Traveling Twenties

When I think of my childhood I think of polly pockets and Disney movies. That being said, you can imagine my excitement when my friends and I planned a trip to Disney World in Florida for spring break this past year.

I was estatic.

My first thoughts were to spend all of the money in the world, this was the first time I was going to Disney and would actually be over the age of 4, I needed to take advantage. At first, we figured we’d stay at a resort, but the moment we looked up the prices we decided that was out of the books for us broke college students.

Today, I wanted to give you a story time of my trip to Disney and how I managed to save money in different ways.

First was flight money, an easy no brainer on how to save money since I had done it so many times before. If you haven’t already, you can read my other article titled How To Keep Airfare Low and find out all of my tips and tricks.

After we had that figured out we moved onto where we were going to live. We ended up being able to stay at one of our friends houses that was coming to Disney with us, which saved us hundreds of dollars. Sure, it might have been a forty minute drive to Disney, but I’d take that over the money it’d cost to stay in a hotel for four nights.

Next was Disney, sure we wanted to go to every single park but at the end of the day we realized we wouldn’t have enough money or time so we choose one park. The best bang for our buck was always going to be Magic Kingdom and looking back at it now, I’m very happy we decided on one park, not only for my bank account, but because we needed that full day for the one park.

I had saved over $100 on our flight, $500 on our hotel, and over $100 on our trip to Disney. The great thing about how much money we saved was that I felt OK splurging a bit on other activities we did in Orlando.

Saving all of this money was in ways that didn’t hinder my experience and that’s the way I always encourage you to approach saving money on. Prioritizing your activities and what you want to do for each trip is a great idea but also know that if you save money the right way that will give you more opportunities to visit again instead of doing everything in two days, leaving, and never going back.

Until next time,

Marisa

Hello again!

On Wednesday I went to a Niall Horan concert (YAY!!) and had the time of my life. But, seeing as I run a travel blog and last weeks posts were about road trips I thought this was the perfect opportunity to write about my trip down to Chicago for a concert, how I saved money, and just how much fun it was!

First things first, I’m sure your first question is “how was the concert?” and let me tell you, IT. WAS. FANTASTIC. Oops, I can feel my inner fangirl coming out. Seriously though, I would recommend seeing him when he comes to Chicago again next summer and make sure to say hi to me there!

But anyways, onto the traveling part.

I live about two hours away from Chicago when I’m away at college in Whitewater, WI. There’s really no way to save money when it comes to gas unless you travel with someone else, which unfortunately I didn’t do. But, Illinois is known for it’s toll charges, which can rack up quite a bit. My tips for you when it comes to driving are as follows. Taking back roads is always an option and you can avoid those tollways completely, this is what I did when I went from Whitewater to my best friends house. But, if you need to get on the highway the easiest way to save money is to get an I-Pass. Having one of these not only saves you time with not having to stop and get all of that change out, but the prices are reduced when you use an I-Pass over paying cash! Score!

There are other ways to save and I’ll let you in on a few of my secrets. The biggest thing has to do with where you are staying. I save time, money, and sleep by staying at my best friends house, who lives just outside of the suburbs and I recommend that as a easy way to save money in any location you go to! Another way to save money is to travel with a friend so that when parking comes up the prices are reduced, instead of having to pay $20 for parking you only have to pay $10! Lastly, save money but not spending it on the overpriced food at the event! Usually, venues will let you have free water or there are water fountains around, take advantage of those! You can spend up to $50 just from buying food, eat before you go!

I had so much fun at this concert and being able to get away from school in the middle of the week and I recommend you try it out yourself!

Until next time,

Marisa

Hello again!

Today, we’re going to do things a little differently. I’m going to give you a quick list or run down of what I would normally pack in my suitcase for a trip (fun fact, I usually don’t change the amount even if it’s a longer trip). How you pack can be a game changer. If you’re like me and travel through spirit you’ll find that you have to pay for every suitcase you bring. I save $40 every time I travel because my best friend and I manage to pack lighter and put it all in one! Score!

So, without further ado, here’s what you can find in my suitcase!

• Toiletry bag – this has all the things in it from my toothbrush, hairbrush, facial things, it’s nice to keep it all in one small bag to compact it together
• Make-up bag – I keep this relatively small too, just enough room for me to put my everyday makeup look in
• Shoes – I limit myself to two pairs usually, most of the time it’s my birks and Adidas shoes
• Pants – two pairs of shorts if I’m going somewhere warm, a pair of ankle jeans, and shorts for my pajamas and I’m good to go
• Shirts – This is the one part I splurge on and overpack, usually I’ll bring at least 5 tops but hey they’re smaller anyways so it doesn’t take up too much room
• Underwear and bras – duh
• One belt – I actually wear one
• Shaver – a must

So that’s really what my luggage consist of, but a HUGE tip I will give you is my purse. I have a coach purse that I use as my personal item and it’s really helpful because I can pack smaller things in there, like my polaroid camera, that would take up extra space in my suitcase. It helps in the long run, and I hope this breakdown of what I pack gives you perspective for good ways to pack!

Until next time,

Marisa