How To Save On A Weekend In Cleveland, Ohio

Visiting cities and booking vacations or spontaneous weekends away may not be possible at the moment, but there’s nothing wrong with planning ahead and thinking about where you want to go once it’s safe to roam. Many of us are eager to book breaks, but enjoying getaways can be expensive. In this guide, we’ll look at ways to save on a weekend in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio.

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/cleveland-ohio-america-panorama-4100096/

Getting there on a budget

Depending on where you live, you may be thinking about driving, catching a bus or train or flying to Cleveland. Whichever options you’re exploring, it’s always beneficial to compare costs and to think about who is going. If it’s a long journey, flying is the quickest option and it will enable you to maximize your time once you arrive. With flights, you can save a fortune by being flexible on dates and times and exploring different airlines. Use the Internet to look at prices before you book. If you’re thinking about driving or taking the train or coach, plan your route and get some quotes. You may find that if you’re going in a big group, it’s cheaper to hire a coach. 

Searching for hotels online

Cleveland has an array of hotels to choose from, and you can explore everything from budget-friendly guesthouses to more luxurious Cleveland Ohio romantic hotels with whirlpool tubs online. If you don't want to stay in a hotel, you could also look into hiring an apartment for the weekend or even doing a home swap. When you search online, you’ll get a huge range of options to choose from and you can compare prices on different websites to make sure you get the best deal. It’s also worth investigating booking directly with the hotel and seeing if there are any discount codes or coupons you can use to save on your booking at the checkout. 

Picture from https://pixabay.com/photos/cleveland-ohio-architecture-skyline-454067/

Saving on attractions and activities

If you’re visiting Cleveland, Ohio, you may have a packed itinerary in mind. From beaches and water sports and zoos and markets to basketball games, brewery tours and museums, there’s a whole host of attractions. Sightseeing is wonderful, but it can be pricey. To save money without missing out, look for free activities and museums with free entry, book tickets for concerts, shows and sports fixtures online in advance and investigate ticket bundles, which enable you to save on multiple attractions. It’s important to note that if you’re desperate to catch a game or visit somewhere that is incredibly popular, you may need to book early. Sign up for ticket alerts and follow attractions or sports teams or venues on social media so that you can move quickly once tickets become available.

Cleveland, Ohio is a fabulous city to visit for a weekend with your partner or with friends or family members. If you’re looking to enjoy a brilliant break without blowing the budget, take some time to compare prices for flights or coach hire online, use the Internet to look for the best deals on hotels and book tickets for attractions online.

Celebrating Lunar New Year at Home

Gung Hay Fat Choy! That means Happy New Year! This year we celebrated Lunar (or Chinese) New Year. It's the Year of the Ox, which is the second animal in the Lunar calendar, because in the mythology, the Ox would have won the race of the animals if it hadn't been for him helping the rat, who then crossed the finish line first since he was carried the whole way. 

Those born in the year of the Ox are said to be hardworking and honest. I'm a Snake, who are said to be humorous and sophisticated, and Eric is a Goat, which are strong and resilient. Each animal has a story and serves a different and unique purpose. You can learn more here. 

Since it's unlikely we'll get to be in China on Lunar New Year, we decided to have a staycation that combined both travel and a celebration. I got these funky firecracker headbands, because this is a celebration and the most fireworks are actually set off in the world on that night. 

We visited the Great Wall on our "trip" and ordered food from one of the most popular Chinese restaurants near us. 

We ordered shrimp fried noodles, because long noodles signify a long and prosperous life. You aren't supposed to cut them or bite them, otherwise you cut your life short. Shrimp also signify fortune and wealth. 

On the right you have crab and pork bao. Dumplings are a staple on Chinese New Year and most people eat them for every meal. The Chinese words for dumplings literally translate to 'exchange the midnight hour', meaning you are trading new for old, and by eating dumplings, you are sending away the old and welcoming the new.

The green dumplings are vegetable and mushroom, and then we had a spicy cucumber salad. Spring is the time to plant new seeds, so vegetables are a very important part of Chinese New Year. Mushrooms are served, as they translate to a word that sounds similar to blessings or fortune. This is all very important in Chinese tradition...and very delicious for us. 

We always try to have a fun drink to toast with, and this meal was no exception. I ordered a jasmine green tea topped with sweet cream and added honey boba. It was delicious, except for the boba, because it was like the consistency of gummy bears. Not my favorite, but it was interesting, for sure. Gānbēi!

Check out these adorable tea cups I got with ox on them. They have cool indentations for your fingers. 

If you're ever on vacation with me, chances are this is what you'll be seeing a lot of. I love trying new foods and it's one of my favorite parts of traveling. I'll try almost anything once. It's a wonderful way to learn about other cultures, I think. Plus, it's totally delicious. I recommend asking locals where they like to eat and try out some of those places. Chances are, they are affordable and family-owned and sometimes really popular. These are the best places to eat, in my opinion.

While we stuffed our faces, we watched some videos about Chinese New Year and the Great Wall of China. I found that videos geared a bit more toward kids are more preferable for us if we're learning things, because they're more fun and interesting. 

You knew there'd be dessert, right? Of course you did! Knowing we had a lot of food for our main meal, I opted for a smaller dessert of sweet taro buns. These are round, and round shapes signify family togetherness. Though we didn't have our whole family around us, we had each other and the dog, which is our own little family. 

For some reason, I'm a big fan of taro. It doesn't have a lot of flavor, which can be good or bad, depending on your tastes. I happen to like the consistency and it was really appealing with the sweet bun. Eric added a bit of sweetness to his with some fig jam and we were both happy. 

You also can't beat dessert on the Great Wall, right? Did you know that it's not even a full wall, but a bunch of pieces of walls that are sometimes connected? Did you also know that tourism is eroding the wall? If you didn't, now you do. You're welcome! 

So, my table consisted of stuff I already had and a few things I bought to spruce it up. This cherry blossom branch with butterflies is actually a headband I made for my last in-person Harry Potter party where I was The Fat Lady who guards the Gryffindor Common Room. I just set it in a short vase I had and hid it behind this gold fan, and added this amazing Mr. Men book I found where they all celebrated Chinese New Year. I already had the red tablecloth and I used my plain white plates, though I wished I had invested in some black ones specifically for this, but I've since discovered that white represents gold and brightness, so I guess I lucked my way into it working for this. 

There's this lucky red door backdrop I found that was massive and we ended up tucking it under the table for all the extra length, and also so it wouldn't look all bunched up in the pictures. I really love it. I also thought this was the moment to have a special banner, so I splurged for the 2021 Ox banner (which was actually not that much. I just can't use it again.)

Besides watching some videos about the Great Wall and the story of Chinese New Year, we also watched an amazing dragon dance and learned about all the traditional New Year foods from a lovely comedian. This was a little more spendy than our usual Destination Date Nights, but we ordered from a fancy-ish place and it was a special occasion. This topped out at around $165. We ended up with leftovers though. 

If you also want to throw your own celebration or want to get started on next year's, here's a list of how you might want to enjoy a destination staycation of your own:

• A good backdrop - Great Wall backdrop
• or two - lucky door
• A New Year banner
• Here's a beautiful, but generic, one
• A cool dragon
• A set of hanging lanterns
• A tea set
• A Chinese fan
• Mr. Men book
• Firecracker headbands
• Chinese cookbook
• Learn conversational Chinese with this book
• Plan your trip with this Monocle guide book
• A good YouTube playlist. Here are some vids we watched:
• Fortune Tales
• The Story of the Chinese Zodiac
• Lion Dance
• 8 Lucky Foods
• The Great Wall of China

You can learn a lot about destinations by engaging in their celebrations. Even if you can't be there, you can still do it at home and enjoy it without the crowds. This is especially good if you have kids and they aren't super into trying new things, like foods. It's also a lot cheaper than traveling during a festival, though there are usually local Chinatown celebrations that can give you a good look into what it would be like in China.

Have you ever celebrated Chinese New Year? 

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I may be compensated should you choose to make any purchases through them. This allows me to keep this blog running for you. Thanks in advance!

Road Trip Safer with TP Kits

If you've been following me on Instagram, you know that I went on my first trip since the pandemic began. I took a road trip up to the San Juan Islands in Washington with my mom, the dog, and Eric. We packed our own snacks, used hand sanitizer after any interaction with people or objects outside of our car, and wore our masks even when we were the only people in an area. This is a very unusual time and TP Kits helped make our public restroom trips much safer and easier. 

TP Kits are individually packaged kits that you can keep in your car or purse for restroom stops. We stopped at a handful of rest stops, because nature calls and you can't use the facilities at restaurants and fast food joints anymore. Luckily, most places we stopped at had very clean bathrooms and were well stocked, but it could also be that there just aren't that many travelers right now, because at the most, we shared a bathroom with two other people. 

TP Kits contain 5 2-ply tissues and 2 wet wipes in their own packets. Right now, you may just not want to touch anything, because you never know. That's fine. Take your kit with you, use the included tissues for toilet paper, use one of the wet wipes to wipe down anything that looks dirty, and use the other in case there no working sink. 

Your kit is resealable, so if you only use part of what's inside, you can throw those away and reseal what's left inside to use later. I have resorted before to using tissues that I've crammed in my purse when I've found that the stall I've entered had no toilet paper. That's not ideal. At all. These tissue squares are plush and large, so 5 should be plenty for almost any business you need to get down to in the potty. 

Each wet wipe is individually-sealed and is a perfect size. They aren't those large wet wipes that are good for 2 people. In fact, this is the size I wish all wet wipes were. Big enough to clean both of your hands, clean faces or wipe down gross surfaces, but not overly large that you feel like you wasted using it. They are fresh smelling, too. 

Your TP Kits are waterproof, so if you accidentally spill in your bag, you won't have soggy tissues. You can still open these up and use everything inside. And when you're done, toss it in the trash with a clear conscience, because everything is 100% biodegradable. I know that this is usually a deterrence for me when purchasing single-use products, but TP Kits makes me feel good about my impact on the environment and also make me feel safer and cleaner while traveling. In fact, they give me the peace of mind to take more socially-responsible trips in the future. 

Look at all these possibly very germy surfaces.

Are you looking to make your trips, even if it's just to the grocery store or the park, a little less stressful? then pick up your own box of TP Kits before heading out. In fact, if you sign up for their mailing list, you can get 10% off your order. 

Other uses: camping, hiking, sporting events, clubs, bars, and anything involving pets or children. You never know when you're going to need some spare tissues/toilet paper or wet wipes.

Other details:

Where can I buy it? On the TP Kits website

How much is it? $2 per single packs | $10 for a 10/pack

More info: 2-ply tissues (7.625″ x 7.125″), wet wipes (1.8125″ x 3.5″), lightweight, both tissues and wipes are made from a cotton blend fiber. 

If you like what TP Kits is doing, follow them on social media:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Where are you headed on your next trip, road trip or otherwise?

Disclaimer: I received a box of TP Kits to take on my trip for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are 100% my own.