Is your travel appetite larger than your travel budget? This week, Kim and Tamara speak with Dia Adams, The Deal Mommy, about how to hack your way to free or cheaper travel. We cover the best hotel and airline programs for families, which credit cards provide the best rewards, and some of the amazing trips Dia has taken with her family through her travel hacking efforts.
But don't despair that all this takes a ton of work! Dia walks us through how to get started.
&nbsp;
ON THE PODCAST:
1:03 What we are talking about this week -- Travel Hacking with Dia Adams
1:24 Kim and Tamara's favorite credit cards for earning points for travel
2:00 Tamara's travel hacking with the Marriott
3:15 Kim's Norwegian Cruise tips for earning points
4:00 Travel Hacking with Dia Adams
4:40 About Dia
5:50 What is travel hacking?
7:05 Scoring free rooms through sweepstakes
9:05 Why Dia doesn't like the Marriott program
10:15 IHG Point Breaks
10:55 Best deal Dia has scored
12:58 First steps to start travel hacking
13:29 Set a goal
14:25 Get on Twitter
15:35 Strike when the iron is hot
17:12 Book award flights 11 months out
18:15 Free rebooking on Southwest
19:06 Alaska airlines
19:55 Favorite credit cards - American Express Membership Rewards
23:20 Chase Ultimate Rewards card
23:25 Best airline reward programs - Southwest
24:51 British Airways
26:15 Flexibility is key!
27:50 Book one-way tickets for reward travel
29:27 Award wallet -- free app for tracking programs
29:55 Favorite travel gear
31:00 Family Travel for Real Life Conference
33:30 Next week -- San Diego with Mary from The World is a Book
About Dia Adams, The Deal Mommy &amp; MacGyver of Family Travel
Dia Adams, AKA The Deal Mommy, is a real-life Mom of two tweens&nbsp;in the DC Metro area. Between growing up foreign service and working in consulting, she built up a serious love of travel that included visiting over 30 countries and living in Thailand, China, and Ireland (where Deal Kid was born). After Deal Kid and then Deal Girl came along, Dia and Deal Dad struggled to balance their passion for travel with the realities of, well, real life with two kids. They have been able to show their kids the world while still maintaining their savings and sanity. She developed The Deal Mommy to create a community of Moms and fellow travelers who can share tips and tricks and motivate each other to get out there!
Dia writes about family travel and real life at&nbsp;TheDealMommy.com&nbsp;and&nbsp;TravelingMom.com. &nbsp;She also leads the "Family Travel for Real Life" conference which brings together leading family travel experts to share tricks and tips.
Travel Hacking Defined
Simply put, &ldquo;travel hacking&rdquo; is the art of strategically crafting the best in travel and loyalty programs for your benefit. Another way to think of a &ldquo;travel hacker&rdquo; is MacGyver: give me some salt and a paper clip and I&rsquo;ll make you a trip!
Best Hacking Deals
Dia's most ambitious hacking deal was crafting a month long Asia trip with first class tickets (typically $12K each) to Japan. It took a year&rsquo;s worth of miles, but the out of pocket was $117/person. &nbsp;Another one was Bastille day in Paris in a 1,500 sq. ft suite for $100/night. On the podcast, she tells us how she used 94 stamps to enter an IHG sweepstakes with a minimum prize of 500 points and earned a total of 150,000 hotel points.
Best Credit Cards, Airline &amp; Hotel Programs
Marriott is Dia's least favorite hotel point program. Generally&nbsp;you shouldn't pay more than a penny a point&nbsp;and sometimes the Marriott might be 70,000 points per night for a $200 hotel room. Marriott does have good promotions where for two stays you can get a free night. If you pick two nights at a cheap hotel, you can earn one night at a nicer hotel.
IHG Point Breaks are great promotions and perfect for those "obligation" type of stays. It is easy to earn points on Hilton, but it takes a lot of points to...

Episode 001 Travel Hacking with The Deal Mommy

With its moderate climate and wealth of activities, San Diego is the perfect family vacation destination. We are chatting with Mary Solio from The World is a Book, who lives in Southern California, about LegoLand, the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, and Coronado Bay. Best of all, she shares tips on finding the best tacos and how to get your kids in free to popular attractions.
ON THE PODCAST
:45 Welcome and weekly catch up
3:23 Kim and Tamara talk about past trips to San Diego
5:30 Welcome Mary Solio from The World is a Book
9:00 Ideal itinerary for visiting San Diego
9:55 Balboa Park
10:25 Sea World, San Diego Zoo or the Safari Park
11:00 Day 2: Beach hopping
13:02 LegoLand
15:32 Cabrillo National Monument
16:26 Where to Stay
18:20 Tips for visiting the Zoo
19:20 Kids Free Month
21:08 Disneyland
22:25 Must try foods
24:18 Where to take a family photo
25:00 Favorite travel gear
26:55 Tip of the week -- finding good deals
About Mary Solio from The World is a Book
Mary lives in San Diego, California with her husband and two kids, who are 13 and 10. She was&nbsp;born in the Philippines, grew up in the U.S. territory of Guam, and&nbsp;believes all those years of island fever ignited her serious case of&nbsp;wanderlust. She currently works full time as a database developer and&nbsp;computer programmer. She writes about the familys travels along with tips&nbsp;and guides on her blog,&nbsp;The World Is a Book. She is also a family travel&nbsp;writer for Hilton Hotels and Resorts' Hilton Mom Voyage site. The family&nbsp;loves cruises, castles, National Parks, and museums, from art to quirky. You can follow her family's travels on&nbsp;Facebook,&nbsp;Twitter,&nbsp;Instagram&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pinterest.
Five Days in San Diego
If you are in Southern California, it is easy to visit San Diego for a weekend or a day trip. But if you are coming from further away, Mary recommends at least a five to seven day stay.
Start with a two-hour bay cruise to see seals and the city skyline and then vary your itinerary between theme parks and other attractions. After the bay cruise, head over to Balboa Park to visit some of their 15 museums, gardens and Spanish architecture.
On the second day, pick either Sea World, the San Diego Zoo or the Safari Park. The Safari Park has a lot of open area and is different than a typical zoo.
For day three, go beach hopping or kayaking. One of Mary's favorite beaches is the Coronado Beach near the hotel. She also likes LaJolla Shores to see the sea lions and to kayak near LaJolla Cove.
The next day, visit Legoland. If you are there from March through May there is a flower field on the hillside that is beautiful. If your family really loves Legos, a stay at Legoland Hotel seems like a special treat. They have four different types of theme rooms, including a new Lego Friends room.
For the last day, visit the tide pools at Cabrillo National Monument. Just check online first to find out when the tide is low. There are also other historical attractions at the Cabrillo National Monument.
Tips for Visiting San Diego

Family friendly hotels are in the Mission Valley area.
The Manchester Grand Hyatt near Seaport Village downtown is also a good pick for families.
There are other new hotels opening in Liberty Station and a new public market is coming to that area also.
When visiting the zoo, start with a half-hour guided bus tour and then take the tram all the way to the back and work your way to the front.
Visit during October when kids get into many attractions for free.

Must Try Foods
You simply must have authentic Mexican food, especially carne asada and fish tacos, or the carne asada burrito with carne asada, cheese and fries rolled into a burrito. There are many taco stands throughout San Diego but Mary recommends anywhere with a "bertos" in it -- like Umbertos -- or&nbsp;Tacos al Gordo&nbsp;with a spiced pork taco.
She also loves the desserts at&nbsp;Extraordinary...

Episode 002: Visiting San Diego, California

What is more classic than the great American family road trip? Today, Shannon Entin from 100 Routes Across America dishes about her favorite family road trips, including one that was coast-to-coast. We also chat about our best road trips tips, how to pack for a road trip, our favorite road trip gear and best road trip apps.&nbsp;
ON THE PODCAST
:50 Tamara gets a new car
2:55 Kim's road trip from Seattle to Disneyland
3:50 Tamara's road trip from San Francisco to Cambria, CA
9:10 Seattle to Missouri
9:37 Talking road trip with Shannon Entin
10:17 Tamara &amp; Shannon's adventures flyboarding
11:15 Shannon's ski season - Utah and Steamboat Springs, CO
12:30 Denver to Moab &amp; Arches National Park to Ogden, UT
13:15 National Parks in the winter
14:30 Shannon's favorite road trip
17:45 How to plan a road trip
19:13 How much drive time per day
20:15 24 hours in a car with kids
22:18 Road trip horror stories?
24:38 Road trip packing tips
25:53 Planning tips
26:00 Roadtrippers.com
27:16 AroundMe app
28:00 Car maintenance tips
31:00 Car cooler
32:15 Driving Route 20 / Lincoln Highway
33:15 Shannon's favorite travel gear
33:40 LUG travel bag
34:40 App of the week -- iExit
35:25 Next week -- talking Australia with Erin from Travels with Bender
About Shannon Entin from 100 Routes Across America
Shannon Entin is a New Jersey-based travel writer closing in on 50, but adventuring like she's 20. She's a homeschooling mom who loves skiing, running, hiking, and road trips, and she shares her family's travels and adventures at&nbsp;100RoutesAcrossAmerica.com. You can also find Shannon on&nbsp;Twitter,&nbsp;Facebook,&nbsp;Instagram, and&nbsp;Pinterest.
Shannon and her family, including two kids, have taken numerous cross-country trips. Each winter, she takes a road trip out west to spend a few weeks skiing. She tends to plan everything out in advance, including stops and accommodations along the way.
Shannon's Favorite Road Trip
Shannon's favorite road trip was from her home in New Jersey to Lake Tahoe and then out to San &nbsp;Francisco. Along the way they stopped at many quirky roadside attractions, like Cadillac Ranch in Texas, where cars are buried in the sand and you can spray paint them. They also toured pueblos in Mexico and stopped at the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. That trip took about twelve days on the way out and eleven days on the way home. They took a northern route on the way home, stopping at Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore.
Shannon's Road Trip Tips

Plan ahead -- Shannon maps out where they are going to go, where they will stay and what they will see along the way in advance.
Count on only doing half of what you have planned -- you need to be flexible when on a road trip so as much as you have planned, recognize that you are going to have to skip some things along the way.
Share the driving if you can and push through for longer days when you can to leave more time for other stops.
Pack smart -- Shannon recommends packing a small bag with just what everyone needs for the night when traveling a long distance with an extended stay at the end. However, if making multiple stops along the way, Tamara and Shannon both find you end up needing to bring everything in each night.
Do laundry on the road so that you can travel light. Think about what you need and cut it in half.
Use&nbsp;Roadtrippers.com&nbsp;to plug in your destinations and it will show you attractions and points of interest along the way.
Pack a map! Sometimes the GPS doesn't work or you are out of cell coverage.
Find local places to eat using the&nbsp;Roadfood book&nbsp;or&nbsp;TV Food Maps app.
Keep an emergency kit with extra water, jumper cables, kitty litter, windshield wiper fluid and other necessities.
Bring a cooler -- Tamara recommends bringing a small cooler for drinks, snacks and to keep food cool when visiting attractions. Kim and Shannon both recommend a plug-in travel cooler like the&nbsp;Wagan...

Episode 003 Family Road Trips

Have you ever wanted to visit Australia? This week we talk about the Land Down Under with native Erin Bender about what you can fit into a two-week trip to Australia -- if that is all you have. We cover a sample itinerary, what to do with kids in Melbourne, Sydney and the Great Ocean Road. Plus, we learn about fairy bread, Vegemite, and where to find those adorable koalas and kangaroos.
ON THE PODCAST
1:00 Shout out to Lance for giving Vacation Mavens our first review on iTunes!
1:20 Kim talks about her recent trip to Phoenix including hot air ballooning
4:40 Spring training with the Cactus League
8:20 Eating in Phoenix -- Hilton at Squaw Creek
9:55 Erin Bender from Travel with Bender
13:02 Nomadic travel challenges
15:00 Australia in two weeks
17:00 Getting from place to place in Australia
21:00 Koalas and kangaroos
21:30 Must try Australian foods
24:00 Four days in Sydney
25:20 Driving Great Ocean Road
27:00&nbsp;Phillip Island&nbsp;and Fairy Penguins
27:45 Where to find koalas and kangaroos
28:45 Best place to take a family photo
29:30 Surviving the long flight to Australia with kids
31:30 Favorite travel outfit or gear
33:35 Tip of the week
ABOUT ERIN BENDER FROM TRAVEL WITH BENDER
Erin is the driving force behind the world&rsquo;s leading family travel blog,&nbsp;Travel With Bender.&nbsp;With her husband and 2 young children (ages 6 and 7), she&rsquo;s been on a nomadic journey since 2012 across 64 countries and counting. Most recently she is touring the US on the #motherofallroadtrips.
Erin and her husband were both born in Australia and have been together for 18 years. Erin and her husband Josh took a seven-week round-the-world trip pre-kids and loved traveling so much that they decided to embark on a nomadic lifestyle when her kids were two and three. What was going to be a six-month journey has turned into four years of travel.
Erin and her family are currently in Orlando and will be traveling through the U.S. for a few more months, but she took time out of her busy schedule to tell us about her native land -- Australia. While she suggests spending at least a month in Australia, she shares a two-week itinerary that covers a few of Australia's highlights. You can follow their travels on&nbsp;Facebook,&nbsp;Twitter,&nbsp;Instagram,&nbsp;Pinterest&nbsp;or&nbsp;Snapchat.
TWO-WEEK AUSTRALIAN ITINERARY
Erin recommends flying into Brisbane on the Gold Coast and starting with four-nights in Queensland where you can see some of the best islands in the world, including the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday. In Brisbane, you will also find many amusement parks and attractions.
She would then spend four nights in Sydney, taking in sights like the Sydney Opera House and a walk across the Harbour Bridge. The Sydney Aquarium is also a highlight for families with kids. Ferries around the harbour are also a great way to get a view of the city.
Next, she would do four nights in Melbourne, including two nights driving the Great Ocean Road to see the Twelve Apostles rock formations. (Note: there are not Twelve Apostles, but the water is magnificent and the formations are quite beautiful.) If you get a bit further to see the great Australian "bite" with wonderful cliffs and views. Also, near Melbourne you can go out to Phillip Island to see the Fairy Penguins. At dusk, the penguins come from the ocean to their homes on land. You can sit in the grandstands to watch this phenomenon.
Finally, finish up with a trip to see Uluru or head over to western Australia and visit Margaret River, one of the best surfing destinations in the world.
&nbsp;MUST-TRY FOODS IN AUSTRALIA&nbsp;
We also wanted to know what the "must try" foods are from Australia and Erin introduced us to&nbsp;fairy bread&nbsp;(white bread with butter and sprinkles) and&nbsp;Vegemite on toast. Kangaroo steaks are also quite popular (yes, they do eat the national animal.) Meat pies are also very popular in Australia, stuffed with mince meat and...

Episode 004: Visiting Australia in Two Weeks (or more)

Do you prefer to travel in luxury or just dream about it? Today we are talking about luxury family travel with Amie O'Shaughnessy, Founder and CEO of Ciao Bambino, a luxury family travel website and travel agency. We chat about the latest trends in luxury family travel, what hotel brands are really getting it right, hot family travel destinations and what a luxury family travel vacation really costs.
On the Podcast
1:00 Where Tamara is going for spring break
2:30 Downsides of all-inclusives
3:43&nbsp;Spa Avania in Scottsdale
6:00&nbsp;Kona Village Resort in Hawaii
7:30 Amie O'Shaughnessy from Ciao Bambino
8:22 The genesis of Ciao Bambino
9:20 Why families love Italy
11:15 How luxury family travel is growing
12:30 How luxury hotels are welcoming families
14:20 Unique family experiences
15:57 Meeting the needs across age groups
18:10 Popular experiences for families
19:33 Hot family destinations
23:04 How much a luxury family vacation costs
27:30 Keeping the right priorities
28:00 Chile with Latin Excursions
28:39 Barge trips in France
29:30 Favorite travel gear
31:50 App of the Week
About Amie O'Shaughnessy from Ciao Bambino
Amie O&rsquo;Shaughnessy is the Founder and CEO of&nbsp;Ciao Bambino, a Family Travel resource pairing award-winning content with a boutique Virtuoso travel agency. She lives in Northern California with her husband and son. You can also find Ciao Bambino on&nbsp;Instagram,&nbsp;Twitter,&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pinterest.
Trends in Luxury Family Travel Market
The luxury travel market is growing rapidly and in the last year, all luxury brands, from hotels to tour operators, have developed programming and amenities for kids. While most hotels are looking at offering rooms and suites that accommodate families, many are going beyond that to show that kids are not just tolerated but are welcomed in their own way. This includes kid programming, amenities, and check in processes.
2016 is a year when everyone is talking about travel experiences. Hotels are looking to create experiences that form connections between the hotel and the destination. These are bike tours, cooking classes, art classes, or treasure hunts. It is about getting kids into a destination and not just observing, but actively engaging. Many of these programs are geared toward school-aged children, but others try to also address the tweens and teens.
The Peninsula Hotels have a new program called the&nbsp;Peninsula Academy. In many of their city hotels, they have locally inspired programs specifically for kids. In Chicago kids can visit a local firehouse; in Tokyo, there is a Pokemon experience or a plastic-food making workshop; and in Paris they have a meet-and-greet with the French football (soccer) team members.
Some other experiences that are popular are cooking classes, learning to row a gondola in Venice, glass blowing, paper making in Florence and art classes. When Amie was in China last year with Mandarin Journeys, they took her and her son to practice tai chi in the gardens, learn kung fu at a martial arts academy, pick tea at a tea plantation, and make dumplings with a chef.
Popular Luxury Family Travel Destinations
Costa Rica has been huge for a few years because it offers so much variety from beaches to rainforests, plus it is close, English is widely spoken and it is easy to get to. Amie is also seeing a lot of interest in Central and South America including Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia and Cuba. Iceland is also extremely hot with families right now.
African Safaris have become popular with families as a "trip of a lifetime" and so many operators are catering to families. People are very interested in places that are very different from what they can experience at home because that is what makes them memorable.
What Does Luxury Family Travel Cost?
The cost of luxury hotels vary depending on location and time of year but a luxury hotel room that can accommodate a family in a hot destination during...

005: Luxury Family Travel Trends

Vacation Mavens is a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and travel tips to get you out the door.