The Best Travel Tuesday Deals for 2023

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:00:23    Hey there, Kristin Wilson from Traveling with Kristin here and welcome to episode 234 of Badass Digital Nomads. Coming to you a few days late this week as it is a holiday week and I've been traveling around and it's just been a whirlwind this week. So I'm sure if you are preparing a dinner for family or organizing any sort of travel or traveling somewhere yourself this week with lots of the travel delays that I saw on the news and um, you might feel the same way. You know, it seems like the end of the year goes by so much faster than the rest of the year, like the last quarter of the year and especially the last two months of the year just seemed to fly by compared to, I don't know, April or May or June. And uh, so yeah, I'm definitely feeling like this, this rush to the end of the new year, but trying to really live in the moment and enjoy these last few weeks of 2023.  

Kristin:    00:01:27    So if you do celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving wherever you were in the world. And if you don't, then I hope that you just had a great week and you're having a good weekend as you listen to this podcast. I have a pretty short episode for you today as I just wanted to bring your attention to what is called Travel Tuesday. So it seems like Black Friday is this phenomenon that has spread from the US around the world from from Black Friday to Cyber Monday to now travel Tuesday. And you know, I've never been a huge fan of just shopping in general in Black Friday, but I have been looking around for some deals. I bought a new travel purse and I've been adding some more stuff to my Amazon store. So if you wanna check that out, I will leave the links and the description below.  

Kristin:    00:02:24    But this idea of Travel Tuesday really piqued my interest, you know, being a travel blogger and YouTuber and having this podcast. And so I'm sure if you love to travel then the idea of discounted travel for Travel Tuesday sounds pretty appealing. And you know, even if you're not buying a lot of uh, material items and you're focused more on experiences more than things, this could be a great opportunity to gift yourself or someone else, something for the holidays in the form of hotel nights, flights, rental car, um, or even travel gear that you can use to have an amazing experience in your life. If you are new to the show then my name is Kristin and I have been traveling or living abroad pretty much for the past 20 years and I've been a digital nomad for many of those years and I'm currently finding myself in the US I've just spent the last seven or eight months in Europe, did six months in the UK, a month in Amsterdam, and then another month traveling around a bit.  

Kristin:    00:03:34    And I've just gotten back to my hometown and my home state of Florida town called Vero Beach, Florida to attend my, one of my youngest cousins's weddings. So that was a lot of fun and really great to be able to see family members. I know one of the things that a lot of people are concerned about when you're thinking about being in a traveling lifestyle or living overseas is how often you'll get to see your friends and family. And this is a concern that many people have and I actually wrote an article about it for International Living's Magazine this month, but, uh, really I've found that in living abroad or in traveling as a digital nomad, it's, it's actually freed up more of my time to be able to spend more quality time with family. And that's because when you are location independent, you can choose to travel during off peak times so you don't have to really get involved in all of the holiday travel rushes and delays.  

Kristin:    00:04:43    And you can also choose to visit family at different times of the year and you can even have them come and visit you. So there's been a lot of times while living abroad that my brother, my sister, my parents, my cousins, my friends have come to visit me in places like Costa Rica and England this summer and Amsterdam. I've also gone to meet some of my friends in different places. My friend Carly and I traveled through Thailand and the Philippines together. My friend MJ and I have been to Peru, we've been to Iceland, we've been to Paris, we've been to all different places together. And so if that's something that's been on your mind, then I just wanna take this opportunity around the holidays to just suggest that maybe if you live in another country, your family and friends can go and visit you, but even if they don't, then maybe you can choose prime times of year that would be best for you to go visit them.  

Kristin:    00:05:45    And maybe that would not be exactly during Christmas or exactly during Thanksgiving, but you could actually travel to see them and stay longer for the same price as paying peak airfare for a couple of days during the peak times of year. And also working remotely and not having to check in or clock in at an office. Um, being able to work from anywhere, that's also allowed me to spend more quality time with family, especially when my niece was born or when taking care of a sick or aging relative. And so, you know, put some thought to that and and see if there's a way that you can make this work. If you're thinking of going location independent or living in another country, what if there were a way that you could actually spend more quality time with your friends and family living in another country compared to even living in the same city or state or country?  

Kristin:    00:06:47    As I record this episode, I'm getting ready to leave for Nomad Cruise 12. I'll be flying from Miami to Tenerife in the Canary Islands and then taking a cruise ship with at least 400 other like-minded people over to Brazil, to Salvador, Brazil. And this will be my third Nomad Cruise, which is basically a floating conference for travel and location independent lifestyle enthusiasts. Whether you are an existing digital nomad or a roving retiree or just somebody who's interested in finding out more about that lifestyle, you can meet like-minded people. You can attend lots of talks and workshops during the conference and you can also have a lot of fun on this cruise ship. So now the days are, uh, just a few days away until we depart as the cruise is from December 2nd to the 11th. But I believe there are about 20 cabins left on the Nomad Cruise.  

Kristin:    00:07:54    And so if you'd like to join me, I will leave a link with um, a 100 euro off of any booking and you can join us on that cruise starting next week. And using the code TWK, you can get 100 euro off of any cabin. There's also one early bird spot available on my first ever group trip, a hosted guided trip to Portugal, which is happening next April 15th to the 21st. So if you wanna snag that during Black Friday, you can get $100 off of the trip price plus an extra $100 off. So that's $200 off using the code Portugal 100, that's Portugal 1 0 0 and there's only one spot left. That code is first come first serve, it expires on November 30th and you can reserve your place on the trip with a 25% refundable deposit. So if you're not a hundred percent sure but you think that you can make it happen, go ahead and reserve that last spot, lock in the discount and I will see you next year in Portugal.  

Kristin:    00:09:16    I'm really excited for that. A lot of my Patreon patrons are going to be there and lots of people who I haven't met in person. So you can learn more about that in the link in the show notes. And also I made a video about it on my YouTube channel on Traveling with Kristin. So you can, uh, take a look at that and see if that, uh, itinerary looks good to you. Then when it comes to Black Friday travel discounts, I actually really love this in this idea of Travel Tuesday because this year I've seen discounts with companies that usually never have discounts. There's actually even, um, I've seen some blog posts from these companies in the past about why they don't offer Black Friday discounts, but it seems like they're coming around. And so I was really excited to see some of my favorite travel gear marked down for this weekend.  

Kristin:    00:10:11    And a lot of these discounts are good into Tuesday. So one of the companies which is the, the actual carry-on travel bag that I use my backpack for my laptop and my electronics and things like that is Minaal. And I found out about Minaal at least five years ago and it is a really cool company with really, really nice bags. They've spent a lot of time and a lot of thought into designing them. And Minaal is doing their, what I believe is their only sale of the year. They have up to 75% off any of their 2.0 bags. So this is not the newest bag. They have the 3.0 as well, but the 2.0 is the one that I have the original daily bag that I still use and I've had it for years and it still is in perfect condition. You can also get two free accessories with any backpack or bundle purchase.  

Kristin:    00:11:15    So if you've been looking at those Minaal bags and you wanna try one out, they almost never discount their bags, but this is the one time per year that they do. So I will leave a link to that in the show notes if you're in the market for a new backpack or laptop or carry-on bag. Another company that I use their bag until it wore out is called Nordace and they are having discounts site-wide, 30% off, 40% off, and they also are giving an extra 10% off on bundles. And uh, this Nordace bag also works for your laptop. They have kind of like work gear, travel gear and accessories and I always got a lot of compliments on that bag, but I bought the light color so it got dirty pretty fast. So I usually opt for like a gray, a navy blue or a black bag, although this lightish beige pink bag, I got so many compliments on it.  

Kristin:    00:12:21    Uh, so check that out as well. Um, actually I didn't even like that bag when I first bought it, but it really grew on me and I noticed I started using it every day. So I would use my Minaal bag for the plane and I would use my Nordic Nordace bag as like a day pack for luggage. Right now you can save up to 50% on TravelPro luggage sets and accessories. The last big promotion I saw with them was for 15% for Father's Day. So now you can save up to 50% on their luggage sets and they also have one of the original rolling luggage, a rolling carry-on bags. So this is a, a very OG company that's been around for a long time. Another one that I spotted is Monos and I haven't used their bags yet, but they have re really popular carry-on bags and they look very nice and they have discounts up to 40% off site-wide.  

Kristin:    00:13:23    So this is uh, a carry-on bag that I've had my eye on, like a rolling suitcase and I know some people that have them and they are huge fans of that brand. So there it's a little bit pricier, but if you've been uh, thinking about getting a nice rolling carry-on bag, then check out Monos. And then my favorite Marino Wool company, Unbound Merino is having their only sale of the year where you can get up to 40% off the entire site until November 28th. Plus you can get tiered discounts depending on how much you spend. So you can get an extra $10 off, $20 off, $40 off up to $60 off. And they also have discounted bundles, which I really love because you can get bundled t-shirts, socks, other things and you can save even more <laugh> so you can get up to 48% off plus the tiered discounts plus save even more when you buy one of the bundles rather than individual styles.  

Kristin:    00:14:31    And I've been pretty much living on Unbound Merino this year and I like it because you don't have to wash it as often. So it's naturally anti-microbial. You can even work out in the shirts. I'm actually wearing one right now <laugh> and um, they're Marino Wool but they're still really soft. And yeah, I've got the T-shirts, the long sleeve shirts and I really like their leggings for the plane. The leggings have a pocket in the waist so you can actually fit your wallet in there or fit your passport in there. Really good idea, especially since I left my passport on the plane at the Amsterdam tarmac the other day. <laugh>, um, hotels as well, you'll find a lot of great discounts for travel Tuesday on sites like Booking.com, which has discounts starting at 30% off worldwide. Also IHG, which is the brand that has Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Kimpton Hotel, indigo Crown Plaza, they are having discounts and I think they have about 6,000 destinations.  

Kristin:    00:15:46    So hotels all around the world, they have a cyber sale going on right now where you can get 20% off if you book using the IHG app. And that is an app that I use very often. And uh, also check out their IHG credit card, which has some really good bonus deals. So if you spend a lot of time in hotels, I know everyone has favorite chain, whether you are a Marriott person or an IHG person. But yeah, I've been with IHG for a while and, and get points there and really like their selection of properties around the world. You can also find deals on sites like Expedia.com and Hotels.com. So if you're looking to book some travel for 2024, then check out those deals. And in a lot of cases you can get refundable booking so you can lock in those deals, but if you change your plans, that's okay as well.  

Kristin:    00:16:44    Airlines another place you definitely wanna look to take advantage of Travel Tuesday. And also all throughout this Black Friday weekend, Delta is marketing round trip domestic flights below $300 and also round trip tickets to Europe under $800. So this is the perfect time to lock in your flights to Europe for next spring or summer whenever you wanna go. And especially if you're going to be joining me in Portugal, you can also find discounts on large travel booking sites like Hopper.com that has discounts with multiple airlines, including Singapore Airlines. So check that out. But you can also look with your preferred airline. So if you're usually flying with Sky Team, then check those airlines. Or if you're flying with one world you wanna check American Airlines or any other specific airline that you think you're going to be flying with next year, then go ahead and look those up and see what they're offering this weekend.  

Kristin:    00:17:52    And you could get some really good deals maybe on JetBlue or Southwest who's also offering gift cards. You can find Southwest Gift Card online or at Costco and you can get quite a savings there. Costco members can get a $500 Southwest Airlines card online for $430, so save yourself 70 bucks there. And then it's also a good time to pre-book a cruise if you are a cruise person. So whether you're going on an Oceanic cruise or a river cruise, you can find some really good deals. Right now, the Holland America line is offering up to 30% off on all of their cruises, so you can save up to $700 per person depending on where you're going and for how long. And then you can also check out the River Cruise line, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises that has cruises around Europe, Egypt, Asia, South America, and they have a 12 days of Christmas sale going on, which started on Black Friday and goes into December.  

Kristin:    00:19:08    So I will link to all of these great products and brands in the show notes. Really excited to hear about where you decide to travel in 2024. And then if you wanna go back to Old Faithful Amazon, then I also have an Amazon store where I have a list of products and gear I use as well as camera equipment and podcast equipment. And I'm adding some more new stuff to those lists that I've been finding throughout the week. I've also been shopping for a new drone this weekend, so big ticket item, but I've been looking at those DJI mini drones. I'm trying to decide between the Mini Pro3 and the Mini Pro4. But you know, every time I go to buy a camera, I always try to get the newest one because this technology gets outdated so fast. My GoPro Hero seven is really struggling <laugh> and I know that there's like the 11 or 12 or something is out right now.  

Kristin:    00:20:09    So, um, thinking of just going for it and getting the, the newest DJI mini drone. And then another, uh, product that I love that I really relied on for a long time is the Solis wifi hotspots. And right now you can get 30% off all of their hotspots, plus up to 50% off of data. So you can save hundreds of dollars there and you can either go with their sole lease light hotspot, which also doubles as a power bank or their 5G hotspot and Power Bank, and also you can check out their subscriptions that are 30 to 50% off right now. Uh, the sole lease has definitely saved me when I needed to work in different countries over the past 10 or 12 years. So I've been a huge fan and whenever I forget it or don't have it with me, then you can get caught without wifi.  

Kristin:    00:21:09    So it's good to have as a backup. You can't really put a price on that if you need to get some work done. You know, if you lose a sale or you lose a deal because you didn't have wifi, I mean, it definitely pays for itself in one day. I was in Ibiza a couple of, almost a month or so ago, and one of the guys who was staying at our villa is one of the top real estate agents in all of South Africa. And he was having problems before with, uh, making phone calls and doing business deals from Ibiza because there's definitely parts of the island that don't have good internet or cell phone reception. And uh, so having something like a sole hotspot that can work in a a lot of different places without having to buy or find a sim card, you can just activate a day pass and it works for you is very handy.  

Kristin:    00:22:05    I am so grateful that you are here today. Happy Thanksgiving. Again, thanks for being a part of the Traveling with Kristin community and also a listener of the podcast. I hope you've been enjoying some of the new interviews that we've had over the past few weeks with many more to come and I look forward to interviewing a lot of amazing people on the Nomad Cruise from Spain to Brazil. So stay tuned for lots of new stories and new interviews in 2024. Shout out to Alex Duffy and the Traveling Hatter who are my newest Patreon patrons. You can join my Patreon for $5 per month at patreon.com/travelingwithKristin. Support the channel, support the podcast, and also all of the links that I'll be leaving in the show notes. Not all of them, but maybe half of them are affiliate links. And so by using my referral referral links, referral friend links or affiliate links for products that you're going to buy anyway, or products that I use and recommend to you that also can help support as we can get a small commission on some of those at no additional cost to you. So I mentioned a lot of brands and products and deals today that we don't have affiliate links for, but I just think that they're good deals. But then there's also a few companies like Unbound Merino, like Solis, like Minaal that I recommend regularly. And so I do have links for those. So always, uh, check the show notes for those links and resources on every episode. And I'll see you again next week for a brand new interview. We've got one of the managers of Hacker Paradise who sat down for a conversation with me from Estonia.