Any suggestions for low cost travel?

[Tina Gary's mom]

Hi All,

I'm looking for any and all help in cutting the cost of our trip to Great LAkes in the next few weeks, so can anyone suggest the most inexpensive hotels in the area that are closest to the RTC and is anyone getting any great deals for flights that they don't mind sharing? My family and I (5 of us total one is a baby) will be flying out of GA. so any coupons codes that you may know of would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tina

 

 

Reply by zStratMom

 

Second - to help answer . . . I've seen other families get great deals on Southwest. Try playing around with different airports . . . Midway, or the one in (Waukegan??). Another trick for some was two one way saver fares, rather than round trip fares. Be mindful of the amenities offered by a hotel. One that is slightly higher per night, but provides breakfast might be the better deal. Also, some offer "suites" - two bedrooms, a living room with a sleeper sofa, a kitchenette - which could be cheaper than multiple rooms. Explore taking the train, rather than rental cars or shuttles to/from the airport, at least one of the ways, that could save you a day's rental fee. To get train routing, use google maps or map quest to get directions between an airport and Great Lakes. Then switch the route from auto/driving to bus/train (there's usually an icon above the route that does this.

 

[Craig]

Southwest for Airlines

Hotwire for Car rentals, O'hare,  $10.95 per day.

[ebigirl]

We stayed at The Homewood Suites in Lincolnshire last year. I highly recommend them. We stayed in a 2 bed, 2 FULL bath suite with hidabed and small kitchen. They have FREE awesome breakfast every morning, and dinner Mon-Thurs nights. I don't know if the dinners are free, as we didn't eat dinner there. There is an indoor pool that is very nice also. I believe the suite was around $150 per night, but with all the ammenities it was worth every penny. Getting 2-3 regular rooms would be much more expensive. Lincolnshire is about a 15 minute drive from RTC, all freeway. The hotel is right off the freeway. Take and keep lots of change in all different denominations for the tolls on the freeways. We kept an empty medicine bottle full while we were there. The toll fees make no sense and are weird demoninations. One might be .90 cent's, another .30 cent's. Most are unmanned, meaning you throw the coins in this huge "vat" and on you go!!

Call to make your reserv. and be sure to tell them your are there for PIR. I would not hesitate to stay there again!! Have fun.

[Highdesertmom Ship 07 Div 170]

The Navy Lodge is less than 2 miles from RTC and is only $65 a night with no tax. It has a brown bag breakfast "to go" My sons PIR date is 6/1/12 and that's where we are staying.

[Concernedad]

I did a fair amount of research before we came in for PIR.

 The Navy Lodge was by far the closest and least expensive of all hotels. You'll need to book it in your sailor's name. No shuttle however.

Airlines will fluctuate on a regular basis, so finding the cheapest depends on which day you book. However, Southwest is the only one that will allow you to change your flight at the last minute if need be (without charging a ridiculous higher ticket fee).

We found rental car taxes to be much cheaper in Milwaukee AND the rental car prices much cheaper. Also, I thought it a much easier drive than going through Chicago. JMO.