Washington DC Fireworks

Washington DC is a great family-friendly city that is ideal for budget travelers since there are so many free museums and activities to take advantage of. They also have a terrific Independence Day celebration since it is, after all, the nation’s capital. And of course that includes wonderful fireworks displays.

Philadelphia Fireworks

DC may be the nation’s capital but Philadelphia played a huge role in the formation of this country and they certainly remember it with a big Fourth of July celebration. Their celebration actually lasts a whole week long. Getting a good hotel room might be tough this late in the game but if you can find something cheap then it’s worth it because there are plenty of free and cheap activities once you’re there. And it all culminates with a great fireworks show.

Chicago Fireworks

This great city is beautiful in the summertime. Book yourself a cheap hotel in downtown Chicago and you can take advantage of a number of different Fourth of July activities with your family. Baseball games and music events are among the daytime activities you can enjoy here. And at night there is the fireworks.

San Diego Fireworks

There is absolutely nothing that can beat a fireworks show on the beach. San Diego offers some terrific activities for families that can be enjoyed at a low cost – like just hanging out at the beach all day and enjoying the fact that it is summertime. Wrap it up with fireworks during weather warm enough to enjoy without a jacket.

Where are you going to watch the fireworks this year?

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Happy upcoming Mother’s Day to all of you other moms out there. Like me, you probably don’t really care if your husband and children give you anything special for this holiday. It’s more about celebrating being a part of a family and just enjoying being a mom.

That being said, I do have my little daydreams of what I’d love to receive from the family this year. If I could wave a magic wand and get myself a Mother’s Day gift, I’d be thrilled to receive one of the following things:

• An all-expenses paid yoga retreat vacation just for me. I adore my family but it’s been a long time since I had the opportunity to really enjoy a vacation all by myself. I wouldn’t want to go for long but it would definitely be a refreshingly wonderful treat.
• A handmade scrapbook of travel memories from the kids. Traveling is such an important part of what our family does that I’m always thrilled when I see what a big impact it has on the kids. I’d love to settle in with a scrapbook filled with their memories and transport myself to those times again.
• A photo collage of family travel pictures. This would be similar to the scrapbook but we could hang it up and see it every day. Maybe we could even add to it as we visited other places.
• Letters. I always love when the kids write me letters for the holidays. Don’t you?

The reality is probably going to be that I’ll get to sleep in, have breakfast in bed with everyone cuddled up to me and then luxuriate in a relaxing day at home with the family. That’s what we usually do. And the truth is that I can’t complain about that!!

I like giving gifts just as much as I enjoy receiving them. Mother’s Day approaching always makes me think about the fact that Father’s Day is coming up soon. Knowing that I’d love a vacation of my own, I’m thinking that perhaps I should try to find a cheap trip for my husband to take. Maybe I can find a deal for a cheap hotel in downtown Chicago where he’s been wanting to go for awhile. Or perhaps I can find a golf getaway that we can afford for him to go on by himself. I’ll definitely have to look into it.

Have a terrific Mother’s Day!

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St. Patrick’s Day is coming up. Most families don’t seem to think about traveling for this holiday. However, it can actually be a perfect time to take a little family trip. It’s off-season for many places so you can easily find good deals on hotels. Destinations aren’t too crowded. And you can see some things that you wouldn’t normally see on family trips.

Five terrific places to think about visiting for St. Patrick’s Day this year are:

1. Ireland. This would, of course, be the ideal St. Patrick’s Day destination. It’s not easy to find budget flights to Ireland at the last minute but if you can swing it then it would surely be an experience to remember.
2. San Francisco. Believe it or not, this is a terrific city for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. There is a very cool historic green church which is, of course, St. Patrick’s church. There are also great Irish restaurants and other fun activities to enjoy in this big city during St. Patrick’s Day.
3. New York City. Many people love to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. What better time to see this landmark than during St. Patrick’s Day? Get a cheap Times Square hotel room and make a whole weekend out of it!
4. Chicago. Another major city where you can see a lot of fun events and also visit a St. Patrick’s church is Chicago. The church here is also well-known and fun to spend time at with your family.
5. Boston. If the thing that you are most interested in is a great St. Patrick’s Day parade then look no further than South Boston. Over half a million people attend this event, though, so be sure to keep an eye on the little ones!

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Technically Chinese New Year actually started on Valentine’s Day of this year. If you aren’t familiar with this holiday then what you should know is that it lasts for approximately two weeks. Most places that celebrate it have events going on throughout those two weeks. However the big celebration is usually at the end of the two-week event on the first full moon of the Chinese New Year. This year that’s going to be the weekend of the 26th and 27th of February.

This doesn’t give you a lot of time to do your planning. It’s definitely going to be a last minute trip for you if it’s something that you hadn’t thought about doing before. However, since it’s not a highly popular travel season, it’s likely that you can still get good deals on economy hotels and cheap flights if you want to take a quick trip.

The most popular place to travel for this holiday is, of course, China. You probably aren’t going to want to make that trip this year. Traveling internationally is a lot of fun but it typically requires more planning that what you’ve got left to enjoy the celebration this year. You probably won’t be able to get the good deals if you travel to China. However, there are U.S. celebrations that are feasible to do on a budget at the last minute.

The most popular U.S. destination to visit for Chinese New Year is San Francisco. With the world’s largest Chinatown, this is a destination that really knows how to celebrate the holiday. There are events in Chinatown all weekend long with a final lengthy parade on Sunday the 27th. It’s easy to get around San Francisco so you can stay in an affordable hotel anywhere in the city and make your way to Chinatown for the events.

San Francisco is your best bet. However there are a few cities that are doing their celebrations on the 20th and 21st. That’s a bit too soon even for most last-minute travelers but if you’re interested in trying that trip then check out one of the major cities. There is a parade in LA and one in New York, too.

Are you going to celebrate Chinese New Year?

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I recently wrote here on the blog about my ideas for affordable Valentine’s travel. One of the things that I think is a great thing to do for Valentine’s day is to spend the night away from home in a local hotel. It feels like a nice little getaway, someone else makes the bed and you get a new place to experience some romance. Unfortunately, it can be a lot easier to find deals on hotels than it is to find hotels that are worth it. Luckily, it’s really not that difficult to spruce up a budget hotel room to make it a whole lot more romantic.

Here are five easy ways to make economy hotels more romantic for Valentine’s Day:

1. Bring your own sheets. Do you have really wonderful, luxurious sheets at home? Bring them with you to your budget hotel. Sure it means that you need to make the bed yourself but it also means that you’ll enjoy it a lot more.
2. Light some candles. All rooms are more romantic when you turn out the overhead lights and use candles to give a glow to the space. This is a really frugal way to make your hotel night getaway a special one.
3. Add ambience with your iPod. If you have an mp3 player and a set of speakers then you can create a more romantic mood in your hotel room just by playing some great music for you and your partner.
4. Pack a picnic. It’s so tempting to go out to eat nearby when you stay in a hotel. But why waste your money? Pack yourself a terrific picnic instead. Spread out on the hotel room floor with a blanket, wine and chocolates and rekindle the romance in your relationship.
5. Keep the television off. Nothing kills the Valentine’s mood like the TV. Keep it off during your in-town getaway.

These are cheap things that you can do to make it romantic to stay at a budget hotel in your city for Valentine’s Day. Is there anything else that you’d recommend?

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I am starting to think about Valentine’s Day. Should my husband and I do something special to celebrate the day between just the two of us? Should we take the family somewhere to celebrate? Or should we just stay home and celebrate together there (either with or without the kids since they could always go to the sitter)?

I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m doing a lot of thinking about it, though, so I’ve come up with a list of affordable Valentine’s travel ideas that we might consider. Hopefully other families in the same position would benefit from seeing this list as well.

My list of cheap Valentine’s ideas for 2010 so far includes:

• Look for local deals on hotels. It’s romantic to do a hotel getaway with your spouse. Actually getting away can be pricey, though. Getting away to a hotel in your own area is a neat way to rekindle romance without spending a lot of money.
• Stay home with the family and celebrate love. Do Valentine’s arts and crafts. Put together a family play or musical about why you love one another. Celebrate your love with the whole family instead of just the romance between you and the spouse. It’s the ultimate holiday staycation.
• Combine Valentine’s and anniversary travel. Want to get away for a romantic weekend with your hubby but not sure where the travel money would come from? Consider working out your travel budget for the entire year so that you combine this trip with your anniversary plans. Infuse the weekend with romance and you won’t feel like you missed out by doing a two-for-one.
• Have a daytime date with your spouse. Take the day off of work and pretend that you’re on vacation together. Go to a park. See a movie. Hold hands. Make out. Enjoy being in love again.
• Have a romantic night at home. Send the kids to visit their grandparents. Take out the candles, the rose petals, the bubble bath and the lingerie. Stay home, spend little and enjoy one another for hours and hours. You won’t feel like you need to travel anywhere else ever again!

I think it’s great to travel for Valentine’s Day if you can work it out. However I also think there are dates that can be had at home that can replace travel on this special day.

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day this year?

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I obviously can’t give any real Christmas gifts to the readers of this blog but I thought that I’d treat you to some YouTube videos that I found when doing my online budget travel browsing earlier this week. All of these videos are related to frugal and smart holiday travel. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did!

Video #1: Christmas Travel Tips. This video offers five tips about Christmas travel. Those tips include planning ahead and making sure to do your travel planning online on the right websites.

Video #2: Myth Behind Holiday Travel. This is an interesting news report that reveals that the busiest day of holiday travel isn’t actually the day before Thanksgiving like people have always thought. It’s also not the day before Christmas. Learn what the busiest days actually are so that you can make smart travel plans before any holiday!

Video #3: Christmas Travel Trailer Light Show. This one is just for fun. If you happen to be someone who has an Airstream for budget travel then you’ll really appreciate this fun video but even if you don’t you’ll probably still get a Christmas kick out of this one.

Happy Holidays!

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I’ve developed a wonderful online friendship with someone who had read this blog and written to me. She had originally written to let me know about some good discount hotels in Houston. Although I didn’t particularly need that information right now, I really liked the woman and we’ve been talking about travel online ever since. She just wrote to me to ask me what I thought about doing New Year’s Eve at Times Square. What a great question!

I have to confess that I’ve never done New Year’s Eve at Times Square. It’s not something that I want to do with my kids and I like to be with them at the holidays so it’s not a trip that I’ll be taking any time soon. However I’ve known people who have done this. Some of them loved it and some of them hated it. Some did it frugally and others spent way more money than they wanted to. Based on what they have told me, the tips I’d have for doing New Year’s Eve at Times Square include:

• Book a cheap Times Square Hotel in advance. You have to book in advance to even get a room let alone to get a cheap room. It’s best to get a room right at Times Square because it saves you the cost and hassle of transportation to the event.
• Make the New Year’s Eve event the big deal event. You shouldn’t try to fit in a lot of other touristy stuff during this quick trip to New York. The event itself is free so focus just on that and do other New York stuff on a different trip.
• Do some pre-drinking at your hotel. If you’re a New Year’s Eve drinker then you’ll want to plan on only getting one drink at the bars near Times Square. Before that you should do your drinking at the hotel with beverages purchased at a local grocery store. It’s a lot cheaper that way.
• Bundle up. A lot of people that I know worry about wearing beautiful clothes to this event. Don’t spend the money on something special. It’s going to be cold out anyway so just put on your cutest jacket and scarf over whatever you feel comfy in.

Have a safe new year whether it’s in New York or elsewhere!

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If you’re a regular reader of this blog (thanks!) then you know that I went on a Thanksgiving trip that was planned at the last minute. I had been concerned about the cost of the unplanned trip but it worked out well in the long run. I was glad to spend time with loved ones and I managed to make smart choices to keep the travel costs low.

Despite the fact that the Thanksgiving trip went well, I’ve been thinking about ways to cut back on holiday travel. I think it’s great to spend time with your loved ones during the holidays. However I also think that this tends to be a really expensive time of the year to travel. I also think that traveling at this time of year is more stressful than traveling throughout the rest of the year.

I’m not sure if I’m going to implement any of these things but I have thought of some alternatives to traveling at the holidays. These alternatives include:

• Take advantage of up-to-date technology to be with loved ones virtually on Christmas. I know that it is important for us to spend the holidays with loved ones. However you don’t actually have to be in the same place as them to do that anymore. You can use video conferencing, Skype and other modern technology to conduct whole-family video phone calls. This gives you the feeling of being together without the cost of travel.
• Do Christmas in July. If your family is open to the idea then start a new tradition of celebrating the holidays during an off-season month. It doesn’t have to be in July, of course. Travel is cheaper in January and February than it is in December so postpone your trip for a few months. You still get the joy of spending the holiday together but you do it at a bargain.
• Celebrate the holidays with your new family. When we move away from our family and friends we move to a place where we create a new type of family. It’s a family made up of our spouses, our kids, our roommates and our new best friends. Instead of insisting on spending the holidays in the past, embrace the present and create lasting traditions with the people who live where you live now.

What do you think? Should we stick with traditional holiday travel plans or start doing something new this year?

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The Thanksgiving spirit has grabbed me in spite of myself. I have been thinking about all of the things that I am thankful for this year. Most of them are related to my health, my family and my working life. However, there are some things that I can think of that are specifically related to travel that I have to admit that I’m thankful for.

Things related to travel that I am thankful for this year include:

• The fact that I can afford to travel at all. I definitely travel on the cheap. All of the hotels that I stay at are budget hotels. I need to get travel deals everywhere that I can. Nevertheless, I do have a little bit of extra money to travel during a time when so many other people don’t have that luxury. I’m thankful for that.
• That travel has improved so much in this era. I can’t imagine what it was like when there were no planes and you had to travel only on trains or ships. I think it’s great that we can still choose to travel on those modes of transportation if we want to but I also am thankful for the fact that I can jet off to see friends and family in just a few hours if I need to do so.
• Everyone in my family is comfortable with travel. Plus I really love that we all have the same travel style. It’s easy to take the kids on any trip. My husband and I have travel skills that compliment each other well. It makes traveling so much easier when this is the case.

I guess that’s all that I can think of right now that specifically relates to travel. I just feel really lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to do so much traveling in my life already and that the people I love support that and enjoy doing it with me! Are you thankful for any travel-related stuff this year?

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