Cheapest Day to Buy/Fly

According to FareCompare.com, the cheapest day to fly is Wednesday for domestic flight, followed by Tuesday and Saturday (Friday and Sunday are most expensive); the cheapest day to buy is Tuesday afternoon.


Sounds strange? Not necessarily.  Working in an industry dealing with large amount of data, 
I can totally understand that based on researches on travel demands, purchasing trend and behavior, airlines can easily identify the price elasticity in specific time periods and the flights with lowest average price. Why Wednesday? Because many fliers are business travelers, and when they go to meetings, they usually travel to the destination earlier in the week, for few days or the whole week; also, leisure travelers tend to take few days off before or after the weekend for the vacation, so that generally rules out Wednesday. One year I started my trip on Wednesday evening, to fly to Italy, the ticket price I paid was more than $50 less than if I had to travel on other days.  Saturday can be inexpensive too, because business travelers have already flew back home on Fridays and next week's travels start on Sundays; also Leisure weekend travelers would fly on Thursday or Fridays. 


In terms of cheapest day to buy, I think the most straightforward reason is that during other times people are just less price sensitive, which airfares are heavily driven by the theory of price elasticity of demand, this will explain it. Perhaps the airlines are rolling the weekly discounts after evaluating the ticket sales on Monday, but then the deepest discounted fares are usually sold out quickly. When booking travel to Europe for my parents, I realized that the price dropped at least $30 between booking Sunday and Tuesday!
One last key is to be flexible, if you are not in a hurry to go somewhere, then you will have plenty of chances to find cheaper tickets. Sign up for Fare Tracker from websites such as Kayak.com that gives you notifications when it spots the lowest airfare during your targeted travel time


Good luck and safe travels!

Best time to travel

I live in Chicago, at this time of the year it supposes to be in the 30s, however last week we were hit with a "heat wave" in the middle of March! For two days it was running high 60s to mid 80s. Tourist were in T-shirt, tanks, shorts, and flip flops. I feel happy for them, they must have gotten great deals in airfare and hotels visiting a destination that supposes to be winter at this time and enjoying the summer weather. 

That was a little ordinary, right? Sure, we could have gotten hit with a blizzard too.

Most people travel in the summer time, with their children on summer break and warm weather, who isn't in the mood to get out there and visit a new city/country?  Since there are more tourists in the summer and the day time is longer, museums generally have longer hours.  You will see more animals in the zoo, or see some seasonal shows or events, such as NYC Central Park summer concerts, Tanglewood Boston Symphony Orchestra summer, Chicago street fairs, to name a few. 
Unfortunately the trade off is that the prices you'll end up paying could be double or even triple the off peak season price.  Whether you're visiting museums, going up the tallest building/tower for sightseeing, or eating in local favorite restaurants, lines are much longer for sure.  For example, there's a great burger joint in New York City called Shake Shack Burger, the main one located inside the Madison Square park.  When I was living in NYC, I went there during winter and there were 8-10 people in front of me on the line; but when I went there again during the summer, the line was literally circling half of the park's walking path! Many tourists will either wait for hours or end up eating in less popular restaurants.  

If any time other than summer is not possible, I will have some other tips in my future posts, but if you're traveling with friends, significant others or parents on a vacation, then the best way is to find time that works for everyone's schedule and avoid holiday/major event (I'll explain more later) time.  While traveling on a holiday together means everyone doesn't need to take extra days off, prices will pick up accordingly and that means everyone pays a premium and gets less out of it.  How do $100 more for airfare and $50/night more for hotel sound? Not to mention 20%-30% longer wait time for attractions and restaurants, a 5-day vacation during holiday might turn out to be what you could do in 4-days non-holiday time. (Unless you're lying on the beach or not doing much)


So that sums up the pros and cons of seasonal/holiday travel.  Safe travels everyone!

Why am I writing tips for Traveling?

Sure, there are lots of travel blogs, essays, books, or sites that offer travel tips. 
I am no road warrior, hard core camper nor someone going for a pilgrimage.  I travel 1-2 times a month to 'commute' home to see my fiance' and my family, few times a year for work, and few themed trips with my fiance' or family.  But I want to share some of my joys and hidden gems that I found during my trips so you may experience them yourself, and frustrations and things to avoid so that you don't have to go through them.  I had a lot of success in find good deals/bargains on trips and I'm good with planning a relaxing or packed-but-meaningful schedule .  Feel free to drop comments or share your ideas by writing to me or in the comment box.