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

. The price includes meals and lodging, but don’t expect luxury. You’ll be sleeping in tents or cabins. The workload is 4-6 hours daily. You’ll be ready for an afternoon mai tai.

Cross-Cultural Solutions

A one-week trip to Brazil, Costa Rica, or Ghana will run you about $1,990 through the Insight Abroad program. Work includes painting, planting gardens, and working at day care centers. Major bonus is 100% of the cost is tax deductible! Accommodations are “modest” and you only have “some afternoons, most evenings, and every weekend free.”

Marco Island Marriot Resort, Golf Club & Spa

In exchangeg for helping out at the local YMCA in this South Florida town, you’ll get 15% off room rates through Sept. 30. The article was unclear if you have to help out two hours per day or per trip. This trip sounded the most luxurious of all five mentioned in the article, but the discount was also one of the smallest.

Sierra Club

Trips range from $325 to $1,975 for a week or longer, though 70% of Sierra Club trips cost $700 or less. By working to restore/maintain state and federal land, you’ll get access to areas of parks that are not usually open to the public. Expect cabin or tent lodging (i.e. rustic).

Vail Resorts Give and Getaway

Get 20% off 13 different resorts from Aspen, CO. to St. Lucia in the Caribbean when you help local farmers, plant trees, and clear trails.

Would you consider going on a volunteer vacation?

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!

1. Decide on your dates. If you have flexibility in your dates, try to arrange the time around an event you are already interested in attending like a fair or show. This will put a big highlight in your itinerary.
2. Start reading the calendar section of your local paper or the AAA magazine. Look for events occurring during your staycation.
3. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce to see if there are special events and discounts.
4. Do the same research on the internet that you would do if you were traveling to a foreign country. Read local blogs and search out special attractions.
5. Take out a travel book or two from your local library about your area. I got the most fabulous book from my local AAA. It’s called, “Los Angeles Attractions” published by Museon Publishing. This 500 page book has thousands of local attractions. Many of them are free. Most of them are things that I never heard of before such as Hollywood’s Rock Walk, the address of Ozzie and Harriet’s House and the history of the Venice, California canals.
6. Read the history of your area from a book such as Images of America. Take a day or two finding the places in the old photographs. Take modern pictures of the same sites.
7. Set aside money to do something extravagant that you wouldn’t normally do. This will really make it feel like a vacation.
8. If possible, try to keep all work and regular day to day activities out of your life. Tell your office you can’t be reached. Don’t answer your work email. Enjoy yourself!
9. Use every discount and coupon you can find. Buy a local discount coupon book, like the Entertainment Book. Or by Groupons. Search “name of your town”+”discounts” to be really thorough.
10. A great way to document your trip is with an ultramodern scrapbook or by making a video.

The main thing is to plan your time so that it doesn’t just slip by with the “same old, same old.” You want to feel like you have really been on vacation. Even if your itinerary is just “sleep in and lay in the hammock” you want to knowingly do that. You might even make a nice big “Do Not Disturb” sign and put it on your doorknob.

Staycations across the country: The Happy Housewife got together 80 bloggers to write about the best places to visit all across the country. Who knew there was so much to do in Oshkosh, Wisconsin!

Have you taken a staycation? Any advice for the rest of us?

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

5% of your purchase back from Choice Hotels on Ebates or Shortcuts

1% back Marriott Hotels & Resorts on Ebates

5% back at BedandBreakfast.com on Shortcuts

5% back at Quality Inn on Shortcuts

1.5% back at Ramada on Shortcuts

2.5% from Best Western on Shortcuts

4.5% from Crowne Plaza on Shortcuts

5% back from Econo Lodge on Shortcuts

4.5% back at Holiday Inn on Shortcuts

2.5% back at Motel 6 on Shortcuts

Travel sites

1-3.5% back from Travelocity on Ebates and Shortcuts

2% back from Hotwire on Ebates

1-4.5% back on Priceline on Shortcuts

Airlines

3% back from Southwest Airlines Vacations on Ebates (the vacation bookings are slightly different than regular, flight-only bookings)

2% back on American Airlines Vacations on Ebates

1% back from Air France on Ebates

1% back from CheapOair on Ebates

1.5% back from Virgin Atlantic on Shortcuts

Car rental

3.5% back at Thrifty or Dollar Rent a Car on Shortcuts

3% back at Avis, Budget, CarRentals.com,  on Shortcuts

Resorts

2% back at ClubMed on Shortcuts

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!

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.

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:

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.

• 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 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!