Shereen Travels Cheap

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Live Chat with Shereen Travels Cheap 8.23.11

I know I don’t normally post on Tuesdays, but today I felt like telling you something fun that is happening tomorrow on the Ebates Savvy Living Community that you don’t want to miss. For those of you who don’t get my newsletter (and really, all the cool kids are doing it!) you should know about my live chat on fall travel happening at 5pm PST / 8pm EST.

Are you planning a trip this fall? Need some encouragement to do it? What about low, low prices on airfare and hotels? Join me and my co-hosts (Kristin from BonBon Rose Girls and Michelle from Everyday Celebrating) for a fun chat where we will talk about where to go, what to do and how to save even more money! Bring your questions, if you have any, and we will be more than happy to answer them. If you have questions about what to wear and how to pack, we can answer those, too! Kristin is a fashion blogger and has all the latest info on current trends and I am a world-class packer! (Okay, maybe not world-class, but I am really good at it.)

If you can’t make the chat, it’s okay. The feed will be available indefinitely at this link and you can read all the contributions at your leisure. (If you have a specific question you want answered, you can email it to me and I’ll go over it in the chat and also send you our best answer.) But if you can, please consider joining us, because the chats are always so much fun and informative. Our fellow community members are really awesome and supportive!

If you haven’t joined the Savvy Living Community yet, please do so. I’m one of your savvy travel experts over there. That’s right! I’m a proud community leader along with 15 other fabulous bloggers. Join discussions, ask questions and find out how to be savvy (aka frugal) in everything you do. I mean, who doesn’t like to save money? The leaders blog on everything from coupons to child wrangling to cooking to parties.

Next week you can also catch me in a live chat about the current season of Project Runway. Kristin brings her love of fashion to this chat that she is hosting with several co-hosts. We’ll talk about what we like, what we don’t, who has the best clothes and Kristin’s interview with Tim Gunn himself. I’m so jealous. We’d love to see you there. Here’s the info on both chats again:

What: Live Fall Travel Chat

When: Wed. 8/24 5pm PST / 8pm EST

Where: Savvy Living Community

What: Live Project Runway Chat

When: Mon. 8/29 6pm PST / 9pm EST

Where: Savvy Living Community

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Food, Glorious Food...Around the World on a Budget 8.20.11

When you go on vacation you have to eat. It's not something you can just not do, like buying souvenirs. If you're anything like me, you greatly look forward to trying new foods and having people cook for you. The great thing about food is that, unlike airfare, it comes in a large range of prices, meaning you can save a bundle on your dining when you travel. I have ten awesome ways you can save even MORE, get to eat delicious foods and enjoy more of the culture of your destination. Just because you are trying to save money doesn’t mean that you have to eat fast food or sandwiches for every meal or can’t experience the best cuisine a place has to offer.

Chicken and waffles!

1. Ask the locals where they eat. Odds are, people who live where you’re traveling don’t eat at the fanciest restaurant in town. You know who eats there? Tourists and people celebrating their anniversaries. The “normal” people eat at affordable dining establishments that are also delicious and serve food from the local area. They are going to want to point you towards some of the city’s gems and impress you because, unlike hotel staff, they don’t get paid for recommending the crazy expensive steakhouse down the street.

Unagi

2. Look forward to lunch. You probably aren’t always frugal. While on vacation, it’s okay to splurge sometimes. If that includes going to a top-rated restaurant that you know is spendy, make reservations for lunch instead of dinner. The food will be just as tasty, but cheaper than at dinnertime.

3. Split an entrée. Most restaurants serve you at least twice as much food as you can eat. Don’t be weighted down having to carry around leftovers or feel bad about food left on your plate. Share a main dish with your travel companion. Most hotels will split an entrée for no fee, but even if you have to pay for an extra plate, it only costs a few dollars, which is cheaper than paying for a whole other meal.

A monte cristo is always totally filling

4. Order an appetizer for a meal. Most appetizers can be plenty to fill you up and can be as little as a third of the price of an entrée. This is also a great option for you if you like to try many different dishes. Order two to three for the same price as a meal.

5. Hit up the food carts. Food carts can offer a huge variety of different local and international foods, but can be half the price of (or less) than dining at a sit-down restaurant. With this kind of savings, you can try fare from several carts with no regrets.

Look at what you could make with farmers market ingredients

6. Shop the farmers market. There’s no better way to experience local cuisine and interacting with residents than a visit to the closest farmers market. You will find a variety of food, including meats, fruits, vegetables and cheeses. Purchase enough for lunch and enjoy the afternoon having a picnic in a nearby park.

7. Rent a vacation home or stay in a hotel with a kitchen(ette). This is my favorite way to stretch my food budget, because there are so many options. Renting can be a great value over hotel stays if you’ll be visiting for a week or more, plus it gives you the chance to check out the local grocery store. Make many of your own meals and save considerably. I don’t often like to spend money on eating breakfast out, so I love to buy new cereals and pastries I can enjoy in my room.

Free breakfast tastes delicious

8. Stay at a hotel that offers free breakfast. You don’t realize how much dining out can cost until you go on vacation. A reasonable breakfast can cost between $8-15 per person. If you multiply that by the number of people you’re traveling with and the number of days you’ll be staying, that number can be huge. If you find a hotel in your price range that offers free breakfast, you’ve hit a jackpot of savings.

9. Sign up for Groupon. Groupon.com is an amazing little site that offers daily deals on a wide assortment of things, not least of which is dining. Each day a new offer goes up at a big discount off the regular price. Dining certificates can be purchased quite often and many times I have gotten a half-off gift certificate to a new local restaurant or one just trying to bring in new customers. It works! Sign up at Groupon.com for the destination of your next vacation (they cover many international locations as well as the United States) and eat for less! Want to know more about Groupon? See my post here.

Sliders are perfect for little ones

10. Don’t order off the kids’ menu. If you travel with children, you’ll notice that most kids’ menus seem to have the same small rotation of foods. Obviously, little ones don’t just live on hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets and PB&J sandwiches. Not only do they charge an outrageous amount for these “staples” that cost hardly anything to make, but they offer hardly any nutritional value and your kids are likely to eat only half of it before declaring they’re full. Instead, order a meal that you both will eat and share. This saves you money and might get them to eat a vegetable or two.

While there are other ways to save on dining, these have proven to be the most useful for my travels and are my first suggestions to anyone asking how to cut costs on their trip. They are easy to do and will enable you to try a bigger variety of foods, too. You’ll experience more of the city and its people, giving you a greater vacation experience.

(Most of this post originally posted on Cheap Like Me as a guest post. See it here)

Winner! I have two great giveaways happening.

The first is for a Travelon Flat Out HangingToiletry bag stuffed with a bunch of awesome stuff: GoToobs courtesy of Human Gear, rinseless laundry detergent courtesy of SoakWash, a selection of LaFresh wipes, some travel sizes of men's Jack Black toiletries, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, Colgate Wisps, nail polish remover wipes, anti-bacterial wipes, sunblock, body wash, Man on the Move soap leaves and (not shown) 2 toothbrush sanitizers. What more could you ask for? Throw in some lip balm and your toothbrush and go! Enter here or click on the Current Giveaway tab at the top of the page.

The second giveaway is sponsored by Travelon. They have generously offered to send one of our readers their fantastic Pack-flat Backup Bag. It's an extra carry-on bag for your travels. Packs flat for your journey there and then unzips into a full carry-on bag that fits under the airplane seat for all the goodies you bought on your trip. Click here to enter.

Don't forget to join me on the awesome new Savvy Living Community sponsored by Ebates. Not only will you learn how to save money by better utilizing Ebates, but you will also be able to read Savvy blog posts and join in discussions and live chats with Savvy Leaders (like me!) to learn how to save money on all aspects of your life. With 16 bloggers who are experts on everything from travel to family life, you're sure to learn a lot of new information, find some great new blogs and even make some friends along the way. Join Ebates.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Magic is in the Hole at Voodoo Doughnut 8.17.11

Family comes first here at Shereen Travels Cheap headquarters, which means that my whole weekend was full of family gatherings all centered around food and having a good time. I didn’t have time to devote to a brand new blog post, but I did have time to hit up Voodoo Doughnut in my hometown with a cousin and aunt. Since it has been called an international tourist attraction, I decided to tempt you with pictures of all the horribly delicious sweet treats we purchased and ate at the lovely outdoor dining benches set up all around the city to promote summer outdoor dining. I think my sugar buzz just now wore off from Sunday morning’s jaunt to what might be the most popular locally owned doughnut shop ever.

Voodoo Doughnut opened in 2003 and has remained a Portland staple/attraction/landmark ever since. They stay open 24 hours at all 3 of their Oregon locations (2 in Portland and 1 in the university district of Eugene) to serve up tasty and downright crazy combinations of ingredients served up on your favorite kind of fried dough. Even though they only accept cash, the line is still usually snakes out the door and winds down the sidewalk. A line full of tourists and locals alike with coffee in one hand and their camera or phone in the other to prove to people they actually visited the most unique doughnut shop people have ever heard of. The claim “The magic is in the hole,” but I also think it must be in their freaky flavor combinations, awesome employees and neverending hours.

So, have you not heard of Voodoo before? Between their frequent mentions on the Travel Channel and Food Network on shows like No Reservations and Man vs Food as well as write-ups in national magazines and newspapers, I would be surprised if you hadn’t, but for those of you not in the know, let me tell you some of the cool aspects of Voodoo besides their be-sparkled brick exterior. That’s right, gold and sparkly, as in covered in irremovable prismatic glitter by some way or another. And you thought just the inside was fun with all the delicious, delicious doughnuts.

This isn't even the full menu

I will tell you that in all my time living in Portland, this has only been my second trip to Voodoo and my first to the flagship location downtown, but I know there are people who make it a habit of hitting it up anytime they make it downtown, because they can and the doughnuts are kinda habit-forming. In fact, when you stand in line for 30-45 minutes for a glazed doughnut covered in grape powder and purple sprinkles (and then make the decision at the counter that all that time in line deserves another half dozen to take home), only to look forward to coming back, that says something about a place…especially when you had to stop at the ATM before showing up, because they only accept cash.

This was the line at 9:30am

Saturday and Sunday morning are good times to grab a place in line at Voodoo, because you can eat your sugar-filled yum-fest, take your pink box back to your car and then walk off many of those calories – and make a little bit larger dent in your wallet – at Portland Saturday Market. It’s free to roam around and see all the handcrafted items, like soap, jewelry, dishes, food products and more. You’ll find one or two things you can’t leave without and then be ready to rest and then cram some more food in your face. Put your name on the lunch list at Mother’s Bistro (or make reservations ahead of time) and enjoy fine brunch offerings featuring local products.

Of course, a popular time to hang out there is also Friday and Saturday nights after stumbling from the bars and clubs. I’m sure a sugar-laden hunk of fried dough covered in chocolate and/or cereal sounds especially good at 2:30am, considering how good it can sound at any other point in the day.

Each Voodoo location is decorated differently, but similarly. With unique and eclectic chandeliers, artwork and voodoo dolls, you’re getting a total Portland experience. Not like we’re all weirdos here in the Northwest, but we do like to be different. Besides, normal doesn’t get you on TV or people traveling from across to globe to sample your wares. You gotta be a little wacky to get noticed and that’s exactly how Voodoo Doughnut operates. With doughnuts called things like the Memphis Mafia, Marshall Matters, Old Dirty Bastard and Grape Ape, you expect to be mesmerized by what’s on the menu. Well, let me tell you, with over 90 varieties available, that won’t be a problem. Of course, if something called a Butter Fingering or a Dirty Snowball offends you, you can always get a classic crueller, cake or glazed doughnut. Voodoo even offers vegan doughnuts, so nobody feels left out. Round off your sugar-coma-in-disguise with a great cup of Stumptown coffee (also available: hot tea, ice water or even milk).

Want to drool even more? Here’s just a small sample of their giant menu:

Captain My Captain: vanilla frosted doughnut covered in Cap’n Crunch cereal

Portland Cream: Bavarian cream filled doughnut covered with chocolate with two eyes staring back atcha!

Mango Tango: vanilla frosted doughnut filled with mango jelly and topped with Tang. (Yes, the stuff that the astronauts drink.)

Gay Bar: cream filled bar covered in vanilla frosting and a rainbow made of Froot Loops cereal

Memphis Mafia: fried dough topped with banana chunks and cinnamon sugar and then covered in glaze with chocolate frosting, peanut butter, peanuts and chocolate chips

Old Dirty Bastard: chocolate glazed doughnut covered in Oreos and peanut butter

Neapolitan: chocolate cake doughnut covered in vanilla frosting, strawberry dust and marshmallows in the center

Triple Chocolate Penetration: chocolate cake doughnut dipped in chocolate and covered in Cocoa Puffs cereal

Dirty Snowball: chocolate cake doughnut with marshmallow topping, covered in coconut with a peanut butter dollop in the middle

What makes Voodoo even more special? Well, if you love doughnuts so much they put you in the mood to get married, you can have your wedding right inside with a coffee and doughnut catered reception. Seriously, if none of this makes you put Portland on your list of must-see places, I’m not sure the Northwest is really a place for you. If you do plan to be Oregon-bound at any time in the future, make sure you subscribe to my Portland Budget Travel Examiner column for great deals in and around the Portland area. You’ll find affordable things to see and do, as well as places to stay and ideas for day trips. Who better to help you plan your trip to Portland than by someone who lives here and loves it?