Hello, and Happy Monday! How was your weekend?
The highlight of my weekend was visiting Temecula wine country with my hubby. I just love the vineyards right before harvest – lots of grapes ready to be picked and made into wine!
This is a short workweek for me – really short. I’m in the office today, and then tomorrow I’m flying 12 hours to Ireland for vacation for the rest of the week! I’m sure today will be a busy Monday full of wrapping up work things and packing, and I also have my Fantasy Football Draft this evening (Woohoo for the start of football season being upon us!).
I truly love to travel. I love everything about a trip – from the planning and booking aspect of it, to exploring, adventuring, and experiencing, and even the coming back home and getting back to normalcy part.
A photo while in Venice, the last time I was in Europe
While I’m not a clipping coupons type of saver, I certainly enjoy a good deal and like to save money when I can in my travels. This trip I’m actually meeting up with family and crashing in a hotel room with my mom and sister. I think it’ll give us more time together and I’ll also save money, so it’s a win-win!
There are some routine things that I do when traveling to save a few bucks here and there, and today I thought I’d share them with you. Let’s get to it!
1. Skip breakfasts out. When on a trip, I usually eat breakfast in my hotel room because 1.) it saves $$, 2.) it’s quick, so I can get a head start on exploring wherever I am, and 3.) it’s bound to be a healthy start to the day. I typically pack things like bring protein bars and dried fruit from home. For instance, I’m planning on packing some rice cakes + peanut butter for Ireland, and in Mexico earlier this summer, I bought a box of cereal when I first arrived to munch on during my mornings there.
2. Bring snacks from home. This is similar to the first one, but I always bring a lot of munchies with me when I travel. It saves me some hangry emergencies, and I know that I’ll always have something healthy to eat – especially when traveling to places that might not exactly be known as being health conscious and/or vegetarian friendly. My snacks always seems to come in handy when I’m in my hotel room getting ready for dinner as a little something to hold me over for an hour or two.
3. Look out for promos & deals. I definitely don’t mind spending money to do something really cool, but I also keep my eyes open for a good deal. Sometimes you can haggle with tour groups for last-minute excursions or get a deal if you book more than one excursion with the same company. Sometimes hotels collaborate with local businesses to steer you their way and offer discounts.
My husband and me enjoying the infinity pool & swim up bar at Hacienda Encantada in Cabo
When I went to Mexico earlier this summer, we booked it through our timeshare at a really low cost. The timeshare company will often have promotions that are really great for travel a couple weeks out, so if the occasion arises where we can pick up and go, I always am on the lookout for timeshare deals. I also check out booking sites like Orbitz for deals and promotion codes. The incessant emails from them can get annoying, but then when I save 20% on my hotel using a code they emailed me, it’s worth it!
4. Bring a water bottle from home. I like to pack my reusable water bottle in my bag so that I can fill it up throughout the trip whenever I get a chance. In my experience, restaurants are happy to fill it up in the airport, where water is like $5 a pop. Most hotels that I’ve stayed at have cold water for use in the lobby or in the gym. Since I drink a ton of water, I otherwise find myself buying bottle after bottle during the trip.
Champagne by the sea in Mexico
5. Take advantage of free events. I can think of three different hotels I’ve stayed at this year – on my trips to Sonoma, Las Vegas, and Cabo San Lucas – that offer complimentary happy hours. Some also offer munchies that can be a late afternoon snack when you’re coming back from your daytime activities, or an appetizer on your way out for the night. I take advantage of these events whenever I can because…free booze! Need I say more?
Looking for more travel chat? Check out these recent posts:
- Cabo San Lucas Travel Review: Staying at Hacienda Encantada
- My Current Top 5 Travel Snacks
- Vegas Girls’ Night: GIADA at The Cromwell [Restaurant Review]
- California Wine Country ’16 Trip: My Favorite Sonoma & Napa Wineries
- Cabo Adventures Luxury Sailboat Excursion
- A Trip to Lundberg Farms During their Rice Harvest
- Wine Tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley
Ok, first off…I’m jealous of your Ireland trip! Ireland is totally on my list, and I can’t wait to go there someday. In the meantime, I’ll just watch for your posts. 🙂 As far as these tips, awesome! We totally do the granola bar for breakfast thing, and we carry along a water bottle to fill up. But I’ve never thought about just carrying an empty water bottle into the airport. (We usually buy one on the trip and then keep filling it up.) Have fun in Ireland…and find me a leprechaun, ok? 🙂
David you have to Google the president of Ireland…. He seriously may be a leprechaun!! A guide on a tour I went on pointed out where the president lives and was going on about how he’s an Irish leprechaun and a legend in the area. Haha!
Ohhhh have so much fun in Ireland!!! That sounds amazing! Great tips on saving money. I just bring my husband with me because he’s a saver and I’m a spender. Haha. He balances me out. The breakfast one is so key!
Haha Britt that comment made me laugh out loud! Love the honesty, and to tell you the truth, my hubby is definitely more of a saver too! 🙂
Have so much fun!!! I feel like all my Tech friend are going. I’m crazy jealous! I told you about my favorite restaurant there, right? The Winding Stair. SO GOOD.
I’m with you on all of these tips. I keep a water bottle on me – it’s especially helpful in airports! Bars are usually my breakfast. We’re always running around trying to get somewhere and have usually had a giant dinner. 🙂
Yesss and I didn’t make it to that place – but I was pleasantly surprised at all of the food options for me in Ireland! I’ll be talking about that in an upcoming post.
I bet, I actually met a lot of Tech alumni at a bar one night. It was a huge group of people that made the trip together for the game. So fun!
Ireland is just over the water from where I am in Manchester 🙂
We always take our own snacks and it saves so much money. The same with making our own breakfast, as we usually stay in an AirBnB place.
I know, I really wanted to visit England during this trip! It just didn’t work out timing wise. Hopefully sometime soon I’ll get out your way though!