Shereen Rayle's Blog, page 134

Visit Las Vegas' Neon Museum

Over the years and countless trips to Vegas, I've said every time that I will visit the Neon Museum. Who doesn't want to wander among the long forgotten signs from Sin City's golden age? The idea that there is a "boneyard" where these signs go to die makes at once happy and sad, because people should get to see them, but so many less get to do so where they are now. On my last trip, I finally went online, bought tickets for a tour and we all dragged ourselves out of bed in the early morning t...

Budget-Friendly Maui

Last month I was invited to a meet and greet with the Maui Visitors Center and several reps from the area. I was thrilled to learn more about Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i. These three islands are not as crowded as Oahu and are pretty unique and totally embody everything you expect Hawaii to be. Most of us know that Hawaii can be pretty expensive and I know there are tons of travelers who have it on their wish list, but think they can never make it there because they are on a budget. What I learn...

Why Traveling in the Off-Season Can Save You Big

I always choose to travel in the fall. It is usually cheaper wherever I want to go and, since I have no kids, I don't have to worry about a school schedule to work around. Of course, if you have little ones, you can often work with the teacher and school to take all the required reading and homework with you to keep up. If you can take advantage of not traveling during the most expensive times of year (summer and holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas), you can really save big bucks. In par...

Shave Time, Shave Money on Travel

Traveling, even when heading out on a road trip and staying with family, has never been called cheap. If you're on a budget, and you probably are if you read my blog, then you'll want to find ways to save on all aspects of your trips. There are some pretty simple ways to do it before you start trying to do complex algorithms on how to book flights that will give you a ton of frequent flyer miles and eat up all your free time. I don't have time to figure out how to spend most of my time on the...

Shereen Travels Cheap is 4!

Can you believe it's been 4 years since I started this blog? At times I feel like I just started it and others I feel like I have been doing it forever. This last year has been pretty exciting. I was able to go 100% freelance, pick up some great writing jobs, go on what I assumed was a once-in-a-lifetime vacation when I took it 7 years ago and went to my first trade show. I hope to do just as much in the next year and pick up even more sponsors to bring you cool products and services at the s...

To Tip or Not to Tip

Before I travel outside of the country, I look up several things, like who and how much to tip. I am so used to the heavy tipping we do in the U.S. at restaurants that I feel really awkward either only leaving a few coins or nothing at all. I know that most wait staff get paid a decent wage, unlike here in America, but it's still hard to break out of that habit we have when we go out to eat. If you also have trouble trying to remember what to tip or even if to tip when you travel, this g...

48 Hours of Fun on a Budget in Portland, Oregon

In this blog series I show you how easy it is to budget travel anywhere and I also give you a quick overview of a new city each time in a brief 48-hour itinerary.
I’ve lived in Portland since 1996 and it is, quite possibly, one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. Living for the majority of my life in Tucson, Oregon is much different. For one, it has trees and grass. For another, it’s not 112 degrees 80% of the year. I’ve got nothing against the heat, but it can get quite excessive and I am...

The Importance of Travel Insurance: Expect the Unexpected

So many things can happen on vacation. Most of them are good, like making new friends, learning more about the culture and eating delicious foods, but some are not so good, like getting lost, being mugged or contracting some gross bug that ruins your whole trip. Luckily, when the bad things happen, there might be a way to make it better. Not that getting sick or losing your passport is going to be fun, but you can worry less when you have insurance to back you up and make the bad times easier...

Free and Cool Las Vegas Part 2

This week we continue our journey on how to travel to Las Vegas without going broke. If you missed it, see Part 1 here. I love Sin City and am always looking to see more things there for a different kind of Vegas vacation. I was able to get out on my own this time, which I really enjoyed, and also dragged Eric along to check out things we hadn't done before. Last time I talked about the Bellagio, Caesar's Palace and the Flamingo, so let's look at some other hotels and activities that will lea...

Review: Packing Cubes from eBags

Are you sick of being totally disorganized when you travel? it can be a big pain when you are pulling everything out of your carry-on to find that one thing that you need. eBags Packing Cubes can help you make the most of the space in your bag and eliminate rummaging, so you can spend more time enjoying your vacation and less time trying to separate your clothes from everyone else's in your bag or looking for your swimsuit so you can go just in the pool.

Though I enjoy rolling my clothes...