If you use a travel agency to book your travel, make sure you are aware of the "shift share" strategy.

Basically, the travel agents have a hard time making money selling airfare.  Airlines stopped giving commissions in the early 2000's, but some travel agents have special agreements with certain airlines.  In order to make more money, travel agents try to shift a share of their customers to the airline where they get some commissions.

This means that sometimes…

I just got back from Bali, Indonesia and I can't say enough about the cheap flight to Bali I found on Korean Air.

The flight was cheap primarily because I bought it as part of a tour package.  The overall 9 day tour was only a little more than the price of a flight to Bali if I had purchased it on my own.

I flew on Korean Air from Chicago to Seoul, South Korea and then from Seoul to the Denpasar airport on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Yes,…

I just got back from Bali.  One of the ways I lowered my costs was to buy food & alcohol in the supermarkets.

There wasn't always a large market available, but even the small markets offered food and drinks at a much lower price compared to within the restaurants and bars.

Too many people think they need to eat each meal at a restaurant when they are traveling.  This will add up very quickly and will also pack on the pounds.  It is so easy to get some…

I just got back from my trip to Bali and I wanted to share a budget travel tip to lower restaurant bills - explore the side streets to find the best value for restaurant meals.

When we were in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, we went to some great restaurants that had some pretty reasonable prices.  However, when we found some side streets, we found shops and restaurants that had much lower prices with the same quality of food.

The shops and restaurants on the side…