Travel
From girl's getaways to couples weekends away and family travel too. Find everything you need here on Thrifty Mommas Tips to make planning your next big adventure a breeze. Travel confidently with all of these tips and ideas for what, when and where to go. Learn to ski, go sledding on a dog sled near Tremblant, zip lining over the tree tops or snorkelling with mosquito jellyfish in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Most of this travel content has one common theme - it's all about traveling affordably for your family. If you haven't traveled, you haven't lived. Travel can be one of the greatest educational experiences undertaken in a lifetime. Seeing new areas of the world is extremely rewarding no matter how you travel or where you go. Whether you are a backpacking millennial or a cruising retiree, enjoy the content on Thrifty Mommas Tips and learn before you go, so that you can make the best of your time away. The family cruise content is comprehensive and an excellent tool if you are planning or dreaming of cruising in future. Read my in depth series that ties child sponsorship in Colombia together with travel to the South American country and then don't forget to peruse the Zambian fellowship series too. Impactful and meaningful, voluntourism serves a different purpose than a recreational family trip. But, there's quite a lot of both sustainable travel and impactful travel adventures coupled with family travel opportunities to make memories that last for years. Where will you go next and who will you take with you?
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Under Five Day at Simonga Clinic in Zambia
About an hour outside Livingstone, sits Simonga Clinic, the first of several clinics we will visit while in Zambia. Simonga clinic is busy already with under five day. Babies breastfeed while toddlers play with each other tugging on clothing, and scoping visitors out warily. A tiny girl in pink tries to drag Mom’s purse across the concrete floor to show a friend. She bursts into tears when Mom lifts the bag out of reach. Another toddler wanders over to the immunologist in our group and he waves repeatedly engaging, until she holds out her hand for a high five. Then he is suddenly shy, racing back to his Mom. Under Five Day Simonga…
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Every Child Deserves a Shot at Life #VaccinesWork
Every child should have a Shot at Life. All children have a right to health. But, in developing countries around the world many families face overwhelming obstacles to accessing life-saving vaccines. Shot@Life is an organization that helps and advocates for funding to deliver lifesaving vaccines to those in need. I visited Zambia as part of a fellowship with Shot at Life through the UN Foundation recently. It was an amazing experience. Over the next few weeks I will share posts about that trip and the many clinics and aid organizations we visited. Yesterday I shared my first post about Preparing for the Zambia Fellowship. But today I want to share a…
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Zambia Fellowship – Preparing For The Journey #VaccinesWork #travel
I’m sitting in a travel clinic getting a typhoid shot and a prescription for anti-malarial pills. Today this is what work looks like as I prepare to visit Zambia in October. It’s a Tuesday morning and I am talking typhoid, Twinrix, safety precautions, Canadian embassies and Malaria. Not my average day in the office. A few weeks ago I learned that I was one of the lucky journalists who received a Fellowship with the UN Foundation and an advocacy group called Shot@Life. Together with 2 other bloggers and a doctor with a regular column in a US newspaper, I will travel to Zambia. The itinerary is evolving, but it mostly looks like…
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Your Period and How Travel Affects It #travel
Your period is a normal function of your body. How your reproductive system is functioning can be an indicator of a bigger health issue. So it’s natural to be concerned if your very regular cycle is sometimes thrown into chaotic late, or abnormal heavy or even extreme light flow. Of course the first thing you wonder if your cycle changes or a period ceases to happen, is whether you are pregnant. But you might also start wondering if you have an illness. The truth is that if your period is late or you missed it all together while traveling, it’s probably JUST the traveling. Your Period and Travel There are lots of different ways…
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Six Anniversary Trips that Totally Rock
Anniversary trips can be just the thing to ignite a renewed sense of romance in your marriage. They can also be an extension of the romance that never really went away. Whatever they are for you and your spouse, one thing is certain. Anniversary trips can and should be memorable experiences. Otherwise, you might as well just have a staycation with a bouquet of flowers. There are so many great ways to spend anniversaries really. If travel is involved I don’t think you can go wrong. 6 Anniversary Trips that are Totally Worth It The only trip you should take for your anniversary is one that is completely and totally…
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Ten Facts About World Polio Day #WorldPolioDay
This week as we mark World Polio Day I wanted to share a few facts about polio and the vaccine that saves lives. Just one week ago I was in Zambia doing a fellowship with the UN Foundation’s global vaccine program called Shot @ Life. On our last day in Livingstone, we visited the Mahatma Gandhi clinic where moms and dads brought their babies to receive the appropriate vaccines needed for their age group. Many babies were receiving the oral polio vaccine, as shown below. It’s the type of global vaccination initiative that Shot@Life supports in many countries around the world. The time we spent in Zambia was remarkable and educational.…
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What to Pack for a Cruise – 5 Must Haves #Travel
What to pack for a cruise. It’s something you’ll be thinking about for some time once you decide to take a vacation on the sea. Of course there’s the standard swimsuits, shorts, etc., but there are a few things you don’t want to be without. Every diehard cruise lover knows there are a few cruise hacks and products that simply make the sailing smoother. Not really essentials but cruise hacks for packing. A few of these are oddball things you might not think of, but trust me they can make your cruise so much sweeter. So if you need to know what to pack for a cruise, read on. What to…
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5 Top Haunted Houses in the US
Halloween in the United States is the season for all things scary – particularly haunted houses. Most areas have a local haunted house, but for those looking for an extra terrifying thrill, there are many elaborate haunted houses throughout the country. Here are 5 of the best haunted houses in the United States. Terror Behind the Walls. Terror Behind the Walls is an annual haunted house that takes place at the Eastern State Penitentiary located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Can you picture that? The setting itself is enough to terrify me. The Eastern State Penitentiary is one of the most infamous prisons in the US, due to its size. Terror Behind…
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Cruise Dining Packages Are They Worth It?
Cruise food can be amazing. The buffets and regular dining rooms are superb and as fancy as you wish to make them. But, if you want a richer experience then you can opt in to the specialty dining rooms, so long as you book and pay in advance. Cruise food packages are an expense that people are always up in the air over. Is it worth the extra cost? Aren’t meals included, anyway? I just paid for an entire all-inclusive cruise, why would I pay even more for a cruise dining package? These are all the questions that people – including myself – ask themselves when they’re trying to decide…
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Cruise Booking Tips – What to Look For Before You Set Sail
Cruise booking is a big deal. You’ll be saying yes to a full week out on the sea, or on the ocean, where you’ll be at the mercy – good or bad – of the cruise line you booked with. It’s important to do your homework before you put the money down on your cruise vacation. You want to have a blast, not get blasted, with a disappointing vacation. There are a few smart cruise booking tips I have collected from the numerous family cruises we have booked and taken. So, I thought I’d share them with readers in hopes that they enjoy the experience as much as we do every single…