Traveling for Cheap: Seeing the World with GroupOn

I recently saw a tweet that stated, “Traveling is not cheap and everyone online on who says so is lying”. I saw many responses in agreement saying that traveling is a luxury to only those who can afford it. I can agree that traveling CAN be extremely expensive. However, it does not have to be. Travel deals through GroupOn can make traveling affordable for those even on the tightest of budgets.

After spending thousands of dollars on our wedding back in November, my husband and I did not want to break the bank for our honeymoon but still wanted it to be very special. We decided to book our honeymoon through GroupOn because we saw an unbelievable deal to go to Athens and Santorini, Greece for 7 days; all for the low price of $2500. This price included our international flights to Greece, bus transfers to and from the airport, flight transfers from Athens to Santorini, hotel stay in both cities, a sunset cruise in Santorini, a tour guide, and breakfast everyday. My husband was a little apprehensive at first to booking through GroupOn. Although I never traveled through GroupOn internationally, I have used it for hotel stays stateside. We decided to just take a leap of faith and book the trip voucher, which used the agency Affordable World. Here are our list of Pros and Cons from booking our international trip through GroupOn:

Pros:

1. Price

For what we received, we thought that $2500 was an incredible deal. Flights alone to Greece were $1700 roundtrip for both us, when we tried to book the trip to Greece without GroupOn.

2. There was practically no planning needed.

The trip comes with a fully printed itinerary that was given to us upon arrival. All the tour locations, bus/flights arrival and departure times, and hotel information were on the itinerary, which made the trip very straightforward. There  was no need to plan how we would get from point A to point B, which took a lot of stress off us. The tours highlighted key sightseeing landmarks, which made planning practically unnecessary.

3. Great for first time travelers

Because the trip comes with an English-speaking tour guide, it makes it very easy for first time travelers to a foreign country. The tour guide did not leave us until we reached security. They made sure we were all able to check-in.

Cons:

1. You may not get the exact dates you want

We ended up booking our honeymoon one week after our wedding because that was the closest date available to when we actually wanted to travel.

2. You must read the fine print

Thankfully, we did read the fine print and recognized that the standard price of $2300 didn’t include a flight transfer from Athens to Santorini but a Ferry transfer, which had an 8hour travel time. We were able to upgrade to the flight transfers for our new total of $2500. However, some of our fellow travelers in our group were not as lucky. They ended up purchasing flights same day rather than spending an entire day on the ferry returning to Athens.

3. You may have to do some research

You may have to do some on the exact locations of the hotels in reference to the city center and the sights. Our Athens hotel was beautiful but it was farther away from the city center. If we knew I’m advance, we might have chosen to purchase the upgraded hotel, which was right in the mix of all the city activities.

Conclusion    

Overall, my experience through GroupOn and Affordable World was a great one. I would definitely book again for another international trip. Most of the Cons did not affect us because we were flexible in our travel date and read every little thing in the fine prints. If you are looking to see the world inexpensively, I would recommend booking GroupOn for your next get-a-way!