Stopovers: My New Favorite Travel Hack
Listen up, my anxious friends. I’ve got the latest and greatest discovery, borne from my 5+ years of travel experience now. I’m constantly trying to optimize my travels for maximum experience and maximum comfort, and I think I’ve finally cracked the code.
Want to arrive at your final destination ready for whatever comes your way? Tired of jetlag taking away from your epic trip experiences? Do you too suffer from food allergies and struggle to eat on planes and at airports, and end up taking your hanger out on everyone around you?
I’ve got the perfect solution to all of those problems.
Enter stopovers.
What Is A Stopover?
You may be scratching your head saying, “But Lacey, what exactly is a stopover?” I’m here to tell you it’s going to change the way you travel.
In short, a stopover is when you fly to one destination, where you’d normally only have a connection, and spend a few days rather than continuing onto your final destination immediately.
Maybe you’ve seen advertisements for Iceland, Qatar, or New Zealand, who all have programs where you can spend a few days in their country before continuing onto your final destination if you use their airlines. Maybe you haven’t. If not, now you know they offer them with ease!
Why You Should Book A Stopover
Now, let’s get into WHY this is going to be a life changing travel hack for you.
If you live in a major city in the United States like New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Chicago, your airport is well-connected. Lots of direct flights to other countries! But many of us can’t afford to live there or simply don’t want to. We may have multiple connections to even reach another continent. Our travel times increase dramatically as we’re shuffled from hub to hub, praying we don’t have someone obnoxious in the row behind us.
What’s the worst route you’ve ever flown? I can tell you mine because I remember how miserable I was, even more than I remember the moments of our trip. Raleigh to Arusha, Tanzania. 40 hours of travel each way. 10 hour layovers, first in London, and on the way back, Qatar. Three connections in each direction. Zero gluten free options in Qatar. Qatar Airways messed up my GF meal order too, among other things. (seriously how are two seats in the MIDDLE of a four row “equivalent” to two seats by themselves next to the window???)
By the time we got home, I was so tired, so hungry, and in so much pain that I cried. I said NEVER AGAIN.
You know what would have prevented much of that misery?
A stopover.
Had we booked with Qatar Airways, we could have arranged a few days on either side of the trip to explore Doha. To sleep. To refuel with not airport/airplane food. To adjust to the new timezone.
Would I have enjoyed our Tanzania trip more? Almost certainly.
Since that trip, we’ve done two, and let me tell you, I’ve been so much happier (and less hangry fosho).
How To Book A Stopover
Okay so SOME airlines offer a stopover. But what if IcelandAir doesn’t offer a flight to Africa? Or Air New Zealand doesn’t connect you to your destination in Oceania?
Some people will tell you to book a multi-city itinerary. But from what I’ve found, that usually jacks up the price. We all know round trip fares are the cheapest right?
So book multiple round trips. 🤯
Yeah, I know, crazy right?
Plus with Expedia’s package discounts, you can save A TON of money. Save your wallet and your sanity by booking your stopover on the platform!
So here’s HOW to actually book one, because it takes a bit of finesse. I’ll use our most recent trip to Rwanda as an example.
First, figure out what airport you will ultimately fly into. In this case, it was Kigali International Airport. From there, we researched which airports in Europe had direct flights to it. Boom, we saw Amsterdam was on the list. And Salt Lake City has a direct flight to Amsterdam.
Now, with our flight path set, we had to decide which dates we wanted to be in Rwanda. Once we had those down, we knew which dates we needed to fly between Amsterdam and Kigali. After that, we built our SLC to Amsterdam trip. We opted for two days on either side, the arrival day + one full day, with the last day being our departure day to first Kigali and then SLC.
Makes sense, right? And when I tell you I felt so much more rested for our safari, I didn’t struggle with extreme hanger. I wasn’t dragging myself like a zombie through any airports. It was almost heavenly.
And the best part was that my anxiety was not acting up like a toddler who is tired of sitting on the plane too. There were no “but what if the airline doesn’t get my meal?” or “what if I can’t find anything in the airport to eat?” or “what if I can’t sleep on the plane?”
So, my anxious friends, this is why I tell you this travel hack is a GAME CHANGER for us.
Stopover Itineraries From Yours Truly
As of this moment, we’ve done only a few stopover itineraries, but I’ll be adding to this as we do more, so keep checking back for new ideas. I do the thinking/planning for you, and you just book away 🤣
Ones I’ve starred are trips we’ve taken which could be modified into a stopover because of the airline.
Amsterdam + Rwanda Safari
Check out my individual posts for each of these destinations.
Luxury Rwanda Safari: An Anxious Traveler’s Guide
How to Spend Three Days in Amsterdam
For us, we had a direct connection between each city which was amazing. Each flight was between 9-10 hours, which is totally doable. Together in one go, totally different story 🤣. With this trip, you get the lovely European charm and adventurous African travel together! And if you’re obsessed with safaris and nature like we are, it’s the perfect balance. Plus we got to see a city we probably wouldn’t have made a dedicated trip to!
Copenhagen + Swedish Lapland
Check out my individual posts for each of these destinations.
How to Spend Four Days In Copenhagen
Swedish Lapland Travel Guide + Why You Need to Go ASAP
While for us, each flight had a connection, they weren’t very long. From Raleigh to Copenhagen, we had a quick stop in Iceland, but the total travel time was maybe 10 hours. And then from Copenhagen to Swedish Lapland had a brief stop in Stockholm, but again the total travel time was about 6 hours. What I love about this itinerary is that you get to spend a few days in Copenhagen, a large, busy city where people both live/work and vacation, and then hop up to blissful nature and epic views. The best of both worlds in one trip!
Qatar + Tanzania Safari
Like I mentioned in my transit misery above, Qatar Airways offers stopovers to explore Doha and Qatar at no extra charge. Before our trip, we kicked ourselves for not knowing it was possible to do one. After, though, I don’t think we much care to go to Qatar or fly Qatar Airways again, to be completely honest. I was unimpressed with the airline after multiple issues with them. Their customer service is atrocious. Between not getting any of the seats WE PAID FOR and my missing gluten free meals, I have zero interest in that torture again. If you do fly with them, don’t pay for a seat. They’ll just give you a different one anyway and claim it’s “equivalent.”
Yes, I’m still salty.
If you want to read about the best part (AKA the actual safari) of that trip, check out my post 8 Day Luxury Tanzania Safari!
Iceland + Europe
We’ve flown IcelandAir twice now and enjoyed it both times. Also, Iceland itself is stunning. There’s so much you can see in three days (at the time of writing, their max stopover time), and it makes a great stopover. The airline flies to so many destinations in Europe and the United States now, it’s worth looking into what possibilities await you from wherever you are!
For things to do in Iceland, check out my 7 Day Southeast Iceland Itinerary!
South Korea + Central Asia
Incheon Airport in Seoul has SO many direct flights to more off-the-beaten path Asian countries, so with the new direct flight from Salt Lake City, we jumped at the chance to visit. And while I’m not so sure we’ll use it as a stopover destination again (the reasons for which you can read about in my full post), if you love Korean food, K-Pop, and K-beauty, it might make an amazing stopover for you! From here we traveled onto Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan, which are some of the most amazing, wild places we’ve been to.
Discover the 15 Best Things to Do in Seoul!
Read my full 10 Day Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan Road Trip Itinerary!
Final Thoughts On Stopovers: My New Favorite Travel Hack
Have I convinced you to book a stopover yet? I don’t think I’ll be able to travel any other way in the future, especially when going to Africa! We have big plans for using them on our upcoming Asia trips too. Stay tuned for more!