Today I going to tell you about my trio to Disney World Resort in 2008 with my girlfriend who lives in west coast of USA.
So first we took a greyhound bus down to San Jose where her dad used to live. the tickets were around $50 piece as we got those 2 weeks in advance. After we got there we spent a few days down there and flew from San Jose international to Florida. I think our tickets were around 200 dollars a piece, actually 204 dollars as I remember having certificate from my flight to US in 2006 as flight had some trouble in service and I got 200 dollar certificate so I used it then, but I'm not going to take that amount off from the total cost of the trip.
In Florida we took a shuttle to our hotel and it cost around $30 from each and included return trip which is pretty good. Our hotel cost about $50 a night and as there was two of us it's not bad at all and the room was actually fitting for 4 and the price was the same so it's really affordable even people with small budget and located only a few miles from the Disneyworld. The hotel also had free breakfast at morning and free shuttle leaving at 8am and 10am from hotel to Disney. They would of had transportation back from Disney as well but we wanted to stay later than the time the bus went back to the hotel as some of the parks were still open so we took taxi every night and that added 12-20$ a night depending on what park we left from, so it's not bad when you split it two ways.
As we stayed so many days, we decided to get 7-day park hopper pass which allowed us to park hop after spending a day in each park. I think the price was around $220 so about $31.50 per day in park. The moving between parks is also simple as Disney has buses running between each park and every shuttle is free, also Magic kingdom and Epcot have Monorail taking you on those parks in a nick of time and is also free.
So now we have gotten to the happiest place on earth and now we just have to enjoy it. So now only things that will cost us more money is food and merchandise which in our case would be quite some as we're both Lion king fans. So I think we bought spent about $200 on merchandise which is most likely an average for kids during one visit. The food in another hand, we tried to eat as cheap as we could most of the time and I think we spent about $250 each but we did eat in the fine restaurant couple of times which added the cost a lot. So yeah we spent about $30 on food and beverages per day which is pretty cheap in Disney parks.
So we were able to see pretty much everything in Disney's 4 parks in Disney World and some of the Downtown disney area which has a lot of stuff to offer for families as well as grown ups. so as we staied 8 days and as our flight didn't leave before we went back to Animal Kingdom to see how much it would it be to add an extra day to our tickets and it was only $1.5 or so because we staied so long... So it was well spent on going to the parks and relaxing for extra day.
Around 4pm we took a taxi back to our hotel and claimed our luggage we left in hotel's safe room as we had already returned our key by noon. The shuttle had been called 24 in advance and paid in advance so we didn't have to worry about that. then when we got to the airport we had to fix a little with our suitcases as the weight limit of our luggage was a little too much due the amount of stuff we had brought down to my girlfriend's dad place and also because of the stuff we bought in Disney parks, but we managed to get it all handled.
Then it was time to go to our gates and start boarding on our flight, which had cost us $160 a piece, all the way to the west coast of US. We were both tired as heck after staying up so many days in busy parks and sleeping the most 6h a night, but we were happy we had done such an awesome trip and we're hoping we can go back someday in the near future to see things that were left unseen and to enjoy the Disney magic.
So all this... 8 days vacation in Disney World Florida cost us around $2630 so as you devine it between two, it's only $1315 per person and as you travel with more people certain costs just get cheaper, such as hotel and taxi trips. So even doing place like Disney parks is possible for you, maybe not for 8 days as we did, but for at least 4 days even if you have family of 4 or 5. Just need to look for a good deals, save up and let the magic do the rest.
maanantai 25. toukokuuta 2009
sunnuntai 24. toukokuuta 2009
When looking for traveling sites.
When you're looking for traveling sites, you better make sure that the site is trustworthy. Even thought on traveling business most sites that you can easily find, you can trust but there is always people out trying to scam you. So try avoiding things that say something like " congratulations you have won a free cruise for 4 ". I have heard there is actually deals like that, that really exists, but most likely it's going to be a scam that ask you to put in a credit card number or something to verify your identity. So try to avoid those.
When you find a trust worthy site, try find one that checks multiple sites instead of just one as that saves time from you going through 10 or more traveling sites when looking for flights. Same thing with hotels, try to find site that has multiple options for hotels and allow you specify the location. A lot of places also offer deals like "stay 3 nights and get 4th one free" or deals that give you virtual money that you can spend on that certain site next time you're looking hotels. that way you might be able to save a big buck and the only thing it will cost you, is registration on site so a few minutes of your time. It will be also useful to check your hotel plan by just login into your account or make changes on your reservation.
Try memorizing the sites you have used as a lot of times that same site gives you the best deal in the future and with hotels if there is plan that gives you virtual credit, you better just stick to that one as in long run it most likely pays off even if you have spent a little more the first few travels. I'm hoping these hints will help you finding good traveling sites and remember, most times buying tickets and hotel separate will be cheaper than vacation package, but you still should check those packages out, especially during the peak travel times
When you find a trust worthy site, try find one that checks multiple sites instead of just one as that saves time from you going through 10 or more traveling sites when looking for flights. Same thing with hotels, try to find site that has multiple options for hotels and allow you specify the location. A lot of places also offer deals like "stay 3 nights and get 4th one free" or deals that give you virtual money that you can spend on that certain site next time you're looking hotels. that way you might be able to save a big buck and the only thing it will cost you, is registration on site so a few minutes of your time. It will be also useful to check your hotel plan by just login into your account or make changes on your reservation.
Try memorizing the sites you have used as a lot of times that same site gives you the best deal in the future and with hotels if there is plan that gives you virtual credit, you better just stick to that one as in long run it most likely pays off even if you have spent a little more the first few travels. I'm hoping these hints will help you finding good traveling sites and remember, most times buying tickets and hotel separate will be cheaper than vacation package, but you still should check those packages out, especially during the peak travel times
lauantai 23. toukokuuta 2009
Beginning...
As in beginning, I'm 24 year old guy from Finland. Even thought I'm young, I have done quite some traveling around the world. I have visited: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, France, Spain, Greece, Germany, UK and also Some of the United states, more specific California, Oregon and Florida. My budget is never really huge and I always try to use as little amount of money as I can to travel the location in order to have as much money as I can to spend at the location.
First thing that people normally end up spending way too much money is Flight tickets. Take your time on looking around and finding the cheapest way to travel even if it takes a little longer to travel to the destination. Do not be satisfied on the first good deal you get as that might not be the cheapest, thought if the price of the ticket is only a few euros or dollars (or whatever your currency is) cheaper it might not be worth it to pick that as on long layover or wait of a train you might end up spending more than that on food and beverages than needed.
Second, try to be flexible with your dates of travel. Unless you have to be back by certain date or you have certain time you must be at the location, you get much better deals by looking various dates and traveling outside the season, as that make sense.
After you have chosen your destination, you should try to find a cheaper place to stay. Unless you're a rich person, which if you're I wonder why you're even bothering of reading this in first place, you should try multiple places to find a good hotel to stay us. After all even cheaper hotels can be quite comfortable and the location might be just as good as a good hotel, just without luxury. And well what do you do with fancy hotel anyways, unless you have came to the location to spend time in your hotel, I would advice you to save your money on doing things on your vacation.
Depending of the location, getting around might be tricky as if you don't know enough about the place. Try looking into the public transportation system. In example the fastest way in London and Paris is not rental car, bus or taxi, but the underground system. It takes you pretty much anywhere in city in fraction of the time you would spend in taxi and also cost nearly nothing.
It's best to check out the location before traveling so you can get the most of it at one time. Don't make strict schedule for yourself as that never works and don't ever cram too much stuff on one day as after all you came to relax in your location, not rushing place to place trying to see everything. The key is to check what sights would be near one another and possible to see easily in one day, without spending time on traveling between locations.
I hope these will get you guys started planning on your dream vacation, there will be more hints how to travel, but as it's nearly 2am here in Finland, I better get some rest as I don't want my brain to shutdown ;)
First thing that people normally end up spending way too much money is Flight tickets. Take your time on looking around and finding the cheapest way to travel even if it takes a little longer to travel to the destination. Do not be satisfied on the first good deal you get as that might not be the cheapest, thought if the price of the ticket is only a few euros or dollars (or whatever your currency is) cheaper it might not be worth it to pick that as on long layover or wait of a train you might end up spending more than that on food and beverages than needed.
Second, try to be flexible with your dates of travel. Unless you have to be back by certain date or you have certain time you must be at the location, you get much better deals by looking various dates and traveling outside the season, as that make sense.
After you have chosen your destination, you should try to find a cheaper place to stay. Unless you're a rich person, which if you're I wonder why you're even bothering of reading this in first place, you should try multiple places to find a good hotel to stay us. After all even cheaper hotels can be quite comfortable and the location might be just as good as a good hotel, just without luxury. And well what do you do with fancy hotel anyways, unless you have came to the location to spend time in your hotel, I would advice you to save your money on doing things on your vacation.
Depending of the location, getting around might be tricky as if you don't know enough about the place. Try looking into the public transportation system. In example the fastest way in London and Paris is not rental car, bus or taxi, but the underground system. It takes you pretty much anywhere in city in fraction of the time you would spend in taxi and also cost nearly nothing.
It's best to check out the location before traveling so you can get the most of it at one time. Don't make strict schedule for yourself as that never works and don't ever cram too much stuff on one day as after all you came to relax in your location, not rushing place to place trying to see everything. The key is to check what sights would be near one another and possible to see easily in one day, without spending time on traveling between locations.
I hope these will get you guys started planning on your dream vacation, there will be more hints how to travel, but as it's nearly 2am here in Finland, I better get some rest as I don't want my brain to shutdown ;)
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