Saving Money

As I've mention before we are on a pretty tight budget for this trip. While we are not one of those families that you see splashing money around on useless junk on holidays, we are also not those cheap people who wont even spend a dollar. We like to have fun but in a responsible way lol

Here are some money saving tips that we have found to be very useful.

Before your holiday

Save coins

As soon as I've booked a trip I start to collect my coins. At the end of the week by purse is usually full of coins. I used to only collect $1 and $2 but i found out the silver coins were adding up much faster. In about a year since I booked my cruise I saved over $450 in coins. 

Swap currency when you get 'extra money'

As we are venturing overseas we are going to have to swap our Aussie money for USA dollars. I like to travel with a bit of cash as I can track it better than credit card purchases ( and no nasty bill to pay off at the end of the holiday) So to take advantage of the excellent exchange rate I have been swapping a bit of money as I get it. I had a friend owe me about $150 and instead of spending it on stuff I swapped it into US dollars. This will prevent me from spending it before hand and I wont need to rush about nearer to the trip.

Look for deals and Groupons

The whole buying a voucher online is quite a new thing so I haven't used it on a trip before. At the moment I am looking for voucher for activities. There's heaps of food and drink vouchers that you can purchase. I know that in Australia we had some trouble with businesses not honoring the voucher so I wouldn't spend a lot of money on them. But for reputable businesses I wouldn't hesitate. 

During the trip

Eat out less

Eating out is nice on holidays but can add up fast. We like to go to a local supermarket and stock up on breakfast things like milk, yougurt and muffins. This only costs a fraction at the supermarket compared to a cafe or restaurant. We do like to go to nice restraints so we limit ourselves to either a nice lunch or dinner. Some places are cheaper if you have dinner before a certain time so make sure you know when that is so you can plan your day. 

BYO snacks and drinks

Bottled water or cans of soda are cheaper when you buy in bulk. We like to get those 24 packs of water and 20 cans of coda boxes and keep them in our room. When we go out on tour of walking about we just bring a bottle with us for when we get thirsty. This saves us at least $4 per drink and saves us getting ripped off in touristy places. Same goes for snacks. Those little packet of chips are a great little snack that takes up hardly any space in your bag. Its great for when you are in  between meals or your not hungry enough for a full meal. We also get some bags of lollies to eat during long drives or tours.

Booked!

Queensland , Australia

Well I was going to wait until about January to start booking tours and activites but the suspense was killing me!! Last weekend I went ahead and booked 3 tours. Fhew!

The first one was Valley Isles Hana trip. I had previously emailed them to confirm bookings were being accepted for so far in advance- they were! Being a cruise ship passenger they require you to call them ( i'm still not sure why...) Anyways being in Australia i had to figure out the easiest and cheapest way to call. My mobile was going to charge me $1 per minute plus connection fee- no way i thought! Then i remembered Skype. I've found you that you can buy credit in $16 lots and can call the US for 2 cents a minute! That's more like it!! So I purchased my credit and made my first ever overseas call. The booking was very simple all they require is a credit card number and your names. I was asked if we would require a vegetarian lunch or chicken and he explained where to meet them in Maui. I was also emailed the confirmation and photos of where to meet almost instantly too. I was very happy with my decision to go with Valley Isle!

Next I contacted Ricky from Ricky's Tours. I emailed him to see if he was available that day and he replied about 2 hours later! His prices has increased slightly from last year but is still way cheaper than NCL tours. Since we've never been to Hilo before we have no idea what to expect. The itinerary looks really interesting and we love supporting local businesses so we booked that as well. No need for a credit card as you pay Ricky in cash on the day. All he needs is your name and cabin number for entry into the port.


Then finally i booked a helicopter trip for my father and I. I've always wanted to do a helicopter trip and seeing youtube clips of various flights in Kauai I knew this was the place to do it. I searched a lot of different companies before deciding on Mauna Loa Helicopters. Every helicopter is essentially private with only 2 or 3 passengers from the same group allowed. This means every person gets a window!! I was always fearful of paying all that money to then be stuck in the middle no being able to see. Its not that much more than other companies and the promise of a private trip and window was good enough for us. They just needed a credit card to hold the booking and names and weights of those flying.

Yesterday I also booked a photography tour in Kauai for my sister and I but I'll blog about that later!

Planning and Planning : Oahu

There is so much to think about! The planning for this trip has been left up to me. My mother had one job to do. Book a simple 1 hour flight that we've done about 10 times in the past 5 years and somehow she managed to muck that up! So now i'm in charge!

We are in Oahu for 10 nights before our cruise and 3 nights after. I think. So many dates going around in my head right now! But anyways, we are there for quite a while. Now that i'm in charge I have been given a free range in planning the days activities which is awesome and horrible. I loved the tour i research for days in Melbourne, but my parents hated it. hhhmmm... My only constraint is budget. We are in a bit of a limited budget. Our wonderful jobs are cutting hours like crazy in this unstable economic time. Yay. But we wont be missing out! Even if we have to eat sandwiches in our hotel rooms every night I plan on making the most of our time in Hawaii!





So far on my list of things to do in Oahu is

• The Zoo

• The aquarium

• Peal Harbour ( and for me a photo tour instead)

• Round Island Tour ( potentially 2 with different companies as they both go to slightly different places)

• North Shore ( either tour or catch The Bus)

• Ala Moana ( shopping!!)

• Outlet Mall ( a must for Aussies so i've heard)

• Stand Up Paddle Boarding/surfing ( Typical touristy things lol)

• Diamond Head Hike

• Pali Lookout

• Eat Shave Ice

• Swap Meet