Why Switzerland is our favorite vacation yet

St. Moritz, Switzerland, Photo by Alison Dixon

I love that my family is adventurous. With each trip, we explore different cultures, food, languages and scenery. Our most recent adventure took us to gorgeous St. Moritz, Switzerland.

After an eight hour flight, the 3.5 hour twisty, turny ground transfer from Zurich airport into the Swiss Alps was well worth it. Tucked in the valley region of Engadine, St. Moritz is a luxury resort town known for winter sports. It was most recently host to the Alpine World Ski championships in February of 2017.

Since we visited St. Moritz in the summer, we didn't experience the excellent skiing. However, St. Moritz has more to offer, which we were blessed to discover. We've been on many trips all over the world with our children, and Switzerland is on the top of our list of favorite vacations.

1. Natural beauty---St. Moritz is different from other places we've been to because the entire city is  picturesque...not just near the touristy areas and famous landmarks.  Our trip centered around taking in the beauty of the mountains,  blueish-green lakes, glaciers, hiking trails and quaint villages.  The "entertainment" was nature and so we weren't shelling out tons of money for tours. We didn't need to.

Glacier in Pontresina  Photo by Alison Dixon

Lake St. Moritz  Photo by Alison Dixon

On top of the world.  Photo by Alison Dixon

 We were blessed to stay at Badrutt's Palace, which sits in front of  Lake St. Moritz. It was such a gorgeous setting and a awesome backdrop to start and end our days. Even the view from the hotel's indoor pool was unforgettable.

Badrutt's Palace Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland
 Photo by Alison Dixon

2. Very family friendly!  It didn't take us long to figure out that children are appreciated here.  At the top of several mountains, like Muottas Murgal, there are playgrounds! Our kids visited three different playgrounds at the top of three different mountains.

Fun for kids of all ages at the top of Muottas Murgal
Photo by Alison Dixon

Another thing we noticed---just about every restaurant, from the most casual to the finest, welcomed and accommodated children. Even our posh hotel offered kid-friendly amenities and kid programs throughout the day.

3. Public transportation---the public transportation in St. Moritz made it incredibly easy to visit various areas of the St. Moritz area.  Our hotel included a pass for the public bus, train, funiculars, gondolas and ski lifts (all of which are fun for kids!).  Once we located where to pick up the transportation, it was very easy and almost like a tour within itself. There were days when we rode up to four different modes of transportation, which was a ton of fun and incredibly scenic! We were able to visit mountains, a glacier, dairy farm and neighboring villages via public transportation. It was so easy and so memorable!

4. Safe---As tourists in St. Moritz, my family and I felt very safe! It was a great feeling to be able to walk around night and day and not feel uncomfortable. It was also nice not being followed and hounded by vendors trying to push tours and souvenirs.  Those people do not exist in St. Moritz.

We hope one day to visit St. Moritz again...maybe next time in the winter. I highly recommend this beautiful Swiss town to anyone seeking family fun and adventure.

Disney at Easter: Port Orleans French Quarter

Port Orleans French Quarter
Photo by Alison Dixon 

Our past two Disney vacations were in the sweltering July heat among swarms of people. Summer is usually the most convenient time for our family to take a trip (no school and few activities), but it's not always the most ideal time (heat and crowds). So, for our most recent trip to Disney, we wanted to try a different time of year. We decided to work around our kids' Spring break in April. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter from Wednesday, April 12th through Tuesday, April 18th. We were there for Easter since it fell on Sunday, April 16th.

After we returned home, many people wanted to know...were the parks crowded? The answer? Yes! They filled up by early afternoon. However, the key was getting to the parks right when they opened. Mornings were great at most of the parks. We went to Magic Kingdom on a Thursday when it opened and rode five rides in a row with wait times of less than ten minutes! It was awesome! After lunch, the wait times for those same rides soared higher and higher throughout the day. Being early risers paid off.  Also, we reserved most of our Fast Passes for the afternoon, when we knew we'd be waiting 90 or more minutes for popular rides. At one point in the afternoon, The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train had a wait time of 210 minutes!

 But unlike the summer months, our April trip greeted us with pleasant weather. We had temperatures in the low 80's with sunny skies. So while we did have the crowds, the comfortable weather made dealing with the rest of the Spring breakers and long lines, a lot more more bearable.

Easter Sunday was a day of relaxation for us. We decided instead of spending the day at a packed park, we'd spend it at the resort.. We are so glad we did, because like most of the Disney resorts, there were lots of kid friendly events planned. Here is the Easter activities flier from Port Orleans French Quarter. Its' sister resort, Riverside, had a similar lineup.

 The first Easter activity was the candy scramble.  This event was for kids up to 16 years old! Our 13-year old daughter was thrilled when she saw that. This was a lot of fun for the kids, and cast members had it orchestrated perfectly by sectioning off the age groups one at a time to ensure everyone got a fair share of candy. Disney even provided bags to put the candy in.

Easter candy laid out in the shape of eggs. Photo by Alison Dixon

Scrambling for candy! Photos by Alison Dixon

Next up, was the Easter egg hunt along the Sassagoula River at the resort. This didn't go as smoothly, however. When the cast member gave some enthusiastic instructions, some little ones interpreted that as "go!" Unfortunately, parents didn't stop those kids. The result was a lot of unhappy (and even crying) children who didn't get any eggs. Everyone did go home with an adorable, plush Peep, though! Cast members handed them out to all of the kids after the egg hunt.

Peeps!

The rest of the day, we enjoyed watching the kids play Easter themed pool games with cast members and other kids. They had such a great time and even won little prizes. There was also an egg decorating craft for a fee and a tie dye shirt activity, which also cost money (we didn't do either).

French Quarter had character greetings on Easter and a campfire, but we had already ventured out to Disney Springs for our Easter dinner at the Planet Hollywood Observatory. Our dinner there was tasty but the service wasn't awesome.

So...would we go to Disney again during Easter break? We would. The weather was great and it's possible to get a lot of rides in during the early morning hours. Plus, there are plenty of nice Easter activities going on all around Walt Disney World during this time. Also, Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival was happening, which made for some gorgeous scenery during our visit. Happy Spring!

Epcot: photo by Alison Dixon

NYC on a budget--how Broadway and Restaurant week saved us big bucks.

I will never get tired of New York City. Broadway shows, fantastic restaurants, shopping and sightseeing are always on my list of things to do. Lucky for me, the Big Apple is just a few hours away from where I live. It's a great little getaway for my husband and I, even just for a night. But boy, is it expensive.  For our upcoming trip, however, I scored some MAJOR deals! Here's how I saved a bundle on the hotel, Broadway shows, dinner and train tickets.

1.  Hotel: When planning our upcoming trip, I started by pricing out hotels. Since we wanted to go at the beginning of 2017, I specifically looked at January and February. We needed to visit on a Friday and return on a Saturday.  It turned out, there was one particular weekend that was cheaper than the rest. However, it was still a little pricey.
   So I went on Priceline and Hotwire to check things out. In the end, I decided to roll the dice with a "name your own price" deal on Priceline.  When you name your own price, you don't find out which hotel you get until after you've paid. I've had luck with this in the past, so I picked my neighborhood and number of stars (4), named my price and hoped for the best.
    I was happy to see Omni Berkshire Place accepted my offer. The total cost--$156.87.  Booked direct with the hotel, the best rate is $219.34 for a King, Deluxe room. So I got a great hotel at a great price. I booked the hotel three months in advance.

2.  Show tickets:  I have to admit, when I booked the hotel, I didn't realize we'd be there during Broadway Week. I didn't even know there was such a thing! I found out in a Travelzoo email just a few weeks ago!
    Broadway week in New York city this year is January 23rd-February 5th. There is usually another one during the year as well. Basically, you get 2-for-1 tickets! Since I found out so late in the game, some of the top shows were already sold out. We decided on Chicago and got two tickets in row B for $166 total. How great is that?!
    We were originally going to stand in the TKTS line in Times Square for discounted tickets but now we don't have to. Instead, we can be out doing other things!

3. Dinner:  My planning gets even better. In addition to it being Broadway Week during our stay, it is also Restaurant Week in NYC! It runs from January 23rd-February 10th. This is a great event in which more than 300 restaurants offer a three course prix-fixe meal for lunch and/or dinner every day but Saturday.  According to nycgo.com, the Restaurant Week prices are 30-50% off the regular menu. Three course dinner is $42 per person. Lunch runs $29.
    If you go to nycgo.com,  you'll find the participating restaurants and their menus. So you can see ahead of time, what each restaurant is offering and make your decision from there. We made reservations at Empire Steakhouse on 50th Street.  Unlike some of the other restaurants, this one offers eleven main courses to choose from instead of three,

4. Transportation:  My husband doesn't want to bother with the hassle of driving into the city so we take the train--relaxing and stress free! We snagged round trip super saver tickets on Amtrak for $88 a person.  I subscribe to their emails and that's how I found out about this promotion. The value tickets run $118 round trip per person, so we saved $60.

   This trip is right around the corner and my suitcase is excited! I'll be sure to report back and let you know if I ran into any other deals along the way. Happy travels!