Shereen Rayle's Blog, page 77

Art and Museums In Philadelphia - Part 1

Last month Eric and I went to Philadelphia to immerse ourselves in our country's history. I was lucky enough to get the chance to work with Visit Philly to get ourselves to all of the city's awesome landmark attractions. I want to start by talking about all the amazing art in Philly.


Philadelphia is home to some of my bucketlist travel items and, of course, those things were on the top of my itinerary. Let's talk about the one place I've been wanting to visit for probably two decades. The&nbsp...

Earn BIG At The Register with Swagbucks

We're all looking for ways to save big at the register. Well, I've found a way to make every coupon I use at my local grocery store worth an extra 25¢! 


How you ask? It's as easy as 1, 2, 3! 


1) Sign up at Swagbucks.com and use my special code SBCouponer to earn an extra 50 points, that's 50¢ just for signing up!  2) Head over to the Grocery Coupons page and start clipping coupons for your upcoming shopping trip  3) Use the coupons the next time...

Choose Red Roof Inn

I'm a big believer in brand loyalty, and while we usually stay in a timeshare, we sometimes don't have that option. When we need to stay outside of the network, we look for affordable and comfortable hotels that are close to where we're exploring or convenient in other ways. Red Roof Inn ticks all these boxes for me.

We had to add a day on to our trip to Philadelphia in order to not pay an arm and a leg on airfare, but I was able to work out a deal with Red Roof Inn to stay right outside of th...

Happy World Vegan Day

Today is World Vegan Day and it makes me think about how difficult it is sometimes just to find vegetables in a restaurant. I'm lucky that I live in Portland, where there are tons of vegetarian and vegan options, but if you want to travel to other places, here's a great resource from WalletHub for cities around the country that are great for vegans. Source: WalletHub Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from U.S. Census Bureau, Council for Community and Economic Resear...

Happy Halloween 2018

Like last year, we've postponed our Halloween party until the Saturday after Halloween, so I have no photos to share yet. I'll do it in a post later, but for now, let's look at my Halloween social media posts that you may have missed:

Day 31: Have you ever wanted to stay in a horror movie set? Now you can! You can eat (and sleep!) at the Texas Chainsaw Massacre gas station.Day 30: If you want to feel the fear in Transylvania, give Dracula’s Castle a miss and head to any of the region...

One Day in San Francisco with Go Card

As you know, I love saving money and I love doing things. Usually these things don't go together, because doing things costs money and doing a lot of things costs even more money, but Smart Destinations allows you to both do things and save money. Budget travelers rejoice! 


A bit ago I wrote about how I'd use Smart Destinations to do all the awesome things I wanted to do in Philly, but I was lucky enough to work with Visit Philly on this trip and instead had a full 12 hours to spend in Sa...

Making The Most of Your 3-1-1 Bag

As I'm doing some last-minute packing for a trip, it occurs to me that I still pack more in my toiletry bag than I need, though I take the smallest one possible to avoid taking too much. On vacation I always think I'm going to put on a whole face and look fabulous and then I don't do any more than I do at home, and, in some cases, even less. I want to be low maintenance, but still look great. 

If you typically use the same few items at home, don’t take a bunch of extra items that will jus...

Celebrate Oktoberfest with Big Bear Cabins

I love a vacation rental. I will almost always book one over a hotel if I can, because I enjoy having the extra space and a kitchen, so I can make breakfasts and also bring back leftovers. If you enjoy the same things, then a vacation rental might be more for you as well.

If you’re headed to southern California and looking to get away from it all, Big Bear has activities for the whole family, or can be just a super relaxing destination that isn’t home. And if you are into that, then check out...

More Women Are Traveling Solo

Are you one of them? Do you want to be? While safety for women might be a huge question, if you follow your intuition and logical senses, you'll most likely be perfectly fine and have a wonderful time. I love to travel alone, almost as much as I love to travel with others. I learn more about myself and learn to make important decisions without the input of others. If you haven't traveled alone, find out why more women are traveling solo:

Have you traveled alone before? If not, what's stop...

Daily Deals Make Your Vacation Cheaper

Okay, you guys! It’s time to save some money. It’s right around that time when I am near my vacation and using daily deals to save tons on my trip. This is the third trip I've taken this year, but I'm lucky to be working with Visit Philadelphia this go-round, but with a trip to Edinburgh and London next year, it's more important than ever to save on all my trips in between. It’s probably the same for you. I feel like if I find a daily deal for things I was going to do anyway, then it’s d...