How You Can Vacation in South America For Pennies

 

My family and I just returned from two weeks in Chile and Argentina. This was a redo trip from a vacation that was supposed to happen in March 2020. That trip was going to be almost FREE so the question was could we repeat it almost three years later and still do the trip for almost FREE. The answer is yes. 

I'm going to break it down for you so you can see how I do it and hopefully see how you could do it for your family. 

I believe everyone can play this game and travel for almost FREE. 

I start planning big trips like this one almost two years in advance. Why so early? You need time to earn the points and miles and then the airlines open flight reservations approximately 330 days in advance. Depending on when you want to travel especially if you are looking at summer or the holidays, you need to be ready with your points/miles when those reservations open. 

How You Can Vacation in South America For Pennies 

For this trip, we were planning to travel over winter break. It's high season so I needed to be ready. 

The first thing I do is figure out what airlines fly to the destination. In this case, I targeted American Airlines. Between American miles and Marriott points, I had collected enough miles to fly our family of five one way to Santiago, Chile. I looked at several dates and it looked like I could find flights for 30,000 miles one way from San Diego to Santiago, Chile. 

You can see below if you click on the calendar, you can look at the entire month and pinpoint which days offer the best value. Right now, you could fly to Santiago for just 22,000 American miles one way. 

But the return from Buenos Aires was showing 50,000 to 100,000 miles on American. The key is to be flexible with dates and cities. So I tried multiple cities and dates and nothing. 

So I started looking at other airlines. I checked Avianca, United and Delta. Delta Airlines was showing returns for 25,000 miles pretty consistently. 

I decided to target Delta Airlines and start figuring out how to collect those miles. All of us had various amounts of Delta miles already due to flights over the years, earning miles with Airbnb and other random promotions. But only a few of us had the full 25,000 miles needed. Marriott points transfer to Delta Airlines at 3:1 with a 5,000 point bonus for every 60,000 points. So I could top off with Marriott points and bam, 125,000 Delta miles gets all five of us home for FREE. 

As soon as the flights open up, I book them. Now I will book one way flights when they open and then book the return when that opens. So for two weeks, I will sit with flights to the destination and no flights home. It's a bit nerve racking, but has worked for me every time. 

Once I secure the flights, I move onto accommodations. For our family of five with teens and young adults, Airbnb seemed like the way to go. In South America, Airbnb are very affordable and with the Chase Pay Yourself Back program allowing you to erase Airbnb purchases with points, it was a no brainer. Unfortunately, you can no longer erase Airbnb purchases with Chase points. BUT you can still erase Airbnb purchases with Capital One points. 

I booked Airbnb in Santiago, Mendoza and Buenos Aires and erased all of them with Chase points. Check out how to combine your points onto your Sapphire Reserve credit card to max out the value. 

For tours like this Tango lesson in Buenos Aires, I booked through Viator, Trip Advisor and Airbnb experiences. The ones I booked through Airbnb, I went ahead and erased with Chase points. I paid for the Glacier trek with my new Southwest credit card which will help me reach the minimum spend and earn the Southwest companion pass. 

I also leveraged some points on the Capital One Venture X credit card to erase a few travel purchases. 

There were a few flights we took during the trip. I booked those through the Capital One travel portal and the Chase travel portal so I could either use points or erase them with points. 

I will continue to erase dining purchases through the Chase Pay Yourself Back program for the next 90 days. 

All in all, flights and accommodations were FREE. Some tours were FREE. Some meals and taxis will also be FREE. 

Grand total for five people for two weeks in South America comes to approximately $3,000 out of pocket and that included the expensive mini trek on the glacier. If we had paid instead of using points, this trip would easily have cost $15,000. Does it take some planning? Yes. Does it take some time? Yes. But it is worth it, I think so. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

You could say that I am so ready to travel that the next year is going to be awesome or a bit crazy. 

Days after the world started to shut down back in March 2020, my family of 5 were supposed to leave on an epic adventure to Santiago, Chile, surf near Vina Del Mar, hike the glacier in El Calafate Argentina and tango in Buenos Aires.

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

The entire 2.5 week trip was free. The flights, most of the very inexpensive airbnb’s, the car rental, even the hike on the glacier. Yep, all booked with points, miles or erased with our Capital One Venture card. 

And poof, in a matter of days, instead of us going on an epic adventure, my daughter who was studying in Chile came home and finished her semester abroad in our living room. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

Two years later, it’s time to resurrect the trip. So the question, things have changed, the world has changed, airline alliances have changed, so could we do it again! 
The answer is yes. And I'm going to show you how I did it. Hint, it has to do with Marriott Bonvoy points. 

One of my big secrets to flying a family of 5 is to fly when no one else wants to. Think overnight flights. Think holidays. The biggest holiday Christmas. Yep, no one wants to fly on Christmas Day except us. So the deals are there to be had. 

I was able to score 5 one way tickets with points from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile without too much trouble. For 25,000 American Airlines points each, all of us on the same flight booked directly on the American Airlines website. Very straightforward. I had collected more than enough American miles to buy these tickets. No problem. 

You may be thinking to yourself that scoring one way tickets is silly. You may be right. I am betting on the fact that I can find a return for five people with points. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

Now my second tip about flying over the holidays. Even though no one wants to fly on Christmas Day, they sure want to fly over the holidays. So you need to be ready. Flights open approximately 330 days in advance. You want to be ready to book with your points in hand when that happens. You can actually watch the calendar advance day by day on the website so you will know exactly when the flights will open. 
The hardest part is to figure out exactly how many points you will need. That's why I love flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards just in case I need to top off a few more points. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

For this trip, I checked American return flights and they were outrageous, more than 90,000 miles per ticket. I started looking at other airlines and it turned out that Delta seemed to offering return trips from Buenos Aires for 25,000 miles each as consistently as the days were being released. So I decided to go for it. 

Now I didn't have very many Delta Airlines miles, but I had a lot of Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to dozens of different airlines at 3:1 and for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you get an additional 5,000 airline miles. So for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you get 25,000 airline miles. Follow me?

With the devaluation approaching this past March, I decided to cash in. For 5 return flights from Buenos Aires, I would need 300,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Once I transferred these points to Delta Airlines, it would total 125,000 Delta miles enough for all the flights. You can check out a video that shows you exactly how to transfer the points here. I do recommend doing the transfer in 60,000 point increments and the names on both accounts need to match exactly. 

Allow up to 2 weeks for the points to transfer, but in my experience, it only takes a few days unless there is a problem. 

Once the points settle into your account and the flights open up, bam! It's that easy. 

If you do not have any Marriott Bonvoy points, there is a new 100,000 bonus offer available with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. It has a $5,000 minimum spend and a $450 annual fee. BUT it also has a $300 Marriott credit, $100 Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit and Priority Pass Lounge Membership. If you decide to apply for this card, please consider using my referral link. 

By the way, AlmostFREEFamilyTravel has teamed up with Families Fly FREE to bring more value to you. If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) I'll be sharing testimonials from some happy members and I'll let you know when I'll be offering webinars. 

Woohoo, Got My 100,000 Marriott Points Bonus

Back in February, my husband was offered 100,000 bonus Marriott points if he upgraded his Starwood American Express to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card and spent $5,000 in the first 3 months. The Brilliant also comes with a 50,000 point certificate for a free night on your anniversary, $300 credit at any Marriott and Global Entry. It carries a hefty $450 annual fee, but with the hotel credit and Global Entry, it's almost a wash. 

Since we had a big event coming up and needed to direct those purchases somewhere, we took advantage of this upgrade. 

I applied for Global Entry and we will use the $300 Marriott credit this summer. 

By the way, since we already had the Starwood American Express card, we would not be eligible to apply for the Brilliant card ever. 

Well, look what arrived in my inbox today:

Woohoo! Next year, we are heading to Santiago, Chile so these points will come in handy to get all four of us there and back for FREE. For every 60,000 Marriott points, we can get 25,000 airline miles. Marriott gives you a FREE 15,000 points for every 60,000 points you transfer to an airline. The transfer ratio is 3 points for 1 mile. 

So this bonus gets us really close to another round trip ticket. Woohoo! 

Always be on the lookout for upgrade offers, they can be super sweet! 

The current offer for the Brilliant card is 75,000 Marriott points with a $3,000 minimum spend plus the $300 Marriott travel credit, Global Entry and the 50,000 night certificate on your anniversary. 

If you would like to apply for this card, please consider using my referral link and help my family get to Chile. 

How I Scored 3 FREE Tickets To See A World Famous Glacier

The world-famous glacier, Petit Moreno in Patagonia, Argentina, is a spectacular site. It is one of the only glaciers in the world that is expanding rather than retracting. And tour companies have started allowing visitors to trek on the ice using crampons. Since we are going to be in Chile and Argentina next year, this seemed like a great add to the itinerary. 

But the determining factor for us is always can I get our family of 5 there without breaking the bank. 

This stop involved a few logistics. First, I had already booked award travel tickets for our family into Santiago, Chile and out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had not booked the flight between those two cities yet, but an American Airlines rep said I could book the flight for 10,000 miles for each ticket. 

Okay, not too bad, but I decided to play around a little bit with flights from Santiago to El Calafate, Argentina which is the closest airport to the glacier. 

Here's an interesting surprise. 

• Flights from Santiago to El Calafate run about $259 round trip. 
• Flights from Buenos Aires to El Calafate run about $250 round trip. 

Obviously, it would be a waste to use miles to get from Santiago to Buenos Aires and then pay for flights to El Calafate. I called American Airlines back and found out there are no award tickets from Buenos Aires to El Calafate. Bummer. 

Next option, If you have been following my blog, you know that I was approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card recently. I had waited for years to get that card so I'm excited. Now, I reached the $4000 minimum spend and was awarded 50,000 Chase Ultimate Reward bonus points, woohoo! 

Those bonus points are worth about $750 if redeemed in the Chase Travel Portal and $500 if used for cash back. You can also transfer those points to airlines at a 1;1 ratio. 

So what if we look for flights from Santiago to El Calafate round trip in the portal. Look what we found, the flights run $259 if you pay cash, but just 17,266 points. The point value is less because a benefit of the Sapphire Reserve is that your points are worth 50% more when you redeem them in the portal.

Here's where it gets a bit tricky. You need to book all your tickets at the same time to make sure the entire family is on the same flight. Only some of the flights are offered on the travel portal. I can book 3 tickets using points through the Chase Travel Portal and buy two tickets through Aerolineas Argentinas. If I use my Capital One Venture card to pay for the flights, I may be able to erase them with points anyway. If I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to buy the two tickets, I will earn 4x points for the purchase or use the $300 travel credit to erase one of the tickets. Remember to create a loyalty account for any flights you buy so you get credit for those miles. 

The bottom line is that you have to be flexible and look for alternatives when traveling as a family. We had a lot of flexibility in the this trip and were able to look for the cheapest dates to travel to the glacier as well. One other tip, when booking excursions or tours, use your Capital One Venture card, if it codes as travel, you can erase the purchase making it FREE. 

*Please use my link if you decide to apply for the Capital One Venture card, you will earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000. I will earn a referral which will helps keep this blog running. Thank you for your support. 

What Are Your Travel Goals For 2019?

What are your travel goals for 2019? Whether you want to visit Niagara Falls, swim with elephants in Thailand, hold snakes in the Amazon or go on safari in Africa, you need to start planning now! 

Early planning is the key to almost FREE family travel. 

Why? Because the earlier you figure out where you want to go, the earlier you can put your plan into motion to collect enough points and miles to get there. 

For example, we are looking at heading to Chile in Spring 2020. Yes, I really wrote Spring 2020. Planning ahead, yes. But guess what, we are already building up enough Starwood points to cash in for 5 airline tickets from LAX to Santiago, Chile. 

Then when the flights open up approximately 325 days prior, we will have enough points to purchase all 5 tickets immediately. 

When you are planning, figure out what airline you will need to gather points on first, and how many points you will need per ticket. Then you can spend the next 6 months or so, opening the credit cards you need for the bonus, using shopping portals and putting all your purchases on that card. So when the reward seats open approximately 9 months ahead, you are ready to go. Then you can work on hotels and last you can book experiences. 

For the most part, American Airlines and its partners are great for South America, United and partners are great for Asia and Europe and Delta is good for Africa. 

And you can also collect points in Starwood, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi and American Express Membership Rewards that you can transfer to those airlines to pick up more points. 

Let us know where you plan to travel in 2019 or even 2020! 

How I Scored 4 FREE Flights To South America

The mountains ring the city of Santiago, Chile

While you are relaxing on the beach or in the mountains this summer, you may want to start thinking about your next trip. That's the key to scoring FREE flights for your entire family. I started planning for our trip to 2020 Chile more than a year ago. So by the time the flights opened approximately 330 days before the departure date, I was ready with enough points for all the tickets. So how do you do it?

Let's break it down. 

1. Identify where you want to go and which airlines fly there - for South America, American Airlines and their partner, LAN, are the largest carriers. It doesn't mean that United and its network are not an option, American just has more options. Some airlines also charge less miles for the same ticket like Singapore Airlines so it's worth checking a few award charts. In this case, all the airlines were the same. So I chose to focus on American Airlines just for simplicity. 

2. How many points will you need to fly your family there and back. I needed 4 round trip tickets (my older daughter will already be there). Each ticket would probably cost me 60,000 points. You can check the award chart on American's website or just enter some dummy dates and see what pops up. If I got super lucky, it could be less, but 30,000 each way is pretty likely. 

3. So how do you collect 240,000 American Airlines miles? It can seem daunting, but don't despair. I already had 35,000 American Airlines miles in my account from various flights and an old bonus and my husband had 90,000 in his account from various flights and another old bonus. So that was a good start. We could use those for 2 round trip tickets. One of the benefits of Marriott Bonvoy is when you transfer 60,000 points to an airline, you get a bonus 15,000 points. So for every 60,000 Marriott points, you get 25,000 airline miles. If you transfer to United, you will actually get a bit more since those transfer with an additional 10% bonus. We needed just an additional 120,000 airline miles. Fortunately for us, we had lots of Marriott points from using our Starwood credit cards, staying at Marriott hotels and a 100,000 bonus for upgrading to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant credit card. We focused all of our spend on our Marriott credit cards and American credit cards to build up more points. And bam, we had enough to cover the tickets. Marriott Bonvoy is currently offering 75,000 points for a $3,000 minimum spend on the Brilliant card. The Brilliant card comes with FREE Global Entry and a $300 Marriott credit. It does carry a $450 annual fee. Please use our referral link for any Marrriott Bonvoy credit card. 

4. Now the challenge is to find 4 award travel economy tickets. I start looking as soon as the flights open approximately 330 days before the date. Be sure to open the full calendar because sometimes a reduced mileage ticket will pop up. Even if you can get 2 tickets at a reduced rate, it will save you something. 

Be sure to try different airports too. We usually fly out of Los Angeles because there are more options, but I always try San Diego to see if we get lucky. I also try different destination cities. We could fly into Santiago and return from Buenos Aires or we could fly into Buenos Aires and return from Santiago. In this case, it didn't make any difference. 
The other thing to remember is to be flexible with dates. Our first choice dates didn't show any economy award tickets. I even called American to ask about it and they were stumped. So, we decided to stay a few days longer. 

When I was ready to book, there was one more issue. I could only secure 2 return flights to Los Angeles International Airport at 30,000 miles each. However, a quick search, showed 2 return flights to John Wayne Airport in Orange County at 30,000 miles each. So,  2 of us will fly to LAX and 2 will fly to Orange County. Fortunately, Orange County is on our way home so we will just drive by and pick them up. 

A bit of an inconvenience, yes, but we just booked a trip that would have cost about $5000 for flights alone for about $350 in taxes. We also used the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit to erase $300 of those taxes. So really, we just booked all of our flights for $50. 

In my book, that's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com. In my next post, I'll show you how we scored flights from Santiago to Buenos Aires for FREE with a stop at the largest glacier in the world. 

Cracking the Code to Redeem 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Like a Pro!

 

Near Santiago, Chile

The Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card is offering a huge 100,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus right now, but the question is what can you do with all those points? What value do they hold for you and your travel goals?

Let's break down the different ways you can redeem 100,000 CUR points. 

I love CUR points because of their flexibility. You can:

• transfer them to dozens of different airline loyalty programs 
• transfer them to several hotel chains (Marriott, IHG, Hyatt) 
• use them to buy hotels, flights, activities and car rentals in the Chase Travel Portal 
• pay yourself back for groceries, gas and the annual fee
• get a statement credit 

100,000 points equals $1,000, however, if you use them in the Chase Travel Portal or to pay yourself back, you get 25% more value making them worth $1,250. And if you combine the points with your Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, then they will be worth 50% more in the Chase Travel Portal for a whopping total of $1,500. 

Like this redemption in the Chase Travel Portal through my Chase Sapphire Reserve account, this Hilton in Moorea has rooms at $938 dollars or 62,554 CUR points. 

And if you transfer them to an airline or hotel, the points could be worth even more depending on the specific flight or the number of rewards needed per night.

Plus if you transfer points to IHG and buy three nights, you get a fourth FREE so that could be very lucrative. 

Hyatt hotels usually fall in the sweet spot of redemption value as well. 

The key is to identify your travel goals and then decide if CUR points will help you achieve it. Of course, this is also a business card so you will need at least a side hustle to qualify. You can click here to find out what types of businesses qualify. 

If they will and you can swing the hefty $8,000 minimum spend, then you will want to jump on this offer soon. We are hearing it will end September 23rd.  If this offer is for you, please consider using my referral link. 

 

How To Visit Expensive Jackson Hole On A Budget

Our family in front of the Grand Tetons, Wyoming

         This past summer, we spent a week visiting the National Parks in Montana and Wyoming. Think Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. Absolutely beautiful. But wow, expensive. And Jackson Hole, Wyoming has been named the most unaffordable place to live in the entire US. 
         So what's a family of five supposed to do? I checked the chains in the area to see if we could use award points, all sold out. Argh. If you get lucky, there is a Hampton Inn and Suites, Super 8, Motel 6 and another Hilton in Jackson. The area is divided into Jackson Hole and Teton Village. The better ski area according to the locals is at Teton Village, but the town is in Jackson Hole. Teton Village feels very much like a small resort at the bottom of the ski run. 
I checked airbnb.com, but the rates were outrageous. So then I searched hostels and bam, I found The Hostel in Teton Village. 
Now, I stayed at plenty of hostels back in my 20's when I backpacked across Europe. But I never thought about staying at a hostel with my family. 
But guess what, we loved it. 

The Hostel at Teton Village, Wyoming

The Hostel is located right at the bottom of the ski run next to the Four Seasons. Yep, right next door. But we paid $130 per night for a room for five people. I am pretty sure you would not be able to stay in the closet at the Four Seasons for that price. 
The Hostel had FREE coffee, tea, and hot chocolate plus a pool table, access to a shared refrigerator, laundry facilities and a lounge. There were also barbecues available. They stated that they had kitchen facilities as well, but all we saw was a camping stove. 
The room was small, but we had a private bathroom and fresh linens. 
It felt safe. There were lots of families and kids. In the winter, they had places to store your skis, snowboards, and boots. The rooms did not have air conditioning, but do have heat. 
We picked up breakfast items, sandwich items at the Albertsons in Jackson and a pizza to go for dinner. 

Best part was seeing moose on our hike at Jenni Lake

Activities we enjoyed included river rafting with Lewis and Clark down the Snake River. We paid $450 for this tour, but erased it with our Capital One Venture card points. 

Plus we took the boat across Jenni Lake (no reservations needed, boats depart every 15 minutes) and hiked a few miles to Inspiration Point and saw moose! Definitely a highlight of the trip. 

River Rafting on the Snake River

The Virginia Diner had a great Wyoming breakfast with fresh biscuits for $10 per person. 

We liked The Hostel so much that we are going to try staying at another one in Patagonia, Chile next year. 

Stay tuned! 

****Please use the referral links included in this post and help support our blog. 

The Basics: Where Do I Start If I want to Travel for FREE

 

We are jumping for joy in a field looking at the Andes Mountains in Chile because it's beautiful, we trekked to get here and our trip was almost FREE. I'm not bragging. Instead, I'm hoping to inspire you that you can travel for FREE too. 

Before I share the basics with you. I want to share some of the questions I have received recently which sparked the need for this post. 

• A friend called me last week and asked me if I could help her family of four travel to Italy this summer for FREE. The answer is no. Next summer, yes. 
• Another friend asked if she could get her hotels for FREE for an upcoming trip. Then she shared that she had opened at least 5 credit cards in the past year including a Williams Sonoma credit card. The answer is maybe. But she may have to wait another year to start and review all of her credit cards. 

So where do you start? 

You have heard the saying that you need to start at the beginning and do a review of where you are now and where you are going. 

Let's look at the steps:

1. Where do you want to go - What are your travel goals? Who will be going with you?

2. What credit cards do you have currently? I would create a spreadsheet with all the cards, the dates you opened them, the credit limit, perks, the annual fee and the card anniversary. Then review them and ask if you are getting benefit out of them. Never cancel your oldest card or cards with high credit limits. But the rest are fair game. 

3. Depending on what type of travel you want to do, domestic or international will determine which card you open first.

• If you are looking at domestic travel, I recommend the Southwest credit card and if you travel with another person, then go for the Southwest companion pass. 
• If you are looking at international travel, I recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve credit card or the Capital One Venture X credit card. These cards offer the most flexibility and ease of use. 

Once you are approved for your credit card, use that card for all of your daily purchases like gas and groceries. I call it leveraged spending. It's making your daily purchases work harder for you.

And if you go out for dinner with friends, pick up the check and ask them to give you cash or venmo you. 

If you have an event coming up, pay for it with that credit card. 

Home repair project, see if you can pay with a credit card. 

College tuition due, pay with the credit card, but watch out for fees. 

Insurance premium, medical bills, yep, put it all on the same credit card. 

Now you MUST pay off the credit card entirely! I put all of my credit cards on auto pay as soon as I get them. If you pay interest, then it defeats the point of the game. 

Once the bonus is triggered, you can move onto the next credit card. In the next blog post, we will talk about some more advanced methods of earning points and of course, the best part, how to spend the points. 

If you apply for any credit cards, please use the referral links in this post. You get the same deal you would anywhere else and I get a reward for referring you. 

Day Trip Out Of Quito

Much of the handicrafts you see in Quito are made in a town called Otavalo. We decided to take a daytrip out of Quito to visit this town and the largest open market in South America. The best day to visit is Saturday. The market actually starts early around 6am with a live animal market. I have heard that this is not for the faint of heart, these animals are being sold for food. We decided to skip this part of the market and arrive later around 11am.
You can get a public bus to Otavalo from Quito for just a few dollars, but I have heard that it is often very full. Otavalo is a 2 hour bus ride so be prepared if you go by public bus.
We booked a one day tour with Ecuatraveling.com. They have 5 stars on Tripadvisor and replied to my email within minutes. Betsy was excellent at answering my questions and sending me an invoice so I could book online.
We left Quito at 7am from Plaza Foch. The bus was small with just 17 people from all over the world; Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and the United States. The bus was new and very comfortable. One driver and a bilingual guide named Omar. Omar had a lot of stories and good information. There was also a supply of fresh water on the bus.
The first stop was at Mitad del Mundo. There are several Mitad del Mundos near Quito. This is the scientific or real one. The one closer to Quito we are told is for tourists.
We paid $1-$2 for an informative tour about the equator and astronomy. No demonstrations of water spinning different directions, but good information about how we all see the world the wrong direction.
Second stop was in Cayambe, a town known for biscochos or biscuits that you eat with dulce de leche and cheese that comes wrapped in a banana leaf. It is delicious and I highly recommend stopping here.
Next, we stopped at a vista Mira Lago to see the view and to purchase Panama hats for cheaper than in the market. They demonstrated how they make the hats and the different types of hats.
Then it's off to the Otavalo market for shopping. Bargaining is a must here and it's a great place to buy all your souvenirs to take home. There are jackets, scarves, mittens, socks, hats, hammocks, jewelry and much more. You could spend hours here shopping. Be sure to take an extra bag to bring home all your goodies.
After the market, we headed to the town of Cotacachi for lunch. Cotacachi is known for its leather shops and all along the main street are leather shops. Lunch was included on our tour which was a nice touch. It was a traditional Ecuadorian meal with a soup, entree (chicken, fish or meat) and juice. There was also a bowl of popcorn on the table to munch on.
Our guide, Omar, suggested buying some ice cream at the local shop after the meal. The ice cream is more like a sorbet. We tried Taxo flavor which is a local Ecuadorian fruit. It was delicious.
Last stop on this tour was Cuicocha lagoon. It is a volcano that erupted 300 years ago and then filled with water and fell in on itself. It exploded again 100 years ago and two islands appeared in the middle of the lagoon. I wouldn't make a trip out of Quito just to see the lagoon, but it was a nice stop.
The day tour cost $50 per person which included lunch. We had to pay for the entrance to Mitad del Mundo and for the bizcochos which cost $4 approximately depending on what you ordered.

Gorgeous view of Cayambe Volcano 

We are standing on the equator at Mitad del Mundo

Bizcochos with dulce de leche and queso in Cayambe

The largest market in South America in Otavalo 

The Laguna Cuicocha

Cyber Monday Sale: Save $50 and Learn To Travel For Almost FREE

My family of 5 walked on a glacier in Patagonia for almost FREE.  Yep, we saved thousands on our vacation to Chile and Argentina by using strategy and intentionality. Now I'm sharing my secrets with you to help you travel for Almost Free too. 

By joining our AlmostFREEFamilyTravel.com Coaching Program, you'll gain access to all the insider knowledge and tools that made this success story possible. Here’s what you’ll get:

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And here’s the best part— You can join right now for just $197! That’s a one-time payment for a lifetime of travel hacks, strategies, and savings!

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Sausalito - Great Day Trip Out Of San Francisco

If you plan to be in San Francisco anytime soon, be sure to spend an afternoon in Sausalito. Sausalito is a sleepy little town that will remind you of the Mediterranean islands or a small town on Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket. It's full of ice cream shops, houseboats, and art galleries. Great for walking and biking.

You can easily get here by driving over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Franciso. If you are brave, you can even rent bicycles and ride over the bridge. There is also a ferry that connects San Francisco to Sausalito. This ferry ride is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. The Golden Gate Ferry leaves the downtown ferry building and makes the trip in just 30 minutes several times per day. Price is $25 per adult round trip and $14 per child. Children 4 and under ride FREE and there is a senior discount. 

The main street is a picturesque walk ending at the bay with a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The other end features a park, museum, and boardwalk along the water. There are lots of restaurants, ice cream stores, touristy boutiques, and galleries. Be sure to check out the Southern Boardwalk which is famous for its appearance in the 1947 film with Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. And be sure to walk through Vina del Mar plaza, it was named after Sausalito's sister city in Chile. You will notice a beautiful fountain and elephant statue. 

There is also a Visitors Center that provides guided tours and a giant 3-D model of the bay.  Nearby is Fort Baker and the wonderful Bay Area Discovery Museum. Great for kids under 10 years old to run around. 14 miles north of Sausalito is Muir Woods, one of the last remnants of the Redwood Forests that used to cover so much of California. There are six miles of groomed trails in Muir Woods. Shuttle buses are available from Sausalito, but you do need reservations. 

And if you can get to Sausalito over the Labor Day weekend, the city hosts one of the world's best art fairs, the Sausalito Art Festival. 

Remember to purchase ferry tickets on a credit card that gives you bonus points for travel like your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. This is one of my favorite cards because Ultimate Reward points are so flexible. And if you don't have this card yet and decide to apply, please consider using our referral link. 

Sausalito is a city in Marin County, California, across the Golden Gate Strait from San Francisco. It’s known for its Richardson Bay houseboat enclaves, built by artist squatters after WWII.