Vacation Rentals for Group Travel 4.7.12

You’re probably sick of me talking about how vacation rentals are awesome, but since I genuinely think they can stretch your travel dollar further and use them myself, I will keep telling you until you do it – and probably afterwards – and see for yourself. Though we often stay in timeshare properties when it’s just the two of us, it is even more beneficial for travelers who go as four or more, because it gives you room to stretch out and also get away from people if you need to. Being cramped up in one room with people can give you a bit of cabin fever, especially when you’re also spending all day with them. We had 4 adults, 3 kids and a baby in a 3 bedroom and it was almost like hanging out at home, except not boring.

I’ve included many photos of us enjoying our space that was not a hotel room with two beds and a tiny table with chair. The 3 bedrooms were perfect, because everyone had their own room to go to if they were feeling tired or annoyed by being with other people. Sometimes that just happens when you are on vacation. It can be a bit stressful spending that much time together. Here are some other reasons why I love and recommend a vacation rental, be it condo, timeshare, house or apartment:

You can spend as much time in your rental as you want. Not that you can’t do that in a hotel room, but generally you don’t want to, because it’s a bed and a TV, or the maid will come and disturb you while she’s cleaning and trying to do her job. There’s no Do Not Disturb sign you need to hang on your door when you rent, because you don’t have maid service (usually). In some rentals, if you stay a certain amount of days, they will come once to change out your sheets and towels, but that’s pretty much it. Your room is equipped with anything you might need from towels for the pool to a vacuum cleaner.

Save money on longer stays. Hotels will almost never give you a price break when you stay longer, unless it’s a special they are running. On vacation rentals, you generally get a better deal on weekly stays than on nightly stays, which means if you stay a week, you may spend the same as if you only stayed and paid for 4 nights.

Save money for more guests. When you stay in a hotel, you pay more for anyone over two guests in a room. Unless children stay free (which they do at many hotels and resorts), you can end up paying $20+ for each per night. This sucks especially when there are four adults sharing a room with two queens. Obviously, this room was not made for just two people, but they are charging you an arm and a leg for having the appropriate number of guests. You could spend that same money on a suite to give you more space or spend it on a rental that comes with useful amenities and separate bedrooms.

Save money on dining out. This is a big one for a lot of people. Why spend $10 per night to get a fridge put into your room for a week when you can have an entire kitchen and plates and cups and serving dishes and flatware…and sometimes a BBQ? For real! You could spend every meal out and go broke just eating or you could go to the grocery store and grab some necessities and stock your fridge and cabinets with things you like to eat for breakfast or lunch and keep some money in your pocket by only dining out for a few meals. Dining out with 7 people was not cheap, but we hit up the grocery store and for $70 we had food for all our breakfasts, a couple lunches, a dinner and a yummy dessert for our 4 days we were there. We may have gotten away with less if I didn’t want to make a fun Indian stew, but I had also packed all of the dry ingredients in a plastic container, so I wouldn’t have to buy rice and spices that we wouldn’t use and I already had.

Get separate rooms. Yes, I’ve already explained this, but I include it because this was even more useful to us in a mixed crowd, because the baby could be put down in a room and not be kept awake by us in the main room. If one of the kids was bad or needed some alone time, they had somewhere to go and we weren’t all punished or had to watch the same show they wanted to watch. We didn’t all have to go to bed when the kids went, so we could stay up a few hours later and play games and hang out while they slept down the hall. Also, when Eric and I had to leave earlier than them on the day we were checking out, we didn’t wake anyone up taking showers, putting on clothes and dragging our luggage out.

Pack less and do your laundry. I’m always going to tell you to pack light. For four days, we packed one large carry-on and the Eagle Creek Emerson shoulder bag. That’s it. For two of us. I even packed some pantry items (see dining out above), a package of naan, activities for the kids and an extra pair of shoes. You might check to see if your rental has laundry facilities, but most do or are close to a Laundromat. We were fortunate to have a washer and dryer right in our rental. It even had a door, so we could throw clothes in and close it off and not disturb everyone. Not that it was that loud. While we didn’t need to use it, we still did laundry before we packed to go back home so we would have clean smelling clothes and baggage. We have stayed at ones that have had laundry facilities on-site and also carried our clothes down the street to do them. It takes very little time and gives you a chance to plan your next day, catch up on email, play a game or read the book/magazine you brought. Downtime is good.

You don’t need to lock up all your valuables every day. Because you don’t have daily maid service, you don’t have to round up everything you brought with you and stash it away, even if it’s just dirty clothes and receipts. We leave our netbook out where we use it, throw dirty clothes in the hamper we bring and spread out our toiletries in the bathroom like we like them and don’t have to worry about putting them in a drawer before we leave so they can clean up after us.

Get free parking. Generally, this is true, but with some condos and apartments, you may have to pay to park your car. We have been lucky so far, or haven’t rented a car at our destination.

Other reasons you might like a vacation rental:

·      They can be a lot quieter.

·   Nobody is running up and down your hall at 3am, keeping you awake (unless it’s someone you brought with you)

·      No one sees you coming or going like they do in the hotel lobby.

·    It’s still cheaper to split the cost with several travelers than it is to get separate hotel  rooms.

·    You have a fridge, so you don’t have to run back and forth to the ice machine if you want a cold drink.

·      It’s like living at your destination.

·   The kitchen is stocked with all the necessities, including basic spices. We made a lovely rub for the chicken we grilled with what was in our cupboard. We felt creative.

Check out these sites for vacation rentals: FlipKey | RedWeek | Roomorama | VRBO


Need more budget travel tips? Summer is coming soon. Download my new ebook, Secrets of Summer Travel for just $2.99 and learn how to save a bundle on the year’s most expensive time to vacation. It’s packed full of ways to stretch your bucks and will be good for this summer and 10 summers from now. A bargain at twice the price!

Do you rent instead of staying in hotels? What’s your favorite benefit?

Super Useful Travel Links 4.6.12

Don’t forget to enter to win a $100 vacation credit for BookIt.com!

This week I’ve noticed that I’ve found a lot of really useful links lately. I can’t really post them all on Facebook – even though I try – because travel tips and deals are the norm there. Instead of clipping them and posting them all at suitable intervals, I’ve decided that I will save them up and make a twice monthly post of said useful posts, where they can help you, you can see them all at once and won’t be posted 6 months from now when there is a spot open on my Facebook feed. Let me know if you like this new feature!

One of my favorite travel blogs Glampacker is written by an Australian cutie that lives in London and travels as much as possible while saving money and looking great. This week she writes about how to do London on a budget. Obviously, you know why it caught my eye, but I wanted to share with you as well, in case London is also on your travel list, or any of the other UK towns she mentions great stuff in.

I hate it when I have to pay for internet, but I hate more when I pay for it and can only use it on one device at a time (or at all). Wouldn’t it be nice to plug your laptop into the Ethernet cable, but also share your connection via WiFi to other items, like a second laptop (for bloggers among you or those that travel in groups), an iPad or phone? The smarty pants writers of Too Many Adapters has solved this problem for us technologically impaired travelers by showing us the secret to how to share an internet connection with other devices!

The Harry Potter Studio Tour is open in London! Leavesden Studios takes you on a three-hour tour of the adventures and school life of The Boy Who Lived. If you loved the movies, then this is a must-see. Check out the time-lapse video of the construction.

Too lazy to actually plan anything for your trip or found a last-minute deal that you couldn’t pass up? Check out Plnnr.com and they will send you a super detailed itinerary that will make your trip “perfect”…if you’re traveling to one of the 20 cities they have available. They’ll even find a hotel for you to stay at. Just pick the dates you’ll be there, what kind of trip you’re into (with kids, outdoors, etc) and Plnnr does the rest.

You know I love anything that will make my life easier, whether I’m traveling or not, but this list of the 50 ultimate travel apps (so far) is quite useful and there are many on the list that I currently have or plan to get (with the exception of Kayak, as I don’t book travel on-the-go and I also don’t think their regular website is as helpful as many others. I would, in fact, choose Yapta or FareCompare instead, but that’s all personal preference.)

Myths can be fun. Travel myths = 10 times more fun! Are flight attendants really robots? Of course not, but why do they talk like them? Actually, many of these aren’t that interesting, but I loved the one about airline food being icky so much, I went back and read the rest of the list. Check out 6 In-Flight Myths Busted!

Do you get to your hotel room and throw all your crap on the floor and immediately jump on the bed like a 6 year old? That isn’t on the list of How NOT to Behave in a Hotel Room, but it’s on my list. Here are some others will help you keep out of trouble. Oh yeah, please don’t walk down the hallway at 2am talking loudly like you are in a cone of silence either.

In my quest to find a way to use up my bananas and coconut, I found these lovely banana coconut chocolate muffins that look yummy. Of course, they aren't travel-related, though you could make them and pack them for your trip. Since they sound so good, and are on my list for things to make this week, I thought I'd share. Also, I think I'm now addicted to Technicolor Kitchen's many recipes. I see a lot of nutritious, delicious and portable treats. Better and cheaper than airline food, for sure...engine noise or not.

Before I go, I also want to do a little self-promotion: Over the past couple of weeks, FareCompare has published several posts that I’ve written that have been very popular. In case you’ve missed them, you can check out How to Create a Grab-and-Go Carry-On, How to Combat Airfare Hikes for Summer Travel and one that I feel could definitely be called back to: Meal Choices for the Vegetarian Traveler.

Coming soon will be a guest post for Ebates, another post on CheapOAir’s blog and this week I was interviewed for a travel article for the Christian Science Monitor.

So, what do you think? I'll be posting this series every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. Did YOU find anything cool this week? Post it in the comments!

Affordable St. George, Utah 4.4.12

Before this year, apparently I am one of very few people who had never heard of St. George. Everyone I talked to was telling me how beautiful it was and they look forward to going back some day. For all the time I lived in Arizona, I have never been to New Mexico and this was really my first time in Utah if you don’t count being inside the airport in Salt Lake City, which I don’t. Our way of getting there took us to 5 different states in a day (starting in Portland, Oregon, layover in Long Beach, California, landed in Las Vegas, Nevada, drove through a few miles of Arizona and then arrived in Utah), so we were well-traveled before we even made it to St. George in the afternoon. The city is adorable. Somewhat historic, but still modern. It had a small-town feel, but was fairly large, considering. Not too big though, because I could still find my way to and from the mall (and all the stuff around it) without my GPS.

There are not a lot of things to do in St. George, which sometimes makes it hard to find affordable activities to entertain yourself, but as there were 8 of us (4 adults, 3 children and a baby) who are fairly easily amused, we found things to do that didn’t cost much more than the tank of gas we were burning to get around.

Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park – Within an hour’s drive (unless a mudslide washes out the road and you have to drive around the mountain) are two different national parks. The kids wanted to go hiking at Bryce Canyon, so that was our choice – as the parks are in different directions – and we all piled into the van to do just that. Unfortunately, due to that afore mentioned mudslide, we ended up taking a detour that made our 45 minute drive into more like 3 hours, but we saw some gorgeous scenery on the way, like people skiing and a frozen lake. It costs just $25 per private vehicle to get into either park and then anything else you do is free: hiking, picture taking, checking out the visitor’s center (including the movie that runs at various times throughout the day and the museum), picnicking. You name it. Bring some layers to dress in, because even though you’re in the desert, it can get chilly up there.

Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum – If you and your kids love animals, this place is pretty cool. Full of popular and even rare creatures found throughout the world, this museum gets you up and personal with them and entry comes with an audio tour that tells you about all of the animals on display. The morbid part, which you can choose to ignore, is that the majority of the animals were “collected” by the Rosenbruch family and used to fill the museum. They use modern taxidermy methods and anything they weren’t able to collect on their safaris and found it would be incomplete without have been created instead, so a few things (ahem! I’m talking to you Nile crocodile) don’t look as real…or completely fake. If this is bothersome to you, it might be best to skip, but I found it to be pretty fascinating and learned a lot from our visit. Admission is $8/$4 and Mondays are family days where there are kids’ activities from 4pm to 8pm and families receive a 10% discount on admission. Saturdays are for kids. Kids get in for $4 and are given a passport and enjoy a safari guide as well as other fun themed activities that are different each week and run from 12pm-2pm. You can drop your child(ren) off or stay to watch them have fun.

Tai Pan Trading (for budget shopping) – Do you love shopping for interesting things? Do you often wander around Cost Plus World Market for an hour or more? This place is awesome and very similar, but at a fraction of the price. Find dishes and homewares and flowers and vases and specialty foods and décor and so much more. If I had needed a cake plate or giant basket or art for my house, I could have gotten it all here. I walked away with a $4 salt and peppermill set, as I couldn’t reasonably fit anything else I wanted into my luggage, like a rainbow-colored chandelier for $159(!) or a set of large glass tulip candlesticks ($24 each!) or a giant turkey platter (just $14!). They don’t ship and I’m reasonably sure nothing there is made in St. George, but it’s a fun way to spend an hour or two.

Zion Outlets (for MORE budget shopping) – While not huge like other outlet malls, the Zion Outlets have some great shops to choose from, including one I had never heard of called Down East Outfitters. A funky juniors clothing store with crazy cheap prices and adorable pieces. Another cool store that is great for kids, too, is called Del Sol. It is full of color-changing merchandise, including keychains, sunglasses, t-shirts and even nail polish that changes color in the sun. And, of course, you can’t leave without getting an oversized chocolate or caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company.

Iceberg Drive Inn – Yes, that is spelled correctly and no, it’s probably not the best retro diner anywhere, but what I do know is that for fast food prices, you can chill in this great little 50’s diner and enjoy a cheeseburger, fries and a monster milkshake made with fresh ingredients – my banana milkshake had real slices of banana in it – or a delicious pastrami burger or these big a** onion rings! Kids meals are similar to regular menu items, just smaller and cheaper, and they come with a kid’s cone. My friend and I both ordered meals with “mini” milkshakes and they were bigger than any regular beverage I get. Meals with the milkshake run around $7 and without for $5-6 on average.

Silver Reef Ghost Town – Seven miles outside of St. George is the town of Leeds and Silver Reef Ghost Town. Silver Reef is the only place in the U.S. where silver was found in sandstone. While none of the websites I came across would tell me the museum and gallery were open every day except Tuesday and Wednesday, so when we showed up on Tuesday morning, we weren’t able to get in the small building to see the museum. In fact, they say that anytime is the best time to visit. If you’re thinking of visiting, make sure to call the Leeds visitor center first. We did learn some interesting facts from the signs around the town and took a bunch of fun pictures and also visited the old Pioneer graveyards. All of it was absolutely free, too. I suppose we actually saved money by not having access to the gift shop where we might have wanted to buy something.

Movie theaters – We followed up lunch with a movie one afternoon and were surprised by the low prices. Not just for admission, but for concessions, too. The local chain is by Westates and I was able to get an “extra large” soda for just $4 at Stadium 8. Considering I pay more than that at our second run theater here in Portland, I found it very budget friendly.

Have you been to St. George? What are your money-saving activities there?