Money Making Rebates

A few weeks back, my husband was shopping for oil for the car and truck. He has been changing the oil himself since we got married. After a few minutes in the store, he came back out to the truck asking me to come in to the auto parts store with him. (Odd, I know.) 

He had found a rebate offer on the oil he wanted to buy but there was limit of one per person. I haven't had much experience with rebates but this one was a pretty high value. The oil was marked as $30 and the rebate was for $20 back in the form of a store credit (which is fine since we will be back in three months or so). When we brought the oil up to the register, it actually rang up on sale at $17.99.

Perfect!

He bought one and I bought one. Yesterday we got our first rebate card in the mail. Not only did we get our money back, but we made a couple dollars on it!

My husband found that deal all on his own, without my help or my normal couponing resources. I should have him do the shopping more often!

A few weeks back, my husband was shopping for oil for the car and truck. He has been changing the oil himself since we got married. After a few minutes in the store, he came back out to the truck asking me to come in to the auto parts store with him. (Odd, I know.) 

He had found a rebate offer on the oil he wanted to buy but there was limit of one per person. I haven't had much experience with rebates but this one was a pretty high value. The oil was marked as $30 and the rebate was for $20 back in the form of a store credit (which is fine since we will be back in three months or so). When we brought the oil up to the register, it actually rang up on sale at $17.99.

Perfect!

He bought one and I bought one. Yesterday we got our first rebate card in the mail. Not only did we get our money back, but we made a couple dollars on it!

My husband found that deal all on his own, without my help or my normal couponing resources. I should have him do the shopping more often!

When in Rome . . .

Ancient Rome is exactly that, ancient. It was almost unbelievable to wander through the Roman Forum and visit the Colosseum where people have lived, ruled, and died well over a thousand years before the United States was even discovered. We just don't have that kind of history here. But in Rome, everything has a history, a very long history!

We walked through the ancient ruins of the Roman Forum, admiring columns that have been standing for thousands of years, marveling at the architecture that must have been spectacular in its day. I felt a little ashamed that I knew so little about the sights I was seeing. I felt like I needed to read a history book to fully grasp what had once been a great empire.

We wandered through the overwhelming museum in the Vatican to find our way to the Sistine Chapel where we marveled at the work done long ago by Michelangelo. And I couldn't even take pictures to show you! My neck hurt from staring up at the ceiling for almost an hour as we tried to take it all in (which is impossible). I couldn't believe my very own eyes were staring up at this famous work of art!

We sat out in the square enjoying the fountains, the sunshine, and the perfect architecture of St. Peter's Basilica. We climbed the narrow, winding stairs of the tower only to discover it was too crowded with other visitors to even take a decent picture. 

After we had seen the sites on our list and we still had an hour or two before heading to our apartment we decided to head to Trastevere, a cute area just south of Vatican City that has maintained a lot of its medieval appearance and character from the past. We wandered the cobblestone streets and then found a place to enjoy a drink. We had dinner on a bridge enjoying the view of the sunset over the river. After two full days of sightseeing and walking around, a quiet, restful evening was a nice treat.

How long we were there: 2 1/4 days

What we did/saw: On our first full day, we toured the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, and the Pantheon. Then we walked up the Spanish steps. The second day we went to Vatican City and toured the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. After a brief nap in a park by St. Angelo's Castle, we wandered around Trastevere.

What we ate: For dinner the first night, we had pizza and the most delicious house red wine at a restaurant near our apartment. For lunch the next day I had spinach and mozerella ravioli and Chris had a pasta that I had never seen before.  The noodles were long like spaghetti but thicker with a hole in the middle like a piece of licorice for lunch; he loved them! The cafe had tables set up outside on the cobblestone road with large patio umbrellas. It were off the beaten path so it wasn't very crowed. And for dessert, we had gelato!

The following day we had lunch near the Vatican at another cafe with a cobblestone patio; I had cannelloni and Chris had carbonara. Dinner was eaten in parts. First, we sat down at a cafe where I had a glass of white wine and Chris had a beer. Then we ordered a margarita pizza to go (or as they say "for take away") and ate it on a bridge near Tiber Island. We had eaten lunch around 3 p.m. so we weren't very hungry when dinner time came around.

Where we stayed: Our Air BnB apartment was perfect! We could not have asked for a better place to start our vacation. G* was the perfect hostess and had decorated her spare bedroom and bathroom to be a refreshing and quiet haven for her traveling visitors. She and her husband were about our age and had lived in Rome for several years. She made us breakfast each morning consisting of toast, homemade jams, cookies, juice and coffee. Italian breakfasts tend to be on the sweeter side (not the bacon and eggs type of culture). After our first day in the city, we came back exhausted and she even offered to make us dinner! She made a tomato/mozzarella salad, cooked up a vegetable we weren't able to translate into English, bread and slices of salami.  She gave us a lot of advice about what to see and you can just tell she loved her city and her culture. She also loved getting to know about our culture.

How we got around: We took a train from the airport to the apartment we stayed at. We took the metro most of the time to get around but did take a bus once. We walked a lot too.

* Not giving her real name.

You can view more photos from Rome here!

Ancient Rome is exactly that, ancient. It was almost unbelievable to wander through the Roman Forum and visit the Colosseum where people have lived, ruled, and died well over a thousand years before the United States was even discovered. We just don't have that kind of history here. But in Rome, everything has a history, a very long history!

We walked through the ancient ruins of the Roman Forum, admiring columns that have been standing for thousands of years, marveling at the architecture that must have been spectacular in its day. I felt a little ashamed that I knew so little about the sights I was seeing. I felt like I needed to read a history book to fully grasp what had once been a great empire.

We wandered through the overwhelming museum in the Vatican to find our way to the Sistine Chapel where we marveled at the work done long ago by Michelangelo. And I couldn't even take pictures to show you! My neck hurt from staring up at the ceiling for almost an hour as we tried to take it all in (which is impossible). I couldn't believe my very own eyes were staring up at this famous work of art!

We sat out in the square enjoying the fountains, the sunshine, and the perfect architecture of St. Peter's Basilica. We climbed the narrow, winding stairs of the tower only to discover it was too crowded with other visitors to even take a decent picture. 

After we had seen the sites on our list and we still had an hour or two before heading to our apartment we decided to head to Trastevere, a cute area just south of Vatican City that has maintained a lot of its medieval appearance and character from the past. We wandered the cobblestone streets and then found a place to enjoy a drink. We had dinner on a bridge enjoying the view of the sunset over the river. After two full days of sightseeing and walking around, a quiet, restful evening was a nice treat.

How long we were there: 2 1/4 days

What we did/saw: On our first full day, we toured the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, and the Pantheon. Then we walked up the Spanish steps. The second day we went to Vatican City and toured the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. After a brief nap in a park by St. Angelo's Castle, we wandered around Trastevere.

What we ate: For dinner the first night, we had pizza and the most delicious house red wine at a restaurant near our apartment. For lunch the next day I had spinach and mozerella ravioli and Chris had a pasta that I had never seen before.  The noodles were long like spaghetti but thicker with a hole in the middle like a piece of licorice for lunch; he loved them! The cafe had tables set up outside on the cobblestone road with large patio umbrellas. It were off the beaten path so it wasn't very crowed. And for dessert, we had gelato!

The following day we had lunch near the Vatican at another cafe with a cobblestone patio; I had cannelloni and Chris had carbonara. Dinner was eaten in parts. First, we sat down at a cafe where I had a glass of white wine and Chris had a beer. Then we ordered a margarita pizza to go (or as they say "for take away") and ate it on a bridge near Tiber Island. We had eaten lunch around 3 p.m. so we weren't very hungry when dinner time came around.

Where we stayed: Our Air BnB apartment was perfect! We could not have asked for a better place to start our vacation. G* was the perfect hostess and had decorated her spare bedroom and bathroom to be a refreshing and quiet haven for her traveling visitors. She and her husband were about our age and had lived in Rome for several years. She made us breakfast each morning consisting of toast, homemade jams, cookies, juice and coffee. Italian breakfasts tend to be on the sweeter side (not the bacon and eggs type of culture). After our first day in the city, we came back exhausted and she even offered to make us dinner! She made a tomato/mozzarella salad, cooked up a vegetable we weren't able to translate into English, bread and slices of salami.  She gave us a lot of advice about what to see and you can just tell she loved her city and her culture. She also loved getting to know about our culture.

How we got around: We took a train from the airport to the apartment we stayed at. We took the metro most of the time to get around but did take a bus once. We walked a lot too.

* Not giving her real name.

You can view more photos from Rome here!

Our Backpacking Adventure

enjoying the sunset in Florence from the Ponte Vecchio

My husband and I returned from our European backpacking adventure on Saturday.  Chris was just starting to recover from his cold while mine was just kicking into full swing. The flight home was pretty miserable for that reason alone. But I really don't want to complain about our vacation. This was a "once in a lifetime" trip (until we go back, that is) and I want to look at it through my rose-tinted glasses forever!

It really was an amazing trip. We visited 10 different cities in 5 countries in 14 days. It was one of those "whirl-wind" vacations that thankfully didn't fly by! At first, I was afraid that each day would go too fast and before you knew it I'd be back at home where life is normal (and sometimes, boring). Thankfully, each day was so busy with things to see that it actually felt like we were away for much longer than two weeks.  And by the time we needed to come home, we were both ready for our own beds and a little normal.

I want to take my time sharing our adventures with you; so I'm planning to write about each stop separately. In each post, I hope to share a story and a few details like where we stayed, what we ate, how we got around, and what we liked most or didn't like at all. I will be posting a few photos along with each post, but a majority of them will be uploaded to Facebook (as my blog can't handle that many photos!).

Today, I want to share a few things that made our trip really enjoyable. They don't pertain to any one day or location so I think it's okay that I share them here.

- We may have "backpacked" through Europe, but only in terms of how we carried our luggage. We had invested in two internal-frame hiking packs a while ago in hopes that this trip would actually happen. Traveling with a backpack was very convenient. We could easily get up/down stairs without an elevator and the cobblestone roads didn't hinder us in the least. I couldn't imagine trying to wheel a suitcase on those! The only times I regretted having a pack was when I was forced to run to catch my train (more on that later)!

 - My husband is one of the most well-organized travelers I have ever met. He arranged our itinerary to include where we were staying, how we were getting there (which train and which bus) and the cost of each main attraction.  He had done a ton of research before we left (while I did absolutely nothing) which made traveling really easy and almost stress-free.

- We used a website called Air BnB  (like Air Bread and Breakfast) to book places to stay. Most of them were actually people's spare bedrooms in their apartments with the exception of one which was a more like a hostel where several people stayed. This was almost the same price as staying in hostels but we had our own room and in a few cases, our own bathroom. It was definitely cheaper than hotels and gave us a chance to meet and get to know a local! I will share more interesting stories about this later.

- We downloaded an audio tour guide from Rick Steves, he had walking tours for each city we visited as well as many tours of main attractions like the Roman Forums, the David, and many others. This was a great way to learn about the sites we were seeing without paying for a guide! We learned so much this way.

- One thing I did contribute to our trip: protein bars. For months it looked like we might not actually afford this trip so I started collecting protein bars when I found great sales and had coupons. This usually meant I bought them one at a time, but made them almost free. I didn't keep track of all my totals, but I bought about 15 bars for under $10 while they usually retail for at least $1 if not $2 each. Thankfully, we were able to afford to eat on our trip (thanks friends and family for the generous gifts!) but the protein bars still came in super handy. Several times we caught ourselves in the middle of sight seeing at lunch time and wouldn't finish that sight until 3 p.m. So, we'd grab a bar and keep on going until we could get to an affordable (far from tourists) restaurant.

We had a really wonderful time. No huge mishaps, no huge arguments and no injuries! I don't think it could have gone better. Please come back and read my more detailed posts about our trip in the days and weeks to come (and please be patient while you wait)!

enjoying the sunset in Florence from the Ponte Vecchio

My husband and I returned from our European backpacking adventure on Saturday.  Chris was just starting to recover from his cold while mine was just kicking into full swing. The flight home was pretty miserable for that reason alone. But I really don't want to complain about our vacation. This was a "once in a lifetime" trip (until we go back, that is) and I want to look at it through my rose-tinted glasses forever!

It really was an amazing trip. We visited 10 different cities in 5 countries in 14 days. It was one of those "whirl-wind" vacations that thankfully didn't fly by! At first, I was afraid that each day would go too fast and before you knew it I'd be back at home where life is normal (and sometimes, boring). Thankfully, each day was so busy with things to see that it actually felt like we were away for much longer than two weeks.  And by the time we needed to come home, we were both ready for our own beds and a little normal.

I want to take my time sharing our adventures with you; so I'm planning to write about each stop separately. In each post, I hope to share a story and a few details like where we stayed, what we ate, how we got around, and what we liked most or didn't like at all. I will be posting a few photos along with each post, but a majority of them will be uploaded to Facebook (as my blog can't handle that many photos!).

Today, I want to share a few things that made our trip really enjoyable. They don't pertain to any one day or location so I think it's okay that I share them here.

- We may have "backpacked" through Europe, but only in terms of how we carried our luggage. We had invested in two internal-frame hiking packs a while ago in hopes that this trip would actually happen. Traveling with a backpack was very convenient. We could easily get up/down stairs without an elevator and the cobblestone roads didn't hinder us in the least. I couldn't imagine trying to wheel a suitcase on those! The only times I regretted having a pack was when I was forced to run to catch my train (more on that later)!

 - My husband is one of the most well-organized travelers I have ever met. He arranged our itinerary to include where we were staying, how we were getting there (which train and which bus) and the cost of each main attraction.  He had done a ton of research before we left (while I did absolutely nothing) which made traveling really easy and almost stress-free.

- We used a website called Air BnB  (like Air Bread and Breakfast) to book places to stay. Most of them were actually people's spare bedrooms in their apartments with the exception of one which was a more like a hostel where several people stayed. This was almost the same price as staying in hostels but we had our own room and in a few cases, our own bathroom. It was definitely cheaper than hotels and gave us a chance to meet and get to know a local! I will share more interesting stories about this later.

- We downloaded an audio tour guide from Rick Steves, he had walking tours for each city we visited as well as many tours of main attractions like the Roman Forums, the David, and many others. This was a great way to learn about the sites we were seeing without paying for a guide! We learned so much this way.

- One thing I did contribute to our trip: protein bars. For months it looked like we might not actually afford this trip so I started collecting protein bars when I found great sales and had coupons. This usually meant I bought them one at a time, but made them almost free. I didn't keep track of all my totals, but I bought about 15 bars for under $10 while they usually retail for at least $1 if not $2 each. Thankfully, we were able to afford to eat on our trip (thanks friends and family for the generous gifts!) but the protein bars still came in super handy. Several times we caught ourselves in the middle of sight seeing at lunch time and wouldn't finish that sight until 3 p.m. So, we'd grab a bar and keep on going until we could get to an affordable (far from tourists) restaurant.

We had a really wonderful time. No huge mishaps, no huge arguments and no injuries! I don't think it could have gone better. Please come back and read my more detailed posts about our trip in the days and weeks to come (and please be patient while you wait)!