I’m off next week so no new blog posts and no daily/weekly emails. I’m taking a staycation and will be going kayaking, hiking, swimming, and wine tasting!
Just ’cause I’ll be gone doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the reader giveaway to win two $100 Restaurant.com gift cards, though. The contest ends Monday, Aug. 30, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST. I’ll sneak back from vacation to announce the winner on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
Jamiesrabbits/Flickr
If you live outside the Golden State, I’m sorry! Here are three coupons for water parks in California, including Raging Waters in San Dimas, Wild Rivers in Irvine, and Wild Waters Adventure in Clovis.
Raging Waters (San Dimas)
Get $7 off a general admission purchased online or $5 off general admission purchased at the park. Print the water park coupon or online use coupon code 1060 when you buy tickets online. Single day tickets are $23-$37.
Wild Rivers (Irvine)
Get $5 off a general admission ticket with this printable coupon or use coupon code RRAPIDS2 if you buy your ticket online. Single day tickets are $17-$33.
Wild Waters (Clovis)
Get $6 off a general admission ticket with this coupon. Bring it to the park as you cannot buy tickets online for Wild Waters. Single day tickets are $17-$24.
Act quick to get a cheap flight on Southwest for a summer vacation. You have to buy your tickets by June 17 and travel by September 2, 2010. The fares are good for travel on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
One way sample fares include:
- Burbank to Oakland, Vegas, San Jose, or Phoenix for $59
- Orlando to Ft. Myers for $53, or to Ft. Lauderdale for $69
- Jackson to Houston for $69
- Long Island or New York to Baltimore for $69
- San Diego to Vegas, Phoenix, or Tuscon for $59
- San Francisco to Vegas, Orange County or Los Angeles for $59
- See all the cheap flights on Southwest
Caveats: 14-day advance purchase required, purchase by June 17, 2010 at 11:59 pm PST, fares do not include federal excise tax of $3.70 per takeoff and landing, airport-assessed passenger facility charges (PFC) of up to $9, and government-imposed September 11th Security Fee of up to $5 one-way.
boeingdreamscape/Flickr
I just got an email from Travelzoo that reminded me of the amazing air travel deals to be had this summer. Here are five quick tips!
1. Sign up for Travelzoo.com, a site that is ground zero for travel deals. I especially recommend their Top 20 Deals, Last Minute Deals, and Newsflash. You can sign up for particular deals via email and let them know what zip code you live in so they can tailor deals. Travelzoo also has international travel deals if you live in Canada, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, China, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, or Australia.
2. Sign up for the email lists of any airlines you like to fly, like Jetblue, Virgin America, or Southwest. Most airlines shares sales and deals first via email and offer free loyalty programs. I also like Airfarewatchdog.com.
3. Seek out a local Groupon-type site a few weeks before you travel. By signing up for an email deal list in, say, San Antonio, you will hear about super discounts on restaurants, shows, and services in the city you are planning to visit.
4. Consider alternative lodging, like couch surfing or individuals who offer spare rooms to travelers through organizations like iStopOver or RoomaRama. You can also seek out people to exchange places with on Craigstlist.
5. Fly mid-week for the best prices and no crowds! And remember to factor in baggage fees. Southwest does not charge for bags, but Virgin America lets you check up to 10 bags for $25 each as long as they are less than 50 pounds!
How do you plan to save money on your summer vacation?
TheConsumerist.com
Jetblue is selling a bunch of flights from JFK for $10 each. The site was getting hammered last time I checked so give the pages time to load.
New customers can get a free photobook from Picaboo or, if you already have an account with them, there is a BOGO free coupon that is good through March 31, 2010.
Use this Gap coupon code to get jeans at 30 percent off. Just trade-in an old pair by Sunday, March 14, 2010.
Snag a bag of free dog treats from Science Diet when you share your name, email and address.
Coldwater Creek coupons! Get 20-25 percent off when you buy $100 or more. Good in stores and online.
Do you live near a Dunkin Donuts? Then get free coffee every Monday in March.
mdanys/Flickr
I recently talked to Diana Castilla at News Net TV about travel deals for cheap hotel rooms and cheap flights. The segment is running Tuesday March 9, 2010 at 6 a.m. on KVMD (cable news channel 31 on Dish and Direct TV) or you can watch it online starting at noon.
If you are a student or educator, you can get a lot of cheap travel deals at StudentUniverse. Anyone can save money on a trip by renting a home or condo. Sometimes you can even arrange swaps!
If you are really pinching pennies, check out this post on 17 ways to save money in Vegas.
Reader Bob left four great travel tips as a comment:
I travel a lot and over the years I’ve learned a few trick… Hope these are helpful..
1. Everybody knows about flying into alternate airports (e.g. OAK instead of SFO) but increasingly it’s cheaper to book a multi-destination flight to lower the fare. Last year I saved $300 on a RT from SFO to AMS by booking the outbound from SFO to TGL and walking away at AMS. Note that you can’t do that on the inbound since airlines will now cancel your entire ticket if you miss your flight at the origin. So inbound was booked from AMS to SFO.
2. In Europe, take advantage of the rail system. It is almost always cheaper to fly to LHR and train to Paris than it is to fly direct to CDG. Same is true for many other popular destinations.
3. If you can take it or leave it, haggle!! I’ve got amazing deals from airlines by calling them the day of the flight, pointing out that they were flying almost empty and offered them what I thought the trip was worth it.
4. Add a ’stop’ – a lot of times you can add a layover for little or no money. Just last month I added a Paris stop to my Istanbul trip for only $80 more by booking an open-jaw flight.
Happy traveling!
Spring break is coming up and one way to save money is to earn a free night at your hotel. The Choice Hotels spring promo lets you do just that. The cool thing about the promotion is that once you earn your free night you can choose to stay at 1,500 hotels across the globe – gratis! Here’s how it works.
Stay two different times at any of the ten hotels in the Choice Hotels chain, including the Quality Inn, Cambria Suites, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn. You can mix and match which hotels you stay at. Each visit has to be at least two nights.
Stay twice between now and April 30, 2010, and you earn a free night. You can find a great hotel rate on the Choice Hotels website, which searches the entire hotel chain for the best deal. Within any given city, you can search for hotels by radius or by proximity to prominent attractions, like SeaWorld in San Diego or Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Make sure to sign up for the Choice Hotels privileges reward program to get your free hotel night. You’ll need an address in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or eligible countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe to qualify for the promotion.
USA Weekend had a great round up of tips to save money on summer activities. Here are the best of ‘em.
- Monitor flight prices by setting up an email alert on FareCompare.com.
- Save gas and time by getting an automatic toll pass such as E-ZPass, FasTrak or SunPass (the last of which you can buy pre-paid at grocery stores in Florida).
- Join the free loyalty programs at your local movie theater. AMC’s MovieWatcher and the Regal Cinemas Regal Crown Club both have good perks.
- Find the best price for summer theater at SeatKarma.com, which monitors prices from more than 200 ticket brokers.
- Make your own fast food to avoid pricey take out. Make mini-pizzas by topping flatbread, bagels, or English muffins with tomato sauce and cheese. Make bean and cheese burritos in advance, wrap tightly and freeze for a microwave-ready bite.
- Look for discount tickets to baseball games and bring your own food as much as is allowed.
Thanks, Meital!
The National Parks Service has two upcoming fee-free weekends at more than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees. The freebie includes entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees but NOT fees for reservations, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties. Still, the offer is pretty awesome.
The fee-free weekends include:
- July 18-19, 2009
- August 15-16, 2009
For a list of free parks by state, click here. (The page may take awhile to load.)
Here’s another tip the park service is passing on. Many national parks never charge an entrance fee, so you can plan inexpensive visits year round! They also provide a list of family activities this summer.
Thanks, Hubby!
Bargaineering tells you how to claim your $250 Social Security Stimulus check
Cash Money Life separates the wheat from the chaff: credit card offers
Did you miss ABC’s special “Unbroke” Friday night? Here’s a recap from Free From Broke.
Sephora is giving away 6 free MP3 downloads (out of 13 choices) when you use code BEAUTYBEAT (Coupon Cravings)
Recession Wire has a handy update with all the headlines you need to know about the recession
Frugal Dad says screw staycations, I want a real vacation!
Plus, two important travel links:
AOL’s travel page has five low-budget vacations for families.
Get an automatic 3 percent cash rebate from eBates.com when you book a vacation package on Southwest airlines. eBates also offers 1 percent back on Air France and 2 percent back on Priceline or Hotwire!
Thanks, Dad!
A site I contribute to called Toddler Magazine is giving away a 7-night stay for four people at an all-inclusive Club Med resort on Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The prize does not include airfare. Sign up for the contest here.
You can enter everyday if you like. The contest ends August 1, 2009.
This contest certainly dwarfs the $25 gift cards to Trader Joe’s or Target that I am giving away! Luckily, you can sign up for both. Win my contest and you can purchase a new swim suit to wear at Club Med if you win on Toddler!
Solid colored flip flops are $1 at Old Navy this Saturday, May 23, 2009 only. I went last week and they were $2.50 a pair. Guess sales were not going too well. Scroll down to the very bottom of this link to see the ad.
Caveats: excludes metallic and fancy flip flops. Limited quantities.
Thanks, Tina!
Just got an email that Southwest is having a $49 summer fare sale! The $49 one-way fares are for flights on Tue and Wed. Don’t wait because the best fares and flight times go quick.
Caveats: 14-day advance purchase required. Purchase by May 14, 2009, 11:59 pm Pacific Time. Travel through October 28, 2009. Fares are nonrefundable but may be applied toward future travel on Southwest Airlines.
A friend tipped me off to a little known fact – many campsites are free! She writes:
You have to pay at any state or regional park or national monument (aka Yosemite), whether you make a reservation or not. Where you don’t have to pay for camping is in federal wilderness, BLM land and national forests — in many cases you can camp anywhere you feel like it provided you have a camping permit.
To check the facts I called Kevin Mack, who is campaign director at the Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C. I found many free camping options are rustic – but not all!
Wilderness areas are the most protected land in the U.S. Some require permits but often there is no fee associated. Mechanized travel is not allowed, so no cars or bikes. Campgrounds are not carved out like at national parks and there is no running water or toilets. You can park on the edge of a wilderness area and hike in, or go by horseback, kayak, or canoe. Once you get there you can hunt, fish, hike and rock climb. For more info visit Wilderness.net, which has a handy map of wilderness areas.
A whopping 89 percent of Bureau of Land Management territory does not have fees. Some require a permit, others don’t. Most are unmarked and waiting for you to find them. Typically, BLM land has minimal or no services (like running water, pit toilets, or designated campsites). You may be able to drive in on a 4-wheel vehicle, hike in, or park on the road and pitch a tent. “But it doesn’t have to be a primitive experience,” Kevin said. “I have done car camping on BLM land. You can bring a cooler and have a gin and tonic at the end of the day. The only difference is you are by yourself and you have to think creatively about your bathroom facilities.”
About 10 percent of BLM land is managed by the National Landscape Conservation System, which offers more traditional camping options.
Most National Forests are free to camp in and ideal for folks comfortable looking at a map and contacting the local ranger station for info. But you don’t have to be a burly man or 20-something backpacker, Kevin said. “Just be willing to step off the paved road…and drive down a dirt road and chose your own camp spot,” he said. National forests that are highly trafficked usually have fees. Search for sites by state on this page.
RV sites for less than $10 a night: If you RV, check out FreeCampgrounds.com, which list extremely cheap places to park overnight by state. The list includes parks, rest areas, store parking lots, and more. The site also lists Wal-Mart stores that do NOT allow overnight parking.
Also check out FreeCampground.com, which lists a limited number of free sites by state. There were just 7 free campgrounds in California, none in Maryland and four in Oregon.
Thanks, Mariel!
I mentioned this site to exchange homes yesterday and just found out they are offering 25 percent of a $99 year-long membership to Bargain Babe readers. Use discount code BB09, which expires May 31, 2009.
