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Tip for Hawaii

We were in Hawaii last month and wow oh wow, things are expensive there! Friends and family had forewarned us, but I kind of laughed off the warnings. How much more expensive -- 25% -- I wondered? Well, the first night we were there, we went grocery shopping and half a loaf of bread -- HALF A LOAF!!! -- cost $6. Whole organic milk -- 96 ounces, so not even a full gallon -- was knocking on the door of $8. We honestly couldn't believe the prices.

Going with my philosophy of packing light, I had checked ahead of time to find out if there was a Target on the island we were visiting (Kauai). There wasn't and I didn't bother looking for any other stores. We had already located a bunch of grocery stores so I figured anything we really needed like diapers or wipes could be found there easily. Once we got to Kauai, we did find out that there was a Wal-Mart and a chain of drug stores called Long's. We mentally made a note and went on our merry way.

On our second day on the island, we were listening to the radio and heard that there was a restaurant opposite the Costco -- wait, hold the horses, COSTCO? It had never occurred to me to investigate whether a Costco was in the area. After all, it's a big warehouse store and Kauai is not a big place. We ended up locating the Costco and lo and behold, it had a gas station. At this point, I probably sound like a crazy person who has never seen a store before, but gasoline prices on the island were running around $4.50 to $4.60/gallon at the end of May 2013. Costco's gas station was $4.17/gallon. A pretty substantial savings, especially since we filled up a couple of times, including just before returning the car to the rental agency.

Inside the store, we found another surprise. All the same "tourist" products were available but at much less cost. For instance, we found a package of 12 Mauna Loa chocolate covered macadamia nuts for $25, compared to an average price of $3 to $4/box at the grocery store. Kauai coffee was $15 for a 24 ounce bag of beans compared to the same price at the actual coffee plantation for a 14 ounce bag. We didn't check the price of produce there, but for dry goods, we found the prices were pretty comparable to the mainland. Of course, I think you'd have to spend A LOT of time in Hawaii to make it worth purchasing the 8-pound pack of pasta, but for certain products, it might very well be worth it.

So, that's the frugal tip of the day -- if you're going to Hawaii (or heck, any expensive place), check to see if there's a Costco or Sam's Club or BJ's available to save some bucks. Do note that you must be a member of those stores to shop there.

Passports for Minors (under age 16)

When traveling outside of the United States, all persons must have a passport; a birth certificate is no longer acceptable as a travel document. This includes countries like Canada or some Caribbean nations where the birth certificate was once accepted as an appropriate document.

You can find instructions and forms for applying for a passport for your minor child at the State Department's website. The government is also helpful enough to post current processing times for a passport here. In general, plan on at least 6 weeks processing time to get the passport after submitting the application if you don't want to pay the extra feeds for expedited service. Also take into consideration any time for applying for a visa for the country you're visiting; entry/exit requirements for countries can be found here.

For passport pictures, there are specialty places where you can get them, but it might be cheaper and more convenient to stop in to your local Walgreens or Costco to get them. The passport processing facility might also do a passport picture for you for an additional fee. Expect to pay about $10, give or take, for the passport pictures. If you're looking for a more frugal method, I used a free software called Cam to Print* for my daughter's recent visa application pictures. The software produced a 4 x 6 photo with 6 passport pictures on it; I had the photo printed at my nearby Walgreens for a total cost of 19 cents (including tax) for the six pictures. However, using this software is at your own risk; please evaluate your risk level before using.


* This software puts a lot of 'extra' software on your computer. Please be aware when adding it and use your Control Panel to remove if desired.

Disney raises admission prices

Disney has raised the price of one day admission prices in both Florida and California. You can read more about this development here. If you are looking for discount tickets from an authorized reseller, I recommend Undercover Tourist. There are other legitimate sites out there but I'm citing Undercover Tourist simply because we used them when we went to the Orlando park in April of 2011 and were very pleased. Discounts vary based on the type of ticket you purchase and it looks like the deal we purchased in April 2011 is no longer available (buy 5 days, get the 6th day free). As of June 4th (when Disney announced their price increase), it looks like Undercover Tourist is honoring the older pricing until inventory runs out. If you're thinking about a trip to Disney in the near future, this might be the time to buy!

Kindle Fire at Amazon

I've mentioned in a previous post that the Kindle Fire has been an invaluable "toy" for both Mommy and baby when traveling. I have the original Kindle Fire, not the HD version, that goes for about $159 right now. It's a great buy, mho, for the tablet, especially if you plan to let your child use it for any length of time. I've learned that no matter how much I try to teach my child that a tablet is not for throwing, somehow, it always ends up on the floor!

There are lots of apps available for kids at the App store, though rumor has it, the app selection is not as extensive as what Apple offers for the iPad. For my child, at 17 months old, Picasso - Draw! Paint! Doodle! is a great free app. I've downloaded a bunch of the free puzzle apps, but they are a bit complicated for the child right now and I end up having to fill in the puzzles for her. Another app I like is also free: iStoryBooks. Another thing to keep in mind is that Amazon also has promotions every now and then for an app, for example, buy this app and get $1 mp3 credit at the music store. Some of the apps that qualify for this promotion are free to begin with so it's win/win!

And oh! The best part? All the music and video you purchase on Amazon is put in the Cloud so it's accessible on your Kindle anywhere you have an internet connection. I bought my child 50 Nursery Rhyme Songs, which she adores, and it's awesome that I can play it for her on the Kindle anytime she wants to hear her favorite songs.

If you're interested in finding out more about the Kindle, go here to shop Amazon's New Kindle Fire.  

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