Affordable Discount Travel and Cheap Vacations

Summer Is Almost Over - Back To School Time!

2009-08-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

As summer draws to an end, I can't help but feel sad at missed opportunities to travel during the summer months. The current state of the economy has affected the travel plans of many many families, and that's too bad.

I read an article in the paper this morning where a couple had to cancel a planned vacation to Sedona Arizona to celebrate a 25th anniversary and instead, planned an intimate dinner at a local restaurant. Nothing wrong with dining at local restaurant but it isn't like driving to Sedona. Turns out, they had a memorable anniversary anyway, thank goodness.

As the summer heat of Las Vegas starts to change to more enjoyable weather, it is time to think about camping, hiking, and all the other great sports we can do when it isn't 115 degrees. Grabbing your tent, sleeping bag and other camping supplies can be more affordable than buying airplane tickets to Hawaii so don't miss out on your chance to enjoy an end of summer getaway. Plus, you can take the kids, the dogs, and the neighbors.

No Tent, No problem! You can find many affordable tents online and get ready for your adventure.

Travel Trends In A Down Economy

2009-02-24T09:51:00.001-08:00

Think people aren't traveling because the economy is down? You couldn't be more wrong. There are many people taking advantage of the Travel Trends right now and they are enjoying some great deals and vacations.

An expert for Priceline.com recently stated that leisure travelers could benefit from a drop-off in business conventions because of the economy.

Any traveler that really wants to get their moneys worth should be looking at the typical "convention cities", like Las Vegas, where business has slowed. You will find huge discounts on everything from vacation packages and hotels to them parks, attractions and restaurants. The cities want and need tourist dollars more than ever and they are aggressively lowering prices to get people to visit.

Some of the top convention cities are: Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Anaheim, New Orleans, San Francisco, Dallas, San Diego, and Washington.

Priceline.com is actually seeing winning bids for half off what the normal retail prices are for rental cars, four star hotels, and you can find great deals on air-hotel packages.

Once you get your killer deals on airline tickets and hotel, be sure you travel as the savy traveler and avoid some of the most common fees.

For example, did you know that most airlines are charging from $15-20 for your very first checked bag? Remember the days when you could check two bags, and then pay for extras? Not any more! You will be paying for your very first bag and more. There is a very simple way to get around that, use carry on luggage and luggage sets. You want to shop for a bag that is small enough to fit in the overhead bin or under the seat in front of you, but it has to be easy enough to tote around the airport in between flights, etc.

With the quality and size of Bags being sold today, you can pack everything you need and carry it on the airplane. You also want to consider packing as much travel size and sample size items as possible. First, you can't take anything in your carry on that is over 3.0 fluid ounces. Second, why pay overweight (Heavy) bag fees because you have full size shampoo, conditioner and hairspray. You can actually travel light, carrying everything you need, without getting stuck at the security checkpoint.

Also, if you are anything like me, you enjoy comfort when you travel, especially if the flight is any more than 3 hours. Flying makes me sleepy but unless I'm in first class, I find it very difficult to get comfortable and I'm usually cold. Did you know you will be paying extra, on most airlines, for the pillow and blanket that you used to get for free? Why not take your own travel blanket and travel pillow instead. Isn't it nice to know that the only head that was on your pillow was yours? With the right carry on or duffel bag, you can have your very own travel blanket and pillow each time you fly.

I hope this short little excerpt of information has proven useful to you in your travels and if you happen to be traveling internationally soon, be sure to check out my Online Discount Travel Store for more great deals and useful travel accessories.

Discount Travel With Cammo Print Duffel Bag Gear

2009-02-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

Have you ever considered shopping for Cammo gear to use as your luggage for your next trip? Maybe you will now, once you've seen some of the sharp Cammo Print gear being made in the Luggage industry today, especially at these great prices. I have never been in the military, but I sure LOVE the cammo print clothes I see military personnel wearing. There is just something about the uniform. Now you can find duffel bags, carry ons and entire luggage sets made in a Cammo Print.

Duffel bags have become the staple of travelers today. Why? Easy, airlines are now charging $15-$20 for your checked suitcase so people are doing everything they can to avoid having to wait in the ticket counter line and check a bag. Why not do what you can to carry your things with you and avoid the lines and the luggage fees. Problem is, what carry on bag do you choose to use when you want to carry as much as possible, yet still be able to get the bag on the airplane as carry on. After all, with everyone trying to avoid extra luggage fees, more people are taking carry on bags so the space in the overhead bins is going to be very very limited. We have all seen the carry on bag display which is supposed to give us an idea about the size of the bag we can get into the airplane, and we have all seen tons of people pulling bags right past it that are 2x the size. Something tells me airlines are going to start really cracking down on the size of bag people take onboard, especially if it doesn't fit in the overhead bin. Duffel bags are very flexible and unless you have it stuffed, you should be able to get it into that one last spot in an overhead bin 8 rows back if that's what it came down to.

Airlines now only allow, one carry on bag and one personal item. For me, I MUST have my lap top with me so I choose to use my lap top Messenger bag, or a good sized backpack as my personal item (easy to put my wallet, cell phone, and makeup bag in it). With the important stuff covered in one of these bags, I then carry a 20" carry on bag with some clothes, bath products, and 1 to 2 pair of shoes. I have also gotten very good at carrying Travel Size Sample Size products in my carry on bag so I don't need to weigh down my bag with full size shampoo and I don't violate regulations when going through security. Reminder - can't have anything with more than 3 oz's of fluid, lotion, etc.

Now, I don't have a Cammo Print Bag yet, but they are more appealing every day. Imagine not having to worry that you pick up a bag belonging to someone else, or they pick yours by mistake. Imagine the horror of getting to your destination only to learn you have a bag that is not yours.

Please take a moment to view my listings and check out the duffel style carry on luggage and luggage sets I have listed, especially the very unique Cammo Print stuff!

What you need to know about Luggage, Passport Holder, and Foreign Power Adapters

2009-01-19T22:44:00.000-08:00

What do you need to know about Luggage, Luggage sets, Travel Accessories like Passport holders and Foreign travel power adapter/converters? Everything.

These things can be critical to enjoying a fabulous travel experience where ever your travels may take you. If you don't have the right luggage, you might be paying extra baggage fees for your first and second checked bag, and if you've packed too much, you'll be paying for "heavy" luggage. Pay a $50 fee once or twice and you'll soon appreciate the importance of having the right carry on bag. The key is to find a bag that carries everything you need and will still fit under the seat in front of you, or in the overhead bin in the airplane.

One helpful way to keep your bags small enough to carry everything you need, is to use Travel Size, Trial Size or Sample Size Products. These are things like shampoo, conditioner, lotions and creams that are around 3.oz or less. When they are this small, you can pack them in your carry on and hopefully avoid having to check any luggage at all. As long as all of your Travel Size items fit into 1 quart size plastic bag, you'll be ok.

With the airlines now charging for food, drink, earplugs, and now pillow and blanket, be sure you don't leave home without your own Travel Pillow and blanket set. Isn't it better, after all, to know who's used those items before you?

Now one last thing you may want to consider when you get ready to take that vacation and travel, is your cell phone accessories. When you are busy trying to handle an entire luggage set, 1 or 2 kids, and maybe a drink or sandwich, you don't want to worry about holding on to your cell phone while you try to talk. I don't know about you, but I typically fire up the cell phone the minute the plane hits the gate and I usually have at least one voice message to listen to. I'm sure I could sit down somewhere or park my luggage for a minute, but I am not one of those people that likes to stop (I'd rather make a bee line for the baggage claim) so having my cell phone blue tooth headset earpiece can be a lifesaver. If a call comes in, all I have to do is tap the earpiece with a finger and accept the call. With my phone, I can even start calls with voice dial so it can all be no hands. It works great, trust me!

Food Challenges During a Week Long Condo Stay In Hawaii

2008-11-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

During my week long stay in a beautiful condo in Makaha Hawaii, I came across a problem I had not encountered before. My flight landed around 8:30 pm at night and I had about a 45 minute drive from the airport to get to my condo. The drive was not the bad part, I intentionally picked a condo that was as far away from the big city of Waikiki as I could get. I live in Vegas after all, and the last thing I need is a big city atmostphere.

My problem was the fact that I was traveling alone, and wouldn't be arriving to my condo until after 9:30 pm. Not knowing the local area at all, I had no idea where the grocery store was or if it was even open. I wasn't too sure about shopping at the grocery store for food after 10:00 pm at night and I needed to get to the condo first because I was already considered a late check in. I made a quick stop at Taco Bell, and got to the condo as quickly as possible. I figured there would certainly be a small bag of coffee and creamer for the morning, and I could survive the night without anything else to eat. In past experiences at my Timeshare condo in Kauai, there was a small courtesy package of Hawaiian coffee and some sugar and creamer so I expected the same thing here.

Well, I was wrong. There was nothing, nada, zero, zip in the kitchen and when I woke up in the morning, I was seriously needing some coffee. I would have given a limb to be able to have delicious hot coffee to drink as I sat on my balcony enjoying the ocean view.

Obviously, I would need to make a trip to the grocery store and was able to find out what was open on a Sunday when I finally, officially checked in at the front desk.

I don't know if you've ever had the privaledge of shopping for food on any Hawaiian island, but food does not come cheap there. I was only staying for about 5 days so I did my best to shop for small containers of the things I wanted to buy. I did not see the point in buying a large jar of spaghetti sauce, or full size tub of margarine if I was only there for 5 days. I knew I couldn't take it home in my luggage- that could be ugly. Unfortunately, I didn't have much choice if I was going to enjoy several meals I cooked up myself in my condo kitchen. At least spaghetti could be enjoyed twice if I cooked enough, and maybe the cleaning staff would take the margarine home if I left it in the fridge.

I had this same problem with creamer for my coffee (I don't like the powder stuff at all), peanut butter and jelly, garlic salt or salt and pepper to season my food, salad dressing, and laundry soap. I had a washer and dryer in my unit, but needed trial size packages of tide or something.

Now, I did think ahead and I brought some single packages of oatmeal from home because that's not very hard to pack in my suitcase if I took them out of the box. I could not imagine trying to bring all the things I would need with me from home, though. Imagine if something like the salad dressing broke when they launched my suitcase onto the plane.

If you are planning a trip soon, and you have reserved either a condo, timeshare unit, or even hotel room with kitchenette, I highly recommend you think about all the condiments and food items you'll be needing to feed you and your family. Sure, you could eat out, but in case you are traveling on a strict vacation budget and you want to enjoy a good home cooked meal from your vacation home, you might be interested in learning how to go about getting the cheapest trial size grocery items for your trip.

I recently came across a site that provides over 20,000 different types of trial size grocery and misc items. Excerpt from the site:

"We have a full supply of small and lightweight food, personal care, and pharmacy items for camping, backpacking, or hiking. Outfit your desk or office with your favorite salad dressing, tea or snacks. Going on a trip? We've got hundreds of travel accessories, including travel size toothpaste, travel size shaving cream, travel size mouthwash and more. Is your first aid kit lacking? Refill it from our pharmacy aisle. Have a loved one or friend overseas in the military? Send a military care package designed by the troops in Iraq. RVers, keep your vehicle supplied with travel size items."

Maybe you have also been on vacation and realized you were going to throw away several bottles of condiments at the end of a trip, and even thought to yourself, "wouldn't it be great if there was one place you could go for the small packets of condiments and get them sent to where you are staying before you got there

Yes, you could go to a local grocery store or pharmacy for some of the items you need, but they don't always have the best selection, best size, or cheap prices.

This site is fantastic, they state that "our main focus is keeping our customers happy. We believe in being a company that answers emails and phone calls in a timely and personal manner. If a customer has special needs (overnight delivery, custom packaging, special product requests), we see what we can do to make it happen." Now that is customer service at it's best.

Please check out the site, and see the huge supply of items they offer, and place an order for your next vacation.

Week long vacation in Oahu Hawaii

2008-07-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

I decided I just had to blog about my travels after landing here in Oahu Hawaii for a week in the sun. I have an awesome condo on the beach in Makaha at the Hawaiian Princewss which is about 35-40 minutes outside of Waikiki. Now, I did that intentionally. I live in Vegas and I came to Hawaii to get away from all the busyness,people, crowds, etc. Believe it or not, I got this week long stay - on the beach (check out the picture) for $698 for 7 nights, 8 days. I have a membership with Global Resorts Network that allowed me to book a place like this with no problem. I actually booked this in May which was shocking! You'd think a place like this would be booked up by May - but I got a unit.

You can also check out World Ventures which offers incredible vacations and packages for unblievable prices. For example, 5 day, 4 nights at the incredible Cancun, all inclusive, 5 star Iberostar Paraiso Lindo for $699. Or how about 4 days, 3 nights at the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas for $399.00. More a Hawaii person like I am, how about ResortQuest Kauai Beach Hotel for 7 days, 6 nights for $469.00.

Ohau
I woke up my first morning to an absolutely breathtaking view of the entire beach right outside of my window. As I sipped my coffee on the Lanai, I watched sea turtles swimming in the water below. Only a few people on the beach all day so it's very peaceful and quiet.

If you have never had the pleasure of sitting on an oceanfront beach view, you've not yet lived. You have to make it a point to do it one time in your life.

Oh....did I mention that the $698 covers my family. This unit Im in sleeps 4 so I can have the whole family here for $698. Compare with Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia and see what you get for a week for the whole family - I dare ya!

Stick with me throughout the week and I'll be posting more pictures and info as I enjoy the end of my week in Waikiki - I'm here until July 13th.