“Save money” is a near-universal mantra in the travel business—suppliers constantly shout about how much you “save” if you buy their product or use their service, and we writers continually post “money-saving” tips. But to me, that’s a bit off-target. You can easily “save” 100 percent on travel—just stay home. That’s not what you really want to do. Instead, your objective is to buy an enjoyable or useful product or service at a price that represents a good value to you. I don’t mean to be pedantic; my point here is that although there are times when the lowest possible price is your best value, at other times, paying a little more makes a big improvement in your experience. In short, don’t always “cheap out.” Some examples:
Airline
When I fly on a low-fare airline, or on a giant line that acts like one, on a trip with a suitcase too big to qualify as a “personal item,” more often than not I resist the temptation to cheap out and schlep my bag, and instead will pay the usually extortionate fee to check the bag. That decision has been made easier by the practice adopted by many low-fare lines of adding extra fees to put a bag of any size in the overhead bin.
Granted, I’m a senior and not as spry as most travelers today, but it’s a great relief to be able to negotiate those endless treks through big airports without having to schlep a heavy bag and to get onto a plane without pushing and trying to ferret out a place overhead for my big bag. And at some big airports, the ability to curb-check a bag at the terminal door for a $3 tip is a no-brainer.
