5 Family-Friendly Budget Travel Tips

Traveling with children in tow can be a rewarding experience, but even though they get discounts on everything from zoo admission to bus rides, it can still be hard to keep costs down on family travel. Don’t resign yourself to thinking you can never go on holiday again until your children are old enough to get jobs to help pay for your trips. 

Luckily, there are plenty of places to cut costs to keep on budget and be able to travel more than you thought possible.

Travel in the off-season. When your children are small and don’t yet go to school, you have the choice of being able to travel year-round. Worldwide, the busiest and most expensive time to travel is summer break. The second week in June through the second week in August is a peak time to go anywhere. Airfare and hotel rates can double and most places you go are packed with tourists. Plan your holidays outside of this time and save big, but also avoid crowds that make it impossible to efficiently do as much as you otherwise could. Even with shorter operating hours for theme parks and other activities, you will be able to do more when it is less busy.

Look for Kids Eat Free deals at restaurants and hotels. Dining can be a huge chunk of your holiday budget and with little ones around, you add to that cost. Most hotels have a kids-stay-free deal, so don’t let this fool you as a “discount”. Instead, look for those that have restaurants that include kids eat free. There are a lot of restaurants worldwide that also offer free meals for children with the purchase of an adult entrée. at free” and your destination. 

Book a vacation rental. When you travel with your family, it’s helpful to have a little extra room to spread out. Four people in a small room with two beds and nowhere to hide for a bit of privacy is a nightmare. Also, not everyone wants to be on a toddler’s sleep schedule. When taking a holiday with four or more, consider booking a vacation rental home or condo. You’ll have separate living and sleeping spaces, a kitchen to prepare snacks or full meals – which will also save you money – and you don’t have to worry about your children making too much noise for your hotel neighbors or the other way around. 

Vacasa and VRBO have extensive listings for vacation rentals worldwide for all budgets. Generally, you save more if you are staying for a week, which can’t be said for almost any hotel. With the space and privacy you get along with it, it really can’t be beat for family travel.

Rent baby equipment. Dragging all your bags and kids along can be more than enough to deal with when you travel. You don’t want to worry whether or not your buggy or car seat will make it to your destination as well. You also have to pay baggage fees for those items. Save money and keep your arms more free by renting those items at your destination. BabiesTravelLite has a comprehensive list of rental locations across the globe where you may pay less for an entire week’s rental of an item than you would to check it at the airport (one-way) to your destination. That way, you don’t have to juggle everything you own or deal with your personal equipment being damaged in transit.

Go all-inclusive. With all the costs associated with a family holiday, it can sometimes be easier to pay for everything up front and not have to worry about your budget at all when you travel. Many all-inclusive resorts offer kids stay and eat free deals for children of all ages. Sometimes it includes those up to age 14. If you find a resort you would like to stay at and the rate seems like a bargain, price out what you think you would end up paying separately to see if it really is. 

All-inclusive stays include all your meals and drinks – some include snacks – as well as entertainment and a selection of activities. It also helps if what are offered are things you and your family will want to take advantage of. Keep in mind that you may end up paying for some things, like sightseeing, shopping and maybe other activities not provided in the rate, so the total for the resort may not be the total for your vacation. Family-friendly resorts often have a kids club on site, so your kids can make friends with other travellers and give you some adult time.

By being more creative with your travel planning, you can save money and still have a great time with your kids. Let them help you find things to do, so everyone will feel like they had a hand in making your trip great. Kids big and small like to feel included and helpful. Plus, by saving on one aspect of your trip, you can spend a little more somewhere else and make your family vacation one to remember.

You can check out these great items to make your family trips better and less stressful.

Tell me about your favorite ways to save money on your family travels in the comments!

5 Budget-Friendly Road Trips Tips

I don't know about where you live, but here in Portland gas prices vary wildly around town. My local station is $4.79/gallon and was just $4.29/gallon a week ago. I saw gas for as much as $5.89/gallon in other parts of town. Insane. If you don't want to be penniless by the time you are finished with your next road trip, I've got some quick tips for you:

While you can't control the price of gas, you can ensure you get the best price, wherever you may be.

• Install an app like Gas Buddy, which will help you find gas stations along your route, meaning you don't have to wait until the last minute to fill up. You can also use Google Maps to find stations, and easily see their lowest price, by using the magnifying glass and then clicking on gas stations. Unfortunately, this can take you a bit out of your way, but it's still an option.
• Download the Upside app and earn cash back on your gas (and restaurant) purchases. While it doesn't really work great in between big cities, it can still come in handy, especially if you aren't desperate for gas and have a choice of several stations. It's a little extra effort and you may find that the deals aren't better than just paying regular price up the road, but you might. If you aren't already signed up, use my link and get a bonus $.15/gallon back on your first purchase.
• Get a tune-up on your car before you leave home. This is so important to making sure your car runs at its best, because even things like iffy tires can effect your fuel efficiency.
• Get discounts on attractions by picking up brochures and coupons at roadside diners, rest areas, and hotels. They often have promos that you can't find elsewhere and it pays to stop and check out the racks of brochures/pamphlets before you leave.
• Stop at free and cheap activities along the way. Road trips aren't just about the destination. In fact, sitting in a car for a million hours, aside from stopping to eat or use the restroom, sucks. Make the most of your trip by taking in weird attractions, walking through a botanical garden, running around the dog park with your pup, seeing the world's largest something, or just checking out a vista point. 

Don't forget to pack a cooler with snacks and drinks, check out these affordable and fun road trips, and use my shortcut travel planning technique. 

You can also subscribe to my newsletter to get my free road trip planning kit, or just outright buy it for $2.99 here.

Now, tell me some of your favorite road trips you've ever taken!

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links and I may be monetarily compensated if you make a purchase through these posts. This helps me to keep this blog running and bring you more posts you enjoy, so thanks in advance.

Amazing Women In Travel History

Happy Women's History Month. While right now is a crazy time, we can still make time to applaud some of the greatest women in history. Men may dominate most travel careers, like being pilots and explorers and mountain climbers, but women have always pushed their way into all facets of the industry, from flying planes, to becoming essential crew on commercial flights, to captaining cruise ships. They didn't let the patriarchy stop them, nor should they have. Nor should we let it stop us now. 

These ladies are great role models and inspiration for women now, too. Here are just a few of the ones who paved the way for the rest of us to be travel writers, solo travelers, and tour operators. 

This is by no means even close to a full list of awesome traveling women, and I'll be showcasing others throughout Women's History Month over on my Instagram (on Fridays), Threads, and Facebook.

Do you have travel heroes? Let's hear them in the comments!

5 Items to Bring On Family Travels

Spring Break season is here, which means you may be packing up the car and headed on the road to go somewhere new and/or fun. There are a lot of great travel items out there right now, but some are better suited to family travel than others. Some are especially great for road trips, including these 5 items. 

I'll be reviewing some of these soon, but if you're in need of things now, I wanted to push them to you before you leave, but you'll also have plenty of time to get them for your summer trips, too.

Diaper Buddy

If you have a baby or toddler (or a dog), these handy dandy, customizable stacks are a perfect addition to your travel bag or to keep in your car. This silicon organizer is the size of a big water bottle and has space for 1-2 diapers, wipes, bags, and snacks. Now, I'm not saying throw out your whole diaper bag for trips, but instead of lugging it everywhere with you, when you only need a couple things, then this is a lifesaver.

Imagine going to a theme park and needing to go into the restroom with your child and not having to juggle a giant, heavy bag and your kid and your own stuff while in there. Just grab your Diaper Buddy and go. We tested this out with my sister-in-law and 4 year old niece. She can open it herself to help get a diaper out for the baby, it can hang on the stroller or go underneath, and the snack caddy comes off and fits directly into the cupholder for the stroller. See my Instagram reel.

You can also use it for spare undies when your kid gets bigger (like right now, they could be carrying a spare pair and a diaper to cover both kids), or you can take just the two pieces that hold snacks and bags and take it on walks with the dog. I tried it, and it fits on the leash great and if it rains, it rolls right off!

Handzies

If you have kids, or you're just messy like I sometimes am, you should always have wipes of some kind. Instead of a big thing of wipes, you can throw a couple of these packets in your purse or pocket or glovebox and you're ready for accidents, spills, or just general sticky hands. I would personally love to wipe my hands off after eating at a rest area, without having to go into the gross bathroom and use the freezing cold water that comes out of the tap.

These aren't antibacterial. They are just good wipes, plus they smell like tangerines (they also have unscented ones), which I love, because everything feels and smells clean! They are a good size, too. You can wipe down a whole kid with one Handzie...if you had to.

Mozy

When you're in the car for long rides, it can be hard to regulate the temperature for everyone in it. I am a notorious car freezer. I layer up, because we used to have a dog that was hot all the time in the car, so we had to turn the air up full blast to get to her in the back seat and the rest of us would freeze. Instead of bringing your blankets from home and taking up all the space in the car with them, the Mozy blanket is like a skirt blanket, to keep your lower half warm, but also leave your feet out. 

When not on a trip, you can use it at sporting events, the movies, the Oregon coast (iykyk), or when camping, so you don't drag your blanket in the dirt. It's thermal, it's weatherproof, and it keeps your butt warm on those metal bleachers. It's warmer than a blanket and it comes in kid, adult, tall, and plus sizes. link above is for Amazon, but you can buy all sizes on their website.

A back-up battery

I never leave home without a good back-up charger for our phones. In fact, we usually both have one on us. This one is my preferred battery pack, but the car is a different story. If you have several people in the back, you could run long cables from the USB port, or you could get something specifically for those in the back seat, like this little portable generator, which you can also get a solar charging pad for, or you could get something that does double-duty and can charge your car if your battery dies, like the Halo Bolt, that also can pump up your tires. I have two Halos and have brought them to cons with me to charge everyone's devices throughout the day.

Keep>Going First Aid Kit

Having a first aid kit of any kind of smart, especially when you're traveling with kids. Keep>Going knows that you need more than just bandaids sometimes. Their compact kits come with everything you need for scrapes and bigger injuries that don't necessarily need a trip to the hospital. I did a review of one of their kits, that comes in a great zipper bag and is very organized.

Whether you need a solution for a heel blister, a burn, or a bug bite, there's something in her for every type of minor injury. It's compact enough to throw in your day bag and has a handy dandy wrist loop, so you can carry it around while still having both hands free.

These 5 items are going to make your road travels more comfortable, give you peace of mind, and help you be more efficient. There will be fewer complaints all around, too. If you need an idea for a destination for your road trip, check out my last post. 

What are some of your favorite road trip/travel items for your family travels?

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Support Shereen Travels Cheap by using the links in my posts to shop. I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) so I can continue to create helpful free content. I appreciate your support!

Spring Break Is Road Trip Season

Can you believe Spring Break is right around the corner? This year is going by very fast, but also at a snail's pace. It's weird how that happens. Before you know it, the kids will be out of school and either driving you crazy, because "I'm booooorrreed" or you'll be on a trip and everyone is excited. 

Spring Break has always called for a road trip in my family. It may be because we didn't have that much money, so we opted for the least expensive option, where we could pack a cooler and a bag and jump in the car and go. While it's not always the cheapest mode of travel now, it depends on how many of you are going and what your destination is. We often drove all night from Tucson and met the sun in Los Angeles to go to Disneyland. 

Sure, we could have flown there, but instead of paying a couple hundred dollars per person, we spent a little more time getting there, but only paying for snacks and gas. Even if we had done it during the day, it would have been much cheaper than flying, though we probably would have gotten stuck in a lot more traffic.

Things over the next month are going to be a little more expensive and airfare may be outrageous right now, what with the war in Iran and oil doubling in price. So, yes, your gas for your car will be more, but still not anywhere near what you'd pay for a flight. This might be the time to stick a little closer to home, but that just limits you to staying on the same coast or going to the next big city or the next state over. 

So, here are some budget-friendly places to spend your Spring Break, that also won't be overrun by college kids daring each other to drink as much as possible:

Photo by Christopher Alvarenga on Unsplash

Chicago, Illinois - Chicago has been on my list for a long time. It's not a "driving destination" for me, but maybe it is for you and you can explore everything the Windy City has to offer as either a family, a couple, or even a solo traveler. It's as far from a desirable destination for the usual Spring Breakers as you can get, so you won't even know there are young adults getting wasted somewhere beachy. 

Recommendations: Navy Pier, Field Museum, the Bean! and Buckingham Fountain in Millennium Park, Skydeck Chicago, Lincoln Park Zoo, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, Garfield Park Conservatory, and Chicago Riverwalk.

Tip: Get a CityPASS for your visit and save a lot of money on many of the things you see here.

Denver, Colorado - I love Colorado. A few years ago we finally made it to Denver and it was absolutely a city for me. There's tons to do, the food is delicious, it's beautiful, and the people were all lovely, except for that one Uber driver, but that was 100% not his fault. I gave him a big tip once I made it to the airport. Even though Denver is known for being outdoorsy, we found tons of stuff to do that was indoor, but we also walked a lot, so keep in mind that it's possible to do without a car. Their public transportation kind of sucks though, which is mostly why we ended up walking so much.

Recommendations: Meow Wolf Convergence Station, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver Zoo, Union Station, Downtown Aquarium, and go on an art walk (you can do this on your own if you want, but our tour guide was amazing).

Tip: Get a CityPASS for your visit and save a lot of money on many of the things you see here.

Photo by Susi Kleiman on Unsplash

Ft. Myers, Florida - I haven't been to Florida in a long time, but I do know that Fort Meyers is not a popular destination with the college kids, so you can experience a nice relaxing trip. If you want a crazy experience, head to Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Orlando will also be packed full of travelers. Fort Myers has a whole different feel, and though it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it has an eclectic mix of attractions/activities.

Recommendations: Manatee Park, IMAG History and Science Center, Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Centennial Park, Raptor Aviary, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary, Brightwood Lagoon, Railroad Museum of South Florida, and Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve.

Portland, Oregon - I'll tell you what, I know I'm biased, but I love Portland. There's so much to see and do here and it also feels very small and quaint. We have a great downtown, but the city is spread out over many neighborhoods, so you have your pick of vibe. There's also a wonderful array of things to do on any budget, so it's perfect for Spring Break, whether you want to wander our great zoo or a rose garden or stroll around a museum or even set up a picnic at the waterfront. 

Recommendations: OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), Portland Aquarium (which is not a traditional aquarium at all), Portland Art Museum, Oregon Zoo, Hoyt Arboretum, Portland Saturday Market, Portland Japanese Garden and/or Chinese Gardens. 

Photo by Robert Ritchie on Unsplash

Seattle, Washington - As a Portlander, I have mixed feelings about Seattle, but only because they have much of the same things as we do, so it's easier (and cheaper) to stay home and be a tourist here. Seattle has a lot to offer families though, and some amazing food, so if it's closer to you or you've already done Portland, it's a great alternative. Seattle feels less outdoorsy to me though, so if you are more of an indoors person, like me, you may bump them to the top of your list.

Recommendations: Space Needle (yes, it's touristy, but that's absolutely for a reason), Pike Place Market, Museum of Pop Culture, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle Art Museum, The Museum of Flight, Woodland Park Zoo.

Tip: Get a CityPASS for your visit and save a lot of money on many of the things you see here.

St. George, Utah - If you love the outdoors and enjoy hiking, biking, and all that jazz, then St. George has it in spades. You can visit both Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, but you can also hang out in a chill city that has a little bit of everything for you, from spas to museums to great eateries. We met some friends in St. George years ago and it was perfect for the adults and the children.

Recommendations: Red Hills Desert Garden, Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, St. George Children's Museum, St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, Rosenbruch World Wildlife Museum, Ancestor Square, and St. George Art Museum.

I hope this gives you a great idea for your Spring Break or even for an upcoming summer trip. Next we'll look at some cool products for your family travels. 

Where will you be headed over the next month?

Get my ultimate travel planner, so you can plan everything all in one place and feel like a pro! And you can get my road trip planner for FREE if you sign up for my newsletter.

Disclaimer: Support Shereen Travels Cheap by using the links in my posts to shop. I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) so I can continue to create helpful free content. I earn from qualifying purchases made to the featured retailers. Thank you. I appreciate your support!

3 Ways You're Packing Your Suitcase Wrong

Packing is probably a lot of people's least exciting part of travel. I know plenty of people who straight-up say they hate packing, which is funny, because I love packing and hate unpacking. You can't just not pack for a trip, unless you have someone who will do it for you. Believe me, if I could figure out how to make a living from packing strangers' suitcases, I would totally do it. For now, I have to settle for telling people how to do it instead.

There are a lot of ways to become adept at packing, but most people don't have the patience for it and also don't want to do any of the things I explain help to pack lighter and save money. I'm not going to spend $30+ each way for my clothes to go on the plane and maybe arrive at my same destination. I like knowing where all my things are and not having to wait around at the carousel for it to *hopefully* come off the plane. I want to take my stuff and get right to my vacation. No stress.

I'm a small person, so I am not bringing a bag that I could ride in and definitely not one I can't pick up. If I travel alone, I usually only bring along a bag that fits under the seat, because I'm short and have anxiety about getting my bag in the overhead. You don't have to be like me, but you can pack better by avoiding these 3 things:

1. You didn't make a packing list

When you don't make a packing list, you have no clear vision of what your travel wardrobe is going to look like. It leaves you open to overpacking and taking too many things, most of which won't go together, and then you end up either struggling with a heavy bag or paying to check it. Worst case, you have to do both. Make a packing list and make sure every top you bring goes with every bottom. I promise this works even for business trips. Black pants go a long way on almost every trip, unless you're going to the beach.

2. You brought too many shoes 

I love shoes. I have a whole closet full of them. Do they all go on vacation with me? They do not. I bring one pair of walking shoes, like sneakers, and a nicer pair of walking shoes to go to dinner or somewhere dressy, like a pair of ballet flats, mary janes, sandals, or a short packable boot. 

If you're going to the beach or the pool, throw in a pair of flip flops, but that's it. I wear my sneakers on the plane and pack the others and I have never been upset to only have 2 options, even when it rained so hard I had to go back to my room and change into my second pair and leave the first to dry out. 

3. You took the wrong bag

The right bag is essential. If you know that you're an overpacker, choose a smaller bag and pack for that one. Don't just assume you'll pack less in a larger bag, because you won't. I need to downsize to pack less and I bet you do, too. For a long time I either packed in a full-size roller bag or a backpack or both. I still take a backpack, because I like it for my laptop and snacks, but I've now gone to a smaller roller bag for when I travel alone or we are going on a short trip.

The more you practice packing, the easier it gets to take fewer things and choose the right bag for you. I have a lot of bags, because I'm a firm believer that certain trips call for certain bags, but even if you just invest in one good main bag and a personal item size bag, that's perfect. Figure out what you want from a bag (organization, pockets, 4 wheels, convertibility) and choose one based on those criteria. It's better than if you just buy one randomly based on price or because it looks good on the outside.

Now you have a good foundation for your packing and can start becoming more of a packing pro that can focus on downsizing your wardrobe and toiletry bag and using packing cubes (or not). Spending the time to really research how you want to travel and with what, you'll be happier to start packing for every trip.

What are your favorite travel brands for bags or clothes or shoes?

Disclaimer: Support Shereen Travels Cheap by using the links in my posts to shop. I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) so I can continue to create helpful free content. I earn from qualifying purchases made to the featured retailers. Thank you. I appreciate your support!

Why It's So Hard To Pack Less

I hear from a lot of people that they always check a bag and they're always shocked when they find out I rarely check a bag. If I do, it's only on my way home from a trip and nothing I've purchased there gets checked. Why? Because if my clothes go missing, that's one thing, but if things I just bought go missing, I'm going to be really upset.

When I ask why people don't just do carry-on, I get a lot of responses, but here are some of the most popular reasons they decide that they'd rather check a bag:

• They don't want to drag their bag through the airport
• They need too many things
• They want to bring 6 pair of shoes
• They won't carry their coat on

People are more than free to their opinions and travel styles, but when they complain about baggage fees and want me to give them tips, but then hate every suggestion I have, then the problem is definitely them. If you don't want to pay baggage fees, then you need to take fewer things and downsize your suitcase. You don't need to check a bag that is also oversize and/or overweight, unless you are packing to move across the country, need a bunch of camera equipment, or have medical items that take up a lot of space, but you can't live without.

So, why is it so hard to pack less? As a former overpacker, I get it. I had no strategy and just took a bunch of things and figured I'd decide what went with things when I got there. I wanted options. I love shoes. I never knew what I needed and often still brought things I didn't need and didn't wear or use. 

My whole outlook changed in October 2006. We were on our honeymoon and we arrived in London with two big bags, but because also didn't know where we were going or how to get there until we showed up, we spent hours riding the Underground, going up and down escalators and stairs, and walking over cobblestones. My ankles were swollen from the long plane ride (because did we really know about compression socks in 2006?) and I was tired and hungry. 

My bags weighed too much and I could barely even pick up my larger bag, which was horrible going up and down stairs when stations didn't have escalators, and I cursed myself for bringing anything at all. When we were near our hotel, I said if we weren't there soon, I was going to toss my bag into the street and just live without it. I didn't. We got to our hotel, where we were given the smallest room I had ever seen, and we dumped our bags, changed our clothes, and went around the corner to eat, at probably the worst restaurant I'd eaten at on a vacation. It was food though, so I didn't die of starvation.

I learned a lot on that trip. I wore the same pair of shoes the entire 2 weeks we were gone, because my legs were so swollen from the plane and I couldn't get them into the boots I packed. That's when I realized I didn't need a bunch of different shoes, just two very good pair of shoes. 

I packed too many heavy items of clothing. Not only did I end up having to lug those around, but I also didn't wear most of them, because the weather wasn't as cold as I expected. 

I started changing the way I traveled after that trip. I didn't always get it right, but I tried, and the more I tried, the better I got at it. We've gone from two big suitcases and carry-ons to two large carry-ons and personal items, to one large carry-on and personal items, and sometimes 1 small carry-on and personal items. 

I stopped packing things just because I might wear them. We joked about the "fear-based lifestyle" making you overpack because:

• What if I want woolly socks?
• What if I want to wear a Hawaiian shirt?
• What if I need extra boots?
• What if I need more pajamas?
• What if I'm asked to a gala and I don't have a tuxedo?
• What if I go sailing and don't have the proper shoes?
• What if I want to go spelunking and I don't have ropes?
• Will people know where I'm from? Better pack four or five more Oregon shirts!

You get scared you won't have everything you need, but you need way less than you think and you can always buy things if you do need them (we had to buy jackets one year when we went to Disney and it was much colder than expected, when a few years before that we were wearing t-shirts and shorts at the same time of year).

If you need everything from home when you travel, then you're not really traveling that well. You might as well stay home where all your things already live. You want options, but don't realize you're leaving yourself open to too many options when you have too many things and it makes it harder to make a decision each day to get to the point that you can leave the room.

What you need is to make a packing list before you go, but a good packing list that gives you mix-and-match options and not too many of them. You can make a ton of outfits from just 8-10 pieces of clothing, and even that is sometimes too many pieces.

Use your energy and decision-making before you go to plan your actual trip, not every outfit you plan to wear each day, because you're going to get there and then realize that it's impractical or uncomfortable or something you don't actually like now that you brought it with you. Plan your trip, watch the weather, make a layering plan, and go have fun. 

What are some of your biggest struggles when packing less?

In Which I Bring Back An Old Series

When I first started blogging, I used to do a Live and Learn segment, where I would tell you about things I learned on vacation, so you wouldn't make the same mistake, or at least try not to. I started just incorporating my lessons learned into my regular writing, but realized it might be fun to bring it back, not only because it helps me remember what went wrong and how we dealt with it, but also makes it clear that we are always learning from travel, even if we don't think we are.

What's something I recently learned on a trip? 

On a trip to San Francisco, we had a lot of things go wrong in the very short time we were there. One of those things was that our rental car got broken into and both of our backpacks were stolen out of the trunk (there wasn't anything in the car that was visible when we parked it on the street). We were, literally, 20 feet away in a tea shop having afternoon tea, and when we came out, one of the back windows was smashed, the seat was pulled down to be able to reach stuff in the trunk.

What I learned:

Thieves now have bluetooth/RFID detectors to find electronics in cars, so they broke into the car to steal my laptop, even though it was in the trunk and not visible.

What we did:

• I went onto my phone and signed out of Google for my laptop and deleted any personal info that they might have had access to to sign into websites.
• We made a report to our insurance to cover our luggage and everything inside. 
• We also had to call the rental car company and make a claim through them for our insurance.
• We took as many pictures of the damage as possible for ourselves and insurance.
• Eric tried to make a police report, but they said there are so many break-ins that they almost never follow up, so that's...discouraging.
• Once I got home and ordered a new laptop, the next thing I ordered was a set of Faraday bags, so no signal could get in or out and detect my laptop. So far, in the 2 1/2 years I've been using them, I've had zero problems. I put my laptop in a large one and put it in my bag. Eric puts all his electronics and key fob in a smaller one, which also keeps it all together in his bag and then at our destination, too. Once I left my laptop in it in the car for the entire day we were at Universal Studios and had no issues.

So, don't leave your belongings in the car where people can see them, and if you leave them in the trunk, either take your electronics with you or get protection for them like I did. Things happen on vacation that you can't always prepare for, but when you can and it's an easy fix, you should do it before it becomes a problem. Did I freak out at the time? Yes. But did everything work out? Also yes. Did I also say I was never going back to San Francisco? Yes, but I didn't mean that. I just probably won't drive if I don't have to.

I'm hoping to make this its own series instead of an addition to regular content, but it's going to be much shorter, so let me know if this is also content that you enjoy and/or tell me in the comments what are some of your travel live and learn moments. 

Having The Best Time in Thailand Without Breaking the Bank

Thailand has a reputation for being affordable. That doesn’t mean that a trip to Thailand is going to be inexpensive, but you can make it more budget-friendly while still having a fantastic time. With a little strategy, you can stretch your budget while still enjoying comfort, culture, and a few well-earned luxuries along the way. Whether you’re planning a two-week escape or a longer stay, living your best life in Thailand is all about balance.

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Master the Accommodation Combo

If you're traveling on a budget, short-term apartment rentals can be a smart move. Platforms like Airbnb often offer better value for one- or two-week stays compared to nightly hotel rates, especially if you want a kitchen and extra space. Condos in cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai frequently include amenities like pools and gyms.

That said, timing can be tricky. The best value rentals aren't always available for the exact dates you need. One simple solution? Start your trip with a few nights at a comfortable hotel to recover from jet lag and get your bearings. Booking a stay at a luxury property https://thesalilriverside.com/ allows you to relax in the best possible environment.

Get to Know the Locals

Thailand becomes far more affordable when you tap into local knowledge.

If you’ve connected with people online through shared interests, language exchanges, or travel communities, reaching out for recommendations can lead you to incredible hidden gems.

Locals know which restaurants serve authentic dishes at fair prices and which attractions are genuinely worth your time. They can also steer you away from overpriced tourist traps.

The key is building real connections first. Nurturing genuine online friendships or community ties can open doors to experiences you’d never find in a guidebook.

Transportation: Spend Smart, Travel Easy

Getting around Thailand through public transport is cost-friendly, as per autourasia.com. In Bangkok, public buses cost just a few baht, and the BTS Skytrain offers an affordable and efficient way to cross the city.

Ride-hailing apps like Grab and Bolt are widely used and often cheaper than traditional taxis.

In northern cities like Chiang Mai, shared songthaews (converted pickup trucks) provide low-cost transport within town.

For longer distances, trains and intercity buses are budget-friendly options, and overnight sleeper trains can double as accommodation savings.

If you are feeling brave, renting a motorbike is common in smaller towns and islands, but it’s only advisable if you’re experienced and properly insured.

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See the Sights Without the Crowds

Thailand’s biggest attractions are popular for a reason, but there’s magic beyond the most photographed temples and beaches. Consider exploring Sukhothai Historical Park instead of only visiting Ayutthaya, or head to Khao Sok National Park for dramatic landscapes without Phuket-level crowds.

In the south, provinces like Chumphon and Khanom offer quieter coastal experiences. Up north, towns like Nan and Pai provide cultural charm without the bustle of major hubs. Traveling slightly off the main tourist trail often means lower prices, fewer crowds, and a more relaxed pace.

So, if Thailand is on your bucket list, you can plan an unforgettable trip without breaking the bank. It’s about spending intentionally. Thailand is already an affordable country for most Western tourists, but that is the key challenge. When everything seems cheaper than at home, you can easily overspend! So, with thoughtful planning, Thailand lets you experience richness in culture and comfort without draining your wallet.

What are your favorite budget-friendly things to do in Thailand?