I advocate for experiencing the world, and it’s great to do so while not spending needlessly. Make no mistake, I love a fight-class flight, and those lay-down pods are a taste of luxury. However, flight upgrades are expensive, and upgrades and add-ons can significantly increase the final cost of a trip. And if budget travel is the priority, the total price can quickly add up to something that may make you think twice about hitting that “pay now” button at the final step of your flight booking.

I want to start this story with a note important to the context of what follows: I am very fortunate to have the opportunities I do to travel. I realize that travel requires both the time to do so and the means of making it possible. I am incredibly thankful for this and think about it whenever I get on a plane. I cannot stress enough that I am blessed with these adventures.

Flying out of Halifax across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe can be inconvenient for people who are unaware, and desperately so if doing it during the winter months. Leaving Halifax, we often need to travel west for a connecting flight to fly east to our final destination. That adds a significant amount of time to the total flight time. That may include flying from Halifax to Toronto, Montreal, or sometimes Newark, but all those connections easily add four to five hours of flight time.