you know? I don't know that many, actually. And I don't think there are that many big celebrities. Besides us, of course, besides us, I was gonna say. I mean, it's a special bond.

Brian Frank Kelly
It really is. We know each other, but because we share the same birthday, I feel brother, sisterly love. We share a lot of the same outlooks on life as well. Well, we have to talk about some deals. You did an epic trip for your birthday this year.

Brian Kelly
You're one year ahead of me. I would love to follow in those footsteps. Tell me what you did. Last year, for my 40th, I threw a rager in Lisbon, Portugal. It's one of my favorite cities.

Brian Frank Kelly
And funny enough, one of my money moves during the pandemic was to invest in a hotel in Porto. I got the portuguese golden vista, so I have to spend one week in Portugal every year. Hoo hoo. What a hard thing to do. I'm so sad for you.

After five years, I'm able to get portuguese citizenship. So last year, I threw this big party in Lisbon. It was a lot of fun, but still emotionally and financially drained from it. So this year, I was like, I'm going solo. Well, with my son, my cute 18 month old baby, and his nanny, and we went to the Maldives.

So, yeah, my 41st birthday was on the beach. I had a little dinner with my son, and we watched the little Mermaid. It was really special. And since the last time you came on the show, you became a father. So congratulations.

Brian Kelly
Mazel tov. Thank you. It has been the best, most epic journey of my life. And Dean has now been to 14 countries in 17 months. So it is not easy.

Brian Frank Kelly
It's not cheap, either. People think babies fly free. They actually only fly free domestically. When you fly internationally, you have to pay 10% of the full fare cost. So when I took him to Tokyo, that was $2,300 for him to sit on my lap.

Brian Kelly
Oh, my God. That's an extreme example, but it still could be easily hundreds or $1,000 if you're flying using points and business class. So there are certain frequent flyer programs like aeroplan, that charge a flat $20 to bring your infant on any international flight, which is wildly generous. So any of the new parents out there don't sleep on aeroplan, their transfer partner, most of the credit card transfer programs. So if you use points, you used points for your business class ticket, you paid 10% of what the actual fare would be in cash.

Brian Frank Kelly
This is the tricky part. So when you buy a ticket, they'll just charge 10% of what you paid. So most of the time, you're not buying full fare, you're getting discounts. So the 10% is reasonable, usually. But when you use award miles, there's no price on the ticket.

And they don't just pull in what Google flights is showing. They have a list of full fare rates, which can be astronomical. However, you can always ask them to reprice the ticket at that day's fair. So if they give you some outrageous number for your infant, you can say, hey, the actual fare is half of that showing on your website right now. And sometimes they can send it to the pricing department and price it at that lower rate.

One of my favorite rules in travel in general is it never hurts to ask. So always ask for a lower price. The worst thing they can say is no. You also talked about what it was like to be gay in the Maldives. Right?

Yeah. You know, and I get it. A lot of LGBTQ travelers are not comfortable. And my advice is, and don't go anywhere. You're going to think you're uncomfortable.

I like to just be honest about the experiences. If you go to a Marriott Hilton Hyatt resort in the Maldives, yes, it's a part of a muslim country that is technically under sharia law. But the reality is, I mean, there were same sex couples holding hands. There's alcohol. It's not the same as being on the capital of Mali.

I'm not trying to represent life on the main island. I don't speak for anyone else's existence. I just speak about my travels. The fact is, you can go on your honeymoon, if you're gay, to these resorts, and you will not have to hide who you are, you're not going to have them trying to put you into twin beds. These resorts, a, they're all run by LGBTQ people.

And I get why people want to hold countries to high standards, but I also would encourage people to, like, look at our own country. Like, the US is far from perfect. So for us to be on a moral high ground, making judgments, I would encourage people to get out there and travel, because even if you go to a country that maybe doesn't reflect your values, travel is about the people. Just like half our country or most of our country doesn't want to be represented by our current or past president. We're more than that.

Brian Kelly
Yeah, Brian, go meet people. We're all people. Exactly. The more you travel and meet actual locals, the maldivian staff members at all the resorts could not have loved Dean Moore. There was no discrimination.

Brian Frank Kelly
They all knew I was gay single dad. Culturally, that is a shock. There are no gay single parents. I'm short in the country of Maldives. Well, maybe, but I didn't feel judgment.

I didn't feel anything. I was completely embraced. So that's the part of travel. Yes. Their constitution.

There might be archaic laws that could stone me or something, but reality is, that's not something tourists have to deal with when traveling. And, yes, that is privilege. I'm not saying it's not, but that's the reality. But also, don't bring drugs to a. Muslim country or any country, for that matter.

Brian Kelly
Right, sure. And that's a good point, because, you know, in the US, we're so used to our THC oils, even your prescription medicines. I was in Japan, and I had a friend who had Adderall, which is not allowed. And Adderall, if you're on ADHD medications in a lot of countries, is a big offense. Now, most countries, if you actually are prescribed it, you're probably going to get a pass.

Brian Frank Kelly
But I recommend especially traveling to the Middle east. You can google stories of people bringing in pain medications for their back surgery. You can end up in a lot of trouble. There was even someone who had to go to the hospital for something unrelated, and they drug tested him in the UAE while he was in the hospital for something unrelated, and he got in trouble. You definitely do not want to be smuggling and locked up abroad.

Brian Kelly
Wow, that's a really good point. And that doesn't get as much attention as it probably should. I remember going to Bali, and my lawyer was like, hey, so if you have any gummies or definitely just be extra, extra careful about all of that. And then on the little jumper planes you see, punishable by firing squad or something fucking crazy. I don't want to mess with it, okay.

Also, every time I get on a plane and I see your logo, my heart is so happy. When did that happen? I think five years ago. It was pre pandemic at the points guy. We have yearly awards, and Delta consistently wins our reader choice awards for best.

Brian Frank Kelly
They're on time customer service, so they've reached out. Hey, we want to put your seal with all the other fortune best companies, Forbes. And I was like, okay, that's pretty cool. So that's all 900 Delta mainline jets. You'll see the points guy logo.

Brian Kelly
I love it so much. I've been a long time Delta girly since I was at CNN in Atlanta. I had to be. I know my sky miles number by heart. I will not cheat.

I do think that they're still the best. And I have all the credit cards. Last year, Delta was in hot water with a lot of travelers because they made pretty drastic increases to their elite qualifying, the lounges. What's your take on that as a frequent flyer? Because a certain portion of flyers loved it.

Brian Frank Kelly
Because, frankly, the herd does need to be thin. Those lounges are crowded. I have so many miles, it's embarrassing. And the ones that you can't get through points, but you have to have your ass on the seat to actually get whatever diamond this, that million mile, or, you know, I'm not super proud of it. Honestly, Brian, when they're like, congratulations.

Brian Kelly
Thank you so much for being a triple diamond. Whatever, whatever. I don't know. I've spent so much time on a plane. Is that a thank you or is that an embarrassing thing?

It's maybe a little bit of both. Oh, it's a badge of honor, you know, for you. Yes. But I agree. Ultimately, I think post pandemic, I still travel now, but I'm very particular the rat race.

Brian Frank Kelly
And luckily, corporate travel wise, I don't have nearly as much of that. You know, just having to go to corporate meetings Monday to Wednesday grind, that travel is exhausting. So I don't miss having to do that. You couldn't pay me enough elite qualifying miles, especially after becoming a father where I'm like, the opportunity cost of missing my son before bed is too high. I couldn't care about collecting some more elite miles for this vanity metric.

Brian Kelly
So why do you think Delta is the best? Why does it always get the awards from the team. Well, I think historically Delta cares, so if your bag's delayed with Delta, they'll give you miles proactively. You don't even have to ask if your flight's delayed. Delta is going to text message you, sorry about our delay.

Brian Frank Kelly
We take responsibility. So I think Delta has a customer first sort of approach, and they also take care of their employees. Delta has really rich profit sharing. They honor their employees a lot. So when you fly Delta, yes, there still might be some disgruntled employees, but not nearly like any of the other major us airlines.

So I think their corporate approach to taking care of employees, having customer first policies, that might be expensive in the short term, like giving out that mileage compensation, they actually have to pay for that. I think that pays off with all of these awards. They build long term loyalty and then they charge a premium. So I think Delta is really smart. We'll give away some chips upfront because no one else is, and then in the long term, people will be so bonded to us, they'll pay 20% premium to fly us over another carrier.

Brian Kelly
That's definitely happened. And they give you those little cards to give out to exceptional employees to give them miles or something like that. You know, we all complain when the flights are delayed. We hate the airline. This employee was mean.

Brian Frank Kelly
But when you have those good employees, I please urge you, get their name and just send a comment on the website. Often after your flight, the airlines will send you, hey, how was the flight? Take 30 seconds and put that employee's name that touched your day. We can't just complain when things go wrong. Really highlight good service when it's warranted.

Brian Kelly
Yeah, that's like good travel karma for everyone. It's karma points. And I do believe in travel karma. So build your travel karma points when you can. I feel like lately, too, there's been a rise of people videotaping shenanigans on flights.

Should we just stop? Yes. Everybody pulls out their phone ASAP. I think people have always misbehaved on planes, obviously, with smartphones and social media. I think that peaked a lot during the pandemic.

Brian Frank Kelly
I mean, there's still plenty of misbehaving people, but I don't know, I travel quite a bit and I don't really see it, so. Certainly. And we can talk about the Boeing situation because it is concerning. Hold onto your wallets, money rehab. We'll be right back.

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That's LinkedIn.com mn, as in money news network, to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

And now for some more money rehab. Yeah, so the disaster, just for anyone who didn't know, it, started in January. There was a door that fell off a jetliner mid flight. And then another one. There was a tire that fell off shortly after takeoff.

Brian Kelly
And then a Boeing engine caught on fire 20 minutes after takeoff. And the FAA examined Boeing, and it found it failed 33 of 89 audits. And, you know, Boeing has not been forthcoming with that incident. It wasn't a door that fell out. It was basically a plugged window where an emergency door could go.

Brian Frank Kelly
And in the investigation, Boeing has been dragging their feet and not providing information, and information's lost. There are deep problems at Boeing beyond the safety side. Their production is many years behind. Boeing needs a drastic change in course, unfortunately, for travelers, people will ask, well, can I avoid all Boeing planes? But they're everywhere.

I flew a 737 max nine when I went to the Maldives, and I got on the plane, I didn't think twice, because the fact of the matter is, air travels, actually. So all of these incidents seem concerning if you're looking at them one after another. But these things actually do happen all the time. Plane engines blow out, and every single plane can fly with one engine, so it's really not a huge risk. And things fall off.

Planes, they're not perfect, but there usually are enough redundancies. And even in all these incidents, no one got hurt, thank God. And the planes all were able to land safely. So I think it actually speaks to modern aviation is as safe as ever. You know, I know a lot of people have a fear of flying.

Do not be afraid to fly. There's no aircraft today that truly is more dangerous than getting in your car to go to the airport. You are many, many, many more times likely to get injured or killed on the roads with people who could be drinking. They're unregulated. We all see those crazy drivers in aviation.

Even though these incidents are happening, there's still so many controls in place to make sure it's safe. And the numbers prove that flying has never been safer. I remember there was this one story from, it was this big Wall street firm. They were raising money basically in the Middle east, and they were on a private plane that had two engines. And the pilot comes back.

Brian Kelly
So we have two pieces of news to share. Good news or bad news. And there's two pieces of bad news, but one's worse. First, one of the engines blew out. Second, we're over Iran.

So it was a bunch of jewish guys. We can fly with one engine, but the protocol is you have to land at the next place. And so they got a big bottle and they just drank and waited till they were over Iran. Long story long to say you can fly with one engine. And these things are highlighted for sure.

Is there any way to know, though, when you're booking a flight, whether it's going to be a Boeing plane or not? Most airlines have details. Just click the details. When you're traveling New York to LA, there's a ton of different options. And I'll actually say the 737 800 is different than the 737 eight max max planes.

Brian Frank Kelly
Those are the ones that were involved in a bunch of plane crashes and now the store incident. So do you want to avoid maxes? I guess you could. Once again, if you just look at the statistics, it doesn't really make much of a difference. But if it makes you feel better.

And actually, Airbus planes, even in economy, generally have an inch more width in their seats. Generally, Airbus are nicer aircraft, in my opinion. The french finance minister also said that he prefers flying Airbus over Boeing now. I mean, are people really checking? I don't think so.

At the end of the day, people want cheap lights. People want the flight that's going to leave at the time convenient. So even after all these catastrophes, people don't really change their habits that much if it makes you feel better, but I don't recommend people spending money to switch their flight if they're booked on one of these aircraft, you're not really increasing your chances of survival. You're going to be fine. All right.

Brian Kelly
So ultimately we're going to book flights based on prices and deals. So let's talk about some deals. Brian, I can't have you on the show without it. Spring break is over, which means we're entering shoulder season. Tell me what that is and does that mean cheaper airfare?

Brian Frank Kelly
Shoulder season? A lot of people have kids, spring break schedules, you're not flexible with travel, but for those who are flexible, that's how you get deals. These days there'll be travel experts saying book on a Sunday, fly on a Wednesday. But the fact of the matter is it's being flexible. So going to Europe this summer, June, July, August, airfares up to 50% higher than April and May, May starts to get towards the back half peak pricing.

But honestly April and September, October are the nicest months to go to Europe. And let me remind you too because I was in Florence last June when it was almost 100 degrees, theres no air conditioning. I was going to a wedding just soaked, drenched, couldnt cool off and then its like hotels are astronomical. So the european summer vacations going to be as busy as ever. But if you have flexibility going April to Paris, it's beautiful weather, you're not going to get scorched.

And I'll say this with finding the best flight deals. So Google Flights is my favorite search tool. Most travel experts will say start there but there's a little feature called Explore. So when you go to Google flights, click the Explore button and what that will let you do is put in your home airport. So say your LA and I want to go to Europe for one week in May.

It'll actually reverse engineer and show you all the flights to Europe from LA in May. Or you can say this week or just week long weekend trips. And what I tell people is just book the cheapest flights and you could also, and I recommend these days, especially booking multiple connections to save a little bit on airfare is a fool's errand because you're going to cancel flight, you're going to miss a day of your trip. So as my dad always said, cheap is expensive. If you do book a connection, please promise me it'll be over 2 hours, even domestic these days because you're going to be delayed, you're going to be running and if it's a tight connection your bag's not making it.

So. But Google flights explore map. You can even put in you want to go to the Caribbean during certain time so snip out the best deals and then choose a destination. And in Europe it's so cheap by train or low cost carriers to get around. So get to the continent, buy the cheapest flights and then kind of plan your trip around that.

That's how you save the most money. Are there up and coming destinations for international travel that are still cheap? Other hidden gems. Luckily, the US dollar is still really strong. And, you know, in terms of Europe, Albania is on the rise.

There's a great Riviera party scene. It's like Croatia of 2020. Yeah, exactly. I went to Croatia in 2020. It was the only country to go.

And Puerto Rico is a great value destination, especially if you don't have a passport, you don't have to deal with immigration. So for quick weekend trips, I love Puerto Rico and Central America. Your dollar goes so far. Colombia. Cartagena is a great weekend destination.

Really reasonable hotels. Costa Rica. Some parts of Costa Rica can be really expensive, but there are really good deals out there. And if you don't want to go to Europe, but you want to get the european flair, going to Quebec or Montreal, especially in the summer, the temperatures are much. They can get really hot, but are a little bit more mild than, say, the east coast of the US.

Brian Kelly
And what are some juicy deals right now as far as airfare? All inclusives cruises. All inclusives are really up and coming. All the major hotel brands are buying all inclusive chains. So you can now redeem.

Brian Frank Kelly
Hyatt has the Ziva collection, so you can actually now redeem your points at all inclusives, which is great for families. When my brother has five kids and he's going to Cancun, it's hard to budget when you have so many unknown costs. And so the beauty of all inclusives is that, you know, it's all included for the most part, and it's great for budgeting and there's a lot of more upscale all inclusives. I'm not personally an all inclusive person. That might change when my son's a little bit older, but Cancun is still just a hot spot.

There are new hotels. The St. Regis just opened up there, the addition. So there's high end hotels. High end hotels are also going in the cruise game, too.

Yes. The Ritz Carlton yacht experience. I haven't been on it. It looks really nice. Four Seasons is launching.

I did an expedition cruise to Greenland last September, which was spectacular. I'm all about going on smaller ships. I think there were only 70 staterooms, so it felt more like a big yacht. It was also fun. I went with Martha Stewart, who's a friend.

So traveling with Martha Stewart to Greenland was sort of a bucket list experience. She's fierce and yeah, Antarctica is a really top expedition. I haven't done it. Have you? Good.

Ever done Antarctica? My girlfriend just came back and she said she got a sick, crazy deal. She spent five k. But it was a whole thing to get down there through Argentina and through the Drake. The Drake?

Yeah. That's no joke. If you don't like rockin'that's, not for you. Yeah, but I've heard that there are some insane deals. Go see some penguins.

Brian Kelly
I interrupted you when I asked about the cruise, but were you saying for all inclusives also google is your favorite. I actually love hotels.com and if you book with them, they have their vip program and you get 2020 2% off. So they changed their loyalty program last year and people were kind of up in arms about it. You earn basically 10% rebate when you. Redeem like one night for every ten.

Brian Frank Kelly
But what they retooled the program is you get, I don't know, 6% at most, but you get now 20% at their vip hotels and it's truly a discount. I price check always against the hotel's cost. Hotels.com has incredible. You're actually saving 20%. Plus you still earn the one key cash.

And you earn for putting on a credit card. You don't care about hotel elite status. I recommend looking through otas just to price search for the absolute cheapest rates. What's OTA? Online travel agencies like the hotels.com comma, the Expedias of the world.

But hotels.com is definitely my big have almost every hotel and they're also linked with Vrbo. You know, Airbnb is great, but Vrbo has a lot more higher end properties. If you want to rent the entire house that's managed by a property management network, I feel like vrbo, vrbo.com comma, vacation rentals by owner. And you can now earn the same currency in Vrbo as you can through hotels.com and Expedia. So it's like one big loyalty program.

Brian Kelly
Brian, we end our episodes by asking all of our guests for a tip listeners can take straight to the bank. You are a wealth of tips and you've given so many but one bonus travel tip that listeners can use today. Ooh, that's a really good question. In general, transfer your bank points to partners. When you redeem for flights through Amex, you're getting one cent per point.

Brian Frank Kelly
But if you transfer to partners like Aeroplan or Air France, you can go to the US, to Europe Air France business class for as low as 50,000 points one way. So just say to yourself, would you rather have a dollar 500 flight, which might get you economy or fly business class. So the transfer partners, it's a little bit of a complicated game, but most of those transfers go through instantly. So when you learn how to search for award tickets, and there's a new partnership with Amex, with point me, which is the Google flights for award search. So it makes it really easy to see which transfer partner has award availability for the days you want to travel.

So transferred in general, don't book flights through the credit card portal. And use your points. Use your points. It's the nice champagne or the nice china or whatever. Use it.

Brian Kelly
Today is as good a day as any. Every day is a celebration. Well, every month, they raise the amount of points needed. So get the value off the table today and certainly don't let them expire. Save that money.

Brian Frank Kelly
Go to a nice meal on your trip. Don't feel as guilty about it or even invest that money. You know, use your points. Take all that money you would have spent and put it in the markets. You know more than anyone what that compounded interest is going to be.

So bottom line, my final note. Treat your points and miles like a currency, because they're not just a coupon or some weird thing. It's truly huge amounts of value that can help your personal bottom line. You earned it. Amen.

Nicole Lapin
Money rehab is a production of Money news Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin. Money rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab?

And let's be honest, we all do.