Budget San Antonio with SAVE

This post brought to you by SAVE . All opinions are 100% mine.

So, you’ve always wanted to go to San Antonio, Texas! Wait, no? You think the tagline “Everything’s bigger in Texas” must also encompass vacation costs? Well, guess again. I’ve been told about this fabulous new website called SAVE. I mean, I like it already just based on the name, but going there, I was bombarded with a whole site full of awesome discounts to help families plan their own affordable San Antonio Vacation Experience. You’re going to love the ease of using the SAVE – San Antonio Vacation Experience website to save on everything from hotels to activities. You can’t find these discounts anywhere else, as they are exclusive to the SAVE program and you can also save huge with Limited Time Offers.

You know how much I enjoy planning trips, so using this fabulous site, I found a whole bunch of things I would do if I were going to take a trip to San Antonio (and, of course, this makes me say “I want to go to there.”)

Using the Deal Map, I found several hotels that I could fit in my budget, including the Microtel Inn & Suites Airport by Wyndham. I love the Wyndham properties I have stayed at (which have been many) and this one includes a free hot continental breakfast – Woo! DIY Waffles! – free Internet and a BBQ area where I can save some bucks by grilling out. If I get a suite, I can also take advantage of an in-room microwave and mini-fridge. Rates through SAVE run just $59-89 per night. That’s at least a $20 difference from the cheapest rates I found online, which really adds up when staying multiple nights. {{You may want to spend a bit more when it comes to your hotel. With that in mind, you can find them in all price ranges. SAVE partners include: Grand Hyatt San Antonio, Hyatt Regency San Antonio on the Riverwalk, San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk Hotel, Hilton Palacio del Rio, The Westin Riverwalk San Antonio and many more!}}

With my lodging out of the way, I can get down to business. What I want to do when I get there! With so many attractions to choose from – including SeaWorld, Six Flags, Schlitterbahn – it may be hard to narrow down your list to how many days you will be in San Antonio. I decided to plan for a six-day trip and want to save on anything possible.

• Day 1 – I have to hit the theme parks, so we’re going to head to Six Flags Fiesta Texas to ride all the thrill rides we can handle. We can use the BOGO coupon and only pay for one of us and spend that second admission fee on food or another activity! That’s a savings of $58.99, which is even better than the deal you can get for purchasing your tickets ahead of time online ($43.99/each or 3+ day advance purchase at $38.99/each)
• Day 2 – Since the last time I visited San Antonio was when I still needed to hold an adult’s hand to get around, I certainly want to see the sights. We’ll take advantage of the convenience of the hop-on, hop-off trolley and also take $2 off the $19.95 rates thanks to SAVE. Our guide will take us on a relaxing tour of the city, where we will see The Alamo, Tower of Americas, the Mission Trail and River Walk, among other things.

• Day 3 – My husband, Eric, loves waterparks and because I’ve heard such great things about the one in the Midwest, we are going to pack up our swimsuits and check out Schlitterbahn. It’s full of awesome looking water rides and is also fun to say! Regular entry is $69.97 and SAVE gets you $2 off up to 5 admissions. {{If you are looking to go way more budget, do Splashtown instead, where you can save $7 off their much more affordable $29.99 admission prices.}}
• Day 4 – I love a good creepy and weird museum, so Eric and I are going to get a $1 off coupon to visit Ripley’s Believe it or Not! and Louis Tussaud’s Wax Works Museum, where I might chicken out and freak out at the lifelike celebrities and historical figures. This is a twofer, because there are two museums in one location and only costs one admission price. At $19.95, that’s a pretty good deal, especially with that dollar off.

After we grab lunch, we’re going to head over to the Texas Transportation Museum which houses a train depot, fire trucks, horse carriages, cars, tractors and a full-size train we can ride on! SAVE gets us $1 off admission and we’ll go on a Friday to save even more off regular admission ($5 instead of $8).

• Day 5 – We’ve decided to learn more about the Texan life and history today by hitting up the Institute of Texan Culture. Through exhibits, stories and live demonstrations, we’ll be brought up to speed on how Texan culture has evolved from its beginning. We’ll also keep $8 in our pockets by using the SAVE buy one get one free coupon.

Our feet our tired so we'll take the rest of the day to relax in our room or hang out by the pool and recharge for the last day of our trip.

• Day 6 – We’re going to spend our last day going back to The Alamo and taking a stress-free sightseeing tour that includes a riverboat ride, a visit to the Japanese Sunken Gardens and more cool stuff. At $54.50, it isn’t cheap, but then how can you put a price on seeing some beautiful sites and having a tour guide take you around the city and tell you about the places you visit for a whole day? Well, apparently you can, and it’s $54.50, but with SAVE, you only have to pay $49.50!

If you add it all up, SAVE discounts made our trip so much more affordable! We could have spent $1,202 on our hotel and sightseeing (that’s over $600 per person!), but with all the deals we found, we actually saved $200 overall. Woohoo! If we stayed in a standard room and substituted Splashtown for Schlitterbahn, that easily could have been almost $300 still in our bank account. Imagine how much you could save if you brought your whole family.

There’s still time to plan a summer getaway, so why not check out a city in your own “backyard” and see how SAVE can help you create the perfect budget vacation for you and your family! See for yourself how easy it is to find activities and get discounts on your perfect San Antonio vacation.

You can also follow SAVE on Twitter at @SAVEinSA to keep up with new deals and Limited Time Offers.

Shakespeare with Sno-Cones 7.25.12

I love theatrical performances, but those costs can really eat into your budget, whether you’re on vacation or not. Over the weekend we took time out to grab a blanket and some beverages and take the dog to the park to catch some Shakespeare. She loves to run around before and during intermission and then while the performance is going on, she watches the action or the people in the audience. I love Shakespeare in the Park, because it combines my love for the Bard with my husband’s love of being outside and spending little to no money. I enjoy those things, too, but if we could get by on spending nothing, he would be thrilled. 

The show was a little different, and not just because it was the most people I’d ever seen at a park to watch old English being performed. First of all, the play was not rehearsed. The company performed it as they would have when it was “first run” and had their own parts on scrolls – which included a little bit of the line before and after theirs so they could keep pace – and, to make it even more interesting, they had a referee off-sides to help actors if they got off track, but also to throw the actors off track to make the play as funny and interactive as possible. Now, this is the first time I have ever witnessed this during a show at a park and I enjoyed it very much.

Throughout the performance, the actors would wander through the audience, plucking picnic foods from offered containers and then would have to do a little improv when prompted. Being that the play was As You Like It and it takes place 90% in the Forest of Arden, eating “found” food made quite a bit of sense. An actor rushing to answer an onlooker’s cell phone, not so much. Still, it made for a unique evening out. Over the course of the play, the ref called for the actors to engage in a high-five race when a plane flew overhead and they couldn’t be heard, to entertain a baby in the front row that was getting antsy and to pretend to do yard work when a lawnmower started in the background. He also sent out an audience request to bring him a Sno-Cone from a nearby vendor, which was so funny that many were purchased and all the actors then were trying to act while incorporating either a Sno-Cone or cotton candy into the scene.

So, why am I recounting my tales to summer activities? Because Shakespeare in the Park is a national (and possibly international?) phenomenon and summer is the time to take advantage of your local theater company’s free performances. It’s a cheap way to get out and enjoy some culture – though Shakespearean songs done to the tune of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine probably counts as more than some – and introduce your children to the Bard. If they get a bit fidgety, it’s okay, because you’re in a park! Go run off that excess energy during intermission or, if they really aren’t into it, you can leave without lamenting the $20+ you paid for each ticket.

If you’re off vacationing and looking for something to do that won’t break your budget, so you can either save money or splurge on that fancy schmancy restaurant, jump on Google to find nearby performances. Most shows happen on Saturdays and Sundays, but there can be some special shows on other days of the week. You never have to dress up, you can bring a picnic if you want, get comfortable and show up any time before start time to get a spot on the lawn. Don’t forget to bring a couple of bucks for concessions (if there are any) or to donate for a particularly good performance.

Have you ever enjoyed your local Shakespeare in the Park?

Low-Budget Honeymooning 7.21.12

Usually, I lump honeymooning in with regular travel posts because, after all, they are just travel. Almost 6 years ago I got married and tried out a brand new trend that worked spectacularly for us. Now this trend is becoming the new norm as more and more couples live together first or merge two households to form one when they become husband and wife (or wife and wife or husband and husband). Most people find they don’t need or want new dishes or blenders or towel sets, so they are stumped as to what to register for. We also had this problem, but I had heard a rumor of sites that let you register for your honeymoon a while before I got engaged and thought “Brilliant!” and immediately started searching for such a thing.

Delicious pub food and lager? Gifted!

As you may or may not remember me mentioning, we took two weeks for our honeymoon and traveled to London and Paris. We had a fabulous time, but those places are not cheap. Another thing that isn’t cheap: WEDDINGS! Yes, we are probably in the minority of couples who paid for their own celebration, but I had never expected our relatives to have to pay for anything. First of all, they already had to pay for their own weddings and second, we are adults with real jobs and real money. Though it’s not a lot of money, we figured out how to do our wedding on a budget and still have one of the best days that people still talk about.

Our wedding happened on the Saturday before Halloween and we asked everyone to dress up. And dress up they did! It was a blast. Yes, you may think it is crazy to not want to have a traditional wedding, but I am so not a tradionalist and neither are either of our families. We also chucked the idea of having a ring bearer, flower girl, doing it in a church, tossing the bouquet or that weird garter tugging thing that ends up with a guy’s head up your skirt. We dreamed up the funnest party we could think of, wrote all our vows – including the rest of the ceremony – told our wedding party to wear whatever they felt comfortable in, ordered a delicious cake covered in spider webs and topped with Frankenstein’s monster and his bride, had a buffet of appetizers, walked down the aisle to I Believe in a Thing Called Love and danced with our guests to Thriller and the Time Warp.

Trip to Paris? Also gifted!

Now, after spending all our free money on our wedding, we knew that we wouldn’t have much money left over for a trip, so we set to work creating our perfect itinerary for London and Paris and then add them to a registry. Here’s how it works: Choose your trip and all the components. Upload each thing to your registry along with prices and how many you need – just like a regular registry! If you want to add airfare or hotel nights to your wish list, break it down into $50 increments, or whatever you think is a reasonable price for people to pay for a gift. If your airfare will cost $600, register for 12 $50 airfare gifts. If your family and friends are bigger spenders, make it 6 $100 gifts. You can add anything you want, from a new camera to capture your memories to meals.

Your guests will have fun seeing what you have planned and get excited to be a part of your honeymoon, without being a part of your honeymoon. They “purchase” from your list and then the cash is deposited into your account for you to add those components as you have enough money to do so. If you are depending solely on guest contributions, then you may end up with only partial money for some stuff and have to kick in some of your own money or be a little creative. When we returned from our trip, I sent thank you notes to our guests with a web address to our photos and saying we really enjoyed the X that they contributed to. It was personable and fun.

Our trip to Disneyland Paris? Gifted as well!

So, where can you start your own honeymoon registry? I am partial to TheBigDay, which is the site we used, but you can also check out Travelers Joy, Honey Fund or Honeymoon Wishes. You can even see samples of registries (and if you can’t, search open registries with a generic name like Smith to see real ones).

Are you like me? Would you ever use a honeymoon registry?