Planning Your Fall Travel On a Budget

So, it appears as if Fall may be right around the corner, at least for the travel industry. Airfare is on its way down to more reasonable rates come Monday and that means there will be deals galore for September/October/early November travel. If you want some of the best discounts, then make sure to follow me on Facebook or Twitter. Today, we’re going to talk about what you can do to make your fall travel less stressful and more affordable.

Pack less, even when your clothes are bigger. Yes, this is totally possible. I will always tell you to plan to do laundry whenever you travel, but it’s even more necessary when you are taking things bigger than tank tops and shorts, because more items mean less valuable space for things that aren’t clothes. Look for lightweight and warm layers, like a fleece pullover or waffle-knit hoodie. I take one or two of these that will match with all my travel clothing and am set to layer them over my t-shirts if they weather becomes chilly.

Here's how I pack light for a fall/winter trip. And here's another post on layering and mixing and matching for winter.

Women's Savvy Zippy from ExOfficio.com

You will also want to look for a good packable jacket. I have several and prefer to bring one with a hood when traveling, as weather can be uncertain and nothing sucks worse than getting rained on when it’s already cold. You could also bring a hat, but I don’t like to bring more things than I have to. This is also why I choose a hood over an umbrella, aside from the obvious reason that umbrellas are cumbersome and only really good for one thing. Everyone in your travel party is likely to bring a jacket, so everyone is covered. (Pun intended.)

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Late September and Early October are the cheapest times to fly during the year. Kids are back in school and it’s not Labor Day or Halloween, so there are no notable parties or holidays. This makes it the ideal time to travel, if you can, and can save you huge dollars. Airfare can be as much as 50% less than the rest of the year and hotels slash prices in order to get their rooms filled. Can’t beat that with a stick!

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Pay for your rental car up front. This is actually a trick that works throughout the year, but when trying to cut costs somewhere while planning the basics, this is a brilliant way to do it. I’ll use myself as an example. I usually travel in September. Last year I was looking for a car for 11 days. If I booked through the regular sites for car rentals that let me pay when I picked up my car, then my rate was going to be somewhere in the range of $432. That includes taxes, but come on! That’s over $40 per day.

I’d been holding out for something cheaper and caught a great email in my inbox saying I could find rates as low as $9.95 per day. While I never find that rate when I see that email (like once every two weeks), I did click through and found one for $16.95 and was able to book my rental car with Hertz through Hotwire for a total with taxes of $247. That’s almost $200 less! I paid up front and it was non-refundable, but I was fairly sure that was the best deal I was going to find. If my flight got delayed or cancelled, it said I was covered, so I reveled in my rental car hunting skillz. It pays to do your homework and compare multiple times before booking. A week later that rate was up to $303.

Here are more money-saving car rental tips.

                        

Head to the beach when the weather cools down. Fall and winter are not the times that people flock to places like Myrtle Beach or Santa Monica, so it’s the perfect time to go and beat the crowds and the soaring temps if you can go right before the weather turns. Next month is going to give you great weather and cheap hotel and condo rates. If you have a big travel party now is the time to book for a budget vacation for everyone.

Want more beach tips? Here you go!

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Plan a trip to Disney and other theme parks. Once school is back in session, the crowds drop dramatically around the big theme parks, so you can find huge deals on vacation packages to Anaheim and Orlando. You’ll face way shorter lines and be able to do more, even when the parks are open shorter hours. A lot of them have special events this time of year, too. Eric and I will be taking part in our 3rd Disney Halloween party. If you have little ones, this is like magic times two: Their favorite characters who are dressed up in (different) costumes, they get to stay up late, see special shows and fireworks and they get to dress up and go trick-or-treating in the parks. What?! Uh, yes! Even big kids like us have a blast on the trick-or-treat trail.

If you are into bigger thrills than Tigger dressed as a pirate and meeting Maleficent for the first time ever, then you might be more inclined to do Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. It’s truly terrifying, for those that like pee-in-your-pants-scary fun. These parties cost their own admission fee, so you can skip the park during the day to avoid paying double and then ride what’s open and see all the cool stuff that’s not available to the regular public before the sun starts to go down.

Here are some ideas for scary theme park travel, as well as tips for saving on theme park trips.

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These are just some of the ways to save and create a unique vacation experience outside of Summer. I use all these tips myself, plus we employ Go Cards and CityPASSes. They will save you a ton and are be super-easy to use...and they usually let you skip the ticket lines!

Do you have some useful Fall Travel Tips that have saved you big? Let us know what they are!

My Portland Coffee Tour - Part 5

Did you think that because it's 85 degrees everyday that I'd given up on hitting up the coffee joints? Well, you're wrong! In fact, I've been hitting more than ever and I was in Vegas for a week, where I also went to my favorite shop (Bad Owl Coffee) in Henderson twice. When you find a good one, you need to tell people! And when you find a bad one, you also need to tell people.

I hit up three coffee shops in one day to try a variety of different neighborhood gems. You're welcome!

Driftwood Coffee

I used to frequent the Multnomah Village neighborhood when I lived closer to that area. I noticed that a lot of it has changed and there are more coffee shops than ever, including this one that you may or may not notice when you drive by a hundred times. It looked cute, so I went in and ordered an iced Mexican Mocha and a Dave's Bread and Egg, which is basically a fried egg and a piece of toast. 

The inside looks a lot like a coffee shop you'd find at the coast, which is fun. They sell a lot of random stuff from local artists and use fresh ingredients. Unfortunately, that was the best part about it. As I was signing my receipt and waiting for my coffee, I turned around and saw a lady at a nearby table with her bare foot on the table. Blech! If I hadn't just paid, I would have left.

My drink was much too gritty and not worth fancy coffee shop prices at all. My egg and toast was fine, but nothing I'd go out of my way to get again, not that I will ever be back. This is one of those "Portland" coffee shops where people get excited about hemp milk (not that there's anything wrong with it) and think their kids running around annoying people is adorable. If you enjoy Portlandia, then maybe you'd like this place for the "charm", but I'd not go for the coffee...or the foot-free tables. I believe my coffee was $4 and my breakfast was $2.50. 

Village Coffee

Luckily, I had other joints on my list, including the adorable Village Coffee in the heart of Multnomah Village. Even though it's been there forever, I'd never been in. What a mistake! I ordered something called the MacBeth (a macadamia nut, caramel, and huckleberry) Latte ($5) and a bagel with cream cheese ($2), then I went and sat down in some old theater seats. Awesome. 

Nothing in this shop matches, and it works! There are probably 5 tables inside and 3 outside. I'm not sure how they fit all their coffee stuff into their minuscule kitchen area or how two people even have room to move back there, but they do. 

They served me a toasted bagel (locally-made) with a little squeeze packet of Philadelphia cream cheese, but the coffee more than made up for it. I was afraid that the special I got was going to be too many flavors, but it was a-ma-zing. Like my whole mouth was happy and I had no idea how I lived so long without having huckleberry in my coffee. It was so good. Well worth the price and the cozy seating. I'll definitely go back! When you're finished enjoying your cup, wander around the rest of the Village with their boutique shops and unique feel. 

Maplewood Coffee & Tea

I looked up other places that were nearby and found this shop with excellent ratings. I had to use my phone navigation to get me there, because it's literally in the middle of a housing area. The building used to be an old post office and it's the loveliest thing I've seen in a long time in Portland. The shop is huge and bright and airy, but because it's right in the middle of houses, there is only street parking.

I saw they had a Matcha Latte ($3.75), which is all the rage right now, so I ordered one of those and a blueberry muffin ($3.75). They are pretty proud of the fact that they don't add sweetener of any kind to their matcha. It's the first time I'd had it, so I thought without it, it tasted like drinking grass. I put sugar in it. It was pretty tasty then. You could tell the muffin was homemade and it was really flavorful. I don't know how the people around them don't go broke from walking across the street to eat and drink here everyday. 

If you haven't had matcha before, make sure you wipe your whole mouth before you leave, or else someone will point out to you that it looks like you were mowing the lawn with your face and you'll be self-conscious for the rest of your life. Other than that, I loved the feel of this shop, where you can also order full meals and everyone is super friendly. Plus, the windows are nice and big so you can watch people walking by with their kids and dogs. This is one I'm putting on my list for a future morning date with my husband.

Okay, now that you know where to go and where not to, here's to a great cup of coffee. Until next time, here's a fun article I read about cafes who decided to get rid of their WiFi. What? People didn't just run screaming to hide in their cars with their coffee, which is how I thought that would end.

Give me your favorite coffee shops either here in Portland (if you live here or have visited) or where you live for when I visit there!

How to Be An Awesome Solo Traveler

Traveling alone doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be lonely. There are travelers and friendly people all over and if you want to meet them, you only need to seek them out and be open to new experiences. Don’t live your vacation life in a bubble. Get out and have fun while making new friends along the way.

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Solo travel has become very popular. People are leaving their lives behind and traveling full-time and just as many are taking relaxing getaways alone in order to have a little me time. If you’ve never traveled alone, it can be very freeing, since you don’t have to answer to anyone and can do whatever it is you want. Maybe you don’t have a travel companion and want to get out and see the world. Don’t let that stop you, because you’re never alone when you travel. Here are some ways to make friends while you’re jet setting around the globe.

Use Social Media

You use it for making friends around the world, asking for suggestions on where to have dinner and to discuss the latest episode of The Walking Dead, so why not use it to find people to hang out with when you travel? If you aren’t sure where you want to go, see where you have Facebook friends in cool places and message them about what they would recommend doing on your visit and suggest getting together when you are there. They probably would jump at the chance to show you their city and meet you in person. Turn those virtual friends into real ones!

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Hook up with friends’ friends

Just because you don’t have friends in vacation destinations doesn’t mean your friends don’t. Ask them if they have a friend, cousin or sister there that might be interested in meeting you. Chances are your awesome friends have equally awesome friends and family. Expand your social circle and maybe do a favor for your friend by delivering a gift for them. It’s almost certain that your friends will have talked you up and their friends will be psyched to meet you and possibly play tour guide for you while you’re there.

Volunteer

You like to do good deeds, right? “Voluntourism” is huge right now and it’s a great way to help people and travel at the same time. Join a group of volunteers anywhere in the world where you can do things like build houses, teach English or work on a farm. There are tons of ways to give your time and often you can stay and eat for free in exchange for your labor. You just need to come up with money to get there and back and for any outside activities you want to do while you’re there.

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Take a tour

Sightseeing all day by yourself can be fun. You can go at your own pace, see everything you want to see, stop to take as many photos as you wish or sit in the park all day watching people. Book a city tour and meet a bunch of like-minded people who are interested in the same things you are. Not all tours are created equal, so if you have taken one before and didn’t like it, try again. Walking tours are perfect ways to meet others and also get exercise while you do it. Make friends with your fellow tourists. It’s also a way to get some better photos of yourself at your destination.

Meetup

There are solo people everywhere. Use Meetup to find people who are interested in the same things as you are. Someone starts a meet-up and gathers fun people through the website to enjoy an activity. These can be locals or tourists or a mixture of both. It’s hard to be anti-social when you’re hanging out with a group of people who you have something in common with. Heck, you can even use Meetup at home, too.

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Invite for a Bite

Plenty of people don’t like eating alone. There’s no shame in that. There are only so many meals you can eat while reading the newspaper, surfing the Internet on your phone or doing a crossword puzzle. Getting take-out is an option, but wouldn’t it be more fun to have a dining companion? Log onto Invite for a Bite and find other solo ladies looking to meet for a meal. You can use it for other activities as well. It’s a safe and easy way to meet friends around the world and share your travel stories with someone. They may even be able to give you ideas on what to do next.

Sit at the bar

When you eat out alone, sit at the counter or the bar and talk to locals, wait staff and bartenders. It’s a great way to learn more about your destination, get suggestions for other good places to eat and maybe even find someone who would like to do it with you. You can really get a feel for a city by hanging out with people in local pubs and eateries. You’d be surprised how many people will strike up a conversation with you seeing you there alone. It’s definitely an easy way to meet people, since the most outgoing people sit at the counter.

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Take a class

Maybe you always wanted to learn how to make coq au vin or macarons. Maybe you want to learn the hula or how to make a traditional lei. Whatever sounds fun to you, there is probably a class you can take when you travel. It’s also another fab way to meet locals and even other tourists. You’ll be learning a skill you hoped to acquire and be able to chat with others doing it too.

Go all-inclusive

If you’re worried about being alone when you travel solo, surround yourself with people who are interested in doing similar activities by going to an all-inclusive resort. You’ll meet other travelers who enjoy being catered to and you can hang around the resort with them. This also works on a cruise. Because most ships have dining arrangements, you have the chance at talking to other cruisers at each meal. Find your table curiously empty? Your wait staff is thrilled to talk about real life with passengers. They might be from one of your port cities and, even if they’re not, it’s fun to exchange suggestions on what to do in your hometowns. Talk about your favorite TV shows and books, in case they are looking for something to do on their downtime. When away from the dining room, connect with others during ship activities like bingo, trivia, classes, alcohol tastings and even excursions on port days.

There are heaps of ways to make friends while traveling if you don’t want alone time. You just need to be willing to put in the effort or know how to meet like-minded tourists and locals. Make some new acquaintances or even lifelong friends just by having the courage to get out and do it on your own. Check out this article on Travel + Leisure for the best countries for solo travel.

Have you ever traveled alone?