Shereen Travels Cheap

5 Budget-Friendly Road Trips Tips

2026-04-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know about where you live, but here in Portland gas prices vary wildly around town. My local station is $4.79/gallon and was just $4.29/gallon a week ago. I saw gas for as much as $5.89/gallon in other parts of town. Insane. If you don't want to be penniless by the time you are finished with your next road trip, I've got some quick tips for you:

While you can't control the price of gas, you can ensure you get the best price, wherever you may be.

Install an app like Gas Buddy, which will help you find gas stations along your route, meaning you don't have to wait until the last minute to fill up. You can also use Google Maps to find stations, and easily see their lowest price, by using the magnifying glass and then clicking on gas stations. Unfortunately, this can take you a bit out of your way, but it's still an option.
Download the Upside app and earn cash back on your gas (and restaurant) purchases. While it doesn't really work great in between big cities, it can still come in handy, especially if you aren't desperate for gas and have a choice of several stations. It's a little extra effort and you may find that the deals aren't better than just paying regular price up the road, but you might. If you aren't already signed up, use my link and get a bonus $.15/gallon back on your first purchase.
Get a tune-up on your car before you leave home. This is so important to making sure your car runs at its best, because even things like iffy tires can effect your fuel efficiency.
Get discounts on attractions by picking up brochures and coupons at roadside diners, rest areas, and hotels. They often have promos that you can't find elsewhere and it pays to stop and check out the racks of brochures/pamphlets before you leave.
Stop at free and cheap activities along the way. Road trips aren't just about the destination. In fact, sitting in a car for a million hours, aside from stopping to eat or use the restroom, sucks. Make the most of your trip by taking in weird attractions, walking through a botanical garden, running around the dog park with your pup, seeing the world's largest something, or just checking out a vista point.

Don't forget to pack a cooler with snacks and drinks, check out these affordable and fun road trips, and use my shortcut travel planning technique.

You can also subscribe to my newsletter to get my free road trip planning kit, or just outright buy it for $2.99 here.

Now, tell me some of your favorite road trips you've ever taken!

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links and I may be monetarily compensated if you make a purchase through these posts. This helps me to keep this blog running and bring you more posts you enjoy, so thanks in advance.

Amazing Women In Travel History

2026-03-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Women's History Month. While right now is a crazy time, we can still make time to applaud some of the greatest women in history. Men may dominate most travel careers, like being pilots and explorers and mountain climbers, but women have always pushed their way into all facets of the industry, from flying planes, to becoming essential crew on commercial flights, to captaining cruise ships. They didn't let the patriarchy stop them, nor should they have. Nor should we let it stop us now.

These ladies are great role models and inspiration for women now, too. Here are just a few of the ones who paved the way for the rest of us to be travel writers, solo travelers, and tour operators.

This is by no means even close to a full list of awesome traveling women, and I'll be showcasing others throughout Women's History Month over on my Instagram (on Fridays), Threads, and Facebook.

Do you have travel heroes? Let's hear them in the comments!

5 Items to Bring On Family Travels

2026-03-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Spring Break season is here, which means you may be packing up the car and headed on the road to go somewhere new and/or fun. There are a lot of great travel items out there right now, but some are better suited to family travel than others. Some are especially great for road trips, including these 5 items.

I'll be reviewing some of these soon, but if you're in need of things now, I wanted to push them to you before you leave, but you'll also have plenty of time to get them for your summer trips, too.

Diaper Buddy

If you have a baby or toddler (or a dog), these handy dandy, customizable stacks are a perfect addition to your travel bag or to keep in your car. This silicon organizer is the size of a big water bottle and has space for 1-2 diapers, wipes, bags, and snacks. Now, I'm not saying throw out your whole diaper bag for trips, but instead of lugging it everywhere with you, when you only need a couple things, then this is a lifesaver.

Imagine going to a theme park and needing to go into the restroom with your child and not having to juggle a giant, heavy bag and your kid and your own stuff while in there. Just grab your Diaper Buddy and go. We tested this out with my sister-in-law and 4 year old niece. She can open it herself to help get a diaper out for the baby, it can hang on the stroller or go underneath, and the snack caddy comes off and fits directly into the cupholder for the stroller. See my Instagram reel.

You can also use it for spare undies when your kid gets bigger (like right now, they could be carrying a spare pair and a diaper to cover both kids), or you can take just the two pieces that hold snacks and bags and take it on walks with the dog. I tried it, and it fits on the leash great and if it rains, it rolls right off!

Handzies

If you have kids, or you're just messy like I sometimes am, you should always have wipes of some kind. Instead of a big thing of wipes, you can throw a couple of these packets in your purse or pocket or glovebox and you're ready for accidents, spills, or just general sticky hands. I would personally love to wipe my hands off after eating at a rest area, without having to go into the gross bathroom and use the freezing cold water that comes out of the tap.

These aren't antibacterial. They are just good wipes, plus they smell like tangerines (they also have unscented ones), which I love, because everything feels and smells clean! They are a good size, too. You can wipe down a whole kid with one Handzie...if you had to.

Mozy

When you're in the car for long rides, it can be hard to regulate the temperature for everyone in it. I am a notorious car freezer. I layer up, because we used to have a dog that was hot all the time in the car, so we had to turn the air up full blast to get to her in the back seat and the rest of us would freeze. Instead of bringing your blankets from home and taking up all the space in the car with them, the Mozy blanket is like a skirt blanket, to keep your lower half warm, but also leave your feet out.

When not on a trip, you can use it at sporting events, the movies, the Oregon coast (iykyk), or when camping, so you don't drag your blanket in the dirt. It's thermal, it's weatherproof, and it keeps your butt warm on those metal bleachers. It's warmer than a blanket and it comes in kid, adult, tall, and plus sizes. link above is for Amazon, but you can buy all sizes on their website.

A back-up battery

I never leave home without a good back-up charger for our phones. In fact, we usually both have one on us. This one is my preferred battery pack, but the car is a different story. If you have several people in the back, you could run long cables from the USB port, or you could get something specifically for those in the back seat, like this little portable generator, which you can also get a solar charging pad for, or you could get something that does double-duty and can charge your car if your battery dies, like the Halo Bolt, that also can pump up your tires. I have two Halos and have brought them to cons with me to charge everyone's devices throughout the day.

Keep>Going First Aid Kit

Having a first aid kit of any kind of smart, especially when you're traveling with kids. Keep>Going knows that you need more than just bandaids sometimes. Their compact kits come with everything you need for scrapes and bigger injuries that don't necessarily need a trip to the hospital. I did a review of one of their kits, that comes in a great zipper bag and is very organized.

Whether you need a solution for a heel blister, a burn, or a bug bite, there's something in her for every type of minor injury. It's compact enough to throw in your day bag and has a handy dandy wrist loop, so you can carry it around while still having both hands free.

These 5 items are going to make your road travels more comfortable, give you peace of mind, and help you be more efficient. There will be fewer complaints all around, too. If you need an idea for a destination for your road trip, check out my last post.

What are some of your favorite road trip/travel items for your family travels?

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Support Shereen Travels Cheap by using the links in my posts to shop. I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) so I can continue to create helpful free content. I appreciate your support!

Spring Break Is Road Trip Season

2026-03-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Can you believe Spring Break is right around the corner? This year is going by very fast, but also at a snail's pace. It's weird how that happens. Before you know it, the kids will be out of school and either driving you crazy, because "I'm booooorrreed" or you'll be on a trip and everyone is excited.

Spring Break has always called for a road trip in my family. It may be because we didn't have that much money, so we opted for the least expensive option, where we could pack a cooler and a bag and jump in the car and go. While it's not always the cheapest mode of travel now, it depends on how many of you are going and what your destination is. We often drove all night from Tucson and met the sun in Los Angeles to go to Disneyland.

Sure, we could have flown there, but instead of paying a couple hundred dollars per person, we spent a little more time getting there, but only paying for snacks and gas. Even if we had done it during the day, it would have been much cheaper than flying, though we probably would have gotten stuck in a lot more traffic.

Things over the next month are going to be a little more expensive and airfare may be outrageous right now, what with the war in Iran and oil doubling in price. So, yes, your gas for your car will be more, but still not anywhere near what you'd pay for a flight. This might be the time to stick a little closer to home, but that just limits you to staying on the same coast or going to the next big city or the next state over.

So, here are some budget-friendly places to spend your Spring Break, that also won't be overrun by college kids daring each other to drink as much as possible:

Photo by Christopher Alvarenga on Unsplash

Chicago, Illinois - Chicago has been on my list for a long time. It's not a "driving destination" for me, but maybe it is for you and you can explore everything the Windy City has to offer as either a family, a couple, or even a solo traveler. It's as far from a desirable destination for the usual Spring Breakers as you can get, so you won't even know there are young adults getting wasted somewhere beachy.

Recommendations: Navy Pier, Field Museum, the Bean! and Buckingham Fountain in Millennium Park, Skydeck Chicago, Lincoln Park Zoo, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, Garfield Park Conservatory, and Chicago Riverwalk.

Tip: Get a CityPASS for your visit and save a lot of money on many of the things you see here.

Denver, Colorado - I love Colorado. A few years ago we finally made it to Denver and it was absolutely a city for me. There's tons to do, the food is delicious, it's beautiful, and the people were all lovely, except for that one Uber driver, but that was 100% not his fault. I gave him a big tip once I made it to the airport. Even though Denver is known for being outdoorsy, we found tons of stuff to do that was indoor, but we also walked a lot, so keep in mind that it's possible to do without a car. Their public transportation kind of sucks though, which is mostly why we ended up walking so much.

Recommendations: Meow Wolf Convergence Station, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver Zoo, Union Station, Downtown Aquarium, and go on an art walk (you can do this on your own if you want, but our tour guide was amazing).

Tip: Get a CityPASS for your visit and save a lot of money on many of the things you see here.

Photo by Susi Kleiman on Unsplash

Ft. Myers, Florida - I haven't been to Florida in a long time, but I do know that Fort Meyers is not a popular destination with the college kids, so you can experience a nice relaxing trip. If you want a crazy experience, head to Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Orlando will also be packed full of travelers. Fort Myers has a whole different feel, and though it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it has an eclectic mix of attractions/activities.

Recommendations: Manatee Park, IMAG History and Science Center, Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Centennial Park, Raptor Aviary, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary, Brightwood Lagoon, Railroad Museum of South Florida, and Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve.

Portland, Oregon - I'll tell you what, I know I'm biased, but I love Portland. There's so much to see and do here and it also feels very small and quaint. We have a great downtown, but the city is spread out over many neighborhoods, so you have your pick of vibe. There's also a wonderful array of things to do on any budget, so it's perfect for Spring Break, whether you want to wander our great zoo or a rose garden or stroll around a museum or even set up a picnic at the waterfront.

Recommendations: OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), Portland Aquarium (which is not a traditional aquarium at all), Portland Art Museum, Oregon Zoo, Hoyt Arboretum, Portland Saturday Market, Portland Japanese Garden and/or Chinese Gardens.

Photo by Robert Ritchie on Unsplash

Seattle, Washington - As a Portlander, I have mixed feelings about Seattle, but only because they have much of the same things as we do, so it's easier (and cheaper) to stay home and be a tourist here. Seattle has a lot to offer families though, and some amazing food, so if it's closer to you or you've already done Portland, it's a great alternative. Seattle feels less outdoorsy to me though, so if you are more of an indoors person, like me, you may bump them to the top of your list.

Recommendations: Space Needle (yes, it's touristy, but that's absolutely for a reason), Pike Place Market, Museum of Pop Culture, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle Art Museum, The Museum of Flight, Woodland Park Zoo.

Tip: Get a CityPASS for your visit and save a lot of money on many of the things you see here.

St. George, Utah - If you love the outdoors and enjoy hiking, biking, and all that jazz, then St. George has it in spades. You can visit both Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, but you can also hang out in a chill city that has a little bit of everything for you, from spas to museums to great eateries. We met some friends in St. George years ago and it was perfect for the adults and the children.

Recommendations: Red Hills Desert Garden, Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, St. George Children's Museum, St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, Rosenbruch World Wildlife Museum, Ancestor Square, and St. George Art Museum.

I hope this gives you a great idea for your Spring Break or even for an upcoming summer trip. Next we'll look at some cool products for your family travels.

Where will you be headed over the next month?

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