We’re a married, age-gap couple with a passion for exploring the U.S., one road trip at a time! Our travels focus on national parks, scenic drives, and hidden gems, with detailed itineraries to help you plan your own adventures. While we cover destinations across the country, we have a special love for Southern California, Las Vegas, Florida, and our current home base—Dayton, Ohio.With a background in hospitality and tourism management (B.A. & M.S.) and experience in hotels, theme parks, guided vacation sales, and special events, we bring both industry expertise and firsthand travel experience to our content.Follow along as we uncover the best weekend getaways, off-the-beaten-path spots, and foodie finds across the U.S.!
Discount Travel Secret: How To Enjoy Winter For Free
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Discount Travel Secrets: Winter Is Coming Hi Reader, This week’s newsletter is all about enjoying winter without spending a ton of money. I know winter can be a tricky season. It is easy to stay inside, watch movies, and hibernate until spring. But there are so many cheap and even completely free ways to get out of the house and enjoy the season. For example, here in Dayton, the University of Dayton hosts an annual event called Christmas on Campus. It is totally free, and it is huge. Kids can make slime, build gingerbread houses, decorate cookies, play carnival games, win prizes, meet athletes, and watch the tree lighting. Events like that are happening everywhere, you just have to keep an eye out for them. Local calendars, parks departments, libraries, and colleges often have fun winter activities that cost nothing. Speaking of budget friendly ways to enjoy winter, I have another little gift for you this week. Some of you may already have this, but if not, here it is again: Cheap and Free Things to Do in Winter. It is a simple guide to help you find ideas for day trips, weekend getaways, or even low cost things to do close to home. And if you do have winter travel plans this year especially to California, Ohio, or Utah here are some of my winter blog posts with itineraries, events, and trip ideas: California– The 25 Best Things To Do In California In December – The 24 Best Things To Do In San Francisco In Winter – Big Bear Lake Winter Weekend Getaway Itinerary – Winter Fest OC at the Orange County Fairgrounds – Dream Glow Festival at Wild Rivers Waterpark (Irvine) (NEW THIS YEAR) Ohio– The 51 Best Things To Do in Dayton In Winter Utah– The Best Zion National Park One Day Winter Itinerary We'd love to hear what fun plans you have for winter this year! Feel free to reply to this email and share your plans (or reply with any questions you have!) See you next week, Eva and JP 💎 P.S. Ready to plan your next trip? Find some of our favorite travel-related resources below. ✔ Find the cheapest rental car rate |
Discovering Hidden Gems
We’re a married, age-gap couple with a passion for exploring the U.S., one road trip at a time! Our travels focus on national parks, scenic drives, and hidden gems, with detailed itineraries to help you plan your own adventures. While we cover destinations across the country, we have a special love for Southern California, Las Vegas, Florida, and our current home base—Dayton, Ohio.With a background in hospitality and tourism management (B.A. & M.S.) and experience in hotels, theme parks, guided vacation sales, and special events, we bring both industry expertise and firsthand travel experience to our content.Follow along as we uncover the best weekend getaways, off-the-beaten-path spots, and foodie finds across the U.S.!
Discount Travel Secret: National Parks Free Entrance Days Hi Reader, When JP and I first started traveling together back in 2017 we didn't have much money (I was in grad school, working 2 full time jobs, and living in the notoriously expensive area of Southern California). I wasn't sure how long I'd be living out there and I wanted to see and do as much as I could while I had the opportunity. So we started taking some overnight and weekend trips to national parks because of how inexpensive...
Discount Travel Secret: Groupon Discounts Hi Reader, Something JP and I bought recently was a Groupon bundle for a local entertainment center that included an escape room for 2 + an appetizer for $36. When we lived in California, most escape rooms would make us buy out the room if it was just the 2 of us, so it would cost about $100-$110 for us to do an escape room. Being in Ohio now, most escape rooms are about $30-$35 per person and we don't have to buy out rooms, so it costs nearly half of...
Discount Travel Secret: Vision Boards & Bucket Lists Hi Reader, Have you made your travel vision board or bucket list for 2026 yet? We make one every year and cover how to do it in-depth inside the Discount Travel Secrets Insider Series. I personally recommend making a nice graphic on Canva (it's free), so you can make it your desktop or phone background, or making a Pinterest board. Our 2025 travel bucket list included: Frankenmuth, Michigan 3-5 new to us National Parks Ohio Amish Country...