Blog

Organizing travel plans can be overwhelming, so I’ve created a list to help you maximize your travel plans and provide a stress free, thorough guide to the perfect vacation. Doing these things will allow you to customize your trip better than any travel agency, at no cost.

1. Make a packing list on your phone’s notepad app to reuse for every vacation.

Below is an example of my list. I customize this list depending on the type of vacation, climate, and activities involved with my trip. In other words, I don’t take a bikini on a winter trip to Alaska, unless there’s a hot tub on the itinerary. But overall, I can reuse this list for every trip. Also, depending on the length of your stay, you may be able to reduce your personal packing list by using the items free at the hotel like shampoo and body soap. Personally, it kills me to see these plastic sample bottles in my hotel room because I know they will end up in a landfill whether I use them or not. Usually, I leave the bottles untouched so the cleaning crew doesn’t restock my room. Instead, I use my own supplies in reusable bottles. Sorry, personal rant over now.

• Jacket
• Deodorant 
• Shampoo, conditioner, body soap
• Skin lotion 
• First aid kit 
• Phone and camera cords and bricks
• Yoga pants
• Shorts
• Camera and extra lens
• Underwear
• Undershirts
• Shirts
• Headphones
• Hiking shoes
• Sunglasses
• Toiletries kit
• Brushes
• iPad
• Invisalign 
• Bathing suit
• Protein shakes
• Medications

2. Research flight and hotel prices.

Sometimes booking direct will save money, while other times you’ll find better prices using travel sites like Travelocity or Expedia. Create pseudo bookings on each site to compare the best prices. Use different dates too. Keep in mind, some sites aren’t forthcoming about additional fees like taxes, daily resort fees, and parking. Upgrades are easier to find when booking direct because some businesses save their best options for direct customers and don’t allow 3rd party sites to sell these options. Also, many times you can book a standard room, car, or flight direct and get emails to upgrade at discounted rates rather than if you had upgraded at the time of your original booking. You can also get upgrade discounts at the time of check in, but this is limited depending on availability. When booking through travel sites, you won’t earn loyalty points for the airlines and hotels. For this reason, you should always sign up for reward programs when booking direct. This will give you the best rate and allow you to bank reward points for future vacations.

3. Google your desired activity ideas.

Use key searches like “must see”, “best snorkeling locations”, “Waterfall hikes”, etc.

4. Google web cams to view your location.

5. Look at an area map to see what’s near your hotel.

6. Research the weather trends for the month you’re traveling.

Example, “When is the first winter snow in Alaska”, or “when is the water warmest in Maui”.

7. Once you know the activities and sites you want to visit, create an area map to maximize travel plans.

This is really easy to do. Take a screenshot of the area you’re visiting, paste it into a word processing app and add text boxes to pinpoint your activity locations.

8. Make a list of your activities and keep notes about admission / ticket prices and hours of operation.

9. Skip crowded and overpriced tours by Googling your desired activities and planning it yourself.

When I went to Alaska, there were expensive tours available to see the northern lights. To avoid the cost and sharing a crowded minivan with a bunch of strangers, I googled the best viewing spots and drove there myself. FOR FREE! While on-site, the caravans of overpaying tourists pulled up right next to me.

10. Research local restaurants for authentic foods.

I live in San Diego where Mexican food is a must have! When people visit me, I don’t take them to expensive Mexican restaurants. I take them to the local Roberto’s or Cotias to get an authentic carne asada burrito. Save the expensive restaurants for special occasions or for your hometown.

11. Read the reviews!

Use Yelp, Google, and or Trip Advisor for opinions.
Sometimes doing this can be overwhelming because everyone has an opinion and you never know who’s writing the review, but you can get some really good insight and decide what advice to take or leave.

12. Buy a book about your location to get ideas.

While I find most of these books will provide me with the information I found in my own research, sometimes they give me ideas I hadn’t considered.

13. Google your destination for environmental conditions to consider.

Are there mosquitos, muddy trails, ticks, wild animals, tourist traps? Every location has something to consider.

It’s spring time, the kids are out of school and it won’t be long before many Facebook friends start posting family vacation pictures with Mickey and Minnie. While they’re paying $12 for a processed cheeseburger, standing in lines, and navigating through crowds of strollers, runny nose kids, and indecisive ride gowers, I’ll be somewhere else. Anywhere else. I get it though, I understand their kiddos want to see Mickey. My kids were young once too. However, aside from the obligatory trip to Disneyland, it was my goal to introduce them to new experiences.

As a single mother and raising my kids on a single income, there wasn’t a lot of money for lavish vacations. Instead, I planned road trips or local excursions for us. Back then, it took a big imagination, a trip to AAA for paper maps, and sometimes word of mouth. Now it’s easy. I can google “less traveled vacation spots near me” and get a list of vacation choices.

I wanted my kids to experience adventures that would open their horizons to new ideas. Mickey is fun, but I had to think bigger than buying into an adventure that’s already mapped out, and at a price.

I promised myself I’d plan a vacation once a year, even if it was just a weekend at the beach. I’ve stuck to that promise, and now my kids are grown, so I can afford more than one trip per year. If I’m lucky, I might go on several trips.

One year, money was really tight, so I found coupons and organized a staycation. I drove the kids 30 minutes to the beach and we rented a three person kayak. Unfortuneatley, the water was rough that day and I quickly learned I needed to add teamwork to my parental focus to do list. In light of rough seas and a capsized kayak, the kids an I experienced something new that day. Afterwords, we grabbed lunch at a local resturaunt. Now fastfoward that experience to current day, I can remember more about that day than I can recite what happened the last time I look the kids to an amuzement park.

Looking back at the day in the kayak, I can pinpoint when my need for unique adventure started. I get a sense of pride knowing that I did something not everyone else has done. Our footprints in the sand were new and although they probably didn’t last long, they were just ours for a moment.

Both of my children are well on their way to be experienced travelers. I’m so proud of them for stepping outside of their comfort zone and I hope that when I’m gone, they will carry on my tradition and explore the world. After all, I greatly prefer for them to use their entertainment budget on precious adventures than mouse ear hats and plastic bendy straws.

I’m excited to share my stories with you! I’m often traveling and experiencing new places in nature and I look forward to sharing these memories with you.