Vacation for Less

We love vacation just as much as the next person but especially enjoy it when we feel like we got a "good deal."  We are by no means experts on how to vacation for less but have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way none the less.

We have used Priceline to stay at countless hotels (we can usually get away with $40/night give or take) and have learned to love road trips that involve a cooler full of food in an attempt to avoid those fast food stops.

 One of our Priceline hotels even had a waterpark.

If setting up the tent isn't your thing try a KOA Cabin- another cheap overnight we like to use especially on road trips.

A small car with great gas mileage is a money saver until it decides to act up in the middle of nowhere. 

 Before kids we did a lot more camping once we arrived at our destination and have had the opportunity to stay in some pretty amazing national parks as a result.

Camping in the Badlands will go down as one of the craziest camping adventures of our life.

Camping at Custer State Park

Arches National Park- one of our favorite national parks so far.

We have just begun to dip our toes into using credit card points and incentives to our traveling advantage (hats off to our friends who are experts at this!) and have found that going during off season really does "pay".

Our Bed and Breakfast ocean side in Maine a week before peak season for off season prices.

We have also been fortunate to have great friends who have shared the cost of lodging or allowed us to use their vacation homes for free. 

Lake Superior Cabin with friends

Staying with our friend's at their parents cabin in MN

Staying in Destin, FL at our friend's parent's rental home

Visiting family is fun too!  Grandma's winter home in AZ

Another opportunity that has worked well for us is to tag along on my husband's work conferences.  His expenses are covered so it is really just adding on an airline ticket and food for one.  We have even "teamed up" with his coworker who also brought his wife along and then we split the cost of the additional hotel room.  A win for all of us. 

Nashville, TN Conference

Our latest endeavor at vacationing for less was over Spring break and began with a facebook advertisement for a $59, 2 night, 3 day water park stay in WI Dells.  I clicked into it, realized there was a ton of fine print, and sent it on to my superstar husband who took the time to check it out.  It turned out to be legit but the catch was the agreement to sit through a 90 minute sales pitch sometime during our stay.  We figured those lost 90 minutes would be well worth the $200 savings so we booked it and dug our swimsuits out of the back corner of the closet.

All in all, we had a blast.  The price was true to it's promise and we really did only fork out $59 plus tax.  The water park was just the right size for the kiddos as well as the pool area. 

So would we do something like this again?  Yes.  The sales pitch* was for a vacation timeshare and by the end of it we were almost convinced we needed one.  We stuck with our original plan and said No!  It  did set us up well to spend much of the evening dreaming together about future trips though which was fun.

How do you save on vacations?  What are your tips and tricks?  




*Beware! If you aren't confident about your ability to say no in a sales pitch situation I don't advice this.  They are usually high pressure and somewhat deceptive.  Go into it with your game face on!