If you love to travel and want a fun way to document your trips, this post is for you. I came across the Traveller Collective website (HERE) about a year before our wedding (which was September 2018) and was instantly hooked. Because we had always planned on a National Park honeymoon, I knew this would be the best wedding gift for Greg. I ordered a clip for myself and one for Greg but was unable to open and use mine until our wedding… waiting a year was difficult as I was so excited!!
Keep reading to find out more information including: more about the company, other products they offer, how to order, a discount code if you would like to place an for yourself, golden rings (which will give you free travel money!), etc.
ABOUT THE COMPANY, as stated on their website.
PRODUCTS
Traveller Collective not only has the travel rings but a few other products including: necklaces, accessories (hats, totes, and decals), apparel, and gift cards. Check it out!
ORDERING
The first step when ordering is to decide which clip you want. I chose the tan for myself and the brown for Greg.
After you decide what clip you want it is time to order your rings. They have many options to fit your style and budget. Although Greg and I began traveling in high school, before we met, I chose to order rings for only the places we have been together.
Once you complete those two steps it is time to check out… that was super easy right? But first, DISCOUNT CODE!!!
DISCOUNT CODE
Who doesn’t love a discount?! Traveller Collective offers 30% off first time customers using the code TCFAM. Don’t wait, use this and order yours today.
GOLDEN RINGS
Throughout 2019, Traveller Collective will be giving away $7,750.00 worth of free flights to the Collective. They will be randomly selecting orders and placing a golden ring with a special value in with their purchase.
MY HOMEBASE
Create a profile by documenting your travels on their website. It will show a map with shaded areas of where you have visited!
HOW WE SHOWCASE OUR RINGS
Below are some pictures of our rings during our honeymoon, can you recognize where any of these pictures were taken? Let us know below.
Planning a trip to a National Park or planning
your honeymoon, I am here to help! I have already done the work and hope you
can take something from this. Be aware, this is long but can be helpful!
Greg and I have always loved to travel, especially
together- we met in Europe, vacationed in the Bahamas, traveled back to Europe
together, and went on many local weekend trips together. While talking about
our honeymoon we realized we have seen more of Europe than the USA. We decided
our honeymoon would consist of renting an RV and traveling to various National
Parks out west.
I am writing this before we go on our honeymoon- this was the planning process and our itinerary, I will write another post after the honeymoon regarding tips, things I wish we knew, what I would do different, etc. (Stay tuned!)
The first part of our planning process was deciding when to visit. We knew we wanted to visit during the warmer season but also had a lot to think about: summers at the National Parks are crowded (people have said they felt like they were at Disney, not appealing to us!), some parks remain closed up until the end of May or beginning of June due to the snow not melting, traveling during a holiday probably isn’t the best idea, and deciding when we could afford to take 3 weeks off work was huge. After much talk, we decided our trip would be June 2019.
Second. We have set the dates, now what? Where do we want to go?… or should I say where can we really go during our 18 days without being on the road every day and being able to relax… I mean this is our honeymoon. We looked at a map and realized in order to get the most out of our days, starting in California will be best. After researching multiple parks, we decided our trip will include: Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and Grand Teton while making a day stop at Horseshoe Bend (20-minute detour while traveling from Grand Canyon -> Zion). Now, if you are reading this thinking “What, why aren’t they going to (INSERT PARK HERE)?!”, listen, if we could, we would literally quit our jobs and visit every park but that is not possible right now… we will visit every park, just give us time; our 2nd trip is already in the works. Thanks to Google Maps, we were able to see the distance between each park and plan how long we could stay to make the best out of our time. Planned is: 10 days of no driving AT ALL and 8 days that requiring driving (average of 3 hours with 2 days that have a 10-hour drive).
Third. How do we get
around? Okay this process was much more stressful than anticipated
mainly because we were not planning a “round trip”, we knew we wanted to start
in 1 state and end in another. CRUISE AMERICA
offered this option but we had to get special permission as they must keep
specific inventory at each one of their rental locations (this is much more
complicated than “special permission”, it required us to change our trip about
10 times… no lie, before they gave us permission). Their cheapest RV to rent
was the 7 passenger RV but that was 1: way too much space for the two of us and
2: way too big of an RV for us “first time RV drivers” to drive. The rental we
ended up booking was the 19-foot compact RV that holds up to 3 people (much
more expensive than the 7 passenger- around $2,000)- don’t worry, it has a
shower, a toilet, and a small kitchen!
Fourth. Yay, the “when and where” is booked, now time to book the flights. Let me tell you, the app SkyScanner is AMAZING. Enter your: From/To locations and your travel dates and the app will do the rest including: tell you when prices are expected to rise/go down, and give a 1-10 point rating based on details such as when you will arrive, if there is a layover, price, etc. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed. For our trip, we will be flying from Tampa to San Jose and then Salt Lake City to Tampa (we got our flights for $193 each heading to San Jose and then $177 each heading home to Tampa). Our flights also were based on where rental locations for Cruise America were located (Newark, CA and Salt Lake City, UT).
Wait, where are we going to sleep? Yes, we have the RV but where will we park? The fifth part was booking RV sites. If you are reading this and plan to travel within the next 6 months, book now, Yosemite National Park fills up the day they open reservations!!! For real, call or look on RECREATION.GOV for more information- we found it was way easier to call rather than look on the website (877- 444-6777), you can talk to someone who knows more about the area and they can do a search of multiple campgrounds at once. We booked our trip 6 months out and only got into 2/4 National Park Campgrounds, Lodgepole Campground at Sequoia for $22 a night and Mather Campground at Grand Canyon for $18 a night (they are much cheaper than regular RV parks and campgrounds so we would have liked to get in more- Bryce National Park and Grand Teton are “first come first serve” so we will be heading there… still unsure of where we will sleep if they are full). ** Call the number above even if it says the campground is full, especially if you are staying more than a night. We have to change campsites at one location but we are able to be in the park. ** Make sure you research the rules of the campground ahead of time and plan, most do not let you run an RV generator during the night.
Sixth. The big details are done but now, what are we going to do to fill our days? How are we doing to enjoy the parks in the time we have? So… I am a planner, I like to do my research, and spend way too much time looking up information but can you blame me? I want to make sure we are making the most out of our time. I wrote down each park name followed by certain information including: best time to visit, average temperature in June so we know what to pack/wear, common attractions, best things to do, where to stay, tips, things to remember, etc. (Greg and I also bought a National Park Adventure Guide off of Amazon that has the “Top 10 Things to Do” in each park, find it here -> NATIONAL PARK GUIDE BOOK). Here is what we have planned at each park knowing this will not take up our entire time but will allow for free time to explore and get recommendations from locals:
Yosemite National Park- Mirror Lake Trail, Bridalveil Falls, Sentinel Dome/Taft Point Loop, Tunnel View
Sequoia National Park- Moro Rock Trail, Congress Trail, Big Tree Trail, Tunnel Log, Topokah Trail
Grand Canyon National Park- Ooh Aah Point/Cedar Ridge, Bright Angel Trailhead, Mule Barn, Grandview Point Lookout
Horseshoe Bend- Sightseeing
Zion National Park- Narrows Hike, Angels Landing, Emerald Pool Hiking Trail, Canyon Overlook Trail
Bryce National Park- Navajo/Queens Garden Loop, Sunset Point, Tower Bridge Hike
Grand Teton National Park – SNAKE RIVER LUNCH RAFT TRIP, Colter Bay Village Marine kayak/boat rental, 42 Mile Scenic Route.
** Greg and I have done some leisure hikes while we lived in NJ so all of these listed above are at most considered “moderate”, like I said I will be writing another blog about our trip/hikes once we return. ** Some hikes in the park require a permit, do some research before you go… none of these require a permit.
Seventh, packing list. I think this is the worst part, right? Each park has a different average temperature listed in June so I know I am going to over pack, not like anyone ever does. Other than clothes, here are some essentials: backpack (preferably one with a water bag to stay hydrated), hiking shoes, bug spray, flashlight, copy of you license, rain jacket, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, camera, portable battery pack, medication (you don’t want to get a headache or feel sick while you are on a 6 mile hike), National Park annual pass (worth it if you plan on going to 3 or more parks in a 1 year period), snacks, first aid kit., etc.
Eighth. RELAX BECAUSE YOUR TRIP IS PLANNED AND START A COUNTDOWN!
Things to remember: make sure someone has a copy of your exact itinerary, you’ll want to plan on checking in but be aware you may not have service everywhere you plan to go, let them know!
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