Favourite places (spin off from mari's thread!)

[KristinCB]

So continuing with Mari's thread on favourite places I thought it would be neat if we could talk about favourite ways to save in order to take trips!

Travel is something I wish I could do more of but we do try to take a road trip each year.

Fancy hotels and eating out are not huge on my must haves so we save by renting houses via VRBO and eating our meals there & buying our own groceries.

Share your tips!

[nietis]

1. Going to the park, bring/pack your own food.
2. I always try to find just a decent, clean, but affordable price for hotel room. I love travelodge when we were still in the UK. Unfortunately, here in China, it's not possible to do the cheap *not chain* hotel's rooms most of the time stink of cigarette smell!
3. We like to plan our day to day activities in advance, finding out the price of entrance fees, etc. Of course, the plan is not definite, things can change or get crossed out if we find other interesting things along the way.

[aussiegirl]

-My parents own in 3 timeshare companies, so we always use their timeshares....free for us!
-With the timeshare, we can eat and cook our own meals. We will always eat breakfast in our room, cook some suppers, and pack some lunches/snacks.
-search online for the best deals on places, tickets, discounts and even information. Finding a blog or website that tells the best days to visit a theme park can save time (which saves money).
- send away for state information books. These books always have sections on individual cities or areas. They usually have ads with numbers or ads for travel info on that city/area. Call or go online to order those brochures. Sometimes they will include different coupons and savings.
- always stop at the welcome centers. You can get coupons for hotels, restaurants and attractions.
- compare companies. Sometimes they may offer the same or very similiar things, but at totally different prices. You can even search for free things to do in the city you are visiting.
- choice hotels is a great way of finding and comparing hotel prices (mostly Comfort Inn and Suites).
- mousesavers.com has a great section on rental car discounts. I always check here, even if I'm not going to Orlando. Some discounts can be used elsewhere.

[marlathrall]

I try to travel in the off season... I know that won't be possible in a few years when Teddy is in school, but it's so much cheeper to go in January and February.

Oh and I book things out as soon as possible. Last minute also works sometimes when they are having big sells.

[hosanhelwa]

Book last minute... My husband and I put in our vacation request well in advance, but usually book our travel plans a week (or less!) before we leave. If you're flexible in your travel destination and you make sure your travel days don't overlap a big travel time (March break, Christmas... We managed to book off the week of American Thanksgiving last year - oops!) you can get really amazing deals, even on really fancy accommodations! (Of course, the odd time, you get stuck with duds, too... But that's rare)

[rach3975]

We drive instead of flying (5 plane tickets are expensive!), and many of our vacations are to visit family so we can stay with relatives and not pay hotel and restaurant bills. Other than that, I don't have many tips. We don't take a lot of vacations other than to visit family, so once every year or two when we do it's easier to splurge.

The trips we do take usually have to be at the busiest and most expensive times of year, like spring break, so we focus more on saving at other times of year to make the vacation possible rather than on saving money during the vacation.

[mariewilcox]

We travel in a mini motor home to most places, except for Disneyworld (although we have stayed in the campground there too when we flew down to stay with my parents one winter). When we go to Tybee/Sanibel Island we stay in a rental home. The motor home lets us cook our own meals and campgrounds are cheaper than hotel rooms. We haven't traveled much at all in the past 3 years (since our month-long cross country trip) - mostly because we just don't have the time anymore with Cheyanne being in high school. We do get to Tybee or Sanibel every February for a week though.

[jak]

I know this is not for everyone, but for some vacations we camp... way cheaper than a hotel!

[scrap2day]

If you are planning to visit specific attractions check out their website ahead of time. Sometimes they give you a discount if you pre-purchase tickets on their website.

Also, check Groupon or like sites for attraction tickets in the city you will be visiting. I'm sure this works better for the major cities. I was able to purchase a multiple day bus tour for Chicago which had stops at a number of major museums/attractions. I saved money on taxis and the ride/tour was part of the experience.

If we are driving I have a small cooler on wheels that I pack drinks, snacks and food. We do eat out (that is part of the vacation for us) but it is nice to have something ready if we want to eat something small in the room or to at least have drinks and snacks so that we are not paying for hotel vending/gift shop prices.

Stop at a grocery/deli for lunch. Get fresh meat, cheese, even hot options at probably a savings over fast food/restaurant. You can also get just what you need for that meal. I've found that I don't have to order 1/4 pound or more of something, I can just ask for two slices of the cheddar cheese and haven't had a problem.

[bcgal00]

I agree...stay away from the restaurants and fast food places. Bringing a small cooler is a good idea. As as motels go, I'd search online for deals. As a kid we always camped when possible, having a small popup tent that was easy and fast to assemble and then later when I was older we liked to travel in a small camper or tent trailer, cheaper than a motel and we would often park at the rest stops for the night.

[MamaBee]

My husband is all about the points... which has helped us travel a lot, in the last few years. And my husband is cheap! haha The last few place we have traveled has been my hubby looking for the cheapest airfare and go from there... we aren't afraid to drive.

If you use credit cards for your everyday purchases, use a card that gives you the most points where you can use toward travel credits. We bank them up and use it toward our expenses.

Find a hotel chain that you like and get on their loyalty program... some have credit cards that give you a free room or suite upgrades, which can off set the annual fee (if there is one). We are Diamond with Hyatt... that gives us access to their Regency Room - that gives us free: breakfast, water/soda, evening appetizers (which we have made into dinner a lot of the times), and night desserts. My son LOVES hotel stays, so to keep with our status, we do random night stays for cheap (points and cash) in the next town over.

Same for air fare... we have the credit card for Delta (the annual fee one)... it comes with a "companion flies free" ticket, up to 5 bags (I think that is the number) of bags check in free, and zone 1 boarding... so that easily justifies the cost of the annual fee. There are websites that show you what flights are the cheapest to fly... for example if you can fly out on Saturday instead of Sunday. Sometimes you have to drive to a bigger city to fly out. When we went to Washington DC, we had to drive to Chicago (which is 3 hrs from home)... we stayed the night before at Hyatt (points/cash), which gave us a free place to park our car while we were on our trip.

For getting around in places... we use public transportation a lot - we even used Uber for the first time in Washington DC, which saved having to get a car and parking at the hotel. If going to a big city, we do try get hotels a few cities over - hubby hates to pay for parking - and then take the train into the city.

[pewtertm]

Check into staying at a state park or a KOA. Many of them have cabins which you can rent for a lot less than a hotel stay. I especially like being able to bring the dog along, as every KOA we've checked into allows pets, and many of them have a dog park.

Check to see if the attractions you are visiting have free days. Some museums are free one day a week, or if you arrive in the last several opening hours.

Some amusement parks offer a discount if you bring in a soda can w/a coupon printed on it...Google where you are wanting to go to see if there are any discounts available.

[misfitinmn]

We don't vacation much, but our most recent vacation we saved using VRBO (and cramming ourselves into a super tiny 1 bedroom place - we didn't spend THAT much time there anyway), and then we planned meals/a grocery trip before we even left so we knew exactly how much eating out we'd be doing. We try to find as many of the free attractions in a place that we can, and what isn't free, I watch for deals on groupon or on the website itself (we were able to save quite a bit on zoo admission this way!).

As for airfare, we have signed up for alerts from several of the "deal" websites but I think our airfare for our California trip was directly through Sun Country's email list - they are a cheaper airline already so we just waited for a sale.

[lovely1m]

Not everyone can do it, but I save big by using military discounts. Lots of places offer them. I also try to buy snacks before hand so I don't have to pay the big prices at airports or gas stations. I also save my money in advance so it's not all on credit cards and set a budget so I don't sit around worrying about spending before hand.

[pewtertm]

Originally Posted by lovely1m

Not everyone can do it, but I save big by using military discounts.

Quite a few also offer discounts to veterans, not just active duty. Same for peace officers. If it applies, it doesn't hurt to ask.

[scrap2day]

Another thing I thought of: check to see if your memberships get you admission to similar places in different cities. Many times if you have a zoo membership it will get you free admission or half price admission to other zoos. There are similar deals with museum memberships.

[anelia]

I really can't give up the comfort of a nice hotel room so I try my best to find a good deal. I have come to understand that location is everything so I always book hotels in top location at the best price possible. I never pay for breakfast if it's not already included in the price.
Plane tickets - I try to book as early as possible to get the best rates possible. I always choose the non-flexible/economy option as it's the cheapest. Driving is not an option as my husband's vacation is like 7 days.
Food - yes, I think if we avoid restaurants we save big. However, I sometimes feel like pampering myself so I'd go to a nice place once. I like buying food from local groceries and eat in the hotel room or on a bench in a park It feels nice.