Work a little, play a little. Credit: vastateparkstaff/Flickr
The Sunday New York Times Travel section had a good article on volunteer vacations, which is when you put in time for a good cause while on vacation. A major upside is reduced cost. Here’s my take on the story, with specific cheap volunteer vacations listed below.
Pros
Cost reduced by as much as 50%!
Unusual activities and trips built into your vacation.
Burn extra calories on the trip, making up for indulgent eating and drinking.
You can feel good about visiting third world countries, or wherever your trip takes you.
Cons
Some of the trips require 6 hours of work a day.
Not all the work is light labor. You’re going to break a sweat!
Specific trips (prices do not include airfare)
Appalachian Mountain Club
Help clean up trails from New Hampshire to St. John for about $220 a week
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
zoetnet/Flickr
Got vacation time coming your way? Trying to decide what to do? I’ve got 10 steps for a great staycation (a vacation at home, so no hotel and travel costs), plus specific things to do in 80 towns across the country below.
I’m always amazed by people who haven’t been to some of the interesting places in their hometown. Don’t wait for visitors to be a tourist in your own town!
Rennett Stowe/FLickr
Going somewhere? You better be getting a cash back rebate when you book flight, hotels, or car rentals! One of my favorite cash back sites, Shortcuts, has a page dedicated to cash back travel deals. New to this? Here’s my guide to how cash back rebates work.
A sampling of the travel savings available:
Hotels
3.5% of your purchase back from Hotels.com on Ebates
2.5% of your purchase back from Best Western on Ebates
N1NJ4/Flickr
Reader Meital wrote in with a common summer vacation problem:
I would like to go camping this summer with my boyfriend and our friends. I know that on your website you always mention that parks have free admission during certain times of the year. Can you recommend a few parks that are beautiful and cheap/ reasonable in california (probably about a few hours out of the san fernando valley or LA)?
Meital, here are five places you can camp for free or park an RV for $10 a night. There are many places near Los Angeles on the list. Camping is my favorite cheap summer vacation, among others.
Where do you like to camp in California or another state?
Got a question or savings tip? Email me and you could be featured on BargainBabe.com!
AMagill/Flickr
I’m taking next week off for a luxuriously long (one whole week!) vacation with my special someone. We’re heading to Vermont for hiking, snowshoeing, massages, and lots of down time. I. CAN’T. WAIT.
See you after Easter!
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
Posing for pics is part of every trip. Credit: pixajen/Flickr
As an addendum to my recent posts on cheap holiday vacations and cheap holiday travel tips, I just discovered a very cool map on the travel site FareCompare.com.
Plug in your starting location, your budget, the month you want to travel, and the map shows you exactly where you can afford to go across the globe.
You can narrow your search by choosing activities (ski, beach, golf), specific airlines, or price per mile. It’s easy – and fun – to think about all the trips you can take across the world. Chile! New Zealand! Turkey!
The map pulls fares published in the past four hours, so prices are accurate. Prices include taxes and fees, but not checked baggage costs, which vary greatly by airline. Flight prices may not be available on all days of the week. The map is for departure points in the U.S. only.
Thanks, Dan!
I’m off next week so no new blog posts and no daily/weekly emails. I’m taking a staycation and will be going kayaking, hiking, swimming, and wine tasting!
Just ’cause I’ll be gone doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the reader giveaway to win two $100 Restaurant.com gift cards, though. The contest ends Monday, Aug. 30, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST. I’ll sneak back from vacation to announce the winner on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
Jamiesrabbits/Flickr
If you live outside the Golden State, I’m sorry! Here are three coupons for water parks in California, including Raging Waters in San Dimas, Wild Rivers in Irvine, and Wild Waters Adventure in Clovis.
Raging Waters (San Dimas)
Get $7 off a general admission purchased online or $5 off general admission purchased at the park. Print the water park coupon or online use coupon code 1060 when you buy tickets online. Single day tickets are $23-$37.
Wild Rivers (Irvine)
Get $5 off a general admission ticket with this printable coupon or use coupon code RRAPIDS2 if you buy your ticket online. Single day tickets are $17-$33.
Wild Waters (Clovis)
Get $6 off a general admission ticket with this coupon. Bring it to the park as you cannot buy tickets online for Wild Waters. Single day tickets are $17-$24.
Act quick to get a cheap flight on Southwest for a summer vacation. You have to buy your tickets by June 17 and travel by September 2, 2010. The fares are good for travel on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
One way sample fares include:
- Burbank to Oakland, Vegas, San Jose, or Phoenix for $59
- Orlando to Ft. Myers for $53, or to Ft. Lauderdale for $69
- Jackson to Houston for $69
- Long Island or New York to Baltimore for $69
- San Diego to Vegas, Phoenix, or Tuscon for $59
- San Francisco to Vegas, Orange County or Los Angeles for $59
- See all the cheap flights on Southwest
Caveats: 14-day advance purchase required, purchase by June 17, 2010 at 11:59 pm PST, fares do not include federal excise tax of $3.70 per takeoff and landing, airport-assessed passenger facility charges (PFC) of up to $9, and government-imposed September 11th Security Fee of up to $5 one-way.
boeingdreamscape/Flickr
I just got an email from Travelzoo that reminded me of the amazing air travel deals to be had this summer. Here are five quick tips!
1. Sign up for Travelzoo.com, a site that is ground zero for travel deals. I especially recommend their Top 20 Deals, Last Minute Deals, and Newsflash. You can sign up for particular deals via email and let them know what zip code you live in so they can tailor deals. Travelzoo also has international travel deals if you live in Canada, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, China, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, or Australia.
2. Sign up for the email lists of any airlines you like to fly, like Jetblue, Virgin America, or Southwest. Most airlines shares sales and deals first via email and offer free loyalty programs. I also like Airfarewatchdog.com.
3. Seek out a local Groupon-type site a few weeks before you travel. By signing up for an email deal list in, say, San Antonio, you will hear about super discounts on restaurants, shows, and services in the city you are planning to visit.
4. Consider alternative lodging, like couch surfing or individuals who offer spare rooms to travelers through organizations like iStopOver or RoomaRama. You can also seek out people to exchange places with on Craigstlist.
5. Fly mid-week for the best prices and no crowds! And remember to factor in baggage fees. Southwest does not charge for bags, but Virgin America lets you check up to 10 bags for $25 each as long as they are less than 50 pounds!
How do you plan to save money on your summer vacation?
TheConsumerist.com
Jetblue is selling a bunch of flights from JFK for $10 each. The site was getting hammered last time I checked so give the pages time to load.
New customers can get a free photobook from Picaboo or, if you already have an account with them, there is a BOGO free coupon that is good through March 31, 2010.
Use this Gap coupon code to get jeans at 30 percent off. Just trade-in an old pair by Sunday, March 14, 2010.
Snag a bag of free dog treats from Science Diet when you share your name, email and address.
Coldwater Creek coupons! Get 20-25 percent off when you buy $100 or more. Good in stores and online.
Do you live near a Dunkin Donuts? Then get free coffee every Monday in March.
mdanys/Flickr
I recently talked to Diana Castilla at News Net TV about travel deals for cheap hotel rooms and cheap flights. The segment is running Tuesday March 9, 2010 at 6 a.m. on KVMD (cable news channel 31 on Dish and Direct TV) or you can watch it online starting at noon.
If you are a student or educator, you can get a lot of cheap travel deals at StudentUniverse. Anyone can save money on a trip by renting a home or condo. Sometimes you can even arrange swaps!
If you are really pinching pennies, check out this post on 17 ways to save money in Vegas.
Reader Bob left four great travel tips as a comment:
I travel a lot and over the years I’ve learned a few trick… Hope these are helpful..
1. Everybody knows about flying into alternate airports (e.g. OAK instead of SFO) but increasingly it’s cheaper to book a multi-destination flight to lower the fare. Last year I saved $300 on a RT from SFO to AMS by booking the outbound from SFO to TGL and walking away at AMS. Note that you can’t do that on the inbound since airlines will now cancel your entire ticket if you miss your flight at the origin. So inbound was booked from AMS to SFO.
2. In Europe, take advantage of the rail system. It is almost always cheaper to fly to LHR and train to Paris than it is to fly direct to CDG. Same is true for many other popular destinations.
3. If you can take it or leave it, haggle!! I’ve got amazing deals from airlines by calling them the day of the flight, pointing out that they were flying almost empty and offered them what I thought the trip was worth it.
4. Add a ’stop’ – a lot of times you can add a layover for little or no money. Just last month I added a Paris stop to my Istanbul trip for only $80 more by booking an open-jaw flight.
Happy traveling!
Spring break is coming up and one way to save money is to earn a free night at your hotel. The Choice Hotels spring promo lets you do just that. The cool thing about the promotion is that once you earn your free night you can choose to stay at 1,500 hotels across the globe – gratis! Here’s how it works.
Stay two different times at any of the ten hotels in the Choice Hotels chain, including the Quality Inn, Cambria Suites, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn. You can mix and match which hotels you stay at. Each visit has to be at least two nights.
Stay twice between now and April 30, 2010, and you earn a free night. You can find a great hotel rate on the Choice Hotels website, which searches the entire hotel chain for the best deal. Within any given city, you can search for hotels by radius or by proximity to prominent attractions, like SeaWorld in San Diego or Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Make sure to sign up for the Choice Hotels privileges reward program to get your free hotel night. You’ll need an address in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or eligible countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe to qualify for the promotion.
USA Weekend had a great round up of tips to save money on summer activities. Here are the best of ‘em.
- Monitor flight prices by setting up an email alert on FareCompare.com.
- Save gas and time by getting an automatic toll pass such as E-ZPass, FasTrak or SunPass (the last of which you can buy pre-paid at grocery stores in Florida).
- Join the free loyalty programs at your local movie theater. AMC’s MovieWatcher and the Regal Cinemas Regal Crown Club both have good perks.
- Find the best price for summer theater at SeatKarma.com, which monitors prices from more than 200 ticket brokers.
- Make your own fast food to avoid pricey take out. Make mini-pizzas by topping flatbread, bagels, or English muffins with tomato sauce and cheese. Make bean and cheese burritos in advance, wrap tightly and freeze for a microwave-ready bite.
- Look for discount tickets to baseball games and bring your own food as much as is allowed.
Thanks, Meital!
The National Parks Service has two upcoming fee-free weekends at more than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees. The freebie includes entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees but NOT fees for reservations, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties. Still, the offer is pretty awesome.
The fee-free weekends include:
- July 18-19, 2009
- August 15-16, 2009
For a list of free parks by state, click here. (The page may take awhile to load.)
Here’s another tip the park service is passing on. Many national parks never charge an entrance fee, so you can plan inexpensive visits year round! They also provide a list of family activities this summer.
Thanks, Hubby!
