If you’re a single, young professional with travel as your main hobby, economical travel better be a hobby too. Thankfully for me it is! My top two hobbies are 1. Travel and 2. Saving Money
Here are a few things I did to save nearly $150 on my visits to Historic Jamestowne and Colonial Williamsburg.
Hotel
My go to for online hotel bookings is Booking.com. This site is where I booked my awesome log cabin outside of Gatlinburg in March. I loved the cabin (and the unbelievable price) so much that I automatically love the site. I didn’t know it until I achieved it, but if you book three times with Booking.com you automatically become a genius. More than just a nice compliment, genius status will get you additional discounts and bonuses at select properties.
Unfortunately, all of the hotels around Williamsburg were more expensive than what I wanted to pay so I decided to try the Name Your Own Price tool over at Priceline. I’ve only made one rental car and one hotel reservation with this tool so I’m definitely still a novice, but here are the basics. You fill out an online form with all of your information (including credit card) and then submit a bid. If any companies or properties approve your bid, your card is automatically charged, and the details are sent to you. I’ve found it to be a great way to save some money when prices seem unusually high. I saved over 20% per room by giving this a try. There are some drawbacks though:
1. I got to choose which star level and which area of town I wanted my hotel to be in, but I had no say over which property I got. Since it charged my card immediately, there was no going back if I didn’t like the looks of it.
2. No hotel rewards. I ended up in a chain that I stay with frequently. I tried to give them my rewards number as I was checking in, but since I had paid through Priceline I didn’t earn any loyalty points.
Attraction Tickets
Amusement parks are expensive! I don’t understand how families can go to Disney. I can’t even justify taking myself there. Even smaller parks are expensive. A single day ticket to Colonial Williamsburg is over $40. I researched the special offers on their website and found that this summer they have partnered with Food Lion and members of Food Lion’s MVP club get $10 off each ticket. I wasn’t a member, but I am now! MVP membership is free – just fill at a simple form in the store and you’ll get your card on the spot. Going to Colonial Williamsburg but don’t have a Food Lion in your area? There’s a store 4 minutes from the park! Make that your first stop and save $10 per ticket.
As I was researching ticket deals I saw a note about educator and museum worker discounts. There wasn’t much info online, but it said to visit the ticket office for more info. I work for an organization that includes a museum so I took my ID with me to the ticket office and got a one day pass FREE. I’m not sure if teachers and other museum workers are also free (it might vary based on which organization you work for), but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Take your ID or a business card for proof.
Notice of these deals was on the attraction’s website, I just had to look!
Also, check with your employer. Some companies have attraction discounts or memberships with organizations who offer attraction discounts. A previous employer of mine was a member of TicketsAtWork. This great site offers discounts on hotels, attractions, and even movie tickets. Check them out!
National Parks
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Amusement Parks are National Parks – I’m stunned by how affordable they are. When I started on my quest to see 100 National Parks before the Park Service turns 100 in 2016, I was originally concerned about all of the entrance fees, but was pleasantly surprised by how few charge fees and how affordable those that do are. Plus, paying the fee typically grants you access to the park for 7 days. If you plan on visiting a lot of parks, consider getting the America the Beautiful Annual Pass. At $80 this pass covers entrance to parks for 4 adults as well as any vehicle fees. A Military Pass is free for members of the military and their dependents. A Senior Pass is $80 and is a Lifetime Pass for anyone 62 and older (is it weird that the next birthday I’m excited about is 32 years away?).
As I said in a previous post, we visited Colonial Park (which includes Jamestowne and Yorktown) on the day before visiting Colonial Williamsburg. Admission to the park is $14 per person. Jamestowne is co-run with Preservation Virginia so my Annual Pass didn’t cover everything, but it got the price down to $5 per person.
Do Your Homework
I was able to research and plan this trip over the course of a couple evenings. By doing a little research I saved at least:
$40 on Hotels
$70 on Attraction Admission
$36 on National Parks
That’s nearly $150 in savings. That will pay for my next hotel stay.
As I like to say, “A penny saved is one penny closer to another trip.”
What are your favorite money saving travel tips? Any favorite deal sites or apps you use?
10 thoughts on “A Penny Saved…”
Great tips!!
We always use Booking.com for hotels, found pretty good deals all around the world. Only in Asia that Agoda has better offers.
Another way to save money is looking for local dinners, run away from the tourists restaurants with menus in more than 5 languages… Just for a translated menu you will pay double of the price.. Stay local, you´ll save money and enjoy a lot more!
Cheers,
Nat
good tips! If it was summer and you were feeling particularly bad-ass, then you could combine the park with camping!! Oh how I am jealous though, of countries like Norway where you can camp anywhere at any time for free .
What a FANTASTIC post! GREAT tips for making those savings add up. I”m doing more research before trips, too, to cut back on the price. No need to pay more than you have to, right? Thank you, thank you!
And….I can't love your quote enough “A penny saved is a penny close to your next vacation.' LOVE!
Natalie, The Educational Tourist
These are really good tips. I always like researching for promos or linked stuff in order for me to save a little. FOr people who travel often, it matters.
I like how you added up all the amount that you saved. I feel good when I score a good deal and I agree, it pays to do a lot of research
Way to go for saving a little cash. I often become obsessed with getting the best deal possible no matter what class of hotel I am booking. On many occasions I have also sat outside attractions Googling 'coupon code for….' on my phone. It takes so little time and, as you mentioned, can be completely worth it (especially with a family of four as we are).
Great advice! We'll be taking a look at the TicketsAtWork site! We use Booking.com a lot and agree it's a great way to save money on accommodations. We also try Airbnb to get into local areas and save some money and like to look at local city/town forums and websites for events that may be going on – often times there are free, or inexpensive, festivals, fairs or events that you can participate in.
Love a good cost saving tip or 3. Great post!
A good website for money saving we find is holidaypirates.com. Not so much on tickets, more accommodation and flights etc but well worth a gander.
Nice to note your savings 🙂 Sense of achievement!
That's enough for your next holiday – that is such a good way to look at it!
“A penny saved is one penny closer to another trip.” I love it! That's true! 🙂
I'm also quite like you 🙂 I always look for different ways to save money – coupons, memberships, free days, discounted days, etc. Everything counts! I would use couchurfing, booking.com, hostel world for accommodation.
Some great tips.
We've found the biggest overhead here in the US is accommodation, but AirBnB has worked out cheaper for us than Booking.com, especially in the bigger cities!