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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Three Days of Play in Rochester New York
“Play is the highest form of research,” – Albert Einstein It had been years since I last set foot in Rochester New York. There was a time Rochester was a destination Canadians visited for the weekend, when they wanted to shop and save money. Shopping bags loaded with clothing, shoes, and the occasional bottle of rum or whiskey, we’d return satisfied and armed with Christmas presents for everyone, but not before that final stop at the Duty Free store. This is how I remember Rochester, New York. We were guests of Visit Rochester while in the city which means we received accommodations, meals and entrance to all attractions in exchange…
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The Flight Before Christmas – Everything You Need To Know Now
Need to travel over the holidays? Need the flight before Christmas? Oh sure we all want to travel during the holiday season and go somewhere warm, or even some place familiar filled with family and friends. But do you need to travel during the holidays? If so, then you need some ground rules and also some guidelines and tips on how to go and when to book the flight before Christmas. There are lots of benefits to holiday air travel and a few big drawbacks too. But, if you want to know the ins and outs and the ways to save your sanity while traveling during this busy time of…
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My Blogging Anniversary – A Decade of Sharing and Gratitude
Ten years goes by in a blink. I started this blog Thrifty Mommas Tips ten years ago this past summer! My ten-year blogging anniversary happened quietly on May 26th. I wanted to have this up sooner, but then my crazy summer of travel happened and I didn’t have time to finish it until now. So, forgive me if this is a little late. Where has a decade gone? Well, my girls have grown up into beautiful teenagers. Sure, they argue a lot some days and frankly parenting teens is so much harder than I ever imagined…but they’ve changed so much. A decade ago I was home with my girls shifting…
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Cody Wyoming – Embrace the Wild West Now
I was invited to travel with Austin Adventures recently while in Montana and Cody Wyoming on a media trip. My opinion is truthful. A raven-haired young woman dressed in an emerald green ball gown sits beside a woman in white and brown fashionable dress at a table inside a saloon. Two men talk loudly about rustling up horses, as a stranger saunters in, wearing a black cowboy shirt and pants, with elaborate leather boots, the kind that make a noisy clattering every time the heel makes contact with the floor. Someone’s spurs jingle. The two women whisper, and all eyes are on the stranger who walks over and picks a…
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Best Places to Wine and Dine in Tualatin Valley, Oregon
Hundreds of families push strollers through downtown Beaverton, Oregon while middle aged couples line up at each food station waiting their turn to buy everything, from organic fruit popsicles to Falafel burgers, and gourmet grilled cheese. Nearby, in a green space, families spread out impromptu picnics on the lawn. Some stroll hand in hand browsing bright coloured Indian scarves, Korean jewelry, crafty bookmarks and holiday decorations made from old tattered, repurposed, maps. Across the tracks, a cable car periodically splits the crowd in two, while police stand by watching and guarding barricades. The streets are cordoned off in a radius around this event. Many families, grandparents included, sit in a…
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Epic Museum Dublin – A Fully Digital Multi-Sensory Experience
There are museums that move you and spark imagination. And there are others that are simply awe inspiring and powerful. Occasionally there are some that are simply in need of an overhaul. New museums at this point in time when technology, digital, social and virtual reality are exploding need to reach forward at the same time as they harken back to capture history. Epic Museum Dublin, currently the world’s only fully digital museum, bridges past and present and bursts forth in a dynamic multi-sensory experience that is entirely unique and inspiring. In Dublin’s Docklands Epic Museum Dublin is without a doubt one of the most memorable, impressive museum experiences I…
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McMenamins Grand Lodge Hotel – A Quirky Oregon Getaway
I was a guest of Tualatin Valley and the Washington County Visitors Association this year and I received accommodations, food, and all activities in exchange for consideration here. You’ve never stayed anywhere quite like this. McMenamins Grand Lodge Hotel is pure Oregon, mystical, quirky and a bit out there, a getaway brimming with magic, served up with a side of mysticism, rooted in rich history. This former Masonic & Eastern Star property is located in Oregon’s wine country, and is a charming spot to launch your exploration of Tualatin Valley. In fact, this would be a good place for me to insert all the jokes about staying in a repurposed…
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The Best Time to Book Flights for Christmas Travel
Christmas travel sounds like the plot of a slapstick comedy movie, right? Picture Kevin McAllister waking too late and missing the shuttle to the airport, or his Mom realizing he’s not on the plane. Chaos and crowds and family and all the expectations!! Well, holiday travel need not be a complete disaster, and frankly it should never cost you a year of mortgage payments just to take a bit of R and R. Plan ahead, sit back, relax and enjoy. Here’s why Christmas travel need not be the punchline to a joke. Instead make it the start of a wonderful new adventure or tradition. Chaos and Overspending or Smooth Sailing…
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14 Things to Do in Billings Montana Now
I received complimentary admissions and food while on a tour of Billings Montana. Billings Montana, or Montana’s Trailhead, is poised at an interesting crossroads. The biggest city by population in the vast state of Montana, Billings is being reimagined. While this area has historically identified with cowboy culture, the great outdoors and the wild west, it is also embracing and investing in arts and culture, leading to a downtown core revitalization. More of a slow burn than an overnight transformation, the arts and history district, as well as museums and cultural venues in Billings are evolving. There are numerous cultural venues, museums and businesses thriving in downtown Billings and that…
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Reasons to Stay at a Ski In Ski Out Lodge
No big surprise for many of you that we love to ski. We have done at least one epic ski trip every single year since learning how to ski at Tremblant in 2015. We have stayed: on the mountain, at the resort, right at the base of the lodge, ten minutes away, half an hour away, in condos and most recently in a ski in ski out lodge. So, we have formed some opinions of the benefits and even the slight inconveniences associated with each type of family ski trip accommodations. Ski in ski out lodges are our new favourite way to stay and ski. In fact, after doing two…