Be a Travel Winner 11.16.11

While everyone is making plans for Thanksgiving and stressing out over making dinner and spending time with family, I thought it would be fun to bring you some great giveaways you can enter and dream about getting away from it all. The best budget travel is free budget travel, so buy a couple of bottles of wine to get through Thanksgiving and cross your fingers that you win one of these awesome vacations.

I can’t do a giveaway post without listing my own giveaway here first. Do you want to win a copy of my fabulous budget travel book and also a $100 credit for BookIt.com? Well, why wouldn’t you? Join my online book launch party on Facebook and comment on the event. The topic: Where have you always wanted to travel, but haven’t made it to yet?  I love hearing about everyone’s travel dreams. Saturday will be the last day to “enter” and then a winner will be chosen from those who’ve commented, using Random.org. Make sure to share with your friends to help me get my book info out to a wider circle.

Win a trip to Australia to watch the Australian Open of Surfing, sponsored by Hurley and Billabong. It takes place on Manly Beach in Sydney February 11-19, 2012. Winner will receive a trip for two to Sydney, including round-trip airfare, accommodations, VIP passes to the Australian Open, $500 Hurley shopping spree and $1,000 in spending cash.

Air New Zealand would like to spread the word of their new LA to London route, by giving away a trip to London from Los Angeles. If you win, you’ll get round-trip airfare for two and two 3-day London Passes. It does not include accommodations, but you get access to over 55 attractions with your London Pass, so you’ll save a ton by having airfare and activities paid for.

Enter to win a 4 day, 3 night trip to Walt Disney World, where you will stay in a Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotel, get breakfast each morning and transportation to all Disney theme parks.

Tucan Travel wants you to join their Facebook page and win credit to take one of their tours. They offer hundreds of group tours, packages and even cruises that are luxury quality at affordable prices. When you win, you can choose your OWN vacation.

One of my favorite magazines, Travel + Leisure, really knows travel. Subscribe (or don’t) to enter for a chance to win a Spain and Venice dream vacation worth $25,000, sponsored by American Express. I do recommend T+L if you are on the fence about subscribing. It’s a fantastic travel resource. I find all the great places I want to vacation in and also find some fun places to splurge on for dining.

Every day you can enter to win a family cruise for four from Frigo Cheese. 5 entrants will win a 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Choose from sailing on Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas or Freedom of the Seas ships in 2 double-occupancy staterooms.

MTV and Dove want you to party on the island of Ibiza, Spain for 5 awesome nights for you and 2 friends. Win 3 round-trip tickets to Ibiza, accommodations in a first-class hotel and $500 spending money.

Choose your own destination with the Chicago Tribune and Navy Pier’s Passport sweepstakes. You and a companion will win round-trip tickets to a destination American Airlines flies to which could be in Latin America, London, the continental United States, Beijing, Caribbean and more. You’ll be responsible for the rest of your expenses.

Upload an original photo that says “Hi to Taiwan” and win a trip to Taiwan worth $3,300. You photo will be available on the site for you to send your friends to and vote for you to win! Three teams will win this grand prize.

One Card to Make Travel Easier 11.12.11

Do you find that you have a million rewards numbers for all your stuff? Not just frequent flyer mile numbers, but car rental membership numbers, hotel programs and more. I think we all have that problem these days, with every company trying to get you to sign up for their program. They want to research how customers spend their money and they give you certain benefits to make it worth your while, too. Well, besides not being able to remember all those numbers, it’s also pretty much impossible to keep track of all your points and miles without help. One of my favorite sites to keep track of all my reward programs (including dining rewards, like OpenTable) is Award Wallet. You can store all your membership details, including log-in with them for free.

And now they offer something even cooler. It’s called the One Card. Upgrade your Award Wallet account to Plus (to keep track of more points, expirations and ways to show you how to keep your points from expiring) for $10 or more and get a credit for the OneCard. It has room for 30 rewards programs and membership numbers, plus, it is the size of a credit card, so it fits right in your wallet. Another plus? It has a magnetic strip with all your info, so you can also use it to check in super-fast at airport kiosks instead of using your credit card or needing to find your confirmation number.

Don't be these people with their huge bags to be checked.

You know what this means? It means if you are a smart packer and go carry-on only over the holidays, you can skip the long check-in lines, quickly print your boarding passes while everyone else waits to check their bags and have all your program info in the palm of your hand, in case unforeseen circumstances cause you to need to contact any of them to change your plans (all your account info – not your log-in – will be printed on the card).

Delayed or cancelled? No problem!

Award Wallet is the only website I know of that lets you choose your own price to upgrade your account. That’s right! They want you to pay what you believe the service is worth. Whether that’s $5 or $20 per 6 months. If you’ve already signed up with Award Wallet and have upgraded your account, pay another $10 for your One Card and your upgraded membership will extend an additional 6 months.

Award Wallet's ease will make you feel like this!

So, if you’re tired of trying to corral all your membership cards in one place when you travel (or plan your travel), join me on Award Wallet and learn when your points increase, decrease and are close to expiration. Also, if you can’t remember you log-in for those million programs, you can click right through Award Wallet and instantly get logged in. Convenient!

Don't forget to sign up for our giveaway: $75 gift card for Ebags that is sponsored by the awesome folks at Ebates. Enter by Sunday at midnight (EST).

Join me for my online book launch party! RSVP and comment on the event to enter to win a copy of Shereen Travels Cheap and a $100 credit to BookIt. Just tell us where you have always wanted to go, but haven't made it to yet. I love sharing travel dreams!

Chislehurst Caves: The Underground Town 11.9.11

Read all the way to the end for a brand new awesome giveaway!

It’s not often we get to see what happens underground, which is a shame, because many times it can be super cool. In the past few years I’ve been fortunate to see many underground attractions, like Portland’s Shanghai Tunnels. One of the others I add to my list is Chislehurst Caves. A short train ride from London will get you there and it’s not a far walk from the station. Chislehurst Caves was listed as an included attraction with our London Pass, so we figured with our free day, we should go check it out and then either head on to Windsor Palace, Eltham Palace or head back into London to hit up the zoo. We are always on the lookout for fun and unusual places and we enjoyed the novelty of taking a train, so we made plans to check it out.

“Orpington, this is Orpington.” The robotic woman’s voice announcing the stop made it feel like we were stepping into a sci-fi adventure. Oddly enough, Chislehurst Caves was similar, having been used in the original Dr. Who show as the set for The Mines of Solos. Of course, we didn’t know that yet. We didn’t really know what to expect. Having visited near opening and also in the middle of the week in the late fall, we ended up at the Caves and found ourselves practically the only tourists there. There were a few visitors, but it appeared that they were just leaving. As a result, we had a tour guide all to ourselves and were able to ask all the questions we wanted, chit chat about TV shows and get a closer look at some of the sets and artifacts.

Stage that has seen acts like David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd

What drew me to the caves in the first place was not the fact that they were chalk mines and mined for bricks for London buildings or even that it was used as the set for multiple shows and movies or a concert venue for up-and-coming acts like the Rolling Stones. I mean, sure, those things are interesting, but the fact that it used to be an air-raid shelter. During WWII thousands of families took shelter down in the caves and a whole city was built and life was conducted underground. Imagine going to school, church, the doctor and then going “home” in the labyrinth of caves to escape the horrors of war. The caves housed over 15,000 people at that time.

The caves may seem creepier than they would if they were lit up, because you carry a lantern throughout your 45 minute tour. The shadows can play tricks on you and you also wonder what lurks in the darkness beyond the circle of light cast by it. The walls have a twinkle to them, from the flint that is also found there, and was a big reason that Dr. Who used them to film in. You will see some items that were left behind when the caves were closed as an air-raid shelter and wonder if it was just as frightening when those people were living there. Each family was assigned a set of bunks to call home and were allowed to bring only what they could carry, which couldn’t have been much.

Even now you can view remains left from WWI, when it was used to house artillery. Bring a sweater and your camera, plus make sure to wear good walking shoes, as the ground is uneven and you will walk about a mile down there. Make a detour to the gift shop and café on your way out to commemorate your visit and also help to keep the caves open and available to tour. Prices are very affordable and only cost 5£ for adults and 3£ for seniors (over 60) and kids under 16. Under 3 are free! I would certainly suggest this as an addition to another activity out of the city if you will be taking the train, as it will give you an excuse to buy a day pass (if you don’t have the transportation option on your London Pass or an Oyster Card) and make the most of your money. If you’re driving, Chislehurst Caves is easy to find and also has free parking. Score!

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Need another reason to visit London besides all the totally awesome stuff there is to see and do there? Plan a trip in the next 9 months and book a flight out on British Airways by November 15 (for travel through March of next year) and get low rates on fares and also 2 free hotel nights! Enticing yet? Find more things to do by checking out London Pass and also some of these fun articles I've written to show you that you can plan a trip to London on a budget!

 London For Less (So You Can Buy More Shoes)

Can You Hear London Calling?

Explore London While Staying Within a Budget

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There's a new giveaway starting! Ebates is sponsoring a $75 Ebags gift card. Remember those reviews I did for the Eagle Creek Pack-It Cubes and the Emerson bag? Well, win this gift card and you can buy those or any of the other fabulous items on Ebags. The only rules is that you must be an Ebates member and "like" Shereen Travels Cheap on Facebook. All other options are for extra entries. Drawing will take place at midnight EST on Sunday 11/13. 

Good luck!

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