If you are like most travelers and restrict your travelplans to where you can find cheaptravel options, such as cheapfares, cheapdeals, cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, cheap auto rentals, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, thenyou should make it a point to take advantage of almost free travel deals.
There are a number of things we expect for free whentraveling such as Wi-Fi in hotel rooms, snacks on planes, smartphone apps thathelp you get around, concierge and bell services, community festivals andparades, and admission to libraries and parks.
The following are key elements of your trip that you canfind for next to nothing, according to Avital Andrews:
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Many hotels offer afree hotel night deal. Free nights oftenare offered for stays of three to four nights. Given the savings, it might make sense to extend your stay at aparticular hotel.
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You can almost alwaysget a free late checkout at a hotel by calling the front desk the night before,or early the morning of your departure and pleasantly requesting a latecheckout. Often you will be asked whattime you want to leave. A reasonablerequest of noon or 1 pm will usually be honored.
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To help the nationalparks celebrate their centennial for 16 days this year the National ParkService is waiving admission fees to 127 sites that normally charge to getin. There are another 282 sites whoseadmission is always free.
Membersof the military, fourth graders, or people with disabilities can gain entranceto the national parks for free any day of the year. People over the age of 62 can get a lifetimepass to the national parks for $10.
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Free theme parkadmission can often be accessed by reserving rooms with hotels that maintaingood relationships with nearby theme parks. For example, Hilton Orlandos SeaWorld Kids Free Package provides afree childs admission to SeaWorld with each paid adult, a savings of $95 perkid. Stay five or more nights and thefifth night is free. Universals Orlandoresort offers a four night deal that comes with a three day Park-to-Parkticket, as well as breakfast and early park admission.
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Most amusement parks,including all of Disneys, allow children under the age of three to get infree. On most airlines, kids under theage of two fly free in an adults lap.
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Select hotels providefree transportation to local sights and to the airport. For example, during Catalina Islands softseason, many hotels offer a package that includes round trip boattransportation to the beautiful Southern California destination which is 22miles off the coast.
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If you are going tostay somewhere that does not offer free transportation, try staying at a hotelin a pedestrian friendly neighborhood or one that at least has easy access topublic transportation. To find out howwalkable a hotels local is, check out a website called walkscore.
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Classes taught byexperts are often free at hotels. Forexample, guests of the Marriott Los Suenos in Costa Rica, may attend an hourlong Spanish class every day at 2 p.m. The best place often for getting free enlightenment during a vacation isonboard cruises, which often enlist experts to talk to passengers on topicsranging from astronomy to history to zoology to cooking to photography.
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Free gear rental issometimes made available by select hotels. The Marriott San Jose in Costa Rica provides its guests with waterproofGoPro Hero4 cameras during their stays. In cycling friendly locals, some hotels offer guests free bike rentalssuch as Portlands Hotel Rose, Madrids First Petit Palace Italia Hotel, andHonolulus Kahala Resort.
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Time your layoverproperly and for example, if you are flying from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv onBritish Airways, you will have enough time in London on each leg of your tripto go into the city. Other airlinesknown for excellent stopover options include Emirates, Hawaiian Airlines,Icelandair, and Japan Airlines.
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Free shore excursionsare offered by select cruise lines. Regent Seven Seas Cruise never charges for shore excursions, regardlessof destination, date, or how many off boat adventures you select. Norwegian is offering a limited time dealthat permits passengers to select from free shore excursions, free unlimiteddrinks, free specialty dining or free Wi-Fi. Silversea is offering free shore excursions and Wi-Fi on every voyage inevery port of call on all Mediterranean voyages.
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Offers of freebreakfasts and happy hours are plentiful, particularly from hotels andresorts. Embassy Suites is well knownfor an all you can eat breakfast buffet and a cocktail hour that comes with afull bar and hearty snacks.
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Free premium amenitiesare usually available at five star hotels as well as in first and businessclass seats on long haul flights.
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