I’m not sure if this is a sign of my full on transition to a flashpacker but these days I am happy to pay more to avoid extra hassles. This can be anything from airfare to airport pickups to getting a single room at a hostel.
In the past when I would search for airfares online I would almost always go for the cheapest, no matter what. I wouldn’t even glance at the other options and I never went to the next page of fare results. Now I tend to value good connections, early arrival times and airlines I hve miles with over the ultimate cheapie. Often better flights aren’t tha much more expensive, it’s just that, in the past, I wouldn’t even look.
I’m currently planning my exodus from Haiti and have been looking into Nicaragua as my next destination. I could fly Spirit Air on two separate flights for around $400 plus a night at a hostel in Fort Lauderdale or I could pay $500 to do the trip with American Airlines in one shot and get airmiles to boot. In the past I would have gone Spirit Air all the way just to save the extra $50 but now, that amount doesn’t seem like much to sacrifice to get me to my destination as quickly as possible.
This new attitude of mine doesn’t just apply to airfares. I plan on spending a night or two in a hostel in Managua and will be springing for a single room and even an airport pickup. The old, backpacker me would never have gone for these options. The single room is $20 which is more than I want to pay but my logic is that I have been sleeping in a dorm room for five months in Haiti on an air mattress and think I deserve a couple nights of good sleep before returning to dorm land. The airport pickup is only $15, Managua has a reputation for being dangerous, I speak zero Spanish and I would be due to arrive after dark so this choice might be a no-brainer.
Are you more likely to go cheap all the way or is paying more for a bit of comfort something that has snuck its way into your travel style like it has mine?
I tend to adjust based on my current cashflow situation. Currently (and I knock on wood as I type this), I’m relatively flush, so while I put most of that extra cash into savings, it does give me a little more flexibility in discretionary spending.
If money is getting tight, however, I tend to start cutting down item by item, and opt for the cheaper option where I can!
Great concept and website!
When you’ve been on the road as long as you have, the ‘novelty’ of getting the cheapest price starts to wear off. Sometimes you just want to get wherever you’re getting to and not deal with changing flights, switching rooms or hostels, etc.
Safe travels!
Couldn’t agree more – now that I travel a lot for work, I have the luxury of airport pickups and other various nuances that I didn’t have during my frugal backpacking days. Sometimes it’s not about the dollar, and I feel like you conveyed that well.
Having a slightly higher budget ist quite common when you get older, hehe. It has nothing to do with flashpacking. The key term here ist “value for money”. When I was younger I used to fully concentrate on the money part, mainly because I was forced to do so by my financial situation. Later I learned that I get more out of it if I don’t totally neglect the value part.
Reminds me of when I used to go work in Corsica for the first few years I would catch the Ferry from Marseille/Nice to Bastia in the north stay over night then bus down south. took me a couple of years to figure out a 45 minute direct flight was a lot cheaper
If you need a place in Ft Lauderdale for the night or two you are welcome to stay here.
I think it is inevitable the longer you travel the more comfort you want. I also think it is worth paying a bit more for a comfortable room with Wifi as you can get more work done.