How I Saved Money During Peak Travel - Carnaval Barranquilla

$4000 for place to stay? Are you kidding me? One-way ticket for $400? But it’s only an hour flight. The costs while traveling during the peak period can be insane. That is why before I told you the best way to save on flights and hotels was to travel during non peak periods. But, sometimes you have to. Perhaps it’s for a Family reunion, an important occasion or you just want fun. For me, it is visiting Barranquilla during Carnaval. It is the busiest and craziest four days that Barranquilla will see for the whole entire year. It is a giant festival very similar to New Orlean’s Mardi Gras. It starts the Saturday before Ash Wednesday and goes on for 4 days. You guessed it, it is the biggest days for travel and tourism for Barranquilla, and you know what that means…. more expensive prices. Here are some ways I beat the peak travel period. I looked into alternative travel destinations and alternative places to stay.

Check Flights/Buses

I started checking out flights for a one way ticket from Bogota to Barranquilla, which were starting about $380. $380? To me that seems like a lot of money. Especially for place like Colombia. So the next up was to look for other modes of transportation. So I looked into traveling by bus. Buses were not a bad price range anywhere from $30 to $45. This was a much cheaper route. The biggest drawback was that bus ride was about 20 hours long. That was not the ideal way I want to spend my time.

Check Nearby Cities

With buses off the table it was time to look into a different thinking behind my transportation. So I look for nearby cities. I first look for Santa Marta, the city about two hours away from Barranquilla. Flights were looking a lot cheaper at about $180. So I figured maybe I can get it even cheaper. What I did was look for a flight that might A couple days or so earlier than start date of Carnaval. Low and behold a cheaper price, a flight was now about $130.

Santa Marta is not a very popular city. This does not make it and desired destination for discounts and promotions. Next up was to go look for more popular city. Where was my next place to look for cheap tickets? Probably one of the most popular places in Colombia and yet still close to Barranquilla. You’ve got it, Cartagena.

Cartagena‘s flight prices started about $130 for one-way trip. Now time to look for a flight a couple days earlier the price lowered down to about $90. Not bad for a one-way trip. So I booked it.

Finding a Place To Stay

The next expense as always the most expensive expense is always a place to stay. So that’s what I did, I looked for a place to stay. So where can I start first? As I mentioned before hotels are not the best way to go, but this time I did check. You see a lot of times hotels will offer promotional discounts during peak periods. But, because I was checking so late, 2 1/2 weeks before the event, most places were already booked up. At this point the only places that were available were high end 5 star hotels that had a starting price of $250 and up for tonight. That was going to put me at a lot of money to spend for a week. My price for a week of stay was putting me at $1800 minimum to stay. That was more than double of what I spent in one month living in Bogota. So next up was to check out AirBnB or Wimdu and others similar. What I was finding was the same issue. Most places were really booked up, And the only ones left the place is charging an extreme amount of money as much as $300 a night.

Check Nearby Cities

So, What did I do? I remember talking to somebody and Bogota, Someone I met at a conversation club. She mentioned that she was from Barranquilla, And gave me some interesting place to check out when visiting her hometown. One of the places she mentioned was a place called Puerto Colombia. Puerto Colombia is the city next to Barranquilla, a small “fishing village” and vacation home area. My next search was finding a place to stay in Puerto Colombia. Low and behold, cheaper prices. I was able to find a place to stay for as low as $35 a night right on a beautiful coast (found through Airbnb). This was a great contrast to most places being $90 a night and up. I booked the place.

Use Family and Friends

Another great way to save money is to stay with friends and family in the area. In the past I have done this many times. I have stayed with “family” in Kashmir, Philippines and other places of the world and this was not going to be an option this time, kind of. The friend meet at the Conversation club mentioned her family had a room open (her old room) and would be able to take me in. The biggest shame is that I had already booked my place in Puerto Colombia and the place was non refundable. Low and behold, a great option for saving money. I had to decline but let my friend know I would love to meet her family.

Drawbacks?

Yes there are some drawbacks. One of the largest drawbacks is that I had to spend more time traveling. The flight from Bogota to Cartagena was 1 1/2 hours, and then had to take a bus/van to Puerto Colombia, another 1 1/2 hour drive. Made the trip longer, but not as long as 20 hour bus ride.

Getting Home Late

The other drawback is that Puerto Colombia is 20 minute drive from Barranquilla. This means it takes awhile to get back and forth. That means late nights out are going to be harder. Taxis raise the price during the night and for the distance. I was paying 40.000 pesos ($20) a hefty fee to get back to my place. It made the price unbearable to come back home late night. The solution, get home earlier, just after the sunsets and take a bus. 2.100 pesos is a lot cheaper than 40.000 pesos.

Breakdown? Book earlier if you are going to a popular destination during peak travel. You can take advantage of special promotions. If you were late like I was, check out nearby cities to fly to and stay at. It is a great way to save money. And lean on your friends and family. They ware a great resource for helping you save money.

What do you think? Would you try the way I just did? Have you been to Carnaval and saved money? Do you have questions? Leave a comment below, send me a tweet on twitter, or post on my facebook. Heck even send us a message. Let me know so I can help. Happy travels