Outdoors sports gear seems to be getting more and more expensive all the time. For those of us who love our adventure sports, but don’t have a ton of money, the Internet does have a solution. There are a number of cheap gear websites selling everything from cheap camping gear, to cheap climbing gear, to cheap ski and snowboarding gear, to cheap hiking gear, and this is my personally compiled list of the best websites for buying every kind of cheap gear you can imagine.

How These Websites Sell Such Cheap Stuff

By buying selloffs and promotions in bulk and avoiding the overhead costs of physical stores (leases, employees, bills, etc.) discount gear websites are able to offer incredibly cheap travel and outdoors gear.  Seriously. You can find good brand-name products for 40-80% off on these websites on any given day.

I shop almost exclusively at these stores these days. More and more of these stores have sprung up in recent years, but some are much better than others, so I’ve kept a list of the best ones. This is it.

There are three general kinds of discount gear websites:

1. Big stores with a wide variety of cheap gear (think an online department store). These are great for the casual shopper looking for a deal or shopping for gifts.
2. Sport-specific stores where you can find discounts on those hard to find widgets and knick-knacks specific to your favorite sport.
3. Stores that offer limited-time sell-offs. These are for the hardcore bargain hunters who are willing to snatch a deal when it comes up. Limited-time offer stores usually require you to sign up and then email you about each new limited-time deal. It’s more work, but also one of the best ways to find the most outstanding deals.

Regardless, you can save a lot of money and still get quality brand-name gear. Check out these shops and the only reason you’ll ever visit a mall again is to try things on for size (before you go home and order them).

The Big Stores With All Kinds of Cheap Gear

These ones are big stores with a huge variety — kind of like the costco of cheap gear.

Backcountry.com

Backcountry.com may be the biggest of all the discount online retailers. They have everything from skis and snowboarding equipment to tents to climbing gear.  I head straight to the clearance bins (the link is in the top navigation bar) for as much as 70% off.

The Best Deals: I always scour the outlet where gear is 60% – 80%  off.

REI

Most of us have heard of REI, so I won’t go into detail about them. This sporting goods behemoth requires no explanation. Most of the website is just their normal store. But, there are lots of deals as well.

The Best Deals: The REI Sale and Clearance page often has gear on sale for up to 50% off

Sierra Trading Post

Sierra Trading Post has a wide variety of gear including that used for most outdoors sports, but they also sell luggage, electronics, and even golf accessories. They advertise 35 – 70% off retail prices.

The Best Deals: For the really good deals I go straight to the Bargain Barn.

Altrec

Altrec is an all-round outdoors retailer selling all manner of clothing and gear for travel, hiking, running, surfing, cycling, kayaking, yoga, climbing, skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. I love this website and often find items I can’t find elsewhere.

The Best Deals: Jump straight to their outlet store for items up to 85% off.

Leftlane Sports

This is another behemoth shop with all manner of outdoors gear. Be careful when you enter. I almost bought a new surfboard 10 minutes ago just browsing.

The Best Deals: The top navigation bar of the site has a ‘Sales’ button on the left. Use at your own peril.

Sport Specific Deals On Outdoors Gear

Skis.com

The name of the site is a bit misleading, because it includes snowboards as well as skis. It’s a great site for, especially in the pre- and post-season when selloffs are rife.

The Best Deals: You’ll find the goods all at 30-60% off in the sale area here.

Snowboards.com

When I feel the need to tease myself with stuff I want, I go here. This site has tons of gear for great prices. I literally almost just bought a new board while writing this.

The Best Deals: The super cheap deals (like a brand-new Flow board for $160 I just saw) are in the sale area.

Evo.com

Evo is a well-branded surf, skate, snow focussed website that keeps a good rolling stock of cheap gear for those of us who love to stand sideways.

The Best Deals: Check out the Outlet section for the bottom of the barrel prices.

Dog Funk

Dog Funk has an indy feel to it and is aimed at boarders (skate, surf, and snow) and even has some super-specialty items like avalanche beacons. Most of the gear on Dog Funk is around 30 – 50% off, though I’ve run across items as much as 85% below retail.

The Best Deals: If you’re looking for the really good deals, you should jump straight to their sale page.

Water Outfitters

Water outfitters is not totally sport specific, but focusses on water sports gear with a bent towards lake-based summer activities like wakeboarding and tubing.. Taking the family camping at the lake? Check these guys out first.

The Best Deals: The sales section can be found here.

Limited-Time Sales For Super Cheap Gear Deals

The Clymb

This Portland-based store is not just for climbers, as the name might imply. They have up to 15 different limited-time sales, generally running for three to seven days, with goods ranging from luggage, to watches, to sport-specific gear usually for 40 – 70% off. And they say that they have Adventures (trips I assume) coming soon.

PlanetGear

Planet Gear has sells products for about one-week at a time and usually have six to eight offers on any given day. Their prices range from about 40 – 70% below retail.

Steep and Cheap

Steep and Cheap has outdoors and snow sport-related gear on sale one item at a time. They sell until the current item is gone, and then post a new one.

Chainlove

Chainlove is like Steep and Cheap–one deal at a time–except they sell bike-related stuff.

Whiskey Militia

With the tagline “Surf, Skate, and Snow. Cheaper Than Your Mom.” how could you not love these guys? Their wares are geared towards a young alternative crowd. They have one deal on at a time for non-members, but if you sign up (free) they usually have another six to ten deals at any given time.

The post The Great Big List of Cheap Gear For Outdoors Sports and Travel appeared first on XpatMatt.

In June, 2014 I was privileged to to try flyboarding — a very new sport at the time — while on an adventure-themed press trip in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. For those not familiar with flyboarding, it involves strapping on a pair of boots a lot like the ones worn by Iron Man while in the ocean and then jetting into the air by means of powerful water jets on the boots fed by a hose attached to the output of a nearby jet ski. It’s entirely as fun as it sounds. A Note: I’m personally not a big fan of fuel-powered sports — and I encourage anyone who tries flyboarding to also consider how much gas is being burned to fund their hour-long-session — but it is pretty awesome and I am glad I tried it once.

Learning to Flyboard

Flyboarding is pretty easy to get the hang of, but there is a bit of a learning curve to it. People who are accustomed to maintaining balance on moving surface, such as skateboarders, surfers, skiers, and snowboarders, will probably find it a bit easier than others. Here are the steps that my instructor took me through.

Step 1: Levitating

The first step in learning to flyboard is learning to simply stand on it, which is not quite as easy as it sounds. To do this, you will position yourself upright in the water with your feet beneath you. When you give your instructor the thumbs-up, he will increase the throttle, and the jets on the boots will propel you you up out of the water.

As many of my fellow board-sport lovers have learned over time, when learning to ride a board that has a life of its own it’s easier to keep your balance by continually adjusting back and forth than it is to try to stand upright and stationary. On my first few attempts, I tried to blast up out of the water and stand stationary, but each time I quickly fell. So, next I tried maintaining balance by tilting the board forwards and backwards in rapid succession, constantly adjusting to keep myself upright. It was surprisingly easy to stay upright this way.

Step 2: Front Dive

Next, my instructor told me to dive into the water and then try to turn 180 degrees and shoot straight back up out of the water back into a standing levitating position.  This only took a few tries. The instructor gave me a bit of a boost into the air by throttling the jets and then I dove into the water. I allowed myself to go fairly deep to allow enough room to turn around and then simply curved my body by sticking my chest out and throwing my head back, which turned me back toward the surface. The trickiest part was maintaining my balance once I was back in the air.

Step 3: The Dolphin

This is where things start to get fun. The dolphin looks a lot like it sounds. You dive into the water, turn around and fly back up into the air, and then immediately dive again, and repeat this over and over, just like a dolphin. There is a bit of a trick to this. It’s really just like repeating the diving manoeuvre over and over. Because of the foreword motion you’ll feel tempted to exit the water at an angle moving forward. You really don’t want to do this though, because you won’t gain enough height to keep going. You want to exit the water going almost straight up.

The only forward motion will occur when you are diving, not ascending. There is one important thing to note here. When I was doing this, I misheard my instructor. I thought he told me to keep my arms by my sides, so I was hitting the water with my head (wearing a helmet, of course). After slamming my head into the water a dozen times it started to get pretty sore. The lesson: keep your arms out in front of you, like you’re diving, to break the water before your head hits it.

Step 4: Back Dive

This one requires little explanation. It’s just like the front dive, except you throw your arms up over your head and try to dive backward into the water. Not seeing where you are going may feel a little intimidating, but this is pretty easy.

Step 5: Back Flip

This is the last manoeuvre I tried, but I wasn’t able to master it. This trick requires a lot more height than the others because you are trying to complete a full flip in the air and still land with enough distance between you and the surface of the water for the jets to keep you aloft. There is also the issue of keeping your balance when you land from the backflip. When you try a backflip your instructor will have to open up the throttle to jet you really high in the air.

The instructor will wait for you to get your balance and give him the thumbs up. Then he’ll rocket you up into the air. The key here is to try and time your backflip with the peak of your ascent. When you think you’re near the peak throw your arms and head back as hard as you can and then…well…basically hope for the best. I can’t tell you how to land a backflip, because I wasn’t able to. But, if you make it this far in your first lesson, you’ll probably be too tired to even care. I sure was.

Disclaimer: My trip to Puerto Vallarta was provided courtesy of the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board. However, the things I chose to write about the trip were completely at my discretion and all opinions expressed in this article are my own.

The post How to Flyboard appeared first on XpatMatt.

Every year more and more people are learning how to scuba dive and discovering the glorious feeling of sinking beneath the waves at some of the world’s most pristine dive sites. Nothing quite comes close to the experience of scuba diving because it allows you to explore a completely different world than that which is experienced on land.

The idea of taking scuba diving lessons, the process may seem a bit intimidating, but it shouldn’t be. To set your mind at ease, read on to learn what it’s like to go through a scuba diving course for the first time. If you already decided that you want to learn how to dive you might want to start looking for a dive center that suits your needs.

How Long Will it Take Me to Take the PADI Open Water Course?

In most cases, the course is taught in 3.5 to 4 days. Some people need a bit more time than others to get comfortable in the water. However, if you complete the theory portion of the course online via PADI eLearning you may be able to finish the course in just 2.5 days.

You may also prefer to take the course as a part-time student but, in that case, it could take you weeks or even months to complete.

What is a Discover Scuba Diving Course?

The Discover Scuba Diving course is a 1 day course designed to allow beginners interested in diving to experience the sport for the first time without having to complete the entire Open Water course. Under the direct supervision of a professional scuba dive instructor, you’ll learn how it is to breath underwater.

The discover scuba dive class does not certify you as a scuba diver, but is meant to give you an idea of what scuba diving is like so that you can decide if you like it enough to invest in the Open Water course.

If you’re at least 10 years old you can enroll in a Discover Scuba Diving class. You’ll begin with basic classroom instruction to give you some background knowledge about scuba diving. In this theory session you will learn more about what pressure does to the human body underwater and you will learn the basics about how scuba gear works.

As soon as you have finished the theory you will head for the open water to make an actual dive up to a maximum depth of 40ft/12m under the direct supervision of an instructor.

What You’ll Learn During a PADI Open Water Course

When you start the Open Water Course, you will learn all the basic skills you will need to know in order to go diving when ever you want. When you are a certified open water diver a dive master or instructor will not supervise you, therefore you will be thought to dive safe to a maximum depth of 60ft/18m with a dive buddy.

What will you learn during the course?

• How to get rid of water that has leaked into your mask
• How to recover your regulator (mouthpiece) if it somehow comes out of your mouth
• How to control your buoyancy
• How to share air with another diver

There are many more skills you will learn. All skills focus on teaching you how to become a safe diver and how to solve any problems that may occur when diving.

Taking the PADI Open Water Course

Using books and videos, you’ll study independently, online, or with the help of an instructor.
These materials will teach you the basics about diving, as well as how to select proper diving equipment, how to care for diving equipment, how diving affects your body, and safety measures that must be taken during each dive.

You’ll also be introduced to what you’ll be learning in the water ahead of time so that you’ll know what to expect. After you’ve completed the knowledge section of the course, (which are mostly done in class rooms) you’ll move on to actually performing your first dives in the confined water training segment of the course.

According to PADI, confined water means; an open water site that offers swimming-pool-like conditions with respect to clarity, calmness, and depth.

Lets Dive!

When it is time to go diving you will go to either a swimming pool or a calm cove or lagoon that has similar conditions to a swimming pool.

You’ll begin to practice the exercises in shallow confined water before moving into deeper water so that the learning process is gradual enough that you retain everything you learn.

Once you’re confident and able to complete the confined water section of the course, you will be able to go for your very first real dive in open water.

In the open ocean or a large body of water, and with the guidance of your instructors, you’ll put all of the skills you’ve learned to the test over the course of four or more dives. Once you successfully complete these dives, you’ll be a certified open water diver.

The post Learning How to Scuba Dive: What to Expect appeared first on XpatMatt.

Why would you want to know how to stand-up paddle board? There are lots of reasons.

1. The picture above. Doesn’t that look nice?

2. It’s easy.

3. It’s kind of like walking on water which, historically, very few people have been able to do.

4. It’s a good workout for your whole body, especially your core.

5. You can do it pretty much any place that has more than six inches of water.

6. After you’ve paid for the board and paddle, it’s basically free.

How to Stand-Up Paddle Board

Stand-up paddle boarding is one of the easiest board sports to learn. Even the most uncoordinated person should be able to hop on a board and be paddling in a matter of minutes.  In this post I cover the basic behind learning to stand-up paddle board so that you’ll know what to expect when you get on the water.

Before you get to the water, however, you’re going to have to carry one of these enormous beasts. So, here are two ways to carry your stand-up paddle board.

How to Carry a Stand-Up Paddle Board Under Your Arm

A lot of stand-up paddle boards have a narrow hole in the top of the board near the centre for you to use as a handle when so that you can carry the board under your arm. If you are carrying the board a short distance under your arm using the handle, no instruction is necessary. The act is self-explanatory.

There is, however, one caveat: be careful of the wind. When being carried this way the large flat board catches wind like a sail. Try to keep the tip of the board pointed into the wind as much as possible.

How to Carry a Stand-Up Paddle Board on Your Head

If your board doesn’t have a handle or you’re planning to carry it a long distance, then you’ll want to carry it on your head.

How to do it:

1. Place the board upside down on the ground and put your paddle beside it.

2. Walk to the rear of the board, grasp the rails (sides), and lift it over your head.

3. Slowly walk forward and walk your hands up the rail of the board.

4. When your head is just shy of the centre of the board, lower the board onto your head. Grasp the rails of the board 30 – 60 cm in front of your head.

5. Keeping your back straight, kneel down and carefully pick up your paddle with one hand.

6. Place the paddle on top of the rail and hold it in place while holding the rail with your hand.

7. Stand-up and start walking.

How to Stand-Up on Your Paddle Board

Stand-up paddle boards are very stable and most people will feel comfortable standing up on their paddle board right away. The basic motions begin with laying on the paddle board, then kneeling, and then standing up. If you feel a little wobbly, you may prefer to practice paddling around on your knees first before standing all the way up. What’s most important is that you feel comfortable and enjoy yourself.

How to do it:

1. Stand beside your paddle board in thigh-deep water. If there is somebody with you, hand them your paddle. If not, place the paddle between the middle and front of the board perpendicular (sideways) to the direction of the board.

2. Grasp both the rails of the board in your hands about 30-60 cm in front of the centre of the board.

3. Move lower your chest toward the centre of the board and swing the leg nearest the board up and onto it. Then swing the other leg up onto it. Presto, you’re laying on the board.

4. Now grasp the rails of the board beside your shoulders and push your upper body up off of the board.

5. Bring on knee up under your chest and then the other.

6. Straighten your back and let go of the rails. Now you’re kneeling.

Note: If you don’t feel comfortable standing quite yet, grab your paddle and start paddling. 

7. Grab you paddle in one hand. Place one foot flat on the board in front of you so that you’re only on one knee.
Lift yourself up. Now you’re standing.

Paddling Your Stand-Up Paddle Board

Paddling the paddle board an intuitive motion and doesn’t really require much instruction. Although it may feel awkward at first, it will get better with time.

How to do it:

1. Stand in the middle of the paddle board facing the front with your feet shoulder width apart,  your knees slightly bent, and your toes pointing forward.

2. Look forwards, not at your feet.

3. Hold the paddle with both hands. If you’re going to paddle on your right side, then your right hand will hold the middle of the shaft and your left hand will hold the top. If the blade of the paddle is on an angle, then it should be angled toward the direction you want to go.

4. Push the blade into the water near the side of the board as far in front of you as feels comfortable. Pull the paddle toward you propelling the board forwards. As you pull the paddle, rotate your upper body moving the shoulder on the paddle side of the board toward the rear of the board. As you become more comfortable paddling, you’ll find that it’s your core, and not your arms, that provide the power for paddling.

5. Once the paddle has passed behind you, repeat.
When you paddle on the right, the board will veer left and vice-versa. Keep yourself going straight by switching sides every stroke or two.

6. If you want to turn, paddle continuously on one side. If you want to turn even more sharply, as you cruise forwards, paddle backward (or simply hold the paddle up and down in the water) on the side of the direction in which you’d like to turn.

Conclusion

That’s it. You’ve now done your part to ensure that stand up paddle boarding remains the fastest growing sport in the US. Keep it up, and perhaps one day you will fall into glorious paddle boarding love.

The post How to Stand-Up Paddle Board appeared first on XpatMatt.

(Last updated August, 2015)

Bookmark this page, because you are going to want to come back.

By buying selloffs and promotions in bulk and avoiding the overhead costs of physical stores (leases, employees, bills, etc.) online stores are able to offer incredibly cheap gear deals.  I’m talking up to 40-80% off every day. More and more of these stores have sprung up in recent years, so I’ve kept a list of the best ones for my own shopping (I almost never shop at ‘real’ stores anymore) because gear is so cheap online.

There are three kinds these stores: 1) big stores with a wide variety of cheap gear, 2) sport specific stores, and 2) stores that offer limited-time sell-offs. The first two types are great when you are looking for something you need while the latter are for snatching a fantastic deal when it comes along or buying discount gifts that look expensive. Limited-time offer stores usually require you to sign up, but it’s worth it because they tend to get some of the most outstanding deals.

Either way, you can save a lot of money and still get quality brand-name gear. Check out these shops and the only reason you’ll ever visit a mall again is to try things on for size (before you go home and order them).

The Big Boys – All Kinds of Gear for Cheap

These ones are big stores with a huge variety — kind of like the costco of cheap gear.

Backcountry.com

Backcountry.com may be the biggest of all the discount online retailers. They have everything from skis and snowboarding equipment to tents to climbing gear.  I head straight to the clearance bins (the link is in the top navigation bar) for as much as 70% off.

Best Deals: I always scour the outlet where gear is 60% – 80%  off.

REI

Most of us have heard of REI, so I won’t go into detail about them. This sporting goods behemoth requires no explanation. Most of the website is just their normal store. But, there are lots of deals as well.

The Best Deals: The REI Sale and Clearance page often has gear on sale for up to 50% off

Sierra Trading Post

Sierra Trading Post has a wide variety of gear including that used for most outdoors sports, but they also sell luggage, electronics, and even golf accessories. They advertise 35 – 70% off retail prices.

The Best Deals: For the really good deals I go straight to the Bargain Barn.

Altrec

Altrec is an all-round outdoors retailer selling all manner of clothing and gear for travel, hiking, running, surfing, cycling, kayaking, yoga, climbing, skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. I love this website and often find items I can’t find elsewhere.

The Best Deals: Jump straight to their outlet store for items up to 85% off.

Leftlane Sports

This is another behemoth shop with all manner of outdoors gear. Be careful when you enter. I almost bought a new surfboard 10 minutes ago just browsing.

The Best Deals: The top navigation bar of the site has a ‘Sales’ button on the left. Use at your own peril.

Summit Online

Skate, snow, paddle, water sports, and more. Summit Online houses a huge inventory of all kinds of toys.

The Best Deals: The sale area regular features discount gear 80% off and more.

Sport Specific

Skis.com

The name of the site is a bit misleading, because it includes snowboards as well as skis. It’s a great site for, especially in the pre- and post-season when selloffs are rife.

The Best Deals: You’ll find the goods all at 30-60% off in the sale area here.

Snowboards.com

When I feel the need to tease myself with stuff I want, I go here. This site has tons of gear for great prices. I literally almost just bought a new board while writing this.

The Best Deals: The super cheap deals (like a brand-new Flow board for $160 I just saw) are in the sale area.

Solstice Supply

I once picked up a complete new snowboarding kit, boots, bindings, and all my accessories of top-shelf stuff from this place for less than $600, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

The Best Deals: You also don’t have to worry about finding something cheaper elsewhere because of their low price guarantee.

Evo.com

Evo is a well-branded surf, skate, snow focussed website that keeps a good rolling stock of cheap gear for those of us who love to stand sideways.

The Best Deals: Check out the Outlet section for the bottom of the barrel prices.

Dog Funk

Dog Funk has an indy feel to it and is aimed at boarders (skate, surf, and snow) and even has some super-specialty items like avalanche beacons. Most of the gear on Dog Funk is around 30 – 50% off, though I’ve run across items as much as 85% below retail.

The Best Deals: If you’re looking for the really good deals, you should jump straight to their sale page.

Water Outfitters

Water outfitters is not totally sport specific, but focusses on water sports gear with a bent towards lake-based summer activities like wakeboarding and tubing.. Taking the family camping at the lake? Check these guys out first.

The Best Deals: The sales section can be found here.

Limited-Time Sales Stores

The Clymb

This Portland-based store is not just for climbers, as the name might imply. They have up to 15 different limited-time sales, generally running for three to seven days, with goods ranging from luggage, to watches, to sport-specific gear usually for 40 – 70% off. And they say that they have Adventures (trips I assume) coming soon.

PlanetGear

Planet Gear has sells products for about one-week at a time and usually have six to eight offers on any given day. Their prices range from about 40 – 70% below retail.

In The Bivvy

In the Bivvy has a wide variety of outdoors-related deals including gear, clothing, and shoes. They run for various periods of time and are usually around 40 – 60% off.

Steep and Cheap

Steep and Cheap has outdoors and snow sport-related gear on sale one item at a time. They sell until the current item is gone, and then post a new one.

Chainlove

Chainlove is like Steep and Cheap–one deal at a time–except they sell bike-related stuff.

Whiskey Militia

With the tagline “Surf, Skate, and Snow. Cheaper Than Your Mom.” how could you not love these guys? Their wares are geared towards a young alternative crowd. They have one deal on at a time for non-members, but if you sign up (free) they usually have another six to ten deals at any given time.

The post The Great Big List of Cheap Gear Deal Websites appeared first on XpatMatt.

When I first started traveling (and was very broke) I would spend hours, sometimes even days, searching websites for the best deals on tickets. Over time I learned a few tricks. I talked to other travelers and travel professionals about how they found cheap flights. After a while I came up with a formula for finding the good prices on plane tickets — especially after accounting for taxes. Now I spend on average 2-4 hours searching for a ticket, but I pretty much always a deal that’s significantly cheaper that’s what most people pay. Not long ago I booked a ticket from San Francisco to Taipei for $516 during at time of year when the vast majority of websites produced tickets that cost from $700 – $1000 or more. That’s about 25 – 50% cheaper than an average ticket–and that’s a pretty good example of the price that I usually pay compared to the norm. These are seven simple things that you can do to keep your flight costs as low as possible without wasting too much time searching for tickets.

1) Fly Tuesday – Thursday

Ticket prices are set according to demand, so the cheapest tickets can be found on the days with the least demand. Most people, especially business people, fly on Mondays and Fridays, so those days tend to be the most expensive, while midweek flights are usually cheaper. I’ve had the best luck flying on Wednesdays (and occasionally Sundays), but it’s always good to check flights on several different days before purchasing a ticket.

2) Be Flexible About Flight Dates

If your flight dates are flexible, you may be able to find a much better price checking prices in a range of around three or four weeks. The prices of flights can vary dramatically from one week to the next. Waiting an extra seven days has saved me hundreds of dollars on a single flight before.

3) Be Flexible About Airports

If you are in or near a large center, check schedules that leave from all of the nearby airports. Small budget airlines often don’t fly to major airports, but to nearby secondary ones. Those budget airlines are often much cheaper than the bigger ones.

4) Check Prices Early on Wednesday Mornings

This tip is not my own, but I believe its effective. According to Nora Dunn, a certified budget travel expert, airline companies usually set prices on Tuesdays around midnight, and that they sometimes post special temporary seat sales at this time.

5) Check Local Budget Airlines

Most regions of the world are served by budget airlines that don’t show up in big search engines. Which budget is a search engine that will tell you which budget airlines fly the route that you are looking for. Check those airlines websites for normal and special fares. They often have amazing deals. I have flown from Taipei to Manila round-trip for less than $50 on a local budget carrier before (mind you, the flight landed at Clark International Airport near Angeles City, rather than Manila International Airport, as I mentioned in tip #3).

6)  Check All Possible Booking Options

Different flight booking websites usually charge different prices for the same flight. To save time, I use price meta-search engines, like Booking Wiz and Fare Compare, that compare several booking websites at the same time.  After I have found a few flights that look promising, I check the airlines’ websites to see if they offer a better price for the flight or have any special deals. Sometimes the airline website is cheaper. Sometimes the booking engine is. Airlines also have different websites to serve different countries. If you’ve found a flight that you’re interested in buying directly through the airline’s website, try logging into a the same airline’s website for a different country (Canada, or the UK for example). Sometimes in the rounding up or down or prices and the exchange of currency you’ll find an even better deal.

7) Track the Flight’s Price

Yapta is a flight search engine that allows you to track changes in ticket prices over time. Just search for your desired route, then find the tickets you’re interested, and click on “Track Price Drops”. You will have to enter your name and email address. After that, Yapta will send you an email every time the price of one of your selected tickets changes. That way, if the airline drops the price for some reason (it happens regularly) you can snap up the ticket right away. Alternatively, if you have already purchased your ticket you can still track the price and request the airline to refund you the difference if one day you see the price drop below what you paid.

When I first started traveling (and was very broke) I would spend hours, sometimes even days, searching websites for the best deals on tickets. Over time I learned a few tricks. I talked to other travelers and travel professionals about how they found cheap flights. After a while I came up with a formula for finding the good prices on plane tickets. Now I spend on average 2-4 hours searching for a ticket, but I pretty much always a deal that’s significantly cheaper that’s what most people pay. Not long ago I booked a ticket from San Francisco to Taipei for $516 during at time of year when the vast majority of websites produced tickets that cost from $700 – $1000 or more. That’s about 25 – 50% cheaper than an average ticket–and that’s a pretty good example of the price that I usually pay compared to the norm. These are seven simple things that you can do to keep your flight costs as low as possible without wasting too much time searching for tickets.

1) Fly Tuesday – Thursday

Ticket prices are set according to demand, so the cheapest tickets can be found on the days with the least demand. Most people, especially business people, fly on Mondays and Fridays, so those days tend to be the most expensive, while midweek flights are usually cheaper. I’ve had the best luck flying on Wednesdays (and occasionally Sundays), but it’s always good to check flights on several different days before purchasing a ticket.

2) Be Flexible About Flight Dates

If your flight dates are flexible, you may be able to find a much better price checking prices in a range of around three or four weeks. The prices of flights can vary dramatically from one week to the next. Waiting an extra seven days has saved me hundreds of dollars on a single flight before.

3) Be Flexible About Airports

If you are in or near a large center, check schedules that leave from all of the nearby airports. Small budget airlines often don’t fly to major airports, but to nearby secondary ones. Those budget airlines are often much cheaper than the bigger ones.

4) Check Prices Early on Wednesday Mornings

This tip is not my own, but I believe its effective. According to Nora Dunn, a certified budget travel expert, airline companies usually set prices on Tuesdays around midnight, and that they sometimes post special temporary seat sales at this time.

5) Check Local Budget Airlines

Most regions of the world are served by budget airlines that don’t show up in big search engines. Which budget is a search engine that will tell you which budget airlines fly the route that you are looking for. Check those airlines websites for normal and special fares. They often have amazing deals. I have flown from Taipei to Manila round-trip for less than $50 on a local budget carrier before (mind you, the flight landed at Clark International Airport near Angeles City, rather than Manila International Airport, as I mentioned in tip #3).

6)  Check All Possible Booking Options

Different flight booking websites usually charge different prices for the same flight. To save time, I use price meta-search engines, like Booking Wiz and Fare Compare, that compare several booking websites at the same time.  After I have found a few flights that look promising, I check the airlines’ websites to see if they offer a better price for the flight or have any special deals. Sometimes the airline website is cheaper. Sometimes the booking engine is. Airlines also have different websites to serve different countries. If you’ve found a flight that you’re interested in buying directly through the airline’s website, try logging into a the same airline’s website for a different country (Canada, or the UK for example). Sometimes in the rounding up or down or prices and the exchange of currency you’ll find an even better deal.

8) Try Different Locations

Airlines and booking engines often charge different prices in different locations. So, using a VPN to check prices from different countries can help you find lower prices. Buying flights in certain countries can also help you save on taxes added to the ticket.

Conclusion

I’m not the most talented travel hacker out there, but I don’t aspire to be. I don’t care to spend more than a few hours finding cheap airfare. After that I prefer to spend my time doing fun things, rather than trying to whittle an extra $30 off my ticket.  If you’re like me, then this guide should be all you need to save a bit of money without wasting too much of your valuable time.

The post How to Find Cheaper Airline Tickets appeared first on XpatMatt.

Pretty much everyone has a credit card. Most people know that they can collect air miles using their credit card, but don’t really pay much attention to it except when they are checking to see if they can afford a free flight. A few people are air miles experts, constantly checking out new cards and special deals to make sure that they get the most possible miles for their money.

I’m not big on spending my days hunting for the super air miles deals. I have better things to do. However, there are a few things that I (and you can) do to significantly increase air miles earnings. Mostly they revolve around choosing a credit card that will give you the most awards and then using it well.

Different credit cards have different rewards systems. Some of them offer ‘points’ rather than ‘miles’. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to refer to them all as miles.

When first shopping for a credit card most of us will look for the cards with the lowest annual fees or the lowest interest rates.  These things may save you money if you’re only goal is to keep your credit card costs as low as possible but, if you’re goal is to collect as many miles as possible, you need to look at a different set of criteria when choosing a credit card.

There is no single best card for collecting miles because different offers suit different lifestyles and buying habits. Read on to learn how to choose and use the card that will get you the most miles for your money.

Check the Sign Up Bonus

Most credit cards will offer a large one-time sign up bonus. These bonuses are often around 25,000 to 30,000 miles. Some cards that are associated with specific airlines and hotels have even offered up to 100,000 miles just for signing up.

Credit cards will occasionally run special sign-up bonuses that are even bigger, so make sure that you look at all the options when you are choosing a card. Some cards might offer significantly larger bonuses than others.

Watch the Fees

Credit card fees vary. Annual fees usually range from around $50 – $100. I don’t concern myself too much with these fees because they are only paid once a year. Overseas transactions and currency exchange fees differ greatly from card to card. If your card charges a lot for these services and you are using it frequently overseas these charges can add up.

I think its worth it to pay a bit extra on the annual fee for a card that will accrue a lot of miles but, if you’re spending a lot of time overseas, you should watch your currency and transaction charges. Its important to make sure your card is suited to your travel style.

 Check Out The Affiliated Shops

A few credit cards will only give you miles at specific stores or shops. These tend to be brand-affiliated cards. I don’t like these cards because I’m not on-the-ball enough to remember to use the right cards at the right shops.

I prefer a card that will give me miles no matter where I use it. Most cards have online stores and affiliate partners who will give you extra rewards for shopping with them. Find out what stores are affiliated with the card that you are considering. Look for a card that is affiliated with brands and stores you already shop at. This makes you more likely to receive bonus miles without changing your shopping habits at all.

Special Cards for Small Business Owners

Some small business credit cards have their own airmails programs that will enable you to collect miles while buying business-related products. This is a fantastic way to rack up charges and miles and is definitely something small business owners should look into.

Get the Newsletter

Credit cards are constantly offering extra miles for buying certain products or shopping at certain affiliate stores. These deals are usually listed in the credit card’s email newsletter. Sign up for it and read it religiously. Last month my card was offering ten times the normal points for items purchased from Ebay and Apple. I picked up a coupled of camera lenses that I’d had my eye on from Ebay. If I’d been in the market for a new laptop I would have earned about half of a domestic flight with just one purchase!

Keep Track of Your Earnings

As with any project you undertake, it’s always smart to keep track of your progress so that you can see when you are doing things right and recognize when you re falling short of your goals.  Collecting air miles is no different. Fortunately, the Internet has seen fit to offer a tool for making this complicated task easer. It’s called Award Wallet. Award Wallet is a website that enables you to keep track of multiple rewards programs all in one place.

Keep Learning

If you are interested in learning how to really squeeze the most out of air miles reward systems, visit http://frequentflier.com/ and http://www.smartertravel.com/frequent-flyer/ to find the news about deals and bonuses.

Lead image by LotusHead

The post Maximize Your Frequent-Flier Miles With a Good Credit Card appeared first on XpatMatt.

By José Calvo

If you have ever thought about skydiving, you might think the hardest thing you have to do is squeeze your eyes shut and step out of the plane. However, there is much more to skydiving than making the leap with a few metres of parachute strapped to your back.

The sport of skydiving has a whole range of training methods, each with its own proponents who claim that their method is superior. To a beginner the jargon and acronyms can seem a little overwhelming. This guide explains the different metods used to teach one of the most daring activities in the history of sport so that you can choose the one that is best for you.

Tandem Skydiving

Tandem skydiving is the most common way for beginners to get started in this thrilling sport. During a tandem dive the student is connected to an instructor by a harness. The secure attachment allows the student to enjoy the sensation of freefall, while the instructor takes charge of vital activities such as opening the chute and performing a safe landing.

Preparation for the jump takes as little as 15 minutes. This is followed by an ascent to approximately 10,000ft for the jump, where the student will experience around 30 seconds of freefall. At 5,000ft a large parachute is deployed by the instructor.

A funny tandem skydiving video

The Static Line Training Method (RAPS)

In the RAPS (Ram-Air Progression System) course, a static line is a cord attached to a student’s pilot chute. The other end is attached to the aircraft so that when the student jumps, the taut line causes the pilot chute to open, followed by the main canopy. The jumper’s weight causes the binding that joins the pilot chute and static line to break.

Although students still need to learn to adopt and maintain the correct body position while jumping, the static line method takes the responsibility for opening their own chute away from them. For this reason, those learning to skydive using a static line have to make many more jumps before they are experienced enough to solo freefall. Static line progression takes students through a category system that ranges from one to 10.

This training method is also used by professional BASE jumpers and parachutist Marines, where the jumps are made from much lower altitudes.

An RAPS video

The Accelerated Freefall Course (AFF)

In the skydiving world the letters AFF stand for accelerated freefall. Canadians refer to AFF as progressive freefall. It is known as ‘accelerated’ (or ‘progressive’), as AFF is the fastest way students can reach the holy grail of being able to perform a solo freefall

With most AFF training programmes two instructors will accompany students on the first three jumps. This is reduced to one when students master the stable position – this is where the mid-air body resembles a rotated letter C.

In the early stages of training, the instructors will physically hold the student until their parachute is deployed. This happens at around 6,000ft above ground level (AGL). It is reduced to 5,000ft AGL as students become more experienced.

Once students demonstrate the ability to release their own chute, they can begin to learn the flying skills needed to manoeuvre in freefall without outside assistance.

There are eight levels under the AFF scheme in the UK. The eighth of these forms part of the British Parachute Association’s requirements. When level three of the AFF programme has been achieved, instructors will allow students to freefall for a certain period of time before releasing them. Students then have full responsibility for releasing their own chutes at the appropriate time.

As an extra safety measure, if students cannot deploy their own chutes, and the instructor is unable to assist them, then a back-up system known as an Automatic Activation Device (AAD) comes into play. When a student falls to a certain altitude at freefall speed, the AAD automatically fires the reserve chute.

AFF COURSE VIDEO

Lead image by thepartycow

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Dear Matt,

I teach the same class of 12 and 13-year-old students every day. Normally they are enthusiastic and awesome!  But when we have writing class (on Wednesdays) they just sit there and stare at their papers. I can’t seem to get them to write.  What can I do to inspire them?

Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Angela

Hi Angela,

Getting students to write can be hard. Students often feel less inhibited when they are speaking because they can make mistakes without fear of repercussion. When they write, their mistakes are there for everyone to see. Fear of making mistakes (and, even worse, being reprimanded) will suck the joy out of even the funnest lesson. So, in order to encourage students to write I often employ two strategies. First, I try to reduce their fear of making mistakes and second, I try to make the topic extra fun for them.

Strategy 1: Reduce the fear of mistakes

In order to do this I give the students some guidelines so that they know very clearly what is expected. If they feel like they know what to do, students will feel more confident I doing it. So, I give a minimum amount that each student must write (six sentences, half a page, whatever works) but never a maximum, so that eager students can enjoy themselves without fear of punishment.

Then, I will review the tense that will most commonly be used with our topic and how the verbs are conjugated using that tense. Next, I will write lists of nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives that are useful for that particular topic. They are not required to use the words. But they may use them if they wish. This way creative students have room to do what they want, and less creative students have enough information to guide them through the assignment.

Finally we will make some example sentences together as a class and I will write them on the whiteboard so that students will have a reference if they forget the tense or sentence structure that they should be using.

Strategy 2: Make it extra fun

In my experience, making writing fun lies in the subject. It’s important that the students are enthusiastic about the subject. I usually ask the class to vote on topics they like: aliens, monsters, tigers, Teacher Matt being eaten by sharks (getting kids to make fun of you is always a sure way to make them excited about the subject).

At the end of the class the earth may have exploded, Johnny’s head may be stuck in the toilet, and you may have been hit by a car, fallen off a cliff, been dismembered by lions, and then pooped on by a passing pterodactyl, but at least you’ll have a stack of papers filled with writing.

The post Ask Matt: How to Encourage Students to Write appeared first on XpatMatt.

Hi Matt,

I just moved to Taiwan to teach English and I’m really nervous. My roommate comes home everyday complaining about the unruly kids that she has to teach.  I’m starting my first teaching job next week and I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to control them. Can you offer me any advice?

Thanks! Love your blog!

Katie

Hi Katie,

There are a few simple things that you can do to keep your classes under control when you start teaching. Although these ideas are simple, they can be difficult to execute because they go against many impulses that a new teacher feels, and they require a lot of self-discipline. However, if you can follow them, your classes will fall into line in the first few weeks (or months, depending on the class), and you will find that things go very smoothly.

1) Be Strict from the Start

New teachers are inexperienced and feel insecure.  Naturally, they want approval of their teaching, so they seek the approval of their students. The easiest way to gain students’ approval is to make friends with them, joke around, and let them have their way.  This is totally natural, and a total disaster for classroom management.

It is infinitely easier to start as an strict teacher and make friends with students afterwards while maintaining discipline, than to let the students walk all over you to make them like you and then try to enforce new rules later on. The standard for all of your classes will be set in the first few days with a class. This is the time to make sure that students know the rules and know that they have to follow them.

2) Be Clear

You cannot expect students to behave if you have not clearly explained what  is and is not acceptable behavior. When you get angry at a student for a reason that they don’t understand (we’ve all done it) it does nothing except confuse the student and frustrate you.

During my first several years of teaching I made a habit of writing the rules on the whiteboard at the beginning of every class and having the students read them with me. When I encountered new behavior that repeatedly caused problems I would add it to the list. This way, if a student broke a rule, I could simply say, “Jimmy. What is rule 3?” Then it would be clear to the student that he had acted in a way that he knew was not acceptable, and could not argue about whether he deserved to be punished. It was clear.

3) Be Consistent

Nobody is on their game all of the time. We all have days when we just don’t want to go through the effort of scolding students and maintaining order. But, it’s important to enforce classroom rules consistently. It is in your best interest to make good behavior a habit for students. This can be a long and difficult process, but in the end, students who are accustomed to being good (because they were not given the opportunity to be bad) are always the easiest to teach.

4) Be Their Friend

In Rule 1 I told you to put discipline before friendship. That is very important when you first meet a class. However, discipline and friendship are not mutually exclusive. Many of the teachers that I liked most were teachers who maintained good classroom discipline, and many of the students that liked me the most were ones that I scolded regularly.

Respect is the basis of any good friendship. If you treat the students with respect, they will treat you with respect in return. This means that when you scold them, it will have that much more of an impact.

Also, it enables you to reason with children and help them to understand why they can’t misbehave. I find it useful with very unruly to explain that I have no choice but to punish them, and that I will always have to do so. The conversation goes something like this:

Me: “Who is my boss you guys?”

Students: “Mr. Wang.” (Mr. Wang is, say, the principal of the school)

Me: “Do you like it when you go to Mr. Wang’s office?

Students: “Noooo!”

Me: “I don’t like it either. Do you know what will happen if Mr. Wang walks past and sees you guys running around and playing games?  He won’t come in and yell at you.  He’ll yell at me. Do you like it when he yells at you?”

Students: “Noooo!”

Me: “Do you think I like it when he yells at me?”

Student: “No.”

Me: “Do you want Mr. Wang to yell at me?”

Around this point in the conversation the students get the picture, and settle down, at least for a while. And you’ve managed to maintain discipline, and let the students know that you will always maintain discipline, without making yourself into the bad guy.

These are the things that I found helped me most to maintain classroom order during my seven years of teaching.

I hope it helps!

Best,
Matt

This post is part of a series called ESL Blog Carnival
– hosted this month at Go Teach Abroad on the topic of Classroom Management

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