Are you looking for 10 Great Vacation Travel Ideas? Keep Reading!
Are you like me and love to travel? I mean, We love to travel. Seeing new things and trying new experiences is great. But our budget is only so big. I’m sure that we are not the only ones who have limited resources! We all can’t be Hollywood rich!!
Time maybe is an issue too, not everyone has a lot of time off that they can use. Maybe you have worked for the same company for a long time and have several weeks off but you cannot afford to take several large trips. Well, here are some great vacation travel ideas that will require less cash and/or less time, where you can still get away and feel refreshed.
I. How about that stay-cation? I remember this term was coined a few years ago when the fuel prices where high. I thought they literally meant stay home and vacation in your yard, but maybe they meant something else. How about you check into a hotel, resort, bed and breakfast or campground in your local area?
We’ve lived in Massachusetts our whole life but there are still things in Boston that we haven’t seen, or other towns for that matter. If you leave your home and go to another location, you will not get busy on the mundane tasks that we all have. Have you ever said, “I just need to do this one last thing.” When vacation traveling, you will be more likely to explore and be rewarded with new experiences and memories!
II. How about the one gas tank trip? Do you remember those too? It was around the same time as the stay-cation. How far could you go on a full tank of gas? It was definitely cheaper than an airlines ticket. You could go 4 – 6 hours away on that full tank of gas. That gives you lots of places to go that are not right next door.
From where we live in Massachusetts we could go to the coast, out west to New York, south to Rhode Island and Connecticut, or north to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Wow, so many great vacation travel choices, when you think about it like this. Now, how about some brainstorming, “What have I alway wanted to do in insert state or area?” No expensive airfare or rental car! Sounds like a definite win win!
III. How about traveling to a National Park? This year when we traveled through Colorado, Utah and Arizona we visited 5 National parks and paid $80 dollars. This year the yearly pass is $80 to visit any National Park in the USA. There are many things to do in a National park.
At the National Parks, you can hike, bike, backpack, explore the woodlands, coast, forest, mountains or canyons. Some National parks have guided tours, rafting and even star-gazing. There is so much that you will see and can learn about our natural resources at a National Park. Most National parks have hotels nearby so if camping is not your thing there are other options for you. This definitely sounds like a great vacation option!
IV. Have you heard of the website called House sitters? This is a website that you subscribe to that people who are leaving their home for a time (short or long), advertise for someone to stay at their home to care for their pets. The website Trusted House Sitters will inform you on the length of stay that the client needs and the type of pet as well as the number of pets. We’ve seen some within an hour from our home and as far away as Europe. Some stays have been for a weekend and some for as long as a year.
I don’t know about you but a house in Italy for two weeks sounds amazing!! There are other house sitter sites as well but this one is the largest. No hotel fees. Just the yearly subscription price, which was less that one night in a hotel. You would have less expenses for food as well, since you have a fully appointed kitchen at your disposal. We don’t necessarily cook when we’re on vacation but I don’t mind doing some. If you decide on a house sit closer to your home, you will have your own vehicle as well. That sounds like a win, win situation!!
V. If you’re like us, you love cruising. We book our cruises out as far as possible or very last-minute. If we have a certain itinerary or cabin type that we want then we will shop very early. In the next few weeks, our favorite cruise line will be opening up their 2020-2021 schedules. We will definitely be searching for another cruise to put on the books. But if the ship or itinerary isn’t as important we may book last-minute.
This is much easier if the cruise leaves from a port that we can drive to. We prefer to book in advance especially if we need airfare, this not only gives us time to look for deals but it also gives us time to plan and get excited about the trip. Sometimes, we think the anticipation of the travel can be almost as much fun as the trip.
VI. Do you use rewards for travel? We almost always use some kind of reward program when we travel! If it isn’t a hotel reward, it is our rewards points from our credit cards. We have free nights through Hilton rewards and travel credit through our credit card.
You say how does that help? Every monthly bill that we have to pay anyway goes on the credit card and then we pay it off in full at the end of the month, with no interest, no service fees, just travel credit! There have been some months that we received over $100 in travel credit, add that up over three years and you’re talking about over three thousand dollars!!
We would save these points and take a large vacation every three years for free. The other years, we enjoyed closer to home vacations. If you cannot pay your credit card bill at the end of the month or credit cards cause you too much debt, rewards for travel is not for you!
VII. Do you travel during off-season? Maybe off-season is a put off. How about shoulder season? That is the season in-between the high season and the low season. We have found airfare to be more reasonable during this time. The travel can also be less crowded at your destination.
If you have children that are in school this time can be difficult as well because it is not school vacation time. When our children were younger, they worked hard to make up all the work upon returning home. The adventure, travel and life experiences were too good to miss out on. When the children were closer to graduation, we didn’t pull them from school unless we needed to. Their school work is a little harder to make up and catch up on, as well as harder for us to teach, lol!
VIII. How do we find the best airfare? There are several sites that we use, if we’re planning ahead, we will go onto hopper and airfare watchdog so the travel websites can closely monitor for price drops. If we have a destination in mind but we don’t have a need for a firm travel date, we will go with Scott’s Cheap Flights. At this website, you sign up and pick a departure airport, then watch your emails for travel destinations that become available at a lower than normal price. We also use Skiplagged and compare them to other available online websites.
IX. How about a last-minute tour? The concept is the same concept as cruising last-minute. The tour doesn’t want to run with several seats empty, so they lower the price to fill it up. This can create spontaneity as long you are open to your ideal tour being booked. However, you may go on the second choice tour but who knows, the tour may be just perfect after all.
X. How about thinking outside the box? Maybe Mexico is on your bucket list, how about Cozumel or Tulum instead of Cancun? There are many alternatives to that bucket list destination that can be close enough to travel to for the day, however, not stay for the week.
When we went to New York over the holidays a few years ago, we stayed right across the Hudson River in New Jersey and took the bus and train in and out of New York. Instead of paying $350 and up a night, we spent $125/night. Was the bus fast and convenient? No, but it beat trying to find a place to park and worrying about the “crazy New York drivers!” We are only kidding of course, we have just as many bad Boston drivers. We also had some great experiences on the bus and trains with the kids. Overall, this trip was a great family experience for all of us!!
I hope this sparked some new holiday travel ideas for you! Whether you travel close to home or far away, a last-minute trip or a trip planned far in advance, there truly are no barriers to your imagination. Life is short, play hard! We hope you enjoyed these 10 Great Vacation Travel Ideas!
Happy Travels!!
