Budgeting for Travel

Transportation

All travel arrangements should be booked at least a month in advance. This saves us money and prevents crazy travel arrangements being made when you should be prepping for competition.

Shipping

Plan in advance for how your robots and tools are getting to competition. Shipping costs are non-trivial and should be factored in during your proposal.

Flights

Budgeting for flights that may be 6-12 months away is largely about making a good guess as to what the airfare will be. A rule of thumb to estimate is to look at flights to your destination in 1 week, in 6-8 weeks, and at the time of your trip. Always match the day of the week of arrival and departure to to your actual trip, since airlines frequently base price or schedules on the day of the week. Hipmunk is a really great site to compare the flight schedules and costs of various airlines quickly. Note that although Hipmunk includes prices from third party companies, like Expedia, we must book direct from the airlines via GT's travel agency, Travel Inc.

Your budgeted amount should be a rough average of the three ticket costs above, weighting based upon trends you notice, such as seasonal ticket increases.

Rental Cars

Use travel sites to compare different companies and book in advance.

Lodging

Hotels

View the cost of hotels in the area at the time of your trip. The price will gradually increase as the trip gets closer. Use travel sites to find deals on hotels in advance.