Shereen Travels Cheap Turns 15!

It’s been yet another year for this blog and I feel like I’m pretty lucky to have this little space on the internet with some cool people. After a whole summer of travel last year and pretty much only California travel the year before, this year has been interesting. We still didn’t get to Toronto or Hawaii, but we are sort of back to normal without any family reunions or business trips.

This year for my blog birthday, I’m getting a gift! 

Portland Gear has graciously gifted me some bags to take with me on my next trip to make our travels more colorful and organized. I can’t wait to show you more about them. If you remember, I already have their Standard Cascade backpack in Blossom, and I take it everywhere. I’m so excited to try more of their line.

In March, I went to Vegas for the Travel Goods Show and met a lot of awesome people, learned about some new brands, enjoyed some really delicious food, and went home with a ton of connections and stuff.

In July, we did our annual trip to Vegas to watch NBA Summer League basketball, enjoy time with family, and try some really outstanding food. We drove to Hoover Dam and took a scenic and educational boat tour, we exhausted all the things at Omega Mart with our Portal Pass, including seeing the Great Migration during the Phenomenomaly. I also took in the Princess Di Exhibition finally, and I retreated to my room after to shelter from the oppressive heat.

July also saw a bit of a family reunion, so I saw some people a bunch, and other people not since last year’s actual family reunion. I planned to check out some stuff in Tacoma while there, but a lot of things happened and we didn’t get to do any of them.

The end of July was Wizarding Weekend, which I put on with the help of other volunteers to celebrate Harry Potter’s birthday with a ton of cosplayers, a local elementary school-turned-hotel, and a bunch of Portland area artists selling their magical wares. More on that later.

September I have our local comic con (Rose City Comic Con) and then a bit of downtime before we jet off to France, where we’ll be renting a car, through Turo, and driving through the country and staying in the Normandy area. The end of our trip will be 3 days in Disneyland Paris, because when you’ve spent a week stuffing your brain and eyeballs with history, you need to decompress with something lighthearted. Not that we don’t enjoy history – we absolutely do – otherwise we wouldn’t be taking this trip, but we also enjoy Disney and really love the Paris parks.

We don’t have much planned beyond September, but we do know that we will probably be in Palm Springs in January for Modernism Week, I’ll be wherever the Travel Goods Show shows up, and we’ll also be back in Vegas in July. We’ve talked about the possibility of going to Boston next fall, but we’ll see how the tourism climate and inflation shapes up by then.

Coming up soon:

• Lake Mead/Hoover Dam boat tour
• Princess Di Exhibition
• Packing light for a getaway to France
• Making long-haul coach/economy comfortable
• Mix and match wardrobe for Fall
• Back to wizard school round-up
• Review of Portland Gear bags
• Saving on holiday travel
• Packing a more streamlined toiletry bag
• Normandy series

• 8 Budget-Friendly International Destinations for December
• How to Pack Your Road Trip Cooler
• Horror Movies Based Around Travel
• 5 Budget Destinations for May
• FaceCradle Travel Pillow Review 

graffiti found in downtown Las Vegas

Thank you for continuing to follow along on my travels, coming back to learn about cool destinations, and learning about the new travel trends and tips to make your trips cheaper and more fun. 

Want to read more tips for traveling worldwide on a budget? Check out my blog at Shereen Travels Cheap or find me on Facebook or Twitter. You’ll also find product and website suggestions, packing tips, current deals and a whole lot more to help you travel better for less!