Overtired Mama's Travel Tips and Tricks

Welcome to my blog!  Perhaps you have been here before, in which case, welcome back!
My name is Katie, aka the Overtired Mama.  I started this blog many years ago, when my little girl was a baby.  When I started this blog, I didn't know exactly what it was going to be, so it's had a lot of transitions.  My posts ranged from ramblings about parenthood, recipes, product review, crafts, entertainment, and more!  But over the years, the topic that always seemed to make its way in to my cycle was travel.



I did some family travel as a child with my family, and traveled with friends as a teen, and I made some amazing memories over the years.  Now, as an adult, I love those moments of making memories while on holiday with loved ones.  Vacation offers the opportunity to connect with friends and family, away from your usual every day stressors and distractions.  That is why I love travel.



As my desire to travel has grown, so has my need to budget.  My personal discovery was that the mor…

Periodically I do live videos on my Facebook page to talk about travel.  The latest video got some great feedback so I thought I would post here.


Do you follow my Facebook page? Be sure to check it out, as well as my other social media! I often share some great travel tips and deals!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/overtiredmama/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/Overtired_Katie  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katie_nb/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUfSBYVJfyLpZWn0ihYuoZg

After sharing a link to a link to one of my "Budget Travel" posts on social media, I had someone send me a message asking me why I would ever want to give up "quality travel" for the sake of price.  This message prompted me to clarify something - when I say "Budget Travel", I am not suggesting that you book accommodations or travel arrangements that risk your health or safety.



Tonight I likened my "travel bargain hunting" to hunting for deals at a secondhand clothing store.  Have you ever had that feeling - at a secondhand clothing store, and you find a brand name outfit, and it costs you less than $20?  It feels great, right?  You can still snag a great brand name dress or shirt, while paying only a fraction of the price. That is the same feeling I get when I search and find a great deal on travel!  And that is the feeling I am trying to share with all of you.

With the tips I share in my posts, my hope is that the tips can help people research …

There are lots of factors in play when you plan a vacation - when you will have the funds available, when you can get time off, etc.  So those are decisions that I can't help you with, but I do often get questions about when the best time is to book a vacation.  When people ask me this question, it's because they've already picked their travel dates, and they are looking for the best time to get the lowest prices on their trip.



In terms of hotel rooms, unless you are booking for a "sell off" discount travel site that sells off un-booked rooms, I haven't found a particular time frame offers better deals than others.  Sales and offers can come and go, and there doesn't appear to be a "magic formula" related to how far in advance you book your room. 



Rental properties are a little different than hotel rooms, however, the closer your get to your dates, the more prices tend to come down (not always, but frequently).  The difficulty is, as you get clo…

We've covered accommodations, flights, entertainment, and now I will talk about rental vehicles.  But first, have you missed any of the previous posts in this series?  I will link to the previous posts below so you can catch up on all of the previous tips.



I realize this post will not apply to everyone, but it's an area that if you are planning to rent anyway, you can save some money here.

Many travel points programs allow you to redeem for rental cars.  We did that for the first time this year.   Just as a rough example, when we used Air Miles for a rental van in November 2018, it was roughly 3400 miles plus roughly $100 in taxes and fees.  Pretty close to what you would pay and redeem for a round trip flight from the Atlantic Provinces to Orlando.  If you don't require a van, smaller vehicles were nearly half of that redemption amount.  To also put in perspective the cost - we priced the same rental period, with a minivan, and it would have cost us approximately $750.

If…

I've given you some tips on how to save money on your accommodations (Part 1 - http://www.overtiredmama.com/2019/01/travelling-on-budget-series-part-1.html) and how to save money on your travel (Part 2 - http://www.overtiredmama.com/2019/01/travelling-on-budget-series-part-2.html), so next, we are going to cover "activities" that you may do on your vacation.

This post was a little more difficult to put together, as not everyone is interested in the same types of activities, so hopefully I've covered a wide enough range that you may find some information that would apply to your vacation.


Activities
Amusement Park Tickets
The discounts you can get on amusement park tickets can vary from park-to-park.  That may seem obvious, but, just as an example, it's very rare to get substantial disounts on Walt Disney World tickets.  There are a few exceptions - if you are a resident of Florida, Disney usually offers "Florida Resident Offers" that offer discounts if yo…