Weekend Family Getaway to Sedona Arizona via Spirit Airlines

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 A couple weeks ago, Spirit Airlines posted their fall deals, and we took advantage. We've flown Spirit many times, and highly recommend them, especially for weekend getaways like this one. Let me begin by saying that Spirit doesn't know that I love them, or that I'm writing this, and is in no way compensating us for this review, or any part of this blog post.

With that said, we decided to take advantage of the great Spirit sale and fly to Phoenix from Dallas Fort Worth for a weekend getaway with the kids.

I've had friends and coworkers comment that we must be rolling in the dough if we can afford so many trips. We're not by any means. With the Spirit $9 Fare club we flew to Phoenix for $23 each way per person. That means it only cost $96 for the 4 of us to fly round trip!

Spirit has what they call a Bare Fare, which essentially means you're not getting any free peanuts or sodas. You can read more about this here on their Spirit 101 website. You also only get 1 smallish free carry-on bag and pay for another carry-on bag and checked bags. This is only a big deal if you're traveling for a long period of time, and even so, the checked bags rates combined with the base fare is still cheaper than many airlines.

Spirit says their seats are smaller due to an extra row, but I haven't noticed the difference.

For carry-on bags we bought the kids High Sierra XBT Wheeled Backpack, Carmine/Red Line/Black, which the kids LOVE. The bags hold all their clothes, have a pocket for books or toys, have a spot to tuck away the shoulder straps, and very smooth wheels. I love the bags because they are roomy, and yet count as a free personal item on the airplane. Even Grady who at 2.5 years old had no trouble wheeling through the airport on his own. And be careful if you try to do it for him, "That's MINE! I can do it by MYSELF!"

For this weekend getaway, we had an 11pm CST departure flight on Friday night, that arrived in Phoenix at 2.5 hours later. The kids wore their jammies, so they only had to pack 2 outfits: one for Saturday, one for Sunday, plus a bathing suit.

Tim and I put our 2 outfits with the kids clothes in their backpacks, and carried a few extra essentials (like snacks, diaper wipes, pull-ups, snake bite kit for the Arizona desert hikes) in the diaper bag and Tim's Camelbak (Camelbak Products Men's Rim Runner 22 Hydration Pack, Charcoal/Chili Pepper, 100-Ounce).

So that's how we flew for only $96. We still had a rental car, airport parking, 2 nights hotel and restaurant meals for 2 days. We utilize a lot of coupons, online deals, and reward points, to get the best possible deals. We don't have, or spend, a lot of money.

When it comes right down to it, these trips and experiences are the best gifts we can give our kids, and that makes it worth the money. Grady will be 3 in November, and Gracie is 8.5, and both kids know how to travel.


Now the real question, and debate of the day is... where are going to fly next?