Shereen Travels Cheap

By Shereen Rayle

Squircle Publishing

Published by Squircle Publishing at Smashwords.

Copyright © 2011 by Shereen Rayle

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN-13 978-0615508443 (Squircle Publishing)

ISBN-10 0615508448

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Editor: Nancy Jennings

Design: Nancy Jennings

Cover Design: Mike Thompson

Cover photo © 2011 by David Franklin

Published in the United States of America

First Edition, October 2011

Shereen Travels Cheap™ is a registered trade mark.

For more information, visit www.shereentravelscheap.com.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this book finally possible –

My parents for instilling the love of travel in me, my husband for helping to make my travel dreams possible and my friend Nancy for encouraging me and pushing me to write even when I thought nobody would read what I had to say.

What People are Saying about

Shereen Travels Cheap

Shereen Travels Cheap has been an invaluable resource for me when planning everything from day trips to longer and more involved vacations. With several small children, everything can take longer than originally expected, but Shereen’s tips help make it all a lot less painful!

– Lydia Hammond, Flagstaff, Ariz.

Shereen Travels Cheap makes affordable travel witty and fun. Not only have I learned tips to help me vacation on my budget, but how that budget can also take me to exotic places across the world instead of nearby places across the state.

– Angella Janis, Malibu, Calif.

If it weren’t for Shereen Travels Cheap, I could have easily spent double what I did for my vacation. By using her valuable tips and great ideas, we were able to have a luxurious Mexican vacation for half the price but all the same fun!

– Krista Gulbransen, Oakland, Calif.

Shereentravelscheap.com is rich in travel content and this book is a lovely companion. It’s chock-full of tips and information and is my go-to reference guide when I travel.

– Eljene Manuel, San Francisco

When I start planning a trip, I always check Shereen Travels Cheap for great deals on hotels, flights and more. She has great recommendations for your vacation.

– Jonathan Pineda, San Francisco

Thanks so much for providing such an informative and helpful site for those who are on a budget!

– Lisa M, New York City

Shereen Travels Cheap website: http://www.ShereenTravelsCheap.com

Find me on Facebook: Shereen Travels Cheap

Follow me on Twitter: shereentrvlschp

E-mail me: Shereen@shereentravelscheap.com

Itinerary

Prepare For Take-off

Why using my websites and travel tips will save you money.

Chapter 1 – Where the Heck Are You Going?

How to get started and decide on a trip destination.

Chapter 2 – Your Budget

Researching and creating your budget for each trip you take.

Chapter 3 – I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane

Finding the best airfare and how to save money before and after booking it.

Chapter 4 – Sleep For Cheap

Deciding which hotel works for you and how to get a great deal.

Chapter 5 – Going on a Sea Cruise

The basics of booking a cruise and saving money on and off the boat.

Chapter 6 – Getting Around

The pros and cons of taxis and other public transportation, trains and ferries.

Chapter 7 – I’m Hungry!

Finding reasonable dining choices for every destination.

Chapter 8 – What Do We Do Now?

Filling each day with culture, landmarks, sightseeing and fun…on a budget.

Chapter 9 – Packing Light

Learning how to pack for any trip and avoid baggage fees in the process.

Chapter 10 – Shop ‘til You Drop!

How to save money on purchases, avoiding exchange fees and getting tax rebates.

Chapter 11 – Rewarding Experiences

Getting the most out of your rewards programs and frequent flyer miles.

Chapter 12 – Keeping Organized & Connected

Learning how to compile an organized itinerary and keep in touch with home.

My Itinerary is Better Than Your Itinerary

See how these tips can really save you money with two vacation comparisons.

Bon Voyage

A little extra information on leaving home and getting updated budget tips.

Website Reference List

A handy, organized list of all the websites referenced throughout this book.

• Activities

• Air Travel

• Calling

• Car Rentals

• Children

• Clothing & Shoes

• Communication

• Cosmetics

• Cruising

• Currency

• Dining

• Discounts & Cash Back

• Electronics

• Entertainment

• Frequent Flyer Miles

• Insurance

• Lodgings

• Luggage

• Magazines

• Organization

• Packing

• Sightseeing

• Ticket Sales

• Toiletries

• Transportation

• Volunteer

About the Author

**Please note that all pricing and information was current at the time of publication.

Prepare For Take-Off

So, you want to take your family on a nice vacation and you think it’s going to cost an arm and a leg? You could do it that way, but, honestly, who's going to have fun then? I mean, sure, you will get to stay in a fancy hotel and your family can do a bunch of stuff, but what about you? You won't have a good time knowing that when you get home you can't pay your mortgage or bills.

Traveling is expensive, right? It doesn't have to be. You don't have to be resigned to going camping two hours away from where you live just to save money. The economy may not be the best, but with planning and some research, you can still go places and stick to your budget. It's true! My husband and I do it every year. Well, I pick a place and he agrees to it. Then I do all the planning and packing and organizing and he goes. He loves to travel but he is not a planner, so that is all on me, which is awesome, because I love planning and organizing vacations. I think it’s fun to research all the places we could go and what we could do there and finding the best deals. It’s a thrill when you find a bargain. Many don’t like to put in the time it takes to find the bargains or are overwhelmed by the amount of information that is out there, so they just don’t go anywhere because they figure it all costs too much or is too much work. But this does not have to be true! You’ll be surprised by the deals you can find if you know when and where to look.

The days of going to travel agents are long gone for most of us, unless you have money coming out your ears and you don't have to worry about budgeting. If that were the case, I assume you wouldn't be reading this book and would probably be on your way to Fiji sipping your complimentary first-class champagne. The rest of us kind of hate you. Travel agents are looking to make money. This means, even if they got you an okay deal, you probably could have gotten a better deal by doing it yourself, because you don't have to pay commission on your own research and can use that extra money when you get there for souvenirs or food. Sure, they have it all right there at their fingertips, but so do you! You just have to be willing to take the time to look.

Once I decide where I want to go, I spend a lot of time looking at travel websites and comparing prices for hotels and transportation. Almost everybody wants the best price, but they don't want to put in the effort to figure out how to get that or simply just don’t know how to do it. This is where I come in. In the following pages you will find the best sites and information that I have discovered over the years. I hope that my resources and tips will be helpful to you in making the most of your vacation and ensuring that you get great deals and have a wonderful time.

You’re probably asking yourself, what makes her an authority on Internet travel planning? I’m by no means a travel expert, agent or a financial planner, but I love to travel and I love to save money. I like to think of myself as a travel enthusiast, though, and get excited about any kind of trip. Besides saving money on my vacations, I have learned how to travel lighter and more efficiently and pass those tips and tricks on to other travelers. I have included them in this book to help you do just that.

I am also a lover of the Internet and almost any kind of research. I have explored all travel avenues on the web to find the best websites out there to help you (and, of course, myself) find the deals you need to get to the places you want to go. I refuse to believe that there are places you can’t go just because your budget may not be as big as another person’s. If you want to go to Greece, then go to Greece! I am passionate about following my dreams and finding great deals while I do it. I want everyone to have that.

I can show you where to cut corners without cutting comfort or fun, and with the economic downturn affecting destinations world-wide, now your dollar goes further than ever before. Take advantage of it while you can. Less people are traveling, giving you better deals, fewer crowds and more options on where to travel and where to stay.

There are a lot of things we spend money on every day of our vacations that we don’t even think about because it is what we’ve always done. These costs really can add up and can tack on hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars to a holiday without you even realizing it. When you get home you wonder where all your money went and why you can’t read the numbers on your credit cards anymore. Spend that extra money that I show you how to save on an extra day of vacation or a great meal or a fun souvenir or even on bills when you get back home.

The point is that there are cost-cutting techniques for almost everything travel-related. You just need to know where to look and how to use them to your benefit. You’ll be able to cut out some things you don’t really need in exchange for something else you really want by looking at the breakdown of costs and fees and figuring out which is most important to you. Use my strategies to save and you won’t have to resort to eating fast food or sleeping in the park. I have put all my website and phone application suggestions at the end of each chapter for easy reference.

Sure, you probably could have found many of these sites and tips on your own, but I’ve saved you the trouble of searching for them, deciding if they’re any good and putting them all in one place. Spend the days I’ve spared you on buying a new travel wardrobe, choosing fun activities and packing with your family, all while saving money, of course! Happy travels!

Chapter 1

Where the Heck Are You Going?

Your number-one priority is deciding where to go. Your second is to come up with a budget. You might decide where to go based on your budget, but I usually don't. I watch a lot of Travel Channel and that gives me many ideas on where to go and what to do. Samantha Brown shows me cool stuff to do in Scotland? Maybe I'll want to go there!

I already have a long list of must-go travel destinations. I probably don't need her help, not that I think of that when she shows me what there is to do in Holland or Switzerland. It may be cold, but boy does it look beautiful! Okay, looking at my travel list. Do those places look like more fun than other places near the top? No? Okay, then I will put them at the bottom or somewhere in the middle. I may not even get to most of the places on my list, but I like to think that it’s just a matter of time.

Ask your friends and family and social network for suggestions on vacation destinations. Chances are they will be excited to give you a lot of ideas on places to go and where to eat and what to see and anything else you want to know. People like to share their knowledge. It’s always good to talk to people who’ve been to places you’re thinking of going, even if they have a bigger budget than you do. If you ask people with kids, they can give you great money-saving tips, too. Most are used to stretching their budget and doing more for less, because they usually have the same budget they had before they had kids and have learned to be creative with it. They know where to cut corners to make things work in their favor and still keep their family happy.

Do you know you want to go somewhere…sometime…but are indecisive? Or even where you want to go, but not really when? Sign up for travel e-mail! Do it! If you’re afraid of spam, set up a new e-mail address just for your selected travel messages to go to, like, imafraidoftravelspam@gmail.com. There are a bunch of sites that will e-mail you the travel specials for the week or month, but you can’t see them if you don’t sign up. A lot of them will give you travel tips and help you decipher airline fees, too. See some of the most useful ones I get – regardless of whether I'm traveling anywhere soon or not – at the end of this section. In following chapters, you will find the websites listed at end of each chapter.

Another option for finding somewhere to travel when you’re indecisive is to check out DoHop Away or WhichBudget and plug in your home airport information and when you want to go. Both websites will give you all the current deals available. FareCompare can help you out as well and when you use their Where to Go Getaway Map, you’ll see all the current deals on airfare across the globe. It allows you to input your budget, too, so you only see what you can afford. You’ll be surprised where you find you can go.

You might want to take a road trip instead of flying. There are plenty of benefits to driving rather than flying if you don’t plan to go too far from home. Estimate how much you would pay in gas, hotel stays, food, parking fees, toll roads and car rental (if you need a bigger car or yours isn’t up to the trip) compared to flying. Also, make sure that your travel time won’t take time away from your actual vacation and activities.

Of course, your journey can include activities and valuable family time along the way and you can bring your own food and not worry if you’re packing too much. One of the major plusses of driving instead of flying is that, unlike flying, everyone travels for the same cost. Whether there are three of you or seven, it doesn’t cost more to drive everyone. The only variables then are dining and accommodations.

Helpful Websites and Applications

Bookingbuddy.com – Great travel specials and tips are e-mailed to you about once a week. On Tuesdays, they send out the 99-Hour Sale, which has awesome prices that last through Friday.

SmarterTravel.com – This is quite possibly the most useful travel e-mail I have signed up for. It’s packed full of travel tips, packing guides, new airline fees and news, etc. One of the best things they have that you can now access on their homepage is the Ultimate Guide to Airline Fees and the Ultimate Guide to Frequent Flyer Fees. Each one is a chart with the breakdown of each specific item (i.e., charges for the second checked bag) and the fee for each operating airline. It’s fantastic! You can also access vacation guides on their site if you are looking for something specific.

ShermansTravel.com – I love this weekly e-mail, because it just keeps getting better. Sherman’s sends out their Top 25 list of the best deals they found on the web for the week for car rentals, airfare, hotels, packages and anything else travel-related. You will also get their Top 10, a feature that gives you the Top 10 destinations or hotels for each week’s theme, such as Road Trips. If you sign up for it, you’ll also receive The Luxe 15, the best Smart Luxury deals of the month, if you feel like spending a little more money. You can sign up to get a free copy of their travel magazine, see other special deals that didn’t make it into the Top 25, read more trip reviews and get linked to hotel reviews.

Travelocity.com – Put in preferred destinations and they will send you deals and specials along with their regular ones to all destinations. You can change the amount of mail you get from them, if you like. They will send you the current prices on your preferred destinations in every e-mail.

Orbitz.com – Works about the same as Travelocity. You sign up for e-mails for their latest travel deals and you can also fill out a form on what interests you and get e-mails about those activities, your preferred destinations and new Orbitz features.

Expedia.com – Like I prefer with travel e-mails, this one gives you a little bit of everything in different price ranges and different locations, plus upcoming fare deals from your local airport. It includes the Spotlight Deal, where for a limited time you can book hotels, packages and airfare for rock-bottom prices. You also get the week’s last-minute deals (only a sampling – more can be found by clicking through to their site), top hotel deals, top package deals (hotel and flights combined) and top cruise deals. At the bottom they give you Handy Tools for looking at hotel pictures, prices and reviews and links to booking the perfect activities on Expedia for your trip.

Hotwire.com – Hotwire has many different e-mails you can subscribe to, or subscribe to them all! Input your destination info and get the Hot Rate Alerts on all the best deals for all aspects of your trip, Savings Notices for when there are price-drops on portions of your vacation, Big Deals for all hotel and car rental deals in the U.S. and Trip Watcher which sends you price-drops on all your favorite destinations.

TripAdvisor.com – TripAdvisor will send you weekly e-mails with BookingBuddy’s top picks of the week, including flights, vacations, hotels, cars and cruises. I find great prices every week that make me think I might want to change my travel plans, so I’m sure this is much more helpful for people undecided on where to go or what to do and even better if you have flexible travel plans.

Travelzoo.com – Sign up to receive the Travelzoo Top 20, the Internet’s most popular list of the best travel deals of the week. They