{"id":10,"date":"2016-09-21T03:20:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T03:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myvacationpants.com\/2016\/09\/21\/put-on-your-tripadvisor-vacation-pants\/"},"modified":"2016-09-21T03:20:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T03:20:00","slug":"put-on-your-tripadvisor-vacation-pants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/21\/put-on-your-tripadvisor-vacation-pants\/","title":{"rendered":"Put on your Tripadvisor Vacation Pants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I remember when I discovered tripadvisor.com. \u00a0It was early 2011 and I was planning a trip down route 66. \u00a0I was visiting family in Colorado and after that we decided to drive out to Chicago, Illinois, the place where the famous route 66 begins. \u00a0I was so excited to plan our hotel stays along the way and I came across this fantastic travel website. \u00a0I looked up all the cities we were planning on staying in along the route. \u00a0The site gave me the top hotels, restaurants, and things to do in every place. \u00a0I was so excited that most of the # 1 rated hotels were dirt cheap compared to California hotels, and we got to stay in highly rated hotels along our entire trip. \u00a0Tripadvisor did not disappoint. \u00a0This post will give you some tips on using this amazing website and app. \u00a0You won’t want to plan another trip without consulting Tripadvisor first. \u00a0Then, after your trip, you’ll want to come back and do some reviews of your own, so you can advise future travelers.<\/p>\n


\n<\/a>\u00a0Step 1: \u00a0Sign up for a free Tripadvisor account by going to tripadvisor.com and creating an account. \u00a0You can search for reviews and restaurants without logging in, but the site does give some great features for having an account. \u00a0For instance, you can save your locations you would like to visit during your trip. \u00a0I also have downloaded the app on my phone. \u00a0When I am on vacation, I just pull up my save list and we start visiting all the places I scoped out in advance. \u00a0There are some other fun features as well. \u00a0I love that it tracks where you have visited on a map. \u00a0It shows the percentage of the world you have traveled to, and how many miles you have traveled. \u00a0You can add places you want to go to, or places you have already gone. \u00a0It’s a great visual for a traveler like myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Yeah, I know, it says I have only visited 7 % of the world. \u00a0I’m working on making that go up.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Step 2: \u00a0Start planning your trip. \u00a0I have been noticing some mighty cheap flights for Seattle on Google Flights (check out this post)<\/a>, so I am going to show you how to plan your trip there. The following steps will easily apply to any trip around the world you are planning, just change the destination.<\/p>\n

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Go ahead and type in the city you are visiting in the “near” section.<\/div>\n

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Step 3: \u00a0Then type in what you want to look for: hotels, things to do, or restaurants. \u00a0I always like to start with hotels because that gives me an idea of where I am going to stay in the city I am visiting. \u00a0I always check hotwire.com first (check out my post here)<\/a>\u00a0to see if there are some interesting deals, I purchase the hotel on there if I find a good deal, and immediately look up the reviews on you guessed it… Tripadvisor. \u00a0Sometimes in a BIG city like Seattle, I like to make sure that I know where I am staying. \u00a0If you don’t have any luck on hotwire.com, then Tripadvisor is a great place to find out what hotel to stay in. \u00a0On hotwire.com you have to book blind. \u00a0The name and exact location of the hotel is not released until click the purchase button, but on Tripadvisor you can see the ranking, reviews, prices, and names of hotels right up front.<\/div>\n

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If you are looking for a hotel on Tripadvisor go ahead and type in the city you are visiting and click on the hotels button.<\/p>\n

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That will bring up a list of hotels in the area you are searching for. \u00a0Put the dates in the window above and it will give you prices for the times you are going. \u00a0It will also give you several booking options to choose from. \u00a0Right below the date window you can sort the hotels by different criteria: \u00a0availability, ranking, just for you, lowest price, and distance. \u00a0I like to click on ranking. \u00a0This will order the hotels from highest ranked hotel to lowest ranked hotel. \u00a0I scan down the list until I find a highly ranked hotel in my price range. \u00a0Once you have decided where you are going to stay, it is time to find out the top things to do in the area.<\/div>\n
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Go ahead and click on the Things to Do tab on the city home page and start reading reviews and seeing what the highest rated things to do in the area are. \u00a0Once you have completed the activity, you can review the activity for other travelers to do. \u00a0I have written over 100 reviews for different places I have visited. \u00a0I feel like I am helping fellow travelers plan their activities and make good decisions about where they will go when they travel.<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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Tripadvisor makes it fun to write reviews with their digital badge collection and ranking systems. \u00a0Apparently I am the #4<\/div>\n
reviewer in my hometown of Yucaipa, California, and I am only 4 reviews away from grabbing the #3 spot.<\/div>\n
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Once you have mapped out what area of town you will be sightseeing in, it is time to pick where you want to eat.<\/div>\n
This is my favorite part of planning on Tripadvisor. \u00a0Tripadvisor makes it easy to plan where you want to get your grub on.<\/div>\n
Honestly, highly rated Tripadvisor restaurants have NEVER let us down. \u00a0The app has a “near me now” button on your phone<\/div>\n
that you can hit and all the amazing restaurants pop up on your phone. \u00a0I have used that numerous times on the go.<\/div>\n
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After perusing these sections, I have decided on a couple places I am going to need to eat and visit while I am in<\/div>\n
Seattle, Washington.<\/div>\n
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Things to Do: Chihuly Garden and Glass (#1 rated thing to do in Seattle), Space Needle,\u00a0Washington State Ferries,<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0Pike’s Place Market to name a few. There are over 450 listed things to do, so you will have a lot of options. \u00a0Some cities or<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0towns we visit have a much shorter list. \u00a0I always enjoy what we find on the list of things to do.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Places to Eat: Pike’s Place Chowder, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese (Hello?!!!), Gelatiamo (Yep, it’s a Gelato joint).<\/div>\n
This is only a few of the culinary delights Seattle offers.<\/div>\n
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In true My Vacation Pants fashion, I have digital proof of using Trip Advisor on many fantastic trips. \u00a0Check out the gallery<\/div>\n
\u00a0below and read the captions on some of the fantastic things I have planned and done because of Tripadvisor.<\/div>\n
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Chili Hot Dogs at Casper’s Famous Chili Dogs in Pleasant Hill, California.<\/div>\n
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Enjoying our ocean view from our balcony room at the Holiday Inn Resort in Galveston, Texas.<\/div>\n
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Just a little beauty and rock skipping at Blue Water Hotel and Casino in Parker, Arizona<\/div>\n
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The Granite Dells in Prescott, Arizona.<\/div>\n
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The only McDonald’s with Turquoise arches, in Sedona, Arizona.<\/div>\n
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The Continental Divide in Glacier National Park, Montana.<\/div>\n
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Tonto Natural Bridge just outside of Payson, Arizona.<\/div>\n
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Woolworth’s Diner is still around in Bakersfield, California.<\/div>\n
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The Labyrinths located in Laughlin, Nevada.<\/div>\n
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So many great cheesy eats at Bravo Farms, located in \u00a0Tulare, California.<\/div>\n
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Texas shaped waffles at the Staybridge Suites in Austin, Texas.<\/div>\n
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Castillo de San Cristobol, the largest Spanish fort built in the New World, located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.<\/div>\n
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Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours, located just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana.<\/div>\n
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The beautiful lakes of Sandpoint, Idaho.<\/div>\n
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The floating city of \u00a0Bayview, Idaho.<\/div>\n
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The World’s Largest Floating Boardwalk in Coure D’ Laine, Idaho.<\/div>\n
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A sibling walk among the Cedars in Glacier National Park, Montana.<\/div>\n
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Country Inn Lake Resort located in Hot Springs, Arkansas included a swim dock with warm and refreshing swimming.<\/div>\n
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Purple Vanilla Ice Cream in a waffle cone at the Purple Cow in \u00a0Hot Springs, Arkansas.<\/div>\n
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Took in a wonderful dinner at a turn of the century repurposed bath house located in Hot Springs, Arkansas.<\/div>\n
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Tamale City at McClard’s BBQ in Hot Springs, Arkansas.<\/div>\n
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The Hot Springs Tower located in Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.<\/div>\n
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Cupcakes you need a fork to eat at Fat Bottomed Girls Cupcakes located in Hot Springs, Arkansas.<\/div>\n
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The Montana Vortex located in Kalispell, Montana.<\/div>\n
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Getting our homemade ice cream on at Panhandle Cone and Coffee located in Sandpoint, Idaho.<\/div>\n
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Riverfront Park, the site of the 1974 World’s Fair located in Spokane, Washington.<\/div>\n
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The Milk Bottle Diner located in Spokane, Washington.<\/div>\n

Well I hope you found this post on how to use Tripadvisor helpful. \u00a0Please let me know by using the contact information below if\u00a0you need any help using the site or app. \u00a0<\/span>Now get planning the next get away!<\/span>
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\n<\/u><\/span>www.tripadvisor.com<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I remember when I discovered tripadvisor.com. \u00a0It was early 2011 and I was planning a trip down route 66. \u00a0I was visiting family in Colorado and after that we decided to drive out to Chicago, Illinois, the place where the famous route 66 begins. \u00a0I was so excited to plan our hotel stays along […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,14,15,19,30,32,33,41,58,66,68,69,71,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budget-travel","category-cheap-hotels","category-cheap-travel","category-dining","category-family-travel","category-google-flights","category-hotels","category-my-vacation-pants","category-seattle","category-things-to-do","category-travel-blog","category-traveling-on-a-budget","category-tripadvisor","category-vacation-planning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p87NkQ-a","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/myvacationpants.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}