What a Traveler Wants - Holiday Gift List

O.M.G. Thanksgiving is almost here, which means the madness of Black Friday will be upon us before we know it. Apparently, it's now Black Thursday, Black Wednesday and Black All of November. I love the holidays as much as everyone else, but can we just take each holiday as it comes instead of making Christmas start in June? Also, is it really that important to get 10% off something at the store that you have to go wait outside the stores before people have even gone to bed? I like to use something called the internet to do 90% of the shopping that I don't do on vacation. For those of you who also like to shop online instead of being trampled by strangers trying to get half-price socks I have put together this fun gift list for the traveler on your list. Of course, there's still some time to get your own wish lists out to family before Black Nightmare begins, too.

Bluff Works Work + Play pants for men

We love these! Eric tested these out and found them to be so awesome that we actually bought a second pair and took them on our vacation. They are crazy durable, resist wrinkles and stains, look great for casual or dressy occasions and are quick drying. Wanting to improve on their already fantastic design, Bluff Works will have a new cut of pant rolling out early December - just in time for Christmas! This new design will feature two security pockets (keep your passport safe), a slightly different slash pocket that won't gap and a hidden loop in the front pocket for your keys. In the coming weeks we'll be reviewing the new pants and also running a giveaway. You're going to balk at the cost of the pants, but I guarantee you that they are worth the price, because they are going to LAST. Cost per wear is going to be incredibly low. Did I also mention that they pack well and take up minimal space? A male traveler is going to love these. 

Universal Travel Adapter

Since most American electronic devices are now dual-watt, it's not necessary to purchase a power converter anymore, but if you're traveling outside of the US an adapter is a necessity. I purchased this bare bones one a while ago and it changes configurations for the different outlets in different countries (which saves space!) and works amazingly well. It's also super affordable and if you buy this pack of tow, you can keep one for yourself. It's definitely an easy stocking stuffer. Need more than one outlet, use it with this next item like I did.

Belkin Mini Surge Protector

We loved the one we had for travel so much that we bought one of these for our house, too. This compact little gadget is perfect for traveling, because you can make one free outlet into five! We plugged it into our adapter and were able to charge our laptop, cell phones and iPad mini at the same time. Pretty awesome, right? Yeah, I thought so. Belkin is a great brand and you can turn the plug 360 degrees, which means if you have a tight space, it will always fit. Double score! 

Travelon Boarding Bag

I reviewed this awesome bag and I think it's one of the best day bags to have in your travel arsenal. Not only does it hold a ton, it's unisex and keeps all your stuffs organized. It's a big step up from the old boarding bag, but is still compact, even though I was able to get two bottled sodas in it, my camera, makeup and a sweater in it. The strap is wide and comfortable and everything you need is right at your fingertips. It's especially great as, well, a boarding bag on the plane. I've use it as such and lent it to my mom for a flight, too. She liked that she could fit the necessary things from her purse in it, along with a paperback book and battery back-up for her phone.

Anatomie Women's Travel Clothing

For the hard-to-please lady traveler on your list, take a look at the luxe line of travel clothing by Anatomie. Choose a staple piece for their jetsetter lifestyle or go for a totally unique piece. You can't really go wrong. The prices aren't cheap, but they are well made, flattering and they'll get a ton of wear out of them, which makes it worth the price. Anatomie makes pants, tops, outerwear and dresses. Not only are they comfortable, but they don't look anything like travel clothes. They just wear like them. Perfect for the lady who likes to blend in.

Skyroll Spinner Carry-On

Maybe you have someone looking for a new travel bag. One that fits in the overhead, yet holds enough for a week's worth of clothes and necessities, is easy to maneuver and will keep your fancy clothes from wrinkling? The Skyroll Spinner has all those features and more, like that it holds your giant laptop, too! We rolled it all over London and Paris and had absolutely no problems with it. You can see how I packed it and this week you can see my second mini-review on it from our last trip, in case you aren't convinced of it's usefulness to travelers of all kinds. 

GoLite Travel Tote

It can be hard to find a multipurpose bag that is lightweight and good looking and is still durable. I had the opportunity to review the GoLite Travel Tote not too long ago and I have been using it ever since, primarily for my many trips to the farmers market. On our most recent trip, I planned to take it with me to the markets - and I did - but it also turned into my carry-on bag that held all my snacks, games and other in-flight necessities. I'll also be writing a mini review of this bag this week that shows how useful it was on our trip. It comes in great colors and seriously will hold my 30 lb market vegetable hauls.

Travelon Compact Hanging Toiletry Bag

I have one of these packed all the time for trips, so I can just add a few things and throw it in my carry-on. It holds everything I need, even once I get to my destination and unload my 3-1-1 bag(s) into it. A lot of bathrooms are lacking sufficient counter space, so beyond being able to have my toothbrush and toothpaste within reach, I always need to find a spot to put the rest of my stuff. the bag takes the inconvenience out of that by having an adjustable loop you can hang on the doorknob or towel rod or anywhere else you'd like to put it. This is a definite must-have for all travelers. If you feel like this one isn't quite big enough, I can also tell you the regular Hanging Toiletry Kit and the Pack-Flat Toiletry Kit are both spectacular choices too.

Knopf Travel Guides
Is there a destination on someone's travel list? Pick them up a one or two Knopf travel guides. They have fantastic pop-out maps and suggestions for all the fun and cool things to do in each neighborhood. They will be more excited than ever to plan their trip and will have a nice list of affordable things to do, see and places to eat. I took these guides with me to London and Paris (both times I traveled) and they were invaluable for finding attractions and underground stations.

While this is not a complete list of all the things I find to be great ideas for jetsetters, it's a good start and definitely full of things I would want to receive as a traveler. For more ideas, check out my previous list here. There will be more reviews and gift guides before the holidays get here, so keep reading the blog for ideas or sign up for my email subscription to be alerted to new posts right away.

Super Useful Travel Links

Happy Friday! Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving already? Where has this year gone? I'm guessing that a lot of you will be traveling next week, or planning your trips over Christmas. Perhaps you haven't purchased your airfare yet or you have no idea what you're buying for gifts or how you're going to survive the holidays. I have rounded up some links to help you make it through:

photo credit: allerleirau via photopin cc

Do you have a traveler on your holiday gift list? Or perhaps you're looking for something to add to your own wish list? Well, look no further (OK, maybe check out my list of affordable and awesome gifts coming tomorrow), because the folks at SF Gate have a fab list of travel goodies.

Is trying to save on your next trip feeling like a second job? It shouldn't. Saving money on travel is super easy (though takes some time) when you know how to do it. These 8 tips from Savvy Sugar are tried and true. If you want to pack your brain with tons of money-saving knowledge, there's always my book. You'll seriously look like a frugal traveling genius in no time!

Traveling is hungry work, especially when you're trying to pack gifts, make tight connections and not flip out over delayed flights and connections that seem to be 10 miles away from your arrival gate. You need to eat in between all the holiday chaos. You probably have an extra 15 minutes to find food - something that isn't smashed at the bottom of your carry-on and used to be covered in chocolate - that is tasty and actually healthy for you. Print out this article from abc news if you will be traveling through any of the twelve healthiest airports. If not, you can check out my list of where and what to eat when you're flying.

Speaking of eating, did you know there's no snacking in Rome? OK, that's a bit extreme. You can snack whenever you want, but think again if you want to roam (ha!) the city with your food, because the government is having none of that. They think us tourists eating their local yummy cuisine near their fabulous monuments is giving the city a bad look, and they aren't the only ones! Would this keep you from traveling to Italy?

And in other food-related news, while you're watching where you're eating on vacation, you also need to watch how you're eating on vacation. Indulging in food is one of the best things about travel, but different cultures may had different customs, so make sure you read up on this Budget Travel article before you go eating a delicious dish and accidentally offending someone.

After you've spent a bunch of dollars on getting to your destination, and possibly gifts for loved ones and a new outfit for the holidays, you might want to spend some time outside and, probably, eating a meal. How can you save money when eating out? Just having water is a start, but there are plenty of other ways, like these from msnbc or these that I suggest and use myself. In fact, Eric and I split many meals on our recent trip and it worked out perfectly.

Chances are, if you are traveling anywhere, you'll be taking along your trusty mobile phone. We took ours to England and France and had minimal problems after adding an international plan to both smartphones before leaving. No, you don't get unlimited data, and thinking like that is what results in you coming home to a $752,342 phone bill. Turn notifications and unnecessary data off until you absolutely need it and download a great app like Voxer to send and receive FREE texts. (Better than $.50 per and it's really fun to use.) For more tips on using your smartphone abroad, check out this article from YouMustBeTrippin.

And last, but certainly not least, everyone likes to get something for free. You do, don't you? A true budget traveler looks for as many freebies as possible. Why pay if you don't have to? Eric and I took advantage of free museums and a other things on our trip in order to save some money, but also, it was really fun. And free WiFi out in public? It's like the Holy Grail for a lost traveler. The Star has some other ideas of what freebies you can take advantage of and where!

Hopefully, some of these links were helpful to you. If you found any funny, interesting or informative links lately, please feel free to share them in the comments!

How I Saved on My European Vacation...Accommodations

Traveling to Europe is not necessarily as expensive as most people think it is. When you plan carefully, it can be quite affordable. Our trip to London and Paris wasn't exactly cheap, but with a lot of research, I was able to save big all around. I'll be talking about them all in parts in the next few weeks. Right now, I'd like to talk about how I saved on my awesome accommodations in each place. 

I planned to stay in a timeshare in at least one of our destinations, but when that fell through, I started looking at lodgings with kitchenettes. My plan was to stay in the same place we stayed at in London on our honeymoon. Though it wasn't fancy, it had everything we needed and was conveniently located. They had been slowly renovating their building and rooms, so I was willing to pay a little extra for that. Unfortunately, the hotel had a fire earlier this year and they were not taking any bookings at all. 

Knowing that I wanted to stay in an apartment-like lodging, I decided to look at apartment rentals. I searched FlipKey and a few others before I remembered the great reviews I'd read from people who had used Airbnb. Not only did they have tons of listings, but I could search by amenities, price and neighborhood. After contacting many owners for my travel dates, I finally found the perfect place. A flat with a loft bedroom in a building complex with security and a store that was near a tube station. It was a little further east than I hoped to stay, but it turned out to be exactly what we needed. The place was bright and open, the kitchen was more than we needed and it had a washer/dryer. We honestly couldn't ask for anything else. Check it out:

Rate: $101/night (compare to $120/night 7 years ago, possibly $150/night now)

Savings: $19-49/night x 6 nights

While not exactly cheap, it was budget-friendly by London standards and also was even cheaper than the rates we paid at the place we stayed 7 years ago. What?? Unheard of, right? I was sold on this idea of renting from apartment owners, so I started searching for flats in Paris.

While I was looking for our perfect place in the City of Lights, I also wanted to see if I could find a hotel in the Disneyland area that had a shuttle to the parks, wouldn't cost me a fortune and wouldn't have me wasting hours on the train each day getting there and back. I had hoped to stay at a Disneyland property, but it appears the French economy has bounced back and the rates for three nights was totally out of our budget now. I hunted on ever site I could find and when I found a great rate, I cross-checked it across the board. 

I ended up finding the best deal through Expedia, where I also get points for making a reservation that I can use later. The hotel I found was the Hotel Elysee, which was right across the street from the train station, had free shuttles to the park all day and a buffet breakfast included each morning. When I say buffet, I mean full buffet! If you left there hungry, you just weren't trying. 

Rate: $95/night (compared to $85/night in Paris + ($15pp) transport each day + breakfast - approx. $30)

Savings: $50/night for two people

Since staying near Disneyland made more sense, we split out accommodations in Paris to 3 nights each. After several rounds of searches on FlipKey and Airbnb, I finally found a lovely flat in the 13th Arr. It was a studio, in a secure building with a small kitchen and a washing machine (I am serious about my laundry when I travel) and near the Metro station. The neighborhood was very quiet and the building was close to at least a dozen restaurants and patisseries, drug stores and major shopping. The flat was cozy and perfect for our needs and I wish we could have stayed much longer. The bed was even more comfortable than some hotel beds I've slept in. It was a definite gem. Look at how cute it was!

Rate: $69/night (compared to $95/night in hotel with free breakfast)

Savings: $26/night

If you add up all the money I saved just on accommodations, it comes out to a significant amount: $342-522. That money alone paid for our 3-day tickets to Disneyland ($350). Score! If we claim the high side, we could have covered much of our food there as well. I'm feeling pretty good about choices. In fact, I was so thrilled with the flats we rented, I wish I could start planning another trip back.

What's your favorite way to save money on accommodations?