VEGAS

Vegas is a quick get away for us! It is only a 5 hour drive, so we never have to buy expensive plane tickets. However, we still save money while we are in Vegas. Honestly, it is not that expensive!

Here are some of our quick tips!

1. Go to Vegas during a slow weekend. Hotels will be cheaper and it will be less crowded

2. Book a hotel through Kayak! It's super quick and simple. You do need to remember that all the hotels in Vegas, on the strip, charge you a fee for the pool and other amenities. EVEN IN THE WINTER. So make sure you keep that in mind, when you are booking a hotel. This fee will not be included in the price, when you are booking

3. Stay on the strip. Stay on the side that is closer to the airport, it will be cheaper. You can stay on the strip without breaking the bank. Some of the cheaper, yet still nice, hotels you can stay at are:

-The New York, New York
-The Luxor
-MGM Grand
-The Excalibur

Avoid Circus Circus!!

We have stayed at the above hotels for less than $80 a night, not too bad at all! You can stay at some nicer hotels closer to the outlet malls, they are more expensive but not too bad for a vacation destination. These hotels are making their money off the casinos, so they do not charge too much for rooms. You will want to stay on the strip, so you can walk everywhere. You really won't need to uber around the strip

3. Drinks. Most people who go to Vegas want to drink. We are not big drinkers, but here are some tips for the alcohol in Vegas:

-Go to CVS, Walgreen's, ect. They are all over the strip and the alcohol is a lot cheaper there. Plus you can buy snacks and other necessities as well
-Reusable cups. There are tons of margarita places on the strip. Buy the reusable cups, the refills are super cheap! The cheapest place for margs are under the Eiffel Tower, the drinks are huge and can easily be shared among a group of people
-Do not buy drinks by the pool at your hotel, they are super expensive, compared to other places you can get drinks
-Find a local supermarket, like Smiths, to buy your drinks and mixes!

4. My Vegas rewards. This is a free Facebook game, that you can play everyday. You play slots and earn rewards, that you can actually use at hotels and restaurants in Vegas. I have received BOGO show tickets, Gelato ice cream at the Bellagio and Aquarium tickets. DO THIS. It is fun and an awesome way to receive free rewards. You can receive free flights, hotels and more, the more you play and earn. It can take time to gain coins, so if I know I am going to Vegas, I will play it a few weeks before I go, to earn enough coins for some BOGO activities

5. Food. You can find plenty of cheap food in Vegas! Celebrity Restaurants are expensive, but we splurge and go to one of these at least once , while we are in Vegas. However, for the most part, we just go to quick stand restaurants like Shake Shack

6. Activities. There is tons of things to do in Vegas. We always go to a show, but for the most part, we do free things. Some things we like to do are:
-Lay by the pool
-Go to the M&M store, they have a little free movie too!
-Walking through all the hotels on the strip. You have to do this! Every hotel has something iconic. Go and check them out! You will not regret it!

-Street shows. While walking around the strip at night, you will see lots of street performers. It is pretty cool!
-Bellagio water show. This show happens quite often throughout the night. I believe it runs every 30 mins.

There is plenty of things to do in Vegas. Some things are super expensive, but if you are on a budget, you can still do plenty of things all day and have a good time. Most of the time, we spend the day at the hotel's pool, and then we go out at night to get dinner, watch the free shows on the strip and head back in. Vegas, surprisingly, can be a nice relaxing getaway!

What are you favorite places to eat and go in Vegas??

Thailand Tip #2

I think about my trip to Thailand, every day. It truly was such an amazing and fun trip! So the next thing I want to talk about is FOOD! (Arguably one of the best things about traveling!!!)

There are so many ways to save money while you are traveling. Here is how we saved money, on food, in Thailand.

Well first off, food is already so cheap in Thailand! But, you can be tricked into paying more than is necessary. Don't pay more than 100 baht a person for a meal, because you can find the same food, for a LOT cheaper!

1. Pack Snacks! Anywhere we travel, I always have us pack snacks like fruit, granola bars, ect. it really saves your time and money, in a crunch! If you need something to hold you over, grabbing a snack out of your backpack, is a lot better of an option, then buying something off of food stand. My go to snacks are : Trader Joes Bananas Chips, Lara Bars and fruit strips!

2. Go to the grocery store! Thailand street food and vendors are already cheap, but the grocery store is even cheaper! We walked through one for fun, and found everything we bought out on the streets, or in convenience stores, were 3x more! The grocery stores are SUPER clean and you can get a much better deal there.

3. When in doubt, find a 7/11. I am not joking when I say, you can find a 7/11 on every corner! 7/11 was our lifesaver, and we went there everyday! We stocked up on water bottles here (you MUST drink water from a bottle in Thailand) and you could buy a bottle for under 10 baht, which is a STEAL! Also, if you are not feeling so good, you can get medicine here or "comfort food" (foods you can recognize and not have to guess what you are eating).

4. Street Food. SO CHEAP. If you walk past something and want to eat it, buy it and enjoy it! We ate street food, all the time! It was so much cheaper than a sit down restaurant. We paid for the BEST pad thai I have ever had, on the street for around 60 baht a plate. But, any restaurant you go to, would charge you around 120 baht per place. Go with the street food, always!

5. Sketchy, hole-in-the-wall restaurants. DO IT! You will not regret it! Our friend that came with us, found this little family owned restaurant by our hotel, and it was AMAZING! So AMAZING, that Karolis ordered 3 plates of food. We got 3 plates of food and 3 drinks for 120 Baht!!! We wished we did this more often, while we were there. We would have spent less and tried amazing food! The food here, was the best food I had in Thailand. So don't be afraid to go into those sketchy restaurants, they are a lot cheaper and will taste super authentic.

6. This is Karolis' tip. Boil water in your hotel room, so you do not have to buy bottle water. Imma say , no on this one (this is Emily). The water is SO cheap there, just buy the bottles, ok?

7. Share food. Often times on vacation, you order WAY too much food, and most of the time, you  are living on the go and cannot save leftovers. So just share your plates. If you are still hungry after one serving, then feel free to order a second plate. We always do this on vacation and usually one serving is enough for us! or one serving and an appetizer

One thing to "splurge" on, if you can even call this "splurging" in Thailand:

ROOM SERVICE! SO SO SO Cheap! seriously! We ordered 2 meals and an app, for $9 (including the taxes and tip). Yes that is more money than you would spend on food down in the streets. But honestly, if you are tired and just do not want to go out, order in. You would pay easily over $60 for the same meal in the US, so treat yo self!!

Here are some of our favorite foods we had in Thailand. E-is my fav, K-is Karolis' fave, EK-is both of ours!

Mango Smoothies-EK
Meat on a stick, any kind of meat at all -K
Pad Thai-EK
Mango Smoothies-EK
Cashew Chicken-EK
Mango Sticky Rice-EK

Mango Smoothies-EK-have I said mango Smoothies already?! They are CRACK!!
Tom Yum Soup-E
Fried Rice with Chicken-E
Fried Pineapple-K
High Chew Sours -E
DO NOT eat Durian-just trust me

We love Thailand and we hope you all go someday too! It was the BEST vacation ever!

San Fran, Tip #1

The golden gate bridge, sour dough bowls, pier 39 seals!! San Fran. SO FUN! But.....SO expensive!
Here is tip #1 on how to travel San Fran, without draining your bank account. We spent a 3 day weekend in San Fran and really got to experience the city. We splurged on a few things, like a sail boat tour, but mostly tried to save money the rest of the trip. So how did we do it?

Find FREE things to do. San Fran is such a huge city, you will find unlimited FREE or fairly inexpensive things to do. Karolis and I love big cities, but we know how to work them. Don't spend money if you do not have to!

Here are some FREE things we did and LOVED!

1. Just walking around! There are beautiful homes and parks, throughout the hills of SanFran. We had fun walking around and taking photos of beautiful gardens and parks. We picked out homes we would want to move into as we enjoyed our Mr. Holmes Bakery donuts (GO early to get the cruffin!)

2. Coit Tower. You can walk up to Coit Tower and see beautiful views! We just sat up there for a few hours and enjoyed the 360 degree view of the bay area. You can pay to go up into the tower, but we felt like we got a great view, in the gardens of the tower

3. The Painted Ladies aka Full House. This is another free attraction and a great photo op! I love the t.v. show Full House and have watched it since I was young, so this was especially fun for me! The park across the street (where they have a picnic in the opening credits) was closed, but if we go back, we are DEF have a picnic there!

4. Pier 39. These are where the famous seals are at! We went here everyday and seriously watch these goofballs for a couple hours. There is plenty of room, to watch them. But, it did get very cold, surprising, so bring a jacket! There is also shopping in this area, that is fun to walk around and see! And a piano staircase, that actually makes music, while you walk up and down it! We got our bread bowls here and they were delish! If you are trying to save a buck, you could share the bowl, they are HUGE!

5. The Wave Organ. This is right in the bay, where you can see the San Fran bridge. This is a man-made "organ", where the wind from the waves, goes through pipes, to make music. This is a really cool area and has GREAT views of the bay and the bridge.

6. Ghirardelli Square. You can come check out their store and get a FREE piece of chocolate. Yum! We of course had to get a sundae, for my chocolate lovin' man. So worth it!

Some things to splurge on:

1. Trolley Cable Ride (take it to China Town, super cheap food there!)
2. Bread Bowls, get one or two, every day!
3. Boat Tour, we did a sail boat one, it included drinks and was 2 hours for about $50 a person. My favorite thing we did on the trip
4. Muir Woods, SO cool!!
5. Rent a car and drive up the coast, to go see the cliffs


All in all, we really did not spend too much on activities. Now hotels, that is another story! And another tip to come, another time! What are your favorite places in San Fran?!

Thailand, Tip #1

We just recently got back from Thailand (hands down, my favorite vacation EVER!). We got to play with elephants, take a cooking class, go snorkeling and eat TONS of food. Every asked me how much this trip costed us. Thousands of dollars!!!----NO!!!! Not really! All hotel accommodations and airline tickets (within Thailand) for me and Karolis, was around $550. FOR BOTH OF US, FOR 2 WEEKS! So...want to know how we did it??

Tip #1: Free Travel Rewards Programs

When you are traveling, you need to check out websites that offer FREE rewards programs. We ran across Expedia's rewards program. We simply just created an account with our email, and, THAT. WAS. IT. Bring on the savings!

We often save over 50% on our hotel accommodations, by booking with our travel account. When we stayed in Phi Phi Islands, we got a bungalow to ourselves, with an ocean view, for $36 a night. If we booked without our rewards account, or through the hotel's website, we would have spend over $70 a night (which, may I say, is still a good deal for almost a 4 star hotel!). 

Through out, our whole trip, I checked Expedia, to see what deals they had. And I am SO glad I did! I have never used Expedia before, to book my hotels. However, this best kept secret, will be used again, in the future! 

Go check out Expedia's page and sign up, even if you do not have any vacations planned. You will thank me later!

~Happy Traveling!

So how do you do it?

I never thought traveling so much, could be doable. I mean traveling is supposed to be a luxury AND expensive, am I right? Nope, Nope, Nope! Think again my friends! I am going to teach you, how to do this. You may not stay at a 5 star luxury hotel. But you will get 5 star recommendations and memories! If you ever have a desire to travel and are just too scared to look into it and see if it possible, JUST DO IT! I am going to give you every secret I have, to make travel fun, easy to plan and cheaper than you think!