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You are here: Home / Archives for Organization & Planning / Travel

Vacation Planning – The Cruise

March 12, 2018 By Jill Russo Foster

As you know, we love to travel.  For this month, my posts are going to be about how we plan the day to day details of our upcoming cruise.

We have our airfare, hotel and cruise all purchased.  Now it’s time to do the research on the cruise itinerary.  Personally, I create a sheet with the date, city, information and money columns.

This is what my sheet looks like – date (Monday, January 1), the city – this includes the time in port (Miami 7 to 8). The information section- this is all the details on what we are planning to do and that can be anything as simple as walking around to a tour and all the information including a confirmation number and contact info) and the money column – is it paid or what do we need to pay and in what currency.

This is not something that is compiled in one day – this takes us more than a month.  We do our research on the area:

What do we want to see or do?

How can we do that – on our own, a tour, does it need to be reserved in advance, what is the cancellation policy – are some of the information we need to make a decision.

From the simplest – use the shore excursion from the cruise line.

But what if the cruise line doesn’t offer what you want to do?  That’s where the research starts.  Here are some of my favorite trip planning websites:

Guide books for the area you’ll be visiting

TripAdvisor / Viator websites and the companies that are recommended in their information

Cruise Critic to register for the board for your specific cruise (cruise line, ship and sailing date). You can chat with other cruisers on your cruise to make plans.  We have done many things both on board (lunch dates, sail away party, cabin crawls and more) as well as shared taxi service and tours.  We have made some great friendships through here.

We typically do a mixture of exploring on our own, cruise line shore excursions and private excursions.  But all this take research and time to make our choices and then find the best deal.  Remember that if you tour on your own or with an outside company, you need to make sure you arrive back at the ship in plenty of time so the ship doesn’t sail without you.  Look for a cruise guarantee policy.

We are still in the middle of our research.  As we find what we want to do, we reserve and purchase these so that they are paid in advance as we have the cash.  That way we don’t have a big bill at the end of the vacation waiting for us.

Filed Under: Travel, Travel Tips, Vacation Planning

Vacation Planning – Hotel

March 8, 2018 By Jill Russo Foster

As you know, we love to travel.  For this month, my posts are going to be about how we plan the day to day details of our upcoming cruise.

Now that we know the exact dates we’ll be traveling, it’s time to look at hotels.

For us, we are a member of three different hotel loyalty programs, so that’s what we look at first.  We always fly in early, so as not to miss the ship.

Here are some tips to figure out where you want to stay:

Does the city have easily accessible public transportation?

Can we get from the airport to the city easily?

Can we get around to do the things we want to do?

If the answer is “yes” to all three, then we look for a central location that has access to all.  In this case, we wanted to be by the train station.  This was our central point.  We could get to the airport, the cruise pier and all areas we wanted to visit from this train station area.

Next, what hotels are located there?  That’s the question.  We settled on one in one of our loyalty programs.  we didn’t have enough points for a free night, but we could combine our points with cash to reduce the cost.  we chose an executive room (that includes breakfast, non-alcoholic beverages, early evening light fare with drinks).  This was our choice.

With the executive room, we save substantially on meals and the loyalty rewards program gives us free early check in and late check out as well as WiFi.  Great choice for this trip

Filed Under: Travel, Travel Tips, Vacation Planning

Vacation Planning – Airfare

March 6, 2018 By Jill Russo Foster

As you know, we love to travel.  For this month, my posts are going to be about how we plan the day to day details of our upcoming cruise.

I spend a lot of time in the details ahead of the trip to get the best. That’s everything from airfare, hotel, attraction admissions, tours and more.

Once we decide on a vacation, then come the major components – airfare and hotel.  Today, I’ll talk about airfare.  I do my research and check airfares.  For this trip, it means looking at direct flights and connecting flights over a series of weeks (sometimes months) to find the best flight (route, day of the week and price).  Typically, I find the best day to book the flight is a Tuesday.

That’s the day we actually made the purchase and made the reservation to fly out one day earlier than we planned because the price was that good.

Don’t forget to use the best credit card for the perks.  We use our airline credit card, so that checked luggage is free and we get priority boarding – all this by choosing the best credit card.  And we earn additional miles for the purchase too.

Filed Under: Travel, Travel Tips, Vacation Planning

My Favorite Holiday!

January 30, 2018 By Jill Russo Foster

Can you guess what today’s holiday is?  Hint – it’s my favorite.

Today is National Plan for Vacation Day!

There are so many people who don’t vacation.  But there are amazing benefits from taking time off.  It can be an afternoon off to do something fun all the way through weeks away – you choose.

Join me for the month of March and read my blog posts on how we are planning the details of our upcoming vacation.  Yes, there is planning, but it also save lots of money with booking ahead.  Join me.

For future travel ideas, we went to the New York Times Travel Show at the Jacob Javits Center.  We spoke with many peoples, companies and picked up all these brochures for some new ideas of where to go in the future.

Filed Under: Holidays, Travel, Travel Tips, Vacation Planning

Vacation Insurance

December 1, 2017 By Jill Russo Foster

With vacation season underway, are you covered if something happens?

According to Wallet Hub, 1 in 6 Americans have an illness or natural disaster happen to them. Are you covered so that you don’t lose you hard earned money? Of these 1 in 6, only 22% have insurance to cover their travel costs and expenses.

Some credit cards offer you coverage for lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, trip cancellations and even death sometimes. All credit cards are different and you need to check your individual card for what your offers you. If you are covered, they offer you reimbursements. That means that you pay upfront. Do you have that money? And they come with restrictions. Remember my Microsoft Surface Pro experience from last fall?

We have one credit card that we always use to rent a car. It gives us coverage so that we can decline the optional rental car company insurances and feel comfortable. We have another credit card that gives us the travel protection of lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, etc. We have done the research for us and you should too.

You should think about what you may need and find out if you are covered with the credit card you already have. Typically, if you don’t charge the trip to that specific credit card, you don’t have the coverage. Then check with your personal insurance, such as auto insurance for rental car coverage, home owners / renter’s for loss of property, etc. Then look into travel insurance, if you need or want more or additional coverage.

You should do this process for your health insurance as well. Most insurance policies don’t cover you when you travel outside the US. All of this pre-planning could offer you the needed assistance in your time of need. So do your research and make the choices that are right for you.

Happy Travels!

Filed Under: Budget Planning, Every Day Finances, Insurance, Organization & Planning, Travel, Travel Tips, Vacation Planning

Do You Live In One of These Nine States?

October 24, 2017 By Jill Russo Foster

If you live in one of these nine states, you may have to have a passport for air travel within the US!  These states don’t have ID that is compliant with the Real ID Act of 2005 yet.

Is your state one of the 9? Read more.

For more financial tips, visit my website.

 

Filed Under: Travel, Uncategorized

Holiday Travel

October 23, 2017 By Jill Russo Foster

As you get ready for the upcoming holiday travel season, here’s a great article on saving money on airfare.

We specifically buy our airline tickets on a Tuesday, as it seems the prices are lowest on that day.  We recently purchased airfare for almost $200 less per person, as we watched the pricing for a specific flight go up and down.

Read here and see if you can save money.

For more financial tips, visit my website.

Filed Under: Travel, Travel Tips, Vacation Planning

Does your summer vacation plans mean staying local?

July 14, 2017 By Jill Russo Foster

Here are some tips that we personally have done in our community for low or no cost.  Let me know what you are planning.

Filed Under: Discounts, Travel

Can you travel cheaply?

July 13, 2017 By Jill Russo Foster

My answer is always, yes!!!

We have traveled to lots of places and not spent too much. It does take planning, but we find it well worth it.

You need to search for great deals on the places you want to explore.  Look for sales, perks and discounts.  Research your options.  Right now we are researching an upcoming trip.  We are looking for a hotel that is centrally located and near transportation hubs.

Last year in Italy, we stayed at a hotel by the airport.  We were able to walk to the hotel when we arrived.  You might be thinking it’s not convenient.  This particular hotel had a fee shuttle to downtown Rome every two hour between 8 am and 11pm.  Yeah! No transportation costs.

For places to stay, we look for hotels / timeshares that have kitchen facilities.  It’s more cost effective to go to the market and purchase food than to eat our for every meal.  Plus, if possible, you can bring things from home.  No, you cannot bring meat and vegetables.  You can bring items that you only need a few of instead of buying a large quantity (think salt, pepper, steel wool, paper goods and more).  This is a photo from a beach vacation and what we packed in our luggage.

What do you do to reduce your travel costs?

 

 

Filed Under: Discounts, Reducing Expenses, Travel

Double check to save money

July 12, 2017 By Jill Russo Foster

When you make travel reservations, do you stop there?

We have found that periodically checking back with the cruise / hotel / rental car / etc. can save you money.  Just this morning, I rechecked an upcoming hotel reservation.  I do this by making a new reservation inquiry to see what the price is.  This morning the same hotel and same room type was $36 less per night.  I made the new reservation and cancelled the old one.

Note – this only works if you have not prepaid for something and if there is no cancellation penalty.

We have done this in the past on a cruise that actually had seven different price changes lower.  The savings before the final payment reduced what we owed.  The savings after final payment were given to us as an on board credit.

Try this with your next reservation and let me know how much you were able to save.

Filed Under: Discounts, Travel

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