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A Hawaii volcano tour can be a most memorable experience,
and is readily available (short of eruptions!) year round.
While each island boasts some volcanic heritage, The Big
Island is where all the action is.

A Hawaii volcano tour of necessity begins in Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park, established in 1916. This park,
containing more than 218,000 acres, is open daily and offers
guided tours and more. It encompasses both the world’s most
massive volcano, Mauna Kea, at 13,796 feet, and Kilauea, the
world’s most active volcano. Mauna Kea, which in Hawaiian
means literally “white mountain”, gets this name from the
fact that it is quite often snow-capped. It is also thought
to be the world’s tallest mountain when measured from it’s
undersea base to the summit. Currently dormant, Mauna Kea
has also become the home of an important astronomical
center, where astronomers from all over the world vie for
spots atop the summit to view the heavens.

Kilauea, which has been in continual eruption since 1983,
gives visitors on a Hawaii volcano tour stunning views of
molten lava flows, steam vents, and vast lava fields. It is
said that this eruption has added more than 500 acres to the
Big Island since it’s eruption! One more fascinating tidbit
about Kilauea, is that perched atop the crater rim
overlooking the caldera is the Volcano House, Hawaii’s
oldest continually-operated hotel, dating from 1846.
Probably not hard to keep warm at night!

On Maui, one volcano not to overlook is Haleakala, a dormant
volcano in the middle of the island, long renowned for it’s
fantastic sunsets. It’s also a great place to hike or camp,
and especially ride a bike down! (Very Cool!) Good reason to
go to Maui. (As if you needed one!)

When you plan your Hawaii volcano tour, be sure to plan some
time to take in some or all of these sights. You’ll be
forever changed!

About the Author

Keith Thompson is the webmaster at http://www.Hawaii-
Vacation-Directory.com, where you can find all sorts of
links and resources to make your vacation-directory.com”> Hawaii volcano tour one you’ll
remember!

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The real secret to cheap family vacations is to be opportunistic. When a friend offers you their cabin on the lake, say yes. Can you have as much fun at the cheaper, closer amusement park? Then that’s where you need to be. Do the kids like the idea of cooking dinner over a campfire? Drive right on by that reastaurant. Find out what everyone really enjoys. It’s sad to spend MORE on a trip for LESS enjoyment.

Examples Of Cheap Family Vacations

In Michigan, and many other places, you can find reasonable motels on the beach. Cheaper, and usually more scenic, are the numerous campgrounds on the beaches of Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron. You can find these in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and in Ontario, Canada. Below are a couple beach-based vacation ideas.

Treasure Hunting Vacations

Two metal detectors will cost less than a few nights with the family in a hotel. Why not camp near a ghost town or beach, and spend your days hiking, exploring, and hunting buried treasure? We always find interesting things when we take our metal detector to the beach. The kids will love the adventure, and when they get bored with digging up quarters, they have swimming nearby.

Beachcombing Vacations

This is cheap, and the whole family can enjoy it. You can find all sorts of things washed up on the beaches of the Great Lakes and the Oceans. In Michigan, we used to find bouys, parts of houses, and light bulbs. The light bulbs actually worked, a mystery solved years later when a sailor told me they throw them overboard for target practice. We were finding the ones that escaped the bullets.

We also found chunks of coal that had fallen off freighters. We burned them in the campfire. We found balloons with messages attached, sea shells, fossil rocks, odd-shaped driftwood, pieces of styrofoam big enough to use as rafts, and - you get the point.

Camping Vacations

If your family is willing to live in tents for a few days, or if you already own an RV, camping is the cheapest of cheap family vacations. We recently stayed at Williams Landing in Florida for eight days. We stalked alligators, watched armadillos walk through camp, saw a dozen other forms of wildlife, and sat around the fire trading stories with new friends from England and Texas every night. The cost, including the hot showers: zero. Woodall’s catalog, available at any big RV dealer has listings of free campgrounds.

Other Cheap Family Vacations

How about a Montana testicle festival? Festival vacations can keep the whole family happy. You’ll usually find carnival rides, music, events, contests, and more. By the way, Montana’s testicle festivals are billed as family events, but good luck trying to get the kids to eat the “Rocky Mountain Oysters.”

Boondocking is all about parking your recreational vehicle where you don’t have to pay. If you aren’t sure that kids will enjoy being in the middle of nowhere, find a ghost town or other treasure hunting locale. In Arizona, an old Mayan Indian showed us where to look for arrowheads, semi-precious stones, and ancient pottery. The desert is a great place to escape to in the winter, and treasure hunting is cheap vacation as well.

There are many more cheap family vacations, and many ways to keep any vacation cheaper. Stock the cooler with 25 cent pop instead of paying pop-machine prices. Keep the kids full on healthy snacks to avoid restaurants. Be an opportunistic vacationer.

Steve Gillman hit the road at sixteen, and traveled the U.S. and Mexico alone at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. For more cheap vacation ideas, and to read their stories, tips and travel information, visit: http://www.EverythingAboutTravel.com

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You have just decided to go on your dream trip. Awesome, we must congratulate you! But, have you stopped to think about what might happen? What if your flight gets canceled? Or you are stuck in the middle of a hurricane and need to be evacuated? Or what if you need medical assistance? Then, you need to start thinking about travel insurance , the easiest way to be protected in such cases.

There are a variety of insurance types, but in general you need to be covered for: cancellation, medical emergency , baggage and personal liability. Even though you country’s embassy will help you if in trouble, you still need to pay the services, which makes travel insurance a real good asset as they do pay if the risk was insured.

Managed to get your hands on the cheapest airline tickets ? Awesome. But in this case you might want to think twice if it’s that important to pay for cancellation insurance. By the time you are done filing the paperwork, you might as well end up being covered for $10 out of the total $40 or so you paid for the flight.

If you come from an EU country, you can get free medical insurance in all European countries. Make sure to have your card which proves you can benefit from such a service. Otherwise, a travel medical insurance is a must.

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