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Friday, November 22, 2013

Super Useful Travel Links

Happy Friday! Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving already? Where has this year gone? I'm guessing that a lot of you will be traveling next week, or planning your trips over Christmas. Perhaps you haven't purchased your airfare yet or you have no idea what you're buying for gifts or how you're going to survive the holidays. I have rounded up some links to help you make it through:

photo credit: allerleirau via photopin cc

Do you have a traveler on your holiday gift list? Or perhaps you're looking for something to add to your own wish list? Well, look no further (OK, maybe check out my list of affordable and awesome gifts coming tomorrow), because the folks at SF Gate have a fab list of travel goodies.

Is trying to save on your next trip feeling like a second job? It shouldn't. Saving money on travel is super easy (though takes some time) when you know how to do it. These 8 tips from Savvy Sugar are tried and true. If you want to pack your brain with tons of money-saving knowledge, there's always my book. You'll seriously look like a frugal traveling genius in no time!



Traveling is hungry work, especially when you're trying to pack gifts, make tight connections and not flip out over delayed flights and connections that seem to be 10 miles away from your arrival gate. You need to eat in between all the holiday chaos. You probably have an extra 15 minutes to find food - something that isn't smashed at the bottom of your carry-on and used to be covered in chocolate - that is tasty and actually healthy for you. Print out this article from abc news if you will be traveling through any of the twelve healthiest airports. If not, you can check out my list of where and what to eat when you're flying.

Speaking of eating, did you know there's no snacking in Rome? OK, that's a bit extreme. You can snack whenever you want, but think again if you want to roam (ha!) the city with your food, because the government is having none of that. They think us tourists eating their local yummy cuisine near their fabulous monuments is giving the city a bad look, and they aren't the only ones! Would this keep you from traveling to Italy?



And in other food-related news, while you're watching where you're eating on vacation, you also need to watch how you're eating on vacation. Indulging in food is one of the best things about travel, but different cultures may had different customs, so make sure you read up on this Budget Travel article before you go eating a delicious dish and accidentally offending someone.



After you've spent a bunch of dollars on getting to your destination, and possibly gifts for loved ones and a new outfit for the holidays, you might want to spend some time outside and, probably, eating a meal. How can you save money when eating out? Just having water is a start, but there are plenty of other ways, like these from msnbc or these that I suggest and use myself. In fact, Eric and I split many meals on our recent trip and it worked out perfectly.

Chances are, if you are traveling anywhere, you'll be taking along your trusty mobile phone. We took ours to England and France and had minimal problems after adding an international plan to both smartphones before leaving. No, you don't get unlimited data, and thinking like that is what results in you coming home to a $752,342 phone bill. Turn notifications and unnecessary data off until you absolutely need it and download a great app like Voxer to send and receive FREE texts. (Better than $.50 per and it's really fun to use.) For more tips on using your smartphone abroad, check out this article from YouMustBeTrippin.



And last, but certainly not least, everyone likes to get something for free. You do, don't you? A true budget traveler looks for as many freebies as possible. Why pay if you don't have to? Eric and I took advantage of free museums and a other things on our trip in order to save some money, but also, it was really fun. And free WiFi out in public? It's like the Holy Grail for a lost traveler. The Star has some other ideas of what freebies you can take advantage of and where!

Hopefully, some of these links were helpful to you. If you found any funny, interesting or informative links lately, please feel free to share them in the comments!

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