Why Aren't You Using Groupon?

Enter to win $500 from Shereen Travels Cheap and Giveaway Promote.

 

Yes, this is my question to you. And if you're only using it at home, then you really should be using it on your vacations, too. I can't even tell you how much money you can save on your trip with Groupon. It's free and easy to sign up for, you can get as many updates as you want  (one city's deals or fifteen!) and you can change your preferences at any time. Who doesn't want to save up to 90% off on entertainment, dining, tours and more? Not convinced? Here are some of the things I've used Groupon for on my trips, and remember, they are available worldwide:

Breakfast at Mel's Diner in Hollywood

Pearl Harbor Tour in Hawaii

Japanese dinner for two in Honolulu

Pedicure in Utah

Now, with the smart phone apps, we can use Groupon even easier. We use it often at home, too. Here are a few of the things we use it for around home (which we also look forward to doing on our future trips):

Food cart waffles

Romantic night at our living room theater

Halotherapy session in the salt caves

Brunch at one of our favorite restaurants

Delicious, delicious crepes

What do you use Groupon for, or what do you look forward to finding a deal on when you go on our next trip?

Happy Birthday, George.

Enter to win $500 from Shereen Travels Cheap and Giveaway Promote.

I know Presidents’ Day doesn’t sound all that exciting, but since we can’t make every president’s birthday a national holiday – well, I suppose we could, but then no one would work half the year – we celebrate with the first president’s birthday, George Washington, on the third Monday of the month, which is almost never on his actual birthday. And, I should add, we throw in a bit of honor for our awesome 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, because he freed the slaves and was pretty amazing…and because his birthday is on the 12th, making it an easy tie-in. He may not be the father of our country, but he made the most of his years in office, which I think deserves quite a bit of credit.

If you aren’t plotting your course for hitting as many sales as you can next weekend, then possibly you would rather spend your money on something a little more enriching, like a trip that can be fun and educational (super for kids!). Today is all about things to do for fun and cheap in our nation’s capital: Washington, D.C. I have been there once, in my former years, and it was a disappointing trip all around. We drove from Virginia, mostly without stopping, only to get stuck in rush hour traffic and see very few buildings as we inched along at 3 mph. I did see the White House, but as there were renovations being done, the majority of it was covered in plastic. The next thing I remember was turning around and going back home. I didn’t even get to go to the zoo, which I distinctly recall being asked about before we left. You don’t want your trip to be like mine, and I hope that my next trip – which is something that will happen – is a lot more fun and I even get to get out of the car at some point!

Get half-price and discount theater tickets to performances at the Signature Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Folger Theatre, Imagination Stage and more. You can get them same-day or in advance.

Take a free tour of (some of) the White House. Get there early, though, because this is always a popular activity and wait times can be long. You might even catch a glimpse of Obama doing presidenty stuff: taking phone calls, concurring with people ideas, signing documents, wearing a suit, walking purposefully down the hall. Things like that! Update 3/8/13: due to budget cuts, the White House is no longer offering tours. This is saving them $43,000 a WEEK!

Pay homage to our veterans who have passed on with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. You can visit John F. Kennedy’s grave, along with Jackie O, their two children and his brother Bobby, the Unknown soldier and see the changing of the guard throughout the day.

Wish our 16th president Happy Birthday with a stop at the Lincoln Memorial. Then take a tour of the other famous stops in DC: the Washington Monument (closed for renovations due to earthquake damage), the reflecting pool, the Vietnam Memorial, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, DC War Memorial, Eisenhower Memorial, Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Women in Vietnam Memorial and a whole lot more. You could spend three days just visiting these sites. Go here for a map of the most popular and to start planning your trip.

Print out free walking guides for your trip. Almost 20 different guides are available, so whether you want to stroll the Botanic Garden or visit the Smithsonian, you are covered!

Save money and skip the ticket lines by purchasing a DC Power Pass. Valid from 1-5 days, it enables you to see Washington DC to the fullest. Over 20 attractions are included in your price as well as discounts for shopping. Passes start at just $64.99 and if you buy before day end on February 13th, you can receive 5% off!

About.com for DC has some fantastic solutions for dining on the cheap. For info, including addresses and phone numbers, view the whole list here. The following are local favorites, so you won’t be eating at Burger King or similar fast food venues. You’ll be saving money and eating like the locals do:

·         American City Diner

·         Baja Grille

·         Ben’s Chili Bowl

·         Bullfeathers of Capital Hill

·         Cactus Cantina

·         Capital Q BBQ

·         Couscous Café

·         Hanks Oyster Bar

·         Lauriol Plaza

·         Surfside Restaurant

·         Zorba’s Café

·       And if you’re looking for late-night dining: The Diner 2453 18th St NW Washington, DC (202) 232-8800 An upscale diner that’s open 24 hours.

Stroll along the C&O Canal. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal used to be a waterway where goods were shipped to the Potomac River. Historic!

Ever seen an aquatic garden? Technically, it’s a marsh, but Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens sounds a lot better and prettier than Kenilworth Marsh. It’s the last natural marsh in Washington DC and you can see amazing water plants and flowers, as well as dozens of species of birds…and it’s all free!

Let someone else show you around the city with the Hop-on Hop-off Trolley. I’m dying to go on one of these and think that my next trip to a big city that has one at a reasonable price might be reason enough to hand over my hard-earned money. For $35 per person ($25 for kids) you can sit back and take pictures and listen to the narration, then get off and back on at any of the stops all day long. The ride covers over 100 points of interest and stops at 20 locations, including the White House Visitors Center and Ford’s Theatre. The full loop takes 2 hours if you don’t get off anywhere, but why wouldn’t you? Book your tickets before March 15 and get use of the trolley for three days instead of just one!

Here’s one to splurge on: Have you ever wanted to be a spy? I mean, like not get shot at and stuff, but be secretive and carry important information? The Washington DC Spy Tour will have you itching to get your hands on that Top Secret envelope full of the country’s secretest secrets! You’ll discover the city’s spy secrets, mysteries and deceptions on this tour and then take part in a secret “mission”. I’ve been dying to do this tour since I saw Samantha Brown do it on her Weekends show. Your $58.99 will also get you VIP admission to the International Spy Museum for more about espionage, traitors, gadgets and more…if you know the secret password! You even get to meet former intelligence officers. Awesome, right?

Even if you aren’t planning to travel to DC over Presidents’ Day Weekend, don’t forget that there are so many amazing things to see and do there for the next time you’re stumped for an affordable trip. Make DC your home base and then take day trips to Maryland or Virginia, too. But, for the love of travel, wherever you go, get out of the car!

Do you live in the DC area or have you vacationed there? What are your favorite tourist spots and eateries?

Travel with the Hopper

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of DISH for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

By now you’ve probably seen at least one of those DISH commercials where the New England family brags about “The Hoppa” they have that enables everyone in their family to record all their favorite shows and watch them on any TV in the house. Well, DISH has taken the love of the DVR one step further and it’s perfect for travelers, too. Right now you have very few choices when it comes to watching live TV on your trips: you can watch what’s on, you can use a Slingbox to watch shows as they are on in your time zone or you can try to watch network shows the next day online. None of these are ever all that convenient (especially if you’re in another country and can’t get access to U.S. television through your internet). The Hopper Travel DISH is your solution.

There are going to be times on your trip where you have downtime and just want to relax. Or you have an extra-long layover and have already finished your magazines, eaten and made a circuit through the cool airport stuff. Wouldn’t it be great if you could pull up shows you’ve recorded at home and catch up with them? Well, now you can! If you are a DISH subscriber, you already have access to their free DISH Anywhere app. If you don’t, it’s easy to sign up and packages start at just $24.99 per month. (For 12 months with 24 month commitment. Restrictions Apply.) Boredom averted!

Almost every traveler brings along some sort of web-enabled device, and the average family has several, including smart phones, laptops and tablets. All of these can play your favorite shows anywhere you happen to have an internet connection. Hopper lets you record 6 shows at once and up to 2,000 hours of TV and movies. Why pay money to download old shows and movies from iTunes to your devices, which takes up valuable memory, when you don’t have to?

Won’t have an internet connection when you’re traveling? Maybe you’ll be somewhere remote or want to keep yourself and your family entertained in the car or on the plane. That’s okay, too. You can transfer recorded shows to your app before you leave the house and then watch them later when you can’t get online. Awesome, right? It’s called Hopper Transfers. If all you’re getting on your hotel TV is foreign programming and news, pull up recordings from home and fill your downtime with familiar faces that will make you more comfortable wherever you are. I'll tell you, being able to pull up the latest episode of Two Broke Girls is way better than watching election coverage or old episodes of Knight Rider in Spanish.

With DISH Anywhere, you don’t have to just watch things you’ve recorded, but you can choose from thousands of On Demand titles, use the Blockbuster @Home option (if you subscribe to this feature) and even check your recording list and add new recordings as necessary. Maybe you found out about a great show coming on that you don’t want to miss, but you’ve already left home. Just log onto your DISH account and set up that recording. You can also watch it live if you happen to be somewhere at the time it plays and you can get online on any of your devices. After a long day of sightseeing, you may just want to curl up on the couch with a good movie. Being able to watch a new release is better than settling for reruns of soccer games in German or a 3-hour block of Es Incroyable in French.

Are your kids fighting over which show to actually watch and you just want the arguing to stop? You can watch two shows on two different mobile devices. It’s also a great distraction for when you are waiting for things. Maybe it’s a long line at a theme park or waiting for the train to arrive or even just waiting to leave the hotel for the day. There are plenty of times your family may get antsy during a vacation and if you can easily pull up a cartoon or another show they love, that time can fly by. You can even skip commercials on recorded primetime TV, which helps you save time, too. Maybe your wait time is only 20 or 25 minutes. Skipping those ads will allow you to watch that show in less time and see the end before you have to put your device away.

DISH is the only service that allows you to access all of your programming at home and on-the-go, so you never have to worry about missing shows you love just because you’ll be on vacation or traveling for business. Want to Learn more about the Hopper?

You can also LIKE DISH on Facebook and Follow DISH on Twitter for more ways to get the most out of your service or new additions to the Hopper.