Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Janelle Vecchio, and I am a wife, mom, and a teacher. After those three things I’m an avid traveler, but not in the typical sense of the word. My husband and I like to plan travel to new and exciting destinations with our daughter and son, but we do it for very cheap, and you would actually never know it.
We post our pictures on social media and we always get tons of, “Can you be my travel agent?” or “How do you find these amazing places?” A friend’s mom who follows our journeys on social media was talking to her son and asked him, “How do Phil and Janelle take such amazing vacations all the time? Are they rich?” The funny part is we are “rich” in many ways, but not really financially. We are a single income family. I’m a teacher. Our family of 4 has lived off my income only since 2008 when our first child was born. My husband is an amazing stay at home Dad. We chose this life together because we didn’t want our children to go to Day Care. We wanted our children to be raised by us. Teachers technically only work 182 days a year, so I get a lot of time off to adventure. One of my favorite things to do when I am off work is to leave home and go somewhere. It doesn’t have to be far. I guarantee there are adventures in your own backyard that you haven’t discovered yet. Vacation is what you make of it. It is adventure. It is fun. It is spending time with the people you love the most near or far.
If you came to my house, which we do own, you would notice that not much has changed since we purchased it in 2010. We do not need a fancy remodeled house. We do not buy new furniture. I do not buy jewelry. I don’t wear make-up. I don’t buy expensive clothes. I don’t drink Starbucks unless someone buys me a gift card. We choose to spend our extra income (the little we have) on traveling. I am not saying that it is for everyone. We take about three to four BIG trips a year, and countless mini-vacations. We are extremists, but even if you chose to cut back in one area to travel, you can afford to take a trip as well.
In this day and age, it is hard to make a living as a travel agent. I book most of my trips on the internet, along with my husband helping on his computer. I thought this blog would be a better way to get my information out to the masses for FREE. I can’t wait for you to put on your vacation pants and travel with me. I plan on writing about many vacations we have taken in the past, and giving you a behind the scenes look of how I booked it, what we did, how we played, and where we ate. Here are some pics of our trips we took in 2015, so you can get a quick idea of where this family goes. Hope you guys are ready to join in on the fun!
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| Sea World, San Diego- 2015 |
Coronado Island- 2015
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| San Diego Botanical Garden- 2015 |
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| Phil had a panel at Comic Con San Diego, 2015. |
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| We have a reciprocal pass to Botanical Gardens around the United States and Canada. |
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| Pirate Ship Cruise, Big Bear Lake- 2015 |
Big Bear History Museum- 2015
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| We have Disneyland Resort passes, so we go a lot. |
A vacation in itself, eating chicken and waffles at the Roscoe’s in Anaheim, CA, 2015.
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| Big Thunder Mountain, Disneyland- 2015 |
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| Mickey’s Halloween Party- 2015 |
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| Duffy Boat Rental, Newport Beach, CA- 2015 |
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| Sometimes we like to dress in a nautical theme for our ocean trips. |
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| Legoland California, Carlsbad- 2015 |
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| Skipping Rocks, Parker, AZ- 2015. |
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| Hiking in Grapevine Canyon, NV- 2015 |
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| We were craving churros one night so we went to Disneyland after work and school. |
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| Banyan Grove, South Coast Botanical Garden- 2015. |
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| We went to Disney World this year. We are huge Disney fans and we know how to do Disney vacations as cheap as humanly possible. |
All-Star Music Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida- 2015
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| Late Night at the Magic Kingdom. They let hotel guests stay late one night a week. |
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| Cinderella’s Castle, Magic Kingdom 2015. |
Dolphin and whale watching cruise, Newport, CA- 2015
Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA- 2015
Pirate’s Dinner Adventure, Buena Park, CA- 2015
Spring Break Road Trip- 2015
Solvang, CA- 2015
Giant Bird House in Arroyo Grande, CA- 2015
Pismo Beach Boardwalk Hike- 2015
Sunset at Pismo Beach, CA- 2015
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| Believe it or not, this is an urban hike in the middle of downtown Arroyo Grande, CA. |
Pismo Beach, CA- 2015
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| World Famous Splash Cafe clam chowder bowls, Pismo Beach, CA- 2015. |
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| Stayed at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, CA. |
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| The Sky Room, Madonna Inn- 2015 |
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| Late night swimming at the infinity pool at the Madonna Inn- 2015 |
Bubble Gum Alley, San Luis Obispo- 2015
Morro Bay, CA- 2015
Tide Pools just outside of Morro Bay- 2015
Montana De Oro State Park, CA- 2015
Elfin Forest Preserve- 2015
Whale Watching off the coast of Newport Beach- 2015. We also saw a humpback whale.
Los Angeles Arboretum, Arcadia, CA- 2015
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| Late night trip to Disneyland. One of the cast members swept the leaves into a Mickey. Disney magic at its finest. |
Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary, Phelan, CA- 2015
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| Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, San Pedro, CA- 2015 |
Hidden waterfall hiking trail I found searching for hikes on google maps, Kalispell, MT- 2015
Sanpoint, ID- 2015
Cedar Walk at Glacier National Park, MT- 2015
Continental Divide, Glacier National Park, MT- 2015
Found a mountain goat hiking in Glacier National Park- 2015
My son, Luke, on top of the world in Glacier National Park, MT- 2015
We were a short drive to a Canadian province we had never been to before on a recent trip to Montana. Here we are eating at a Dairy Queen, the only thing open at the border town when we got there, eating poutine.
Rafting on Flathead Lake, Montana- 2015
Hiking at a campsite in Idywild, CA- 2015
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Anaheim, CA- 2015
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| Overlooking Kalispell, MT on a short hike. |
We like to clean up trash on our local trails in Yucaipa, CA.
Spokane, WA- 2015
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| The wonderment of the Elfin Forest Preserve in Morro Bay, CA, 2015. |
These are just the major trips we took this year, not counting day trips and local adventures. I hope now you to take me seriously when I say my family loves to travel. This is just traveling that we have done this year. We are passionate about it and we love it. Over the course of this blog I will post in detail about these trips. Please comment about what you want to see more of in upcoming posts. Until the next adventure…