How you can attend the Travel Summit 2020 for FREE

 

Want to know the 11 trends in family travel? Want to know what cruising will look like when it comes back? Want to know how to plan the ultimate road trip? I know a lot of us are itching to get traveling again.

AlmostFREEfamilytravel.com partners with national blogger, gototravelgal.com, and she is hosting a FREE Travel Summit this Wednesday and Thursday.

I'm moderating a few of the sessions so you can hang out with me. OR you can attend more than two dozen others with some well-known travel writers and celebrity travel hosts. It's FREE for my followers so check it out and plan to attend. #almostfreefamilytravel

https://www.facebook.com/GotoTravelGal/posts/1649950921836813

How To Visit Zion National Park on Points

 

Zion National Park is stunning! So how do you make it affordable and easy? That's what I'm going to share with you. Zion National Park is located about 2-3 hours northeast of Las Vegas. It's an easy, but sparse drive so pack food and gas. It's well-marked with wide highways. Once you reach the small town of St. George, Utah, you are nearly there. 

If you plan to visit Bryce National Park too, I highly recommend going there first because if you enter Zion through the east gate, you will be in for a treat.

From the east gate, you enter a long and very dark tunnel that opens up into a spectacular view of the canyon. There is a viewpoint where you can stop and take photos like the one above. Drive 5 miles more and you will exit the west gate into the small town of Springdale. In Springdale, you can find dozens of hotels from all the major chains, independent hotels, and smaller bed and breakfasts. 

Most of the hotels are pretty pricey, but here's a major tip, there is a Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites located about 11 miles west of Springdale where you can get a room for $100 per night. The points for this hotel were listed at 50,000 per night so I opted to pay cash. It's a new hotel about 1.5 years old, in fact, half the hotel wasn't even open yet. The pool is big and includes a hot tub and kiddie pool. Both were open. Now there is nothing and I mean nothing near this hotel so be sure you eat in Springdale. 

There are lots of dining options in Springdale, however, they all stop takeout at 6pm. A friend recommended Whiptail and we ate there both nights. It is Mexican food and quite good with lots of vegetarian options. 

If you want to explore the Narrows or any of the other hikes inside the National Park, you will need to board the shuttle. To get to the shuttle, you will need to drive in the west gate of the park, definitely have your National Park annual pass handy. There is plenty of parking available at the visitor center where the shuttle picks up. 

Here's a tip, if you buy a shuttle ticket in advance, you can cut the line. The day we went on the shuttle, the ticket line was long! Tickets cost $1 so it's really a no-brainer. You can buy the tickets two weeks in advance OR the day before starting at 9am. 

The shuttle makes stops at all the popular hiking spots including the lodge so you can plan your day. We headed straight to the Narrows. It's about a .5 mile walk from the shuttle bus to the start of the Narrows. You should bring along water shoes and there are benches at the start where you change. Hikers also leave walking sticks here that you can borrow. You will get wet! It just depends on how high the water is, but that's part of the fun. 

Look for lots of wildlife including mule deer and California condors and enjoy! 

If you need points for this trip, consider applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card which is offering an 80,000 point bonus right now or the Marriott Bonvoy family of cards which are offering 50-100 thousand points right now or FREE nights depending on which one you choose. 

 

10x Marriott Points on Gas and Dining Extended

Marriott Bonvoy has extended its offer for 10x points on purchases on gas and restaurants until Sept. 30th for Chase co-branded credit cards and until October 31st for American Express co-branded credit cards. For the Chase cards, you had to activate the offer by September 15th, but for the American Express, you can still activate this offer anytime. Just login to your American Express account and check your offers. 

If you do activate the offer, you will earn 4x bonus points on gas purchases and 6x bonus points on restaurants bringing the total to 10x points in those two categories. 

Marriott Bonvoy points are great because they are super flexible. You can transfer them to dozens of airlines and some of the airlines will actually award you bonus points when you transfer at least 60,000 points and of course, you can use the points at all the Marriott brand hotels. 

Either way, you have a few more days to rack up some bonus points. Good luck!

Southwest Mini Companion Offer Extended - Woohoo!

 

Southwest just extended their amazing companion pass offer! So if you missed booking your flight, you have one more chance. Think day trip to somewhere close just to snag this pass.

Here's how it works:

• You have to register for the promotion at this link 
• Purchase your ticket by Friday, September 25th
• Travel by November 15th. 

If you do all of that, you will earn a mini companion pass good for almost two months of BOGO travel. 

I have had the Southwest Companion Pass for the last five years, yep, you read that right. It has saved me thousands in airfare. From trips to research colleges for two children, move-in dates, family weekends, family trips. vacation in Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Washington DC several times, my companion pass has gotten a lot of use. 

Now because I have the companion pass already and Southwest extended the expiration date to June 2021, I bought my daughter's flight to San Francisco and used points for my flight. My daughter will qualify for the companion pass since there is no age limit. 

I'm not sure where we will go in January or February, but now with our family of 5, two people will fly for FREE. Woohoo! 

Remember you have to book your flight by Friday! 

How To Road Trip To Bryce National Park On Points

 

Road tripping to the National Parks is probably the best way to travel right now. It's outdoors and easy to socially distance. And pretty easy to do on points and miles. This past week since my daughter is on remote school and I work from home, we took a road trip to Zion and Bryce National Parks. 

You might recall that we did a huge family National Park trip last summer to Glacier, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. And all we could say was wow. So I was pretty excited to set off on this road trip plus I've been itching to travel. 

Bryce and Zion National Parks are about a 2-hour drive apart. Depending on where you are coming from could determine which one you do first. But if you can, I highly recommend visiting Bryce first. The hoodoos in Bryce are spectacular and different, BUT Zion is stunning. 

There is a small town, Bryce Canyon City, just outside of the gate to Bryce National Park. There are about a dozen hotels, a campground, and a dozen restaurants. The FREE park shuttle stops several times on the main drag and runs from 7am-8pm. We left our car in the hotel parking lot and just hopped the shuttle. 

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel for two nights (one night with a promotion award certificate and one night with 20,000 Best Western points). There is another Best Western hotel called Ruby's Inn across the street which is advertised as historic and cozy. The rest of the hotels in town are independent so you may be able to book with Chase Ultimate Reward points through the travel portal (the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card has an 80,000 point bonus offer right now) or you can pay for them with your Capital One credit card or Bank of America Travel Card and erase the purchase. 

The hotel included a hot buffet breakfast. Due to Covid, there is staff serving the customers in the line. The wifi is good enough for remote school and work and there is a lot of FREE parking. 

Inside the park, I recommend checking out the view from Bryce point, then hopping the shuttle to Sunrise point. From there, you can walk the Rim Trail to Sunset Point (.5 mile) and walk down the Queens Garden Trail into the hoodoos. Remember you will have to walk back up! 

The Bryce National Canyon Lodge may be worth checking out as well. 

There are bikes to rent right outside the gate and the Visitor Center has a super informative museum.

If you plan to visit both parks, you may want to buy an annual National Parks pass for $80. It's good for 13 months if you plan it right since it's good for the month you buy it plus a year. Even if you ride the shuttle into the park, you still need to show your pass or pay your entry. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card which is offering the highest bonus we have ever seen at 80,000 Ultimate Reward points, consider applying through my referral link. 

While in Bryce Canyon City, definitely check out Bryce Canyon Pines for homemade soup and pie. YUM! 

 

Why I Just Booked a Day Trip To San Francisco on Southwest

 

This is one of the best promotions we have ever seen and it's the reason I just booked a day trip to San Francisco. It doesn't take much to convince me to head to SF anyway for clam chowder and bread bowls from Sabella & La Torre seafood stand on Fisherman's Wharf. 

But with $49 fares from San Diego to Oakland, this seems like a no brainer. 

Here's how it works:

• You have to register for the promotion at this link 
• Purchase your ticket by Thursday, September 24th 
• Travel by November 15th. 

If you do all of that, you will earn a mini companion pass good for almost two months of BOGO travel. 

I have had the Southwest Companion Pass for the last five years, yep, you read that right. It has saved me thousands in airfare. From trips to research colleges for two children, move-in dates, family weekends, family trips. vacation in Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Washington DC several times, my companion pass has gotten a lot of use. 

Now because I have the companion pass already and Southwest extended the expiration date to June 2021, I bought my daughter's flight to San Francisco and used points for my flight. My daughter will qualify for the companion pass since there is no age limit. 

I'm not sure where we will go in January or February, but now with our family of 5, two people will fly for FREE. Woohoo! 

Remember you have to book your flight by Thursday! 

Find Out How You Can Get A BOGO On Southwest

Amazing offer from Southwest Airlines! 

 If you have never had a Southwest Companion Pass before which is probably the best deal in travel, here's your chance to try it out. The companion pass is BOGO for two years. You need to earn 125,000 points in a calendar year to earn it. You can check out my past post to see how it works. Let's walk through this offer because the details are very specific.  

1. You must register by logging into your Southwest Rapid Rewards Account

2. You must buy your ticket by September 24th, this Thursday! 

3. You must travel by November 15th

4.  If you do both of those things, you will get a companion pass good for one companion pass for unlimited flights between January 6, 2021 and February 28, 2021. You can even change your companion up to three times during the promotional period. 

If this fits with your travel plans, it's a good deal and could save you some dollars. Remember to use your Southwest Airlines credit card to purchase the ticket so you get 4-6x points.