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?
-
Cruise Etiquette No-No’s to Avoid
Cruise etiquette is crucial to an enjoyable cruising experience. When everyone on the ship is on their best behaviour, all of the cruise guests have the best time. However, there are always a few cruisers who either disregard some major cruise etiquette infractions, or just don’t know them. Don’t be that girl, or that guy. There are some things on a cruise that you just shouldn’t ever do. I’ve seen many of these play out and honestly you are not making any friends by hogging all the loungers on the deck and then disappearing for the day to eat or drink at the bar. Also, it’s great to relax and…
-
Puerto Rico’s Family-Approved Destinations For Under $200
Guest post by Andrea Barnhill of Weekend Wander Club It’s a perfect dream to spend bright and lazy summer days just lying in hammocks under palm trees or walking barefoot in the sand while the water splashes softly against your skin. Not too far away, you can hear children’s squeals of delight, giving you peace of mind that they’re safe and enjoying nature at its best. Puerto Rico’s Family-Approved Destinations at Under $200 You can have all these experiences and more in Puerto Rico, the largest territory in the Caribbean Sea that’s still part of the US. For US citizens, it’s an easy destination and a two-hour flight from Miami.…
-
Valcartier – The Largest Winter Playground in North America
Setting – the largest winter playground in North America. We are flying down Everest, a human chain of inner tubes, each of us squealing deliciously, eyes squeezed shut, hearts drumming loudly in our ears. The vertical plummet straight down, as soon as the gate lifts, has me clutching even harder to handles on either side of my tube while simultaneously also wrapping my triceps around my younger daughter’s boots and grounding us both. All that planking at the gym literally paying off right now in this moment as we scream all the way down. At the bottom, when the ground levels out and the tubes finally slow to a halt,…
-
Where in Canada Can You Stay in a Hotel Made of Ice?
I wake on a bed of ice, intricate carvings of a basilisk surrounding me, light subtly creeping through a snow ceiling and polished bricks of ice. Outside this crystal ice palace, the world is still and silent. The kids, in the bed beside ours, just a few feet away are still snugly bundled, not yet stirring. Beside me, wrapped in a burrito sleeping bag, is my husband. I hear the familiar rise and fall of his breath. What Can I Expect Overnight at Hôtel de Glace Quebec? I squeeze my eyes shut a moment longer, listening with my whole body to the sounds of morning in an ice castle. A…
-
What is There to Do in Wyoming?
Seems like I am forever travelling east or south, skiing with family, staying in ice hotels or seeking sun-drenched squeaky sandy beaches. It’s rare that I have the chance to go west. Last fall I took a five day tour of Wyoming with a group of travel writers, sampling local food, exploring museums, learning about a dramatic renovation of the State’s Capitol Building and staying overnight at a working ranch. Topaz Skies and Rocky Trails That 5-day trip through Wyoming reminded me there are many reasons to head west. Picture herds of antelope running across the sheer expanse of wide open flat plains, the Rocky Mountains rising up to cut…
-
Where Can You Find Amazing Skiing in Maine?
“There’s skiing in Maine?” That’s what my family asked the week before we left for a 12-day road trip through New England and up to Quebec. Oh yes, indeed, there’s great skiing in Maine and when it comes to affordable family friendly ski trips, Sunday River Resort delivers. Spring/Winter Family Road Trips As a family, we ski Vermont every year and we’re extremely familiar with that territory and the Green Mountains. But this year we decided to add on to our trip and keep exploring for as long as we could. So, after five days of skiing at Sugarbush and Okemo in Vermont, we crossed New Hampshire and headed east…
-
7 Ways to Manage Ant Control on A Camping Trip
Don't let ants spoil your camping trip. Try this instead...
-
Celebrate 60 Joyful Years at Sugarbush Ski Resort Vermont
Update – in November 2019, Sugarbush Ski Resort Vermont announced they’d been sold to Alterra. Win Smith told me in an email: “Alterra is focused on sustainability at all their destinations both in terms of doing responsible things but also in advocating for initiatives to deal with the growing climate crisis. Sugarbush has been doing this already and will have a greater voice as part of Alterra.” Alterra Buys Sugarbush Ski Resort The sale is expected to go through January 7, 2020. Staff will retain their jobs, the reaction to the announcement has been positive and current staff will all remain at Sugarbush. “The brand is not changing.” “The right…
-
Don’t Miss – Prohibited Items Banned From Cruises
Prohibited items on a cruise ship can land you in hot water if you forget to check what’s allowed and what is not. SO, don’t forget to check the specifics of your cruise line before you head to port. Some cruise ship prohibited items are completely obvious to most of us. I mean logically most people know not to bring any sort of weapon, however there are some items that might surprise you. When traveling, knowledge is power, and it’s just as important to know what not to bring on board a cruise ship as it is to know what you shouldn’t leave home without. So, today, because I share…
-
The Harmony of the Seas – Epic Fun Cruising
Updated with more details in April 2019 This year, we took a family cruise on the Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas. The biggest cruise ship on the water at the time. As most cruisers know the biggest is only the biggest for a season, if that. But we didn’t choose The Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas for its size. We bought in this time for the laundry list of amazing activities on board and the ports of call. Cruising with teens needs to be fun, which means you need to opt for a cruise ship with a lot of activity. The Harmony of the Seas is non stop…