Planning Your Budget Travel Itinerary 4.14.12

Tomorrow is the last day to enter to win a $100 vacation credit to BookIt.com. If there are 100+ entries at the close, the winner will also receive a copy of my summer ebook.

So, it was brought to my attention that although (most of) you guys know where to find good deals, it’s difficult to also find things to do at your destination and Viator just isn’t cutting it for some. I understand. I’m a crazy Googler when it comes to planning my vacation, but I know that many just don’t have as much time, or the desire, to look at destination websites all day long. I’ll tell you, even I have trouble trying to remember some of the best sites to find things to do where I’m going and have to refer back to my own book. There are just so many good sites out there, but I’ll give you a few that I tend to go back to again and again.

Deer, deer and more deer at a wildlife museum

TripAdvisor – Cliché? Maybe, but I always find some weird things mixed in that people have done that really help me choose something new and different. Of course, this is one of those websites that has long lists of things if you are going somewhere very popular or large. If you are visiting a destination that is not quite as big, it can help you find the three things that they actually have to see, do and eat there. Luckily, you can choose how to sort the long list of possibilities. I usually start with Most Popular and then decide if the first 10-20 even sound remotely interesting to me before trying a different tactic.

Pamper yourself for half off or more!

Groupon – Yes, I know it isn’t so much searching, but it’s like finding buried treasure when you’re emailed a fantastic deal for something you really wanted to do and also wasn’t sure you could afford. 50-90% off is always a great price. Usually, these are good 6-12 months out, so you can sign up for emails for your destination(s) as soon as you know you’re going. We saved hundreds of dollars on our trip to Hawaii. Don’t forget, Groupon isn’t just for the U.S., it’s worldwide, so whether you are going to Florida or Finland, you can get deals!

LonelyPlanet – Their guides are great, but you can save money by using their online guides to plan your trip. The best thing about Lonely Planet is that they don’t assume you have unlimited funds. Nope. They are written by regular people like you and me who don’t actually get paid extra to stay in hotels or eat in restaurants, so they have honest opinions about things and suggest things they could afford, not what they get paid to write about.

Yup, that's an outdoor butcher.

What’s On When – It’s always nice to know about any festivals that will be happening when you get where you’re going. Nothing worse than getting home and realizing you missed some huge thing that everyone was talking about, right? Always go to What’s On When and not only will you see any special happenings going on, you can also look at ongoing events (farmers’ markets, shows) and find out where the good food, activities and shops are. If you’ve been to Vegas, you’ll notice that they have copies of the magazine everywhere. It’s just as informative, but way more convenient (and eco-friendly) online.

Uptake – I always find interesting cheap and free things to do at my destination on Uptake. 80% of it may be wonky things you’ve never heard of and people say sucks, but the other 20% is pure gold! (It really depends on where you’re going, because some destinations have better recommendations than others, but it’s still fun to look at things that are super random and you may not have found elsewhere.

Us at Pearl Harbor on a Groupon tour.

National Geographic City Guides (online) – You can find all kinds of free things to do in a destination with these.  I love it, because you end up finding some pretty cool stuff and it’s totally free. Some museums are only free certain days and times, but it will give you a starting point. And if you aren’t going to be there when the museums are free, many can have a reasonable admission fee, so don’t automatically dismiss them because you won’t be there on a Wednesday evening.

If you still aren’t finding things you want to do, maybe you are just being too picky or are going to the wrong destination, but I’m positive you will find more than enough things that you will think are exciting that are also affordable to fill your days with just by using a few (or all) of these sites. There is a great resource list of planning websites in my budget travel book, too.

Do you have a favorite site you go to for helping you plan your trips?

Yay for Renting a Car 4.11.12

When we travel, we often get a rental car, unless we are in a place with an awesome (or at least usable) transportation system, like Honolulu or London. We have learned a lot about what to ask for before renting and how to make the most of a rental by using things we already own, like insurance. We have full coverage on both of our vehicles at home, which covers us in any vehicle we drive, so we can skip the insurance at the rental counter. We also use a credit card with coverage, so we are double covered in case of an accident or theft. Here are some other things to know when renting a car that could save you from giving them all your money before you even drive off the lot.

The prepaid gas option is usually a rip off. Here’s the deal: people like convenience and if they can skip a step and get on with their lives, they might be willing to do it. Unfortunately, $9 per gallon is a bit steep. Even if they tell you that the rate is comparable to what’s at the pump, confirm what you will be paying for. When they told me I could pay less than $4 per gallon when I came back at less than a full tank I kind of got excited, but then I asked if I would only pay for what they put in the tank (like if I had half a tank, I would only pay for the other half), but was told that you pay for an entire tank no matter what. Good deal? I think not. We chose to fill up down the street before we returned the car.

Keep your gas receipt. Possibly this is just in Vegas right now, but make sure you keep your last receipt anyway, just in case you need proof that you actually did put gas in the car. I was told there had been a lot of incidences where people didn’t want to pay for gas, so they filled the rest of the tank with water and returned the car at “full”. To avoid getting fined, you must bring proof of receipt.


If you pay cash, you will be asked to pay a deposit. If you steal that car or wreck it, they want to be sure they are covered. It is more likely that there will be a scratch when it is returned than either of those scenarios, but you are looking at either the cost of the rental or up to $350 for a deposit. (This can vary when you rent out of the country.) Make sure you find out if it refundable BEFORE you sign all the paperwork and hand over your money.

If you use a debit card, you will be asked to pay a deposit. To a rental company, a debit card is pretty much just like cash. You can’t guarantee that money will be there when you bring the car back, so they put a hold on it while you are driving it around. Once the car is returned, they refund your card, assuming all is fine with the car. This doesn’t help you if you are counting on that money for your trip, though, so always try to bring a credit card with you for rentals.

If you use a credit card, you may be charged a deposit. I have rented from a company several times and been charged a deposit sometimes and then not other times. Usually, they charge your rental fee and taxes and a deposit that can be up to your rental fee (not more than $350) and refund you when you turn your car keys in. My last rental cost $250 (with taxes) and I only paid a $100 deposit. Bottom line, if you are on a tight budget and need to know exactly what you will be paying for, call ahead and ask.

Rental agencies at the airport can cost you more. Airports impose fees on rental agencies that are on-property for each rental they do. This isn’t something they can get around, so they pass that fee onto you, making them a little more money than they would have made if they paid for it themselves. Sometimes it’s significant enough to look for an off-site rental location, so make sure to compare before you rent.

If you live in the same house (married or not), the second driver is free. This has always been true for any rental I make, but I have learned that not all rental companies are created equal. Dollar enforces a $10 per day fee for each additional driver, which caused us to only add me on as the driver of the car, since I do most of the driving on our trips. This is another thing you may want to read the fine print for, especially if you think only having one driver listed will be an issue.

Bring your own GPS. If you own one, bring it with you, because you’ve already paid for it and know how to use it. Plus, you save up to $16 per day by not using one from the rental company. And if it gets lost or stolen, even if it was a spendy model, it will probably still be cheaper to replace than if you borrowed one and something bad happened to it.

Always reserve the smallest car you can get away with. Bigger cars cost more to fill up and drive around. Also, upgrading seems like it’s not so bad when it’s “just” $13 or $20 more, but multiply that by day and you may have just added $200 to your rate, especially since you also have to pay taxes on the overall total. So, if you can all comfortably fit in a compact, reserve that. I don’t care if I look cool to people I don’t know. I just want to save money and get around. Also, less people want to steal a Kia than a Mustang. Just sayin’.

Unless an upgrade is free, don’t take it. This goes back to the tip up above. Why spend an extra $100+ if you don’t have to. Besides, if they don’t have the class of car you reserved, they have to upgrade you for free (they will never downgrade you). In Vegas I had asked for a compact and ended up with a full-size. I was certainly not going to complain about choosing between a Cadillac and a Crown Victoria, though it took some getting used to. It would have cost me twice as much to rent if that is what I had reserved in the first place. Once I figured out how to use all the buttons and knobs and which got my seat to the correct position, we cruised down the highway in (elderly) style.

If you want a lot more tips on renting cars, you can find them in my book, Shereen Travels Cheap, now available for purchase on Amazon, Kindle, Smashwords and other online bookstores, like Powell’s and Barnes & Noble.

Have you had any weird/awesome/aggravating car rental experiences?

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


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