Save Money for Travel While Booking Travel

Did you know that you can basically get paid to travel and shop (for your travel gear and clothing) for things you buy every day? You can and Rakuten will pay you for it. I never buy or book anything without first checking Rakuten. So, what IS Rakuten? It's a fantastic - and free! - site that offers you cash back for purchasing from online merchants. If you plan to make a purchase anyway, you might as well get something for being a loyal (or even a new) customer. 

Here's how it works: Sign up is quick and easy, then you're ready to shop! When you have a hankering to buy something, say, at Sephora, go to Rakuten, sign in, click on Sephora and it takes you straight to the main website. You must go through Rakuten, so they can track your purchase. At checkout, make sure you use the same email address you used to sign up on Rakuten and within a few days, your purchase will show up in your account. 

You can track your cash back total to see how much you saved and then every quarter, Rakuten sends you a Big Fat Check (if you choose that method) or a Big Fat Payment via Paypal. Normally, you get $5 for signing up, but right now get $30 once you make your first qualifying purchase! Who else does that? If there are coupon codes available or special sales, Rakuten will show them to you, helping you save even MORE!

I like to use my cash back as a travel savings supplement. Each time I make a purchase, I rack up cash and then it gets deposited right to my Paypal account. I use that money to purchase travel stuffs, like Groupons, clothing, tours, and more! If I can get more cash back with it, even better! Of course, you can use it for whatever you want. 

Heart your favorite stores for easy access to them on the site.

Stores you can shop at: Rakuten has, literally, hundreds of online merchants you can choose from, including a long list of travel merchants. Just a sampling of those include: TravelSmith, Holiday Inn, Avis, Alaska Airlines, Camping World, Orbitz, Air France, Delta Airlines, HomeAway and even SkyMall! Keep your eyes out for the Daily Double. Each day one awesome merchant offers double cash back on your purchases for the day. 

And now, you can easily get cash back through Rakuten by downloading the Chrome extension on your computer. When you go to a website that accepts Rakuten, the app will add a banner to the top of your screen letting you know, then you can can click on the banner and it will automatically put you through your Rakuten account and straight back to the site. That's it. One click and you're on your way to getting money back. I always like to check out the Rakuten site anyway, because they include any active coupon codes, so you can save even more. 

If you spend a lot of time on your phone, download Rakuten there, too. It's a bit of extra work, since you have to open the app and then find the store you want to shop at from there, but it's always worth it. It's easy to get around, see your account, find your favorites, and see all the places you can get cashback on one screen.

Haven't signed up for Rakuten yet? Do it now.

Doing All the Fall Things

It's pumpkin spice season! Okay, I know a lot of us don't gauge the year in seasonal coffee drinks. It's fall, when the leaves turn, and the weather turns crisp, and we wear a jacket in the morning, and bring out our boots. If you're an autumn traveler like we are, it's a great time to do all the fun fall things before Halloween comes and some of these things go away. 

Not only is it cheaper to travel in the fall, but there are fewer tourists everywhere and the shorter hours is actually made up for with shorter lines. This means you can sleep in a bit and also have early evenings if you want. Want to make the most out of your fall? Then here are some fun ways to celebrate the season and Halloween. 

Corn maze

I look forward to the corn mazes all year long. It's so fun to go out and spend an afternoon on local farms and get lost in a maze of maize! We pack up the car with a change of clothes (and sometimes the dog) and hope there's no mud where we will have to use those extra clothes and shoes and towels, but if we do, we're prepared. The mazes test our ability to read a map or our trivia knowledge. 

While other families split up and race each other through the maze, we view it as a fun family outing and the three of us go together. Sometimes we just let the dog go and pick our course and sometimes we use whatever clues they give us at the beginning. After we emerge from the corn, we make a trip to the gift shop, grab something warm to eat and drink and then head home. There are always great photo ops.

Pumpkin harvest

I don't really get excited by pumpkin carving. That might be a little weird for someone who loves Halloween as much as I do. I just don't find it fun and I don't make pies, but often the harvest festivals are full of pumpkin-picking and other activities like hayrides, squash-tossing, farm animals and more. 

If you find a corn maze, it's not unusual for there to be pumpkin harvest festivities going on nearby. Kids love to run and pick out the pumpkin they will use for their jack-o-lantern at home and also enjoy running and around and climbing on things. We have farms that feature hay bale pyramids and tours on a farm train. Usually these days out are fairly affordable and you can even sign up to receive coupons when the celebration starts.

Farmers' market

This is similar to you-pick farms, except you can just go with your list and have fun finding them at the different stalls. Another plus to the markets is that you are getting affordable local foods and you can usually pick up lunch from any number of food merchants there, too. Our market up the street is a great place to get everything from crepes to tamales. When you're traveling, it's a perfect way to stock your fridge with healthy options for snacks and side dishes.

Fruit picking

I love fresh fruits and vegetables. I also love to visit local farms. I'm always amazed by what people can grow. I have my own garden, but it's not big and awesome, so I like to get ideas on how to make it better. Many of these farms let you go pick your own fresh produce. You pay by the pound and often they have a store where they sell jams, sauces, and other things they make on-site. These make great gifts and souvenirs as well.

Wine and beer festivals

Right after the grape and wheat harvests come the festivals! Food, wine, beer, you name it. Fall has tons of wine and beer celebrations everywhere they serve such things. Find new favorites when you can sample all the local (and some not-so-local) varietals and brews. Most of these fests require you to buy a glass for your samples, so you already have a built-in souvenir, too!

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Head Underground

Lots of weird stuff happens underground. Here are some I enjoyed:

Paris Catacombs - There are miles of underground tunnels underneath Paris full of human bones that were put there when the cemeteries became overcrowded. Even now they are still crowded, but with tourists. Get there right at opening and beat the crowds. Lines can stretch up to 2 hours long and with prices at only 13-15 euros per person, it's one of the cheaper things you can do in France.

And if you're looking for something interesting, but not scary (unless possibly seeing a rat or a bug scares you), the Paris Sewer Museum is a cool underground self-guided tour that's only 9 euros, and I promise there are no skeletons.

We lucked into a tour of the Sacramento Underground when we were visiting the Sacramento History Museum in July. The underground is where the original street level used to be until they had to raise the roads and buildings due to floods. 

If you want an off-the-beaten-path visit to London, take the Tube to Orpington to visit Chislehurst Caves, a former fall-out shelter for the war, but after that a place where bands would play some fantastic concerts for smallish groups of fans. The caves were chalk mines and mined for bricks used for buildings in the city and have even been used for TV and movie sets, like Dr. Who in the 60s.

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Go to a theme park

Most theme parks have a Halloween celebration of some sort. Here are the top ones, including how to save on admission if there's a way to:

• Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Many park days at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland in Sept-Nov are cut short for this party that requires a special ticket to get in. From 7pm to midnight, many of the park guests come dressed in costume to enjoy 5 hours of trick-or-treating, dancing, nighttime thrill rides (only specific rides will be open during that time, not the whole park), Hall-o-wishes fireworks display, an all-villain musical show in front of the castle, villain meet and greets, amazing park decorations and, best of all, a special parade opened with the Headless Horseman on horseback. It’s all totally Disney and so out of their normal festivities that it’s worth putting off your vacation until that time of year.
• Knott's presents Knott's Scary Farm. Save significantly on your tickets by buying them online instead of at the gate.
• Universal puts on Halloween Horror Nights. While ticket prices don't waver, you're sure to get your money's worth while riding select rides and being scared out of your wits with roaming creeps, themed haunted houses and scare zones. It's like being in your very own horror movie. 
• Busch Gardens in Tampa and Williamsburg offer up Howl-o-Scream. Much like Universal, they have scare zones, haunted houses and themed entertainment. You can't get cheaper tickets for this event either, but it'll scare your pants off, which you maybe can't put a price on.
• Legoland has spooky fun for the little ones with Brick-or-Treat. It includes trick or treating and the opportunity to dress-up and enjoy the park after it closes for the regular day. Tickets are separate from the main park admission, but totally fun!

We were just in Tennessee and Dollywood had Harvest Festival, which had real pumpkins grown by local farmers, meet and greets with their pumpkin guy Harvey, autumn decor, and cool harvest vignettes. 

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Eat in cool places

In Portland, we have a place called Chapel Pub that used to be a funeral home. That can be interesting for a meal and drink. In Denver, we at at a restaurant called Linger Eatuary, which was a former mortuary and still has some of the original furniture. Find other haunted restaurants and horror-themed restaurants for your next trip.

Doing a little bit of research before traveling, or even when you're at home, can get you to some really cool seasonal activities. 

What are some of your favorite fall activities or places to travel during spooky season?

Easy To Pack Halloween Costumes

When you travel over Halloween, you might also be doing holiday activities where you'll need a costume. We have often gone to a Disney park during Halloween season and have packed costumes, but still only took a carry-on. 

Here are 10 easy, but fun, costumes to bring with you, that will still enable you to pack light.

A game show contestant

You basically only need a plain colored shirt for this, and then a name tag and points card (or dollar guess), both of which are flat and easy to pack. 

Salt & Pepper (or other spices, if there's a group of you)

I love this. Everyone has a black or white t-shirt in their closet. You can do an iron-on S and P, or make large decals that you can stick on for your event and then remove when it's over. That way you can wear it during the whole trip, instead of just the one time.

An Olympic breakdancer

Can you breakdance? Don't worry. There's speculation that that one Australian Olympian couldn't either. While a bit more elaborate of an outfit, you could easily wear parts of this as loungewear on your trip.

Tennis or Pickleball player

You're probably already packing some of this outfit. You may just need to add a tennis skirt/short and a visor. Maybe you travel with your own pickleball racket, which would make this incredibly easy. 

Nepo Baby

I kind of love the simplicity of this one that's still creative. Pair some jeans with a plain tee that says Nepo Baby, get yourself a fake award to carry around, and prepare your acceptance speech. 

A milkshake (and soda jerk)

Perfect solo costume. Perfect couple's costumes. Perfect group costume. If these headbands are too big for you to travel with, consider doing a cardboard cutout version that you color and attach to a headband yourself or purchase these smaller versions. Here's an outfit for the soda jerk.

Pantone colors

Wear monochromatic outfits and attach a white Pantone label or border. Bonus points if you can find, and add, the exact color and number code.

Life handing out lemons

Looking for a funny costume that makes people think? Wear a yellow shirt or dress, put a nametag on that says Life and pick up some lemons from the local grocery store that you can carry around in a string bag and hand out to people, or at least let people see them. 

A Bachelor contestant

Wear whatever dress you bring with you and dress it up with some jewelry, make a chyron board with your stats and carry a rose. Boom! Go one step further and mess up your makeup and be a booted contestant from the show.

Witch

This is always an easy and classic costume. You just need a black outfit and a hat. It can be as simple as you want. Add some accessories that are easy to pack and brew up some magic.