Brent and Michael's Secret Travel Hacks, Part 14

Avoid YouTube ads, use your bike more, get the cheapest car rentals, find bedbugs, buy the perfect travel snack, get cheap boat tours, cure your toenail fungus, and more!

More of our unique travel hacks!

For other travel hack columns, go to Part Ten and Part Eleven and Part Twelve and Part Thirteen and Part Fifteen and Part Sixteen and Part Seventeen and Part Eighteen and Part Nineteen and Part Twenty and Part Twenty-One and Part Twenty-Two and Part Twenty-Three and Part Twenty-Four.

Now here are this month’s hacks:

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YouTube Premium includes YouTube Music — basically, all the music that’s on Spotify — and it costs about the same as Spotify, but it also includes ad-free YouTube. Just sayin’.

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Michael and I have long been avid bikers, but we used to resist going on out-of-town rides, because it meant awkwardly strapping our bike rack onto the back of our car — which was a total hassle. We also worried it was never secure enough, and our bikes were going to fall into the traffic behind us.

The solution? We bought collapsible bikes! And since bringing our bikes now meant just throwing them into the trunk or backseat, we suddenly began riding them much more often. Our Dahon Mariner bikes changed our lives — and we still keep them tucked neatly away in our Seattle storage locker and throw them into our rental car whenever we’re back in the United States.

There are also an increasing number of foldable bike helmets, which are great for workplace commutes.

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Want the lowest car rental price? First, keep in mind that car rental companies are like airlines, in that they use algorithmic pricing, which is constantly shifting based on demand and perceived future demand. But unlike airlines, they also allow cancellable reservations. With this is mind:

• Check out prices directly at the various companies. To ensure you’ll have a car, make a cancellable reservation at the lowest price you see. For added savings, join any free memberships or affinity programs.

• Continue to regularly monitor pricing (and receive emails with discounts). If you see a lower price, cancel your previous reservation and make a new one.

• If you come across a really low price — and by now, you’ll know it when you see it — consider locking it in with a pre-paid, non-cancellable reservation (assuming this price is cheaper still).

Using this strategy, I got an upcoming three-week rental in Seattle down from initial price of $1110 to $530. This is fairly typical.

Also, consider that certain warehouse clubs, like Costco and Sam’s Club, now offer discounted car rentals, and they too allow you to make cancellable reservations.

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