This is the next interview in a series I’ll be posting from time to time with various other travelers and budget savvy individuals. If you’re interested in sharing your story with me, or know of someone who would be great for me to talk to, let me know!
I met Kassy through many classes we had together at Union and enjoyed spending time together throughout the years. Her and Ross were extremely helpful as Pablo and I planned our European adventure last year! Though they’ve since moved to the west coast, our love of travel and living on a small budget still holds much in common for us. Check out some of their advice in how they’ve been able to pay off debt and still prioritize seeing the world.
About Ross and Kassy:
Kassy is from Eugene, Oregon and Ross is from Bismarck, North Dakota. We met at Union College and spent a year dating long distance. During that time we started creating a list of things that we both thought would be a lot of fun to do together once we were actually together. We enjoy traveling, anything that gets the adrenaline pumping, board games, playing sports, and exploring the Portland area. Ross is a Network Administrator for a Managed IT Services company and Kassy is currently staying home as our first child is almost here.
Pisa, Italy
What’s your top piece of advice for college graduates coming out of school with a lot of student loans?
Pay off the debt with the highest interest first and work your way down to the lowest.
How did you determine your plan/time line for paying off your loans?
Our goal was as quickly as possible- and before we had children.
Snowboarding at the Matterhorn
What have you found to be most effective in paying off your loans?
One mistake a lot of people make is to increase their standard of living as soon as they get out of college to match what they are making. For example: if you have a car that works, use it- don’t rush out and buy a new one. We lived on as little as possible and took one of our salaries and dumped it into our loans and saved some of it for our travel.
Also, don’t let other people try to talk you out of paying your loans. We found that a lot of friends would tell us it is “good debt” so we shouldn’t pay it off right away. We didn’t buy that, especially when we figured out the additional money we would be paying in interest.
What’s one thing you wish you had known or done differently in handling the loans?
I can’t think of anything.
Hiking rim to rim in the Grand Canyon
What was the first thing you did when you were debt free?
We went on a celebratory trip to New Zealand! (Of course we had saved for it before so we weren’t creating new debt.)
Where did your love of travel come from? Why do you love it so much?
We both have fond memories of traveling with our families growing up, and both had lists of places we wanted to visit when we were making the travel plans ourselves. We combined our lists to create our bucket list. It sort of became a challenge to see how many places we could see in our lives.
What has been your top travel adventure so far?
While we were in New Zealand we went sledging, glow-worm caving, and hiking. Our favorite day, though, was when we went skydiving, bungee jumping and luging all in the same day!
Sky Diving in New Zealand
What is your craziest travel story?
We visited nine countries in Europe in two weeks. Everyone told us we were crazy before we left, but we wouldn’t change a thing. Probably our best day there was in Florence where we took an Italian pasta making class in the morning, had so much fun that we decided to literally run around the city to see everything, then come back for the evening pizza making class before taking a red eye train ride to Venice.
Cooking class in Florence, Italy
What are your top tips for saving money while traveling?
Go to the grocery store when you get to the destination, and buy enough to make simple things like pb&j. Decide on a few special meals you want to eat out, but you can save a lot by eating simple things.
Couchsurf!
Get a book and plan ahead.
How were you able to prioritize traveling?
We knew we wanted to take certain trips before expanding our family. We would plan our trips around holidays so we could get the extra vacation days and we just started chipping away.
Milford Sound and exploring New Zealand
What advice do you have for those wanting to travel, but a bit short on money?
Stop eating out and put that money aside to your travel fund. You can also start doing short/domestic trips that don’t require plane tickets.
What have you found most helpful in planning your trips?
Lonely Planet travel guides are fantastic. They have more information in them than any of the other ones that we have found.
Also, know exactly what you want to do and plan your trip out well ahead of time.
Hanging Lake, CO
Where’s your next trip going to be?
Most likely Alaska, but we aren’t sure when yet.
Final words of wisdom?
Money spent on making memories and traveling is never wasted. To quote a famous gnome: “Go and Smell the Roses!”
Vienna was a very beautiful city and we enjoyed our time there immensely. But it did not make the cut for one of my favorite places on the trip. It was very full of fancy and beautiful architecture, so if that’s your thing, definitely plan to stop! That doesn’t interest me as much but we spent the day wandering around and exploring different famous sites.
Our first stop was at the Schönbrunn Palace. By this point in the trip all the palaces, churches and castles were starting to blur together. So rather than paying for entrance to the palace and a tour, we opted to simply visit the garden and maze instead (which was cheaper). The gardens are huge and beautiful, and just like at Versailles it was once again raining. Though thankfully this was more of a drizzle than a down pour so we were still able to walk around and enjoy the sites. The palace itself is huge as well and we made sure to get there right away in the morning to avoid crowds and lines- we learned our lesson after Versailles. When we were there there were very few people milling about and it wasn’t until we were getting ready to leave that the floods of tours started to arrive.
Behind the palace is where the gardens and fountains and everything are located. You can also walk way farther to the structure that was built on the property in the distance, but opted to go out to the fountain which was already far enough! To the right of the fountain is where the garden maze and labyrinth were located. Does anyone know the difference between a maze and labyrinth? We still aren’t quite sure and they had one of each in that part of the garden.
I LOVED garden mazes as a child when we would travel with my family and visit them. So I have pretty high expectations and this one was not the best I’d ever seen, but it was more challenging than I was expecting. Would definitely be a lot of fun for kids! In the center of the maze is a platform you can climb up and take a good look around.
We decided to head to the market next and grab some food to eat. The Naschmarkt is pretty large and has all sorts of food offerings in addition to some small souvenirs as well. One my absolute favorite parts of travel is eating in outdoor markets along the way. I wish we had more of these in the U.S. We even found some pastries with my maiden name.
I found some pastries made by the Voglers!
Next up we decided to visit the Wiener Riesenrad, the oldest ferris wheel in the world. It’s part of a whole amusement park complete with all different rides and typical activities you find at a state fair. The ride was fun though nothing too thrilling. The cars are large with around 15 people in each one and you can walk around to get views from all the different sides of it. We did have to spend a little bit of time waiting in line but it wasn’t too bad.
Of course no visit to Vienna would be complete without trying Sacher Torte, their famous dessert. It’s a chocolate cake that has a bit of apricot taste mixed in as well. It can be found everywhere in all different pastry shops throughout the city. We tried searching for one of the top recommendations found in Lonely Planet but after re-tracing our steps multiple times and still not being able to find it we finally gave up and opted for a cheap slice found in the main plaza area. Although the main plaza is formed around St. Stephen’s Cathedral we decided to just admire it from the outside rather than pay the entrance fee. By this point many of the churches were beginning to blur together anyway.
Sachertorte
We made a quick pit stop to see Beethoven’s home as well though didn’t feel like paying for an inside look. That’s one tough thing about traveling in Europe, there is so much history everywhere and so many sites of significance but they all cost money to see them. You have to pick and choose what you really want to explore in detail.
The train/trolley system in Vienna was very easy to use. There are bike options for renting by the day or hour and dropping them back off around the city. But after our failed attempts at using this system in Paris we decided to just stick with the public transportation system instead. It costs more, but for us the convenience factor outweighed that. If you have more than one day to spend in the city I’d recommend maybe giving the bikes a try on your second day after you are at least a little familiar with the area!
Next we were on to one of my favorite places of the whole trip, Budapest!
This is the second interview in a series I’ll be posting from time to time with various other travelers and budget savvy individuals. If you’re interested in sharing your story with me, or know of someone who would be great for me to talk to, let me know!
I met Bethani while living in Honduras as a missionary, which she had done the year prior. She was traveling around central America at the time and we had a lot of fun getting to know each other in the few days we spent together. We’ve kept in touch on and off since then through Facebook, mostly as I drool over all her travels! Read about her story here below:
About Bethani:
I grew up in Portland, Oregon, with ten brothers and sisters who all play basketball and two-three instruments. I love HIKING! Give me a couple mountains and I’ll be happy forever. I’ll also be happy forever if you give me a couple instruments and a couple friends to make music with. I have perhaps an unbalanced fascination with languages, and am always working on a new one… or four. I’m currently teaching high school music and Spanish in Sacramento, California.
What’s your top piece of advice for college graduates coming out of school with a lot of student loans and still wanting to travel?
This is “irresponsible” advice, but I did it and will never regret it. I always tell people that once you start working, you’ll be working forever. Or at least for a long time. You invest in houses and cars and things that tie you down, you have work commitments and obligations, etc… I deferred my loans for one year after college and spent the year in Germany working as an au pair, learning German, and traveling all over Europe. That one year of deferred loans cost me maybe 100-200 dollars in extra interest over the life of my loans. For that couple hundred dollars, I saw some pretty fantastic things, gained incredibly rich experiences with new people and cultures, developed a self-confidence that only comes from being completely on your own in the world, made close friends whom I dearly love… and I can now speak German! Worth it.
Kids I took care of as an au pair in Lubeck, Germany
How did you determine your plan/time line for paying off your loans?
I resolved to continue living on the same budget I had lived on as a student, even though I was suddenly making much more. Everything extra just went to my loans; I didn’t treat it as my money. After making 5x times the minimum payments for two years, I paid off my last student loan, and saved several thousand dollars in interest along the way.
What have you found to be most effective in paying off your loans?
Don’t consolidate your loans. I know, I know, that goes against everything you’ve ever been told. Consolidation is the conventional wisdom, as it’s easier to track just one payment every month, less chance of forgetting and getting charged a finance fee… but side with human psychology on this one. One huge loan can seem insurmountable, and even large payments feel like a discouraging drop in the bucket. Smaller, attainable goals make it easier to maintain motivation. I had five smaller loans, and paid them off in order of the highest interest. Each time I’d get close to paying one loan off I’d get giddily excited and try to figure out a way to get that last bit in a month early. Then with each completion I’d live on cloud nine for a day or two. Gratification here and now is a thing, and it’s powerful. Use it to your advantage.
Paris, France
What’s one thing you wish you had known or done differently in handling the loans?
I’m very glad that when first starting out I asked for advice and help from a wide variety of people. A college friend working as an accountant, my uncle, who is a CPA and business professor at University of Oregon, my father, who ran a small business most of his life, and other friends who were a couple years ahead of me on the debt road. I had no experience, and wanted to start the process as informed as possible. All these people had unique advice and life experience tips for me. My accountant friend even set up my loans in one spreadsheet with amortization for me, which I referred to constantly for the duration of my pay-off period. Don’t get all funny and private and shy about money – everyone deals with it. Ask others what’s worked for them.
Notre Dame in Paris
What was the first thing you did when you were debt free?
As soon as my last debt was paid, I sat down and re-evaluated my financial situation. After two years, I knew that I don’t need nearly as much as I earn, and I wanted to keep my lifestyle simple. So I cut my monthly income in thirds. I live on a third, I save a third, and I’m blessed to be able to give away a third. This is absolutely the most joyful part for me about being debt-free. I can support my church, mission projects around the world, deserving students struggling to get through school… or whatever else God throws in my path. It’s all His money, after all.
Where did your love of travel come from?
I love people! I love stepping in to how other people do life. I love the idiosyncrasies of language, the history of customs and traditions.
I blame my wanderlust on my parents. At age 7 I spent two weeks in Singapore visiting my uncle and aunt who were missionaries there. It was in the middle of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and as the only blonde ringlet-ed thing around, everywhere we went the huge dragons would dance right up to me. I was so terrified the first time that it actually made me cry. But I quickly developed a fascination with their culture and the stories behind these traditions.
At age 11 I spent three weeks in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia with my grandparents, visiting the places where they served as missionaries, and where my mother grew up. I got altitude sickness at Macchu Picchu, and spent a couple hours chewing coca leaves that a local gave me. I ate purple bananas and corn ice cream. My whole world was opened up.
Macchu Picchu, Peru and a market in Ecuador
What has been your top travel adventure so far?
Shoot, tough question. Maybe because it’s so recent, my hitchhiking experience comes to mind. Two weeks ago I administered my last final in Sacramento, where I teach high school music and Spanish, and then took off on a four-day hitchhiking trip up Highway 101. I had friends to stay with on the way, but depended on the kindness of strangers to travel over one thousand miles to my parents’ home in Walla Walla, Washington. I couldn’t have invented the life stories of the people I met. People are incredibly open and honest when they know they have an hour or two to talk and will never see you again. I was privileged to enter into some very deep struggles with some of my drivers, and am still thinking about them, hoping they’re making it through okay. I encountered unprecedented kindness. I already had great faith in the goodness of strangers, but I hope that by sharing my experience, others might be a bit more ready to engage with the world outside their umbrella. We’re all so afraid of each other. The truth is, people are good! Most people will actually go out of their way to help you. We don’t tell the good stories often enough.
Mt Cameroon
What is your craziest travel story?
Oh boy. There are a lot, and they’re all long. Ask me to tell them to you sometime. In short…
I lived in Honduras for a year, and one Friday a gas truck hit a cow on the main road out of my town. Traffic was piled up five-wide (on a two-lane road) for the rest of the day. I had weekend travel plans that I really didn’t want to give up, so ended up walking, hitchhiking, jumping in the back of a pick-up truck, and sleeping on a stranger’s couch before finally making it to my destination – a 4-hour trip that took me almost 24. Again, the kindness of strangers. Then there was that one time that I got food poisoning on day two of a three-day trek up Mount Cameroon, the tallest peak in West Africa… I told my sister to dig deep when she buried me, because even after death by bad beans I didn’t want to be eaten by wild Cameroonian animals. But hey, I made it to the summit and have a picture to prove it! Someday I’d like to take on that mountain again in a full state of health.
Masada, Israel with friends from Germany
What are your top tips for saving money while traveling?
Couchsurf. Check out your options at http://www.couchsurfing.org(and check out my review of it here). So many awesome people waiting for you to be friends with. Not only is it economical, if you want to meet real people and experience the culture of the place you’re going, there’s nothing better. I would couchsurf even if it were more expensive than the fanciest hotel, just for the genuine interactions and real-life culture you experience. And it’s very . It might just restore some of your faith in humanity, if you’re lacking.
How were you able to prioritize traveling?
I know that I have to travel in order to remain content in my day-to-day life. As such, it’s never been difficult for me to prioritize it. I’m always planning the next trip, or even two or three next trips.
Biking in Berlin with a borrowed bike from my couchsurfing host
What advice do you have for those wanting to travel, but a bit short on money?
Traveling doesn’t have to be as expensive as everyone thinks. If you can save enough for a plane ticket, figure out how to economize everywhere else. Many countries around the world have very cheap public transport once you get there. Couchsurf, or connect with a local church before you arrive and find out if there’s a place you can sleep. Buy food at markets or grocery stores rather than going out to eat. Capitalize on visiting places that are free – national parks, waterfalls, lakes and rivers – and only pay for a museum or site if it’s REALLY going to be worth it.
Also – if you find yourself with a chunk of time but not much money, you need to seriously investigate this website. http://www.workaway.info. Do you want to spend a couple weeks working on an organic pear farm in Italy? A dive shop in Crete? Play music at a hostel in Buenos Aires? Dream up a job, and you can probably find it. You trade 2-4 hours of work every day for a free place to live and food.
What have you found most helpful in planning your trips?
I often glance through Lonely Planet’s website before going to a new place, just to make sure there’s nothing huge that I’m unaware of. But network with friends! Chances are, you know someone who’s been to where you’re going, or even lived there for a time, or knows someone who lived there for a time. I’ve stayed with friends of friends countless times on travels, just by talking about the trip before I left, and making connections.
Kelly and I in Honduras
Where’s your next trip going to be?
I’m leaving on June 21st for 6 weeks in Europe. J I’m working for a month at a hostel in Annecy, France, where I’m hoping to make leaps and bounds in my French conversation skills, and hike the Alps every day. The other two weeks I’ll spend traveling with my sister. I’m most excited about reconnecting with my friends in Germany, visiting Greece for the first time.
Final words of wisdom?
I’ve never spent money on a trip and later thought, “Man, I wish I could I have that $____ back.” It just doesn’t happen. Experiences are the most rewarding way to spend your money. Even better is if these experiences include people you love. If your cousin is spending a year studying in Chile, if your college roommate is working at an orphanage in Thailand… seriously consider buying a ticket. Live a little piece of their life with them. It’s expensive, you have limited time off, you might get robbed… there are a thousand reasons to stay home where you’re safe and comfortable. But the greatest regrets that people express at the end of their lives is the things they didn’t do, the risks they didn’t take, the stories they don’t have. It’s a great big beautiful world out there.
Falmouth is a less popular cruise port to stop in which means that any excursions you’re looking to book will require some travel time. The more common destination is Ochos Rios or even Montego Bay. In Falmouth there was only room for one other ship to dock while we were there unless other tendered in. Immediately off the ship is a small little town square completely set up with shopping options and American restaurants like Dairy Queen and Qdoba. Not exactly what I had in mind, but that’s ok.
The “town” area is very small and beyond it is a set of gates that you must pass through to go on any excursions. However it’s “not advisable” to pass through these gates and explore the rest of Falmouth just beyond the tourist trap part. I think if it was just Pablo and I traveling we probably would’ve ventured out there and been just fine! It looked VERY poor but I’ve been in much worse conditions in the past. However, most everyone caught a taxi that would take them to the beach (not accessible via foot) or on an excursion or just stayed in the tourist town area.
We decided on an excursion that involved tubing down the Rio Bueno River. We booked our excursion here:
The cost was $65 per person and I don’t think it was worth quite that much. The company was excellent and it was very easy to find our driver waiting for us off the ship. I just asked at the Information kiosk where the independent tour guides were located and they told me to walk down the street until I saw the white tent on the right. When I got there I asked for Duane and he came right over. I gave him our printed reservation information and he had my name on the list. There was another family joining as well and we all climbed into a brand new van/bus to travel the 45 minutes to the river. Everything ran very smoothly and was quite professional.
Eating almonds growing wild in the jungle
Getting to the river did involve a bit of walking through the jungle and one of my sisters got eaten alive by mosquitos along the way! Not sure she was the only one but when we reached the end of the river she was covered in itchy bug bites. They do offer water shoes for you to rent if you’d like, but we had bare feet and were just fine as you never actually really get into the river to wade around. Be sure to leave all your valuables on the bus as you WILL get wet.
Surprisingly the water wasn’t as warm as I expected, but we certainly didn’t freeze. We floated along with trees hanging over the river as well so there was no sunburn to worry about. The rapids were very small the whole way and it was fun, but very far from thrilling. You could take small children along no problem, I was actually wishing it was a bit wilder! The disappointment was that the actually river tubing was pretty short, I’d estimate around 30- 40 minutes total. It seemed that we had just started and it was already done. Was it fun? Yes. Was it worth $65? Probably not.
We had a guide with us floating down the river the whole time as well so we always felt safe. The excursion mentioned some shopping as well and we were wondering if it was going to turn into any pushiness with urging to buy local goods. But we had none of that. About halfway down the river our guide asked us if we wanted to stop as there was a local lady selling some goods and snacks. We told him no and got the “yah, mon, no problem” response right away and just kept on going by. There was no pushiness back in town either.
All in all with transportation time and everything this tour was around 3 hours. Had I known ahead of time that there was not a beach available very close in the port I think I would have just gone to the beach via taxi instead of doing this excursion. I was picturing us doing the excursion and then relaxing on the beach afterwards. But we didn’t feel like paying for a taxi to take us there and going back and forth some more. Instead we poked around some of the shops and then headed back to the ship.
Bottom line: There’s not much to do right in the Falmouth Port. Be prepared to use a taxi to get to the beach though I don’t think it was very far or very expensive. The actual town of Falmouth is past the gates so really you’re pretty limited unless you’re using a taxi or going on an excursion. Jamaica was pretty, but not as beautiful as some other parts of the Caribbean I have visited and it’s also very, very poor.
A couple weeks ago my family returned for a week long Caribbean cruise together on Royal Caribbean. We had such a great time coming together from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Nebraska to spend a whole week of vacation time together! Though not everyone else in the family is as big into travel hacking as I am, there are a few tips and tricks we used along the way.
1. Cyber Monday last year had a great deal for $100 off a hotel booking of $100 or more through Orbitz. This was limited to the first 10,000 people who took advantage of it so first thing that morning I started scanning through. I knew we would need one night in Fort Lauderdale before leaving on the cruise so my goal was to find something as close to $100 as I could so that it would be practically free. I ended up finding a suite at the Universal Palms Hotel with a king bed and pull out couch for $112.00. This was perfect since my sister was heading there with us as well. I booked it in time to only spend $12.00 total on it and my mom did the same for my parents and other sister. The hotel itself was nothing special and not in the best location logistically. But it was about 15 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from the cruise port so it would do.
Mini Golf course at our $12 hotel
2. My plan was to use Uber to get around since I had some credits for free rides, but my grandfather ended up being able to provide transportation in his car so we didn’t have to worry about that. Side note: Waffle House is the only restaurant close by to this hotel. I believe there was a restaurant in the hotel as well but never checked it out for sure.
3. U.S. Airways Companion Pass: We used this for us all to get from Omaha to Fort Lauderdale. You can read more details about this companion pass here. But since we all jumped on the awesome U.S. Airways credit card deal earlier in the year we had the companion pass to use. Basically full price was paid for my flight and then my husband and sister both also got on the same flight for only $100 each. 4. We booked excursions along the way for the different ports we visited and didn’t use any miles or points for these Mainly this was because the rest of my family don’t have the points to use and we were all going together on the activities. However, my tip would be to do your research for an excursion before jumping to book through the ship. Often times the ship is more expensive than local excursion options and we actually didn’t book any of ours through the ship in the end. We had no problem with any scams on the islands, everything ran very smoothly so I definitely recommend it.
Falmouth Port, Jamaica
5. Finally, this was my 4th cruise I’ve been on and I was a bit disappointed with Royal Caribbean. While they have a reputation for being one of the best I was disappointed with a few features on it. No need to trash them on the internet and sound like a snob for complaining about being a cruise in the first place! But if anyone is considering a cruise I’d be happy to chat through some options with you!
Also, I have not done this personally but it is possible to use miles or points from some cards (like Chase cards) to book a cruise! These are not listed on the Chase Ultimate Rewards site but there is a phone number given in case you’d like to call and get some quotes on how many points would be needed. If you can find one you like it would be possible to have the entire cruise paid for through points! (Other than the daily service charge per person).
I’m often asked if I would recommend a cruise to other travelers. My answer is YES to anyone who has never been on one before! But I see it as a one-time experience and don’t really have it at the top of my list to do many more after that. Here are my top reasons below:
Mini Golf in the middle of the ocean!
Cruises are SUPER convenient. Seriously, everything is right there for you and already included: Constant entertainment, unlimited food 24 hours a day, lodging, and transportation from one location to the next without any worries! How great is it to wake up in a new spot every morning and you didn’t have to worry about any buses/trains/flights/ or rental cars to get there!?
Cruising is a unique experience. Just being surrounded by water and out at sea is something you definitely don’t experience every day. Not to mention being part of a giant party in the middle of the ocean all the time!
Cruises are a great option if you’re looking to go on a trip with a ton of your friends! Think about it, when you’re in a large group getting around from one place to the other, deciding where to eat and what to do can all take a TON of time and cause a bit of a headache. But with a cruise there’s no need to worry and you have all your best buds around to hang out with all the time by the pool, at the buffets and at all the shows.
The downside is a lack of freedom though. There is a certain time the ship arrives in each port and a certain time they leave each evening. That means you’re on a tight schedule of how much time you have in each destination. We did three excursions and they literally took up our entire time in port. I would’ve liked more time to actually explore the country/city that we were stopping in rather than just going to the beach/shopping or on an excursion. As my husband put it, “we got a sample of the Caribbean”.
You don’t actually get to experience any local culture. Cruising let’s you stop and see lots of cool locations but I really struggle to then say that I’ve actually been to that country. The port area is so geared towards tourists I personally don’t think it counts as “visiting the country”. But that is just my travel style!
Bottom Line: It totally depends on your vacation style for whether or not I’d recommend cruising. If you’re into the relaxing, taking it easy and spending time by the pool/beach, definitely go for it! If you’re into more of seeing the local culture in areas, this is not for you. If you like having freedom to decide how long you spend with all your activities and play it by ear, this is probably not the best one for you. But if you prefer the convenience of having everything already set in place in one central location, then you’ll love it!
Overall everyone should try at least one cruise during their life time!
You may picked up on this from our previous trips, but we really like national parks. One in particular that has been on our list is Yosemite! I really wanted to do the Half Dome hike there ever since I learned about it and we decided to go for it Labor Day weekend this year. Sounds easy, but just wait.
First of all, EVERYONE wants to hike Half Dome. Because of the intensity and technical parts of it, the park can’t have a million people trying to do it all at once. So in order to get a permit to hike it, you have to enter a lottery. That’s right, you can’t just show up at the park and go hunting, you have to plan months ahead of time for it. In our case, that meant entering the lottery on March 1st and waiting for the winners to be announced April 13th. It was a long 5 weeks and I wasn’t sure at all if we’d win it. Chances of winning around 30% typically and that wasn’t with the addition that we were aiming for a holiday weekend. I submitted an application for it and we had friends of ours who submitted five different applications! You can only apply once per person, but you can choose how many people you will have in your group.
While our friends didn’t win at all, I WON!!!!!!! This made for a VERY exciting Monday morning for us and I was so thrilled to be that much closer to going! This was the main hurdle to overcome and we had made it. Now one more step.
Second little known fact, while campsites in national parks fill up extremely quickly, Yosemite is the most requested camping area in the country! Who knew? Because of this they open camping availability on a schedule. For the time we were looking at (September) the campground availability opened today, April 15th. I had done a ton of research on this on the website as they say it can completely sell out in as little as 10 seconds. Yikes, talk about pressure! The website included a link to the official government time clock and encouraged everyone to have it open on one screen so that you can click on the reservation the very second it reached 9:00am Central time.
On top of that, they recommended you to “practice” following the steps to make a reservation several times in order to ensure you are fully familiar with the website- oh my goodness! We had created our recreation.gov accounts earlier and made sure to be signed in prior to 9:00am. We plugged in our dates, and we each chose a different campground to aim for when 9:00am hit as there are three all near the Half Dome trailhead. We also decided NOT to click on the first available campsite on the list in hopes that while everyone else was focusing on that one, we could snag one much farther down the way. We had our credit cards out and ready as well, though once you are given the green light that a site is available you do have 15 minutes to complete the payment screens.
I was pretty stressed, knowing that there would be other campsite options and hotel options available hopefully outside the park- but these were really expensive (hotels) or far away to have to drive into the park for (private campgrounds). I really just wanted to be able to stay in the park and avoid extra hours of driving each day, especially as we would need to start the Half Dome hike really early in the morning.
9:00am hit and we both clicked on the reservation button right away. I began panicking as I went through 5 different campsites and they ALL kept coming back as no longer available! Finally I was able to find one, process all the payments and we received the confirmation email and were good to go!
So this story has a very happy ending as we’re excited to head to Yosemite in 5 months. I had already made our flight reservations on Southwest as I found cheap mile requirements and they’re 100% refundable anyway. So all we have left is a rental car and we’ll be on our way.
If anyone else out there is interested in Yosemite, GO FOR IT! Just make sure to plan far enough ahead and read carefully through their website so that you are fully prepared for any reservations you’re wanting to make. Stay tuned to hear how the trip goes a few months from now!
Although we hadn’t planned on it, we decided to spend our last day of our trip exploring Seattle! We decided to start our morning at Pike’s Place Market, famous for its fish throwing and variety of fresh bouquets, among other stalls. We arrived around 9:30am and things were still getting set up for the morning. The flowers were absolutely beautiful and so cheap! Huge, fresh bouquets for only $10-$15!
Pikes Place Market
I found the actual market to be pretty confusing in the way it was laid out. We eventually made our way out to the information booth in the front where we (sadly) learned that because it was Easter the fisherman were taking the day off! That meant no fish throwing to be seen. We did however see the original Starbucks which across the street from the market and a few blocks down. We opted not to wait in the long line to actually buy anything there.
All along the street were small pastry shops, produce for sale, random kitchen supply stores and everything else you can think of. We saw a cheese store with the machines making fresh cheese right in front for everyone to watch. Also got to listen to an old guy playing a piano right outside on the sidewalk. A low-light was the gum wall or should I saw Alley. This was down below/behind the market area and it was disgusting. We spent very little time there, I didn’t want to get anywhere near the wall!
We found some food for brunch along the stores on the street and took it to the little park area to eat on a bench. In the little park was an information desk with a very helpful lady sitting behind it. She informed us that since it was Sunday, parking was actually free anywhere on the street (oops we had paid for parking already). We could walk to the Seattle Center where the Chihuly Exhibit was, and it would take about 20-25 minutes. Or we could drive over. We opted to drive to save time and move to somewhere where we wouldn’t have to pay for the parking anymore. She assured us if we drove around a little there we’d find parking.
Saw the Space Needle!
It did take a little while and we had to park on a tiny side street a bit away from the center, but it wasn’t too bad. This area had a ton of main attractions for Seattle all in one area. One museum we didn’t make it to but sounded awesome was the EMP Museum. This museum was created by a rich guy who loves sci-fi and rock music- and it combines both his passions. The outside of the building was so unique in its design that I was sad we didn’t get to visit it (though it was a whopping $25 per person!).
Chihuly Glass
We walked past the Space Needle and into the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit. This was also a bit pricy ($21 each) but we had heard good things about it from both our parents so we decided to make the splurge. It was beautiful. While I’m not a big museum fan and don’t really love walking around galleries a whole lot, this museum was full of vibrant colors- which I do love. It was a very unique museum with colored glass sculptures and chandeliers everywhere. Chihuly created some really pretty pieces!
We walked through the indoor glass exhibit for a while and then headed out into the gardens. There was a glass blowing demonstration going on which was a little lengthy, around 20 minutes or so, but it was interesting to learn how they make the glass so colorful and beautiful in different shapes. The garden was also beautiful, makes me want to have a garden like it someday as well!
Chihuly Garden
We also watched a few of the 5 minute videos on Chihuly’s life and work. They were really fascinating though I was disappointed we didn’t see any of his sculptures around Venice when we were there last year. Overall, the museum was really small and didn’t take much time at all to get through. It really was a little bit overpriced but I’m still glad we went as it was a beautiful place to see.
We headed for some food from there at the Armory, a central building with a variety of food options inside. We ate outside and spent a little time by the big fountain there as well before heading back to our car and the airport. My only regret is that I hadn’t done enough research to plan for this ahead of time and found out that there was a huge tulip festival about an hour north of Seattle in Skagit! I would’ve loved to see that and we could have planned to see this had we known about it.
Seattle Center, near the Armory
Nevertheless it was a great trip and we enjoyed our time. No rushing around at all, we had plenty of time with all the activities we did. It was quite a bit of driving to go around the whole park, but it was also relaxing so we didn’t mind too much. Aside from the fact of our flight home being extremely delayed on our layover and arriving home at 5:00am, the trip was great! We even had sun for our whole last day in the Pacific northwest 🙂
Summary:
Free parking on the streets in Seattle on Sundays!
Museums are expensive, plan which ones you want to prioritize to see.
If you’re going in April, check out the Skagit Tulip Festival and let me know what it’s like!
After sleeping a full 10 hours in Port Angeles we woke up quite refreshed the next morning and ready to get an early start on the day! Breakfast was included at our hotel so grabbed that and then hit the road, driving back out the same way we had gone the day before.
We made great time and were at the Hoh rainforest in a little less than 2 hours. This included stopping along the way for a couple photos too. First piece of advice on this day: but gas in Port Angeles! Much cheaper than Forks or other stops along the way.
Hoh Rainforest was the main reason I wanted to go to Olympic National Park at all! After seeing photos from parents’ trip there last year, I just couldn’t get over the cool scenery with the moss growing everywhere. So I was super excited to finally make it there! Again we found that the trails around were very short. The Hall of Mosses is the famous trail in the rainforest and that’s 0.8 miles total in the loop. There’s another one that passes near the river that is closer to 2 miles and then the River Trail itself which goes for 15 miles in length. We decided to start with the Hall of Mosses first.
We had enjoyed the mossy forests during our hikes the day before, so my expectations were set REALLY high now that we were in rainforest central! And sure enough there were a couple really cool sections on this hike that looked awesome, including a group of maple trees. As far as hiking in the rainforest goes, this was definitely my favorite hike we did, but it’s not alllllllll that different than the other hiking we had done the day before. I would highly recommend it so you can get the most rainforest feel. But honestly if you don’t have time for everything, one of the other waterfall hikes would also provide many opportunities for the rainforest feel as well.
We took it really slow all throughout Hoh snapping photos and such. The picnic area right near the parking lot actually provided quite a few nice photos as well! There is also camping available right by the parking lot, near the Visitor Center. It would be quiet place to camp and kind of neat too though beware you are far, far away from any sort of grocery stores or restaurants.
We opted not to do any other hikes besides the Hall of Mosses as at that point we felt like all the moss and trees were starting to look the same. So we headed out to see the beach instead! We were planning on camping at the Kalaloch campground for the evening so figured we’d stop at Ruby Beach along the drive. I debated back and forth between Rialto Beach and Ruby Beach for a long time- and finally decided on Ruby as Rialto seemed more just like the normal ocean views while Ruby had sea stacks which is what I wanted.
When we arrived it was raining pretty hard. This was the first time where we were trying to hike with a lot of rain coming down, before that had all just been light sprinkling. We decided to wait a few minutes in the car, snacking on some granola bars, to see if it would clear up. Sure enough within 10 minutes it had stopped and we headed down to the beachfront.
It was beautiful! Seeing the water crash against the sea stacks and the waves coming up on the rocks all around was just so pretty. If you’re looking for a nice calm beach, this is not the area for you. It was definitely a lot wilder with a lot of huge tree trunks even washed up all around on shore. We had a great time walking along the “beach” which was more smooth rocks than sand since we came right at high tide. I was REALLY bummed about that (it was around 1:30pm) as Ruby Beach is also famous for incredible tide pools with purple anemones, star fish, crabs and other creatures. Unfortunately low tide was at 7:30 am and 7:30pm, so we definitely were not there at the right time.
We spent a while walking along and then just sitting on the rocks for a bit too. The actual beach area isn’t all that long though you could continue on around the corners I suppose. It was nice to just enjoy some time out there relaxing. We eventually walked back up to the car (5 min walk) and continued on down the road to the Kalaloch Lodge area. The campsite is a 1 min drive from the lodge and we did a quick drive through there to check things out- it looked AWESOME! Lots of mossy trees around and right on the coast, what a fun place to camp. The Lodge is also an option for staying overnight though very expensive. We opted to each lunch there which was a big mistake as things were VERY pricy, at least to us. Our meal was over $30 again which pushed our budget way past what I was expecting.
At this point it was around 3:00pm and we were deciding what we should do. We’d seen the main sites for the day already and still had many hours to go before bed time. Additionally the drive back to Seattle was going to be 3 hours the next day. We opted to make the drive that evening instead and have almost a full day in Seattle for our last day. I hadn’t thought we were going to get through all our hikes so quickly so I would also advise visitors to keep that in mind: trails are all very short.
The Kalaloch campground has reservation options during the summer, but we were too early for that so had no reservation we had already paid for. When we drove in around 3:00pm there were plenty of spaces open so don’t worry if you’re going around this time of year as well. We drove first to Hoquiam which had an RV/camping park- the area was a bit ghetto, not pretty nature like at all and the guy running the place was pretty grumpy. It was still plenty early so we opted to keep going and aim for Olympia instead.
Along the way we took a quick detour at “Beach 1” which is right off the main road. We didn’t feel like walking all the way down to the beach since it looked pretty much the same as the other beach areas (no sea stacks). But it was interesting to see the trees with tumors on them that we walked though! Apparently it was from some sort of virus or worm from being so close to the coast. Very bizarre.
Also made one other pit stop at the world’s largest spruce tree, probably a 10-15 minute detour from the main road. This was a bit underwhelming, though the hike to reach it is only .3 miles so it’s a quick trip!
We ended up at Riverbend Campground which I highly recommend! It was only 3 miles off the highway which was perfect and had very clean bathroom facilities. There were showers somewhere as well though we didn’t use them at all so I don’t know how nice they are. The campground was pretty empty overall which was great for us. There is a gated entrance with a code to get in but a phone number is provided. Once you call the number, the campground manager will give you the code and instructions on where to leave payment.
Another big plus was the food options close by! On the same exit were quite a few options which made it nice to not have to get back on the interstate to drive into Olympia to eat. We found a small restaurant called “Mac and More” which has a million varieties of macaroni and cheese! It was cute, fun and a lot more in our price range 🙂 We called it an early night again after dinner as we planned to get up early and make the most of our last day. Another warning: IT WAS COLD AT NIGHT! We both didn’t sleep all that well as we were chilly with temps down in the 30’s.
World’s Largest Spruce Tree- almost 1,000 years old
Summary:
Hikes in Olympic National Park are short and quick- plan accordingly!
Avoid eating at the Kalaloch Lodge- there will be other small diner options not too far away for much cheaper, grab one of those!
Try to hit Ruby Beach at low tide, not high tide like us
Again, you never know how the rain will be from one part of the park to another or even from one time to another.
Since we had flown into Seattle late the night before, we slept in a bit our first morning in Seattle. We stayed at the Ramada Inn & Suites that was about .5 miles from the hotel which was perfect since we were too tired to drive very far. No complaints about the hotel, it was pretty nice and basic- free parking however breakfast is not included. There was a small restaurant in the lobby where you buy breakfast but we opted to find a local place instead.
Breakfast was at the Pancake Chef, just down the street from the hotel. Cute little local place complete with slow service. Pancakes were decent though they took a while and it was all a bit overpriced. I wouldn’t go back again. With full stomachs we headed on to our first destination in Olympic National Park- Hurricane Ridge.
We had a hotel reserved in Port Angeles which is a great sea port town right by the northeast part of the park and the main visitor center. It took us just under 2 1/2 hours to reach from the airport area. If you’re coming from more of downtown Seattle there’s an option to take a ferry over and that saves some time. But for us it was quicker (and cheaper) to just drive straight over. Port Angeles is bigger than I was expecting and there’s plenty of restaurants to choose from. It’s also where you can catch the ferry up to British Columbia, Canada!
Hiking Marymere trail along Lake Crescent
We went straight to the visitor just to find out that the weather out in the Hurricane Ridge area was so bad they had closed the road to get there. Major bummer as I was looking forward to doing more of the mountain type hikes in that area and had read that the views were spectacular! But nothing we could do about the weather so we asked for suggestions of alternative hikes to do instead near Port Angeles. We received a few recommendations from the park ranger including hiking Marymere Falls and Sul Doc Falls. Marymere was closer so that’s where we headed first.
We quickly learned that while it may be raining in one part of the park, the difference of just a couple miles can make all the difference when it comes to weather! There was just no way of telling whether it would be hiking conditions where we were headed. But thankfully for all of our hikes we were very blessed with little rain, usually just a light drizzle if anything. We drove through some pretty heavy down pours on our way to Marymere trailhead but by the time we got there it was fine. It was right on Lake Crescent and there is no park permit needed for this area.
The hike was fine, about 2 miles round trip. We walked through mossy forest areas which was beautiful! Even passed a few deer along the way. It was cool going through the forest and the hike was good, not tough at all. But the actual waterfall was rather disappointing in the end. Although the ending was anticlimactic, it was a nice walk through all the eerie looking trees.
From there we headed back out to the road to Sul Doc Falls next. It’s so easy to get around Olympic National Park once you’re in it. There’s really only one main road to go all around which makes navigation a piece of cake. However, the mileage can be deceiving as the roads twist and turn. It may be only a few miles to your destination, but can still take quite a bit of time.
This was the case with Sol Duc. We reached the turn off for it in probably around 20 minutes or so. But then it’s 12 miles of driving to the trailhead and it is slooooooow going. We made it eventually after driving through areas of lots of rain, little rain and no rain. By the time we reached the trailhead we were right about at no rain again.
This hike was also just under 2 miles round trip (1 mile out and then return the same way). But we loved this hike way more than the first one. First of all, we were pretty much the only people on the trail until we reached the end. This was actually the case for much of our time in the park, it was not crowded at all. But along this trail were some really scenic spots, including a bridge going over a brook. The way the water was falling over the rocks and the moss was growing out there made it impossible not to stop and snap a few photos.
While the waterfall on the previous hike had been disappointing, this one was the opposite. It was not the most majestic, or tallest or widest, but it was just really, really pretty with the jungle all around! It was also possible to hike practically right out to the edge of it! There were campsites very close by as well in case anyone was interested in doing the 1 mile hike and staying out there for the night. We saw a few backpackers coming back from this actually.
The falls were great and the forest was great and I was happy that we had found a nice alternative despite the disappointment of missing out on Hurricane Ridge. If we hadn’t had our hotel reservation in Port Angeles, we would have just kept on driving towards the Hoh Rainforest since we were half there already. But the only other small town along the way was Forks and I wasn’t too sure how much accommodation offerings they would have, nor did I want to lose the points we had spent for the hotel. So we drove all the way back to town, probably around 1 1/2 hours. The roads were pretty though and we saw rainbows along the way.
At one point there were a bunch of cars pulled over on the side of the road and people out with cameras. There were around 20 elk all gathered together at the side of the river. I’d never seen that many together all at once and it was really cool to watch them, especially one that was racing along the side of the bank.
We made our way after that to the Port Angeles Inn, which was located right on the water near the ferries for British Columbia. The Inn was small but just fine and we got a recommendation from the receptionist for a pizza place in town. With bellies full we headed to bed at 9:00pm to try to catch up on some sleep we’d been lacking throughout this whole semester and that we had lost from having a late night the evening before.
The cute town of Port Angeles, complete with mountains in the background
Summary:
Port Angeles is 2 1/2 hours driving from Sea-Tac.
Marymere Falls could definitely be skipped, but Sol Duc Falls was worth it.
Driving takes longer than expected, but it’s very pretty along the way, especially Crescent Lake.
There’s no telling if it will be raining at your destination, even if you’re relatively close by and you’re experiencing a down pour.
Navigation around the park is extremely easy.
Beginning of April is rainy, in the 40’s and very few crowds.
Fire Round the World 