NerdWallet Travel
92 episodes listed below
Travel fine print, translated before booking.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways is a brisk consumer-advice show for travelers who care what a booking choice actually costs. Its conversations move from airline policies and credit card perks to ski trips, rental cars, sports-event travel, pets, and family points strategy.
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Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways is a travel-money show for people who know the cheapest fare is not always the cheapest trip. It spends its time in the details travelers usually meet too late: airline add-ons, hotel certificates, pet fees, lap-infant rules, rental-car insurance, airport lounges, elite status, and the timing quirks that make a ski trip or sports weekend suddenly expensive. The show is brisk and conversational. It makes room for jokes, but the jokes usually land on the way to a usable answer. One episode can warn that international lap-infant tickets may still cost money, then move straight into loyalty programs that make the same situation less painful. Another takes pet travel beyond cute airport imagery and into airline restrictions, hotel charges, local practice trips, and the value of knowing where the backup vet is. The sports-travel coverage is similarly practical, treating major events as crowd magnets where lodging, transportation, and ticket choices need planning before prices harden. Rental-car episodes care about the line at the counter, but also about status, credit card coverage, third-party alternatives, and the mistakes that turn convenience into a bill. Ski coverage connects lift tickets, rentals, mountain hotels, parking, food, and off-slope activities into one winter-budget reality check. Listener-question episodes show the audience is paying attention to fine print, from upgrades and lounge strategy to points-versus-cash-back debates. The show’s best moments come when it separates a reasonable splurge from a needless one. Paying for an aisle seat can be sensible. Paying for something just because the booking screen made it look mandatory is the trap. Smart Travel also has a taste for travel obsessives, including people who flew to multiple airports for a points challenge and then gathered for a grassroots celebration. That gives the show a fun subculture edge without turning it into insider-only chatter. It remains grounded in service journalism. The recurring promise is not luxury for luxury’s sake, but better trips through sharper decisions. For travelers who like points, perks, and practical warnings in the same conversation, it is a compact weekly briefing before the next booking tab opens.
Made for: For budget-aware travelers who still want comfort, flexibility, and the occasional well-timed splurge. It especially fits points users, family travelers, pet owners, event travelers, and anyone who reads the fees before paying them.
What sets it apart: Smart Travel pairs consumer caution with quick, friendly travel banter. It stands out by turning specific rules and perks into immediate booking implications instead of vague vacation inspiration.
Planning your next vacation? Before you budget, learn how to get the most out of your travel dollars with Smart Travel.NerdWallet’s trusted travel experts, Sally French and Meghan Coyle, are here to help your travel dollars work even harder. But the travel Nerds don’t just make recommendations; they break down the latest travel details, exploring the pros and cons of specific strategies, practical tools, and tactics. Dive deep with the experts as they lay out all the options so you can finally plan that dream vacation.So put your seat in its full upright position, buckle up, and le...
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Megan Coyle and Sally French make travel tradeoffs legible by weighing savings against time, comfort, logistics, and the cost of common mistakes.
Smart Travel turns the small print of a trip into usable decisions. Megan Coyle and Sally French compare costs, convenience, and avoidable friction across pet-friendly airlines and hotels, Mediterranean transit, family travel with points, airline challenges, and optional…
Pet fees, lap infants, and Santorini transfers meet their natural predator: a traveler who reads the fine print.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A plainspoken reminder that family award travel lives in the fine print.
The episode stays practical about the points-and-miles mess that can follow air travel with a baby. It does its best work on international lap-infant pricing, the need to add a child to the booking quickly, and the small timing slip that can turn a good redemption into a costly…
A practical look at pet travel that centers airline rules, hotel policies, and hidden fees.
Smart Travel frames pet travel as a logistics problem, opening with the claim that 71% of pet owners prefer to travel with their pets while also noting how much less common pets are on planes and in hotel rooms.
A sharp guide to travel fees that often look mandatory but usually are not.
This installment focuses on travel extras that can quietly swell a budget, from airport lunch after skipping breakfast to cruise specialty dining and rental-car gas refills.
A points race with a JFK snowstorm finish.
Smart Travel gives JetBlue's 25 for 25 challenge a clean, concrete frame: three travelers, 25 airports, six months, and a shot at 350,000 True Blue points.
A Mediterranean cruise episode that treats routing, transport, and timing as the real travel puzzle.
Smart Travel frames a Mediterranean cruise as a practical question of routing and timing, moving from Fira at sunrise to Mykonos while weighing how to save time in transit.
Deep Disney parks talk, right down to the signage.
Everyday curiosities, explained with a sideways grin.
Real family routes, practical travel stories.
Smart Travel turns to the family-travel fine print around award travel.
Smart Travel opens with the fact that 71% of pet owners say they prefer to travel with their pets.
This episode provides practical advice on how to attend major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup and PGA Championship without overspending on travel expenses.
This episode explores strategies for renting cars in 2026, focusing on avoiding counter lines, reducing costs, and navigating insurance options through traditional and alternative services.
This episode provides practical tips on saving money on ski and snowboarding trips, including discounts on accommodations, rentals, and lift tickets, with insights on travel planning and loyalty programs.
This episode of Smart Travel answers listener questions on travel tips, including credit card strategies, airport lounge access, and points versus cash back debates.
Smart Travel looks at the travel extras that show up when people are rushed, hungry, or trying to make a flight.
Megan Coyle and Sally French talk to three travelers who finished JetBlue's 25 for 25 challenge.
Smart Travel opens on sunrise in Santorini and heads into Mediterranean logistics.
This episode compares booking luxury hotels directly versus through credit card programs like Amex Platinum's Fine Hotels and Resorts and Chase Sapphire Reserve's The Edit, analyzing costs and perks to help travelers maximize value.
This episode reflects on 2025 travel trends and makes predictions for 2026 destinations while discussing how to maximize travel dollars with credit cards and planning tips.
This episode of Smart Travel features a credit card consult with Elizabeth Iola to help a listener audit $2,000 in annual fees and maximize travel dollars, while also discussing Thanksgiving travel news.
This episode explores how to travel the world on a budget of $75 per day, featuring tips from savvy travelers and discussing new services like Uber Rent to help reduce costs.