If you’re a travel fanatic like me, one of the best parts of any wedding is the honeymoon, of course. My husband (still getting used to that) and I have decided on beautiful Greece to celebrate our nuptials and we couldn’t be more excited to be able to get out and travel again. We can’t wait to bask in the glorious Mediterranean sun, eat and drink delicious local food and wine, and island hop some of Greece’s picturesque islands.
For this trip we are doing a 14 day tour starting off with a long layover in London to visit one of Gordon Ramsay’s Michelin Star restaurants, Petrus. From there we’re fly over to Athens to being the main leg of our trip. After a couple of days in Athens, we’ll fly over to Mykonos for a couple days, then fly to Paros, and finally a ferry over to Santorini to finish off our trip. The way home is going to be a long day of travel but the way we booked flights and accomodations helped to keep us considerably under our $5000 budget.
Here’s a breakdown of costs:
- Roundtrip Flights (LAX->ATH): $855 ($427.5 per person)
- London accommodations: $212.25 (1 night)
- Athens accommodations: $316.54 (2 nights)
- Flight (ATH->JMK): $212.72
- Mykonos accommodations: $205.83 (2 nights)
- Flight (JKM->PAS): $453.82
- Paros accommodations: $356.77 (3 nights)
- Ferry (Paros->Santorini): $56.69
- Santorini accommodations: $1097.76 (4 nights)
- Flight (JTR->ATH): $133
- TOTAL COST: $3900.38 ($1950.19 per person)
As you can see, I was able to get all of our main transportation and accommodations booked for way under our target budget which leaves us with a $1100 to use as spending cash. We’re very laid back travelers and even though it’s our honeymoon, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to go crazy booking the most luxurious resorts and upgrading our flights. Economy is going to get you there at the same time as business class would so what’s the point of spending extra money, right?
To find these great deals I always search with my browser in incognito mode. This means that the websites aren’t tracking my searches so I’m able to find better flight deals. I always start my trips by booking the initial flights to and from the main locations, whether they be one way flights or roundtrip. I do this because once I know what dates/times I’m traveling, I can go ahead and start booking accommodations and excursions. To keep flights as cheap as possible, we often fly early in the morning or later in the evening out of peak times and I often look for flights that have long layovers in cities that are easy to get to and from the airport in. Another tip is to try and fly in and out of hub airports. Living in San Diego, the most convenient airport for us is obviously San Diego International Airport. However, LAX is the hub for Southern California and by simply driving two hours north we can save hundreds of dollars on flights. It’s very easy (and cost efficient) for us to hop of the train and take it north from San Diego to LA and then just uber to LAX from the train station.
As always, do some research of various flights, locations, and accommodations before you book so ensure that you’re getting the best deals. Need help planning a trip? Ask me!
Make Me a Jetsetter 