Vacation Planning

I’ve been struggling with the state topics each week, and the response hasn’t been overwhelming, so I’m changing up the format again for this blog and I’ll go back to providing vacation tips, hints, and more - randomly, so that I’ll provide more information for more people.

Hope that works for you.

Here’s a money-saving tip I learned last month, and it’s good again this month, so you may want to check it out to save $75!

Travelocity is having a “Holiday Bonus” sale. If you book three nights with a hotel listed on their site, and pay with a MasterCard, you can save $75 off your total stay. You must enter the code BONUS75 when you check out. They seem to have taken the “Holiday Bonus” logo off the site this week (it was there last week) but enter the code anyway - it’s good through December 31st. (Since the logo is gone, just make sure you check your total before you confirm - you don’t want to be surprised if they don’t honor the code.)

If you don’t have a MasterCard, you can still get the savings, by using PayPal. PayPal has a new plug-in (Look for PayPal Plug-in in the left column to access) that allows you to generate a single-use credit card - and it’s a Mastercard.

We did this last month, and plan to do it again for Christmas!

I am going to confess something right here for all the world to see -we travel CHEAP. We scrape every penny and look for the best bargains possible. With that confession, I’ll share the details of our last savings:

We stayed in a nice, pet-friendly, Red Roof Inn (with elevators). Rooms normally are over $40 a night, but with our savings, we paid about $28 a night! We were within one mile of about 50 restaurants and a major mall - it was a perfect location for our purpose. The staff was friendly, the room was clean and odor-free.

You’ll also note on the Travelocity site that MANY of the hotels (from budget motels to luxury hotels) are literally cutting prices - some at unbelievable prices. It sure makes travel much easier in this economy.

And don’t you love the falling gas prices?

I discovered a really great resource in my Alaskan research, and before you make one plan for a visit, you should explore the Alaska Toursaver. This travel coupon book offers hundreds of “2-for1″ savings on everything: tours, accomodations, dining, attractions, shopping, and more! It seems a bit pricey at $99.95, BUT, even if you use only one or two coupons, you’ll get your money’s worth.

Some examples:

Purchase at least a 6-day RV rental from ABC Motorhomes, and get three of those days free! There aren’t even any blackout periods. RVs are great ways to explore the country.

Purchase a 1/2-day Salmon Fishing trip from Alaska Trophy Fishing, get the 2nd person’s trip free. You’ll save over $200 on this coupon!

Purchase a 3 day/2 night Fishing Adventure from Alaska Big Five Fishing Lodges, and receive an accompanying trip for free. That alone saves $2475!!

The list goes on, so be sure to check it out if you’re planning a visit to our 49th state. The coupons include boat tours, museum fees, lodge stays, dining, helicoptor tours, and much more.

Anchorage offers a list of special travel deals, so you’ll want to check out their Web site if you’ll be traveling in that area. 

Most of the major cities offer visitors guides and some even offer coupon books, so check the local chamber where you plan to visit for other money-saving deals.

Although this first place is closed for the winter, it gets my top listing because of the experience you get when dining there.

The Cave Man BBQ & Steakhouse, located in Richland, Missouri, is closed from November to March, but the rest of the year will give you something to talk about forever. The restaurant is built into three levels of a cave, and in the 1920s, served as a speakeasy. Reviews for the place vary GREATLY, but the latest reviews are more positive than negative, so they have made some changes. If you’re an adventurer, you’ll probably love the place; if you’re expecting a refined dining experience, you should probably look elsewhere.

Two restaurants where you’ll enjoy good home-cooking near Stover, Missouri are:

Charley’s Store, on Highway B in Lincoln - just have a big appetite when you go.

Touch of Dutch Country Store - similar to Charley’s, but on a smaller scale, and located in Stover.

Arrowrock Village provides an assortment of dining and drinking experiences - all right on Main Street. For sit-down dining in an old railroad hotel, you’ll want to visit the Iron Horse Hotel and Restaurant; enjoy an after-theatre nightcap in the gardens of The Vine Wine Bar & Garden.

The Historic Arrowrock Tavern is the oldest restaurant in operation west of the Mississippi, so be sure to check them out, too.

Friday’s Tip: Be sure to check out the state’s tourism Web site for money-saving coupons to many destinations throughout the state. Coupons are available for hotels, dining, shopping, golf, and more - and many are great savings, so it’s definitely worth exploring.

I’m about ready for a vacation - what about you?

It’s Money Monday again, and this week, we’re exploring vacations during the holidays. Here are some tips for saving your hard-earned dollars while providing your family with a memorable vacation:

SkyAuction.com – I discovered SkyAuction.com back in 1999 and have used it several times over the years, and I’m surprised when people tell me they’ve never heard of it. They’ve changed some since they first started, but you can still get great deals.

We once rented a 2-bedroom chalet in the Massanutten ski resort in Virginia for only $250 – for an entire week. It was the early season, but it still provided us with enough snow for our wants and needs. It made a great base for seeing the area, and we had all sorts of amenities at our disposal. Our bid was less than $50 – the rest of the $250 went for taxes that we had to pay regardless of what we paid for the stay.

We also once purchased a roundtrip ticket from Atlanta to London for $250 – again, our bid was low, and the rest was the requisite taxes.

The options at SkyAuction are good, too. You have the option to look for lodging options only (timeshares, hotels, apartments, condos), airfare, cruises, and entire packages. The lodging items are available in a “Bid Per Night” or “Bid per 7-Days” – depending on the particular item up for bid, and some auctions include incentives like free tickets to attractions or cultural events.

Just remember to figure in the taxes required for each offering – they will be added to your winning bid.

Newsletters – if you have a destination or even an area or particular state in mind, check online for specials. Many places offer e-newsletters with coupons or bargains from local merchants. Before a recent trip to California, I discovered a Web site for a restaurant in one of our destinations and signed up for their newsletter. The coupons they sent out included “Buy one lunch meal, get one free.”  Check with the local Chamber of Commerce as a starting point to find these type of deals.

Vacation Rentals – consider renting a house with several families. You like being together for the holidays, and a large house would allow all of you to be together, share food costs, and see some new sites. Decide in advance how to split the costs involved, so that everyone gets a fair deal.

For example, here’s one I just found on VRBO. This pet-friendly, Outer Banks house has 7-bedrooms, 8.5 baths, and will sleep 15 people. It has a pool, hot tub, game room, fireplace, and ocean view. It rents for only $1000 a week until December 31st, 2008, and only $1175 during the holiday season next year (Oct. 3 – Dec. 31, 2009). If you rented that with one or two families, you could still spread out, have plenty of room, and spend less that $500 per family!

Ski Resorts – some ski resorts, depending on location, have early season deals between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The snow may not be at prime for avid skiers, but for families just wanting the experience of the snow or are just learning to ski, these early and late seasons are a great time to visit.

Here’s another example from VRBO, this one from Colorado. This log cabin offers several different pricing structures: you can rent it during their “economy” season – November  9th – December 18th – for only $500 a night. During their peak season, Dec 19-24th, this same property rents for $700 a night, and during the holiday season, December 25th-January 3rd, it rents for $1000 a night. But it’s a 5-bedroom, 5.5 bath house – all master suites, so you could literally share this property with four other couples/families, and a week’s stay could cost as little as $600 per family. The bedding varies from kings to bunks, with some sleeper sofas, too, so the logistics are flexible for all family sizes, and sleeps 14-18. Hot tub, game room, fireplaces, and more, located near the main tourist area, and only a short drive to several ski resorts.

Disney World – if you want to take your family to Disney World, but you’re not sure if you can afford it, check out these sites for ticket prices: Undercover Tourist, a Disney-authorized discount ticket outlet,  and MouseSavers (they have an e-newsletter, too.)

Don’t be afraid to check the prices of Disney’s “on-site” resorts. With AAA, you get a 20% discount, and you get free transportation anywhere in the parks. Sure beats having to pay the $12/day parking fee.

We’ll discuss more specific holiday destinations during the coming week. If there’s a particular place you’d like me to explore, be sure to leave it in the comments.