5 Things That Have Saved Our Vacations

Melinda Ripley
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read

We recently took a trip to San Diego and I spent weeks planning the trip and making lists of things to do to make it enjoyable for the whole family. Here are the tips I have for traveling with a family that have saved us time or money.

Flying with Children

If you have children then you know how anticipating a flight with them can be, you don’t know if they will be fussy or happy. If you want them to sleep they probably will not. Having things to entertain your child with is important. Something we did that helped make the flights peaceful was stock up on a few small dollar toys that were only to be opened once we were all checked in at the airport or on the flight. That along with suckers for them to eat if the pressure in the plane hurt their ears and their electronics kept them happy during all our flights.

Buy Now, Save Later

After we arrived in San Diego, we went to Target and bought a cheap foam cooler, a flat of water, a few snacks and some milk and cereal. This saved us money as a bottle of water at the resort we stayed at was close to $5 each, and theme parks are not much better. Also, snacks at any hotel or resort are exorbitantly priced- so win again! Having the water and snacks (put in the bottom of the stroller) saved us time and money at the zoo, Seaworld, and Legoland, just make sure it’s all in one bag for quick maneuvering through security checks.

Easy Strolling

Gate checking a stroller at the airport is free and can save lots of time getting between flights especially when little legs cannot keep up. We took a stroller that both our kids can squish into, and it was invaluable for transporting them and luggage around airports and at every venue we went to. A stroller at San Diego Zoo with it’s epically inclined path to the pandas was a must. A stroller rental at each place was also around $12-$15, so we were glad we didn’t have to pay for them.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly Reviews

We researched every place we wanted to go to and read reviews, and we were pleasantly surprised by how accurate they were. I always thought that vacations should be spontaneous and organic when finding attractions and things to explore, but having all the research and list of good restaurants and attractions was handy. Going in with an idea of what we would do every day was great. We were able to plan our time to cover all the ground we wanted to and make sure we had relaxing beach time as well.

Groupon, Coupons, Everybody Come on

By making a plan for each day you can utilize great deals for tickets. We used the Go San Diego tickets which gave us access to around 40 different places for three days, and when I added up the savings it was well over $200. Another super time-saver was having downloaded apps for most of the places we wanted to go to. We were familiar with show times, the lay out of the park, and already knew where the rides we wanted to go on were at. Having the maps, parking passes, and tickets all pre-loaded and pre-paid for on our phones saved time by not having to stand in any lines to buy tickets. I like to set budgets and having everything already paid for besides food and souvenirs made it easy to stay within our means.

It seems that every time we travel we learn something new that makes it easier or saves us some money. I think next time we will better research the places that allow you to bring in food and do that, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would have been preferable to some of the buffet options in the theme parks. Planning adventures is always fun and putting in the research was definitely worth it for us.

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