| The Washington DC Diet Plan and Workout |
[Sep. 22nd, 2007|03:44 pm] |
I’m in Washington, DC to visit my daughter who just moved here. And to eat. And I expect to return home five pounds lighter.
Meredith has been an amazing culinary guide for such a tiny little thing. Last night we ate at Bistro du Coin, a spot that seemed plucked right from the heart of the Rive Gauche in Paris. The night before we dined at Old Ebbitt Grill, which started off as Washington’s oldest saloon. Lunch today was duck and squash soup, with wild rice salad, at the new National Museum of the American Indian. Next up is Zed’s, our favorite Ethiopian place.
I can afford to all this exotic dining both from a financial and health perspective, because it’s all remarkably well priced and because after each meal there are vast amounts of walking in a town where every block seems to have something amazing to see and where museums take up huge city blocks. A thousand blessings to whomever invented gel inserts.
There are more free museums here just at the Smithsonian than you could really do justice to in many trips, and public transportation is cheap and convenient. My combination express bus and metro trip in from the somewhat distant Baltimore airport cost me less than $6.
A place to stay is another matter altogether. I was shocked at how much hotel prices have skyrocketed since I was here last.
Since I’m traveling alone I opted to have my first experience at a hostel, which happens to be right next door the Meredith’s apartment—currently furnished with cardboard boxes and a stadium chair while she waits for furniture to arrive.
And it’s been fun thanks to a helpful desk volunteer who noticed that my college backpacking days were far behind me, and put me in lower bunk near the bathroom.
And to my surprise, there are probably a dozen other guests my age or older about.
For those not trying to recapture their youth the next best housing bet is probably Hotwire.com. I’m splurging my last night on a room to myself. Hotwire doesn’t give you the name of the hotel until you complete the booking, but does show you its “star” level and tells you what part of town you’ll be in. I chose Dupont Circle because I know that area, and scored a room at the Doubletree for $82.
The best airfares are often into Baltimore from New Orleans. I scored a Ding fare on Southwest of $118 roundtrip. If you haven’t downloaded the Ding tool from www.southwest.com you’re missing some great deals. You can find the transportation option into town I used at www.wmata.com. There’s a great tool in the upper right that let’s you plan trip, and gives you specific routes and times. What it doesn’t do is tell you where to catch the bus at BWI airport. Nor does the signage there. Just step out the doors from baggage claim. Go to the center median, then all the way to your left you’ll see the bus shelter. |
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| A Guilt Driven Dash to Mexico |
[Jun. 27th, 2007|03:17 pm] |
Some years ago I went to Mexico just before the holidays and brought back a big batch of these really interesting punched metal ornaments that I found in an open-air market, with the intention of giving them to all of my friends as gifts. Never happened. And they all still look really terrific on my tree each year.
But now I think it’s time to return to Mexico and buy more, so that I can let go of all these years of guilt. Unfortunately airfares have risen dramatically to everywhere in Mexico since my last trip. Cruise fares on the other hand continue to drop to record lows. And just before the holidays is when the lowest prices of all appear.
Get this, sail out of Mobile on November 1, and you can take a four-night cruise to Cozumel for as little as $209 a person.
I think the even better deal is a five-night cruise from New Orleans that includes both Cozumel and a stop at the relatively new port of Costa Maya, constructed on a stretch of remote coastline near some of the newest of the Mayan excavations. That cruise will cost you $259 a person if you sail on December 10 and book soon.
Now mind you, that in the case of this $259 fare, you’ll be staying in a tiny windowless cabin with upper and lower berths. But like they say, if you’re doing anything but sleeping there you’re missing all the fun. And upgrades are available for a few bucks more.
Both of the cruises I’ve mentioned are aboard older Carnival ships, the Fantasy from New Orleans and Holiday from Mobile. Smartertravel.com has a handy tool on its homepage that let’s you compare the rates from a half a dozen online cruise purveyors. Select “western Caribbean” from the destination drop down box. Pricing is pretty similar from site to site, but some throw in extra perks. Perhaps most interesting is cruise.com’s offer of a free shore excursion. I called, and with these cheap cabins you get something pretty basic, but it could still amount to $50 in savings. |
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| It was first discovered in 1609, now it’s our turn |
[Jun. 20th, 2007|03:14 pm] |
This week I’m pleased to announce a great place to somewhere you’re probably barely aware of. For $159 plus taxes you can fly roundtrip from New Orleans to…White Plains.
Why, pray tell, would you want to go to White Plains? The airlines are touting it as an alternative airport for New York City, but what really interests me is that the airport (actually Westchester County Airport) is less than half an hour from the Hudson River Valley. (MORE)
This week I’m pleased to announce a great place to somewhere you’re probably barely aware of. For $159 plus taxes you can fly roundtrip from New Orleans to…White Plains.
Why, pray tell, would you want to go to White Plains? The airlines are touting it as an alternative airport for New York City, but what really interests me is that the airport (actually Westchester County Airport) is less than half an hour from the Hudson River Valley.
This beautiful valley was first discovered by Europeans when Englishman Henry Hudson was looking for a quick passage to China as he sailed along America's north Atlantic coast in 1609. Hudson thought he’d found it when he entered New York bay and what is now the river named for him. According to early journals the area was viewed as inhospitable, with wild animals, poisonous snakes, mountains and thick forests too dense to traverse.
Quite a different impression of the valley emerged in the mid-1800s when wealthy New York businessmen began to buy property in the Valley for summer and weekend retreats. "Millionaires Row" contains several homes open to the public, including the Vanderbilt Mansion Historical Site in Hyde Park, built in the late 1800s in a Beaux-Arts style.
The most famous homes in Hyde Park are those of the Roosevelt family. Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt's home from 1945-1962, contains her original and replacement furnishings. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum contains the personal papers of the former president, as well as government records, photographs, movies, gifts from heads of states, campaign items and personal and family memorabilia.
Not far is the country home of author Washington Irving. Sunnyside, located in Tarrytown (otherwise known to Irving as Sleepy Hollow). Irving used the tales and scenery of the Hudson Valley as the basis for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle."
There are dozens more manmade delights, like the unassuming Union Church, with stained glass windows by Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, not to mention the natural beautify of the river itself.
Several airlines are matching the fare. Try kayak.com’s flexible days feature to find it. Two great websites have vast amounts of information: www.hudsonrivervalley.com and www.hudsonvalley.org. |
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| My Summer Vacation Part II |
[Jun. 12th, 2007|03:13 pm] |
So here I am, two thousand and sixty-two miles from Baton Rouge, in the beautiful Olympic Peninsula town of Port Townsend, and even that far away there’s a bond to home. I soon discover in my explorations that Baton Rouge’s own blues music legend, Henry Gray, will be coming to the same far away place I’ve wandered my way to, for the Port Townsend Country Blues Festival at the end of July. (Look for more about Henry in our July issue.)
The festival will be held at Ft. Worden, a military compound build in the 1890’s, that incidentally was the locale where the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman” was shot. It now serves as a state park and is home to the Centrum project (www.centrum.org), a gathering place for artists and creative thinkers from around the world.
Those not headed for one of the creative workshops in the park’s beautifully restored historic military buildings are usually found strolling its stunning waterfront.
And then there’s the rest of this town I had to force myself to leave. The emerald hills that rise from the Puget Sound are bejeweled with dozens upon dozens of beautiful Victorian homes, each seemingly more elaborately landscaped than the next.
Galleries, restaurants, and historic hotels line the waterfront streets. We spent the night at the fun and funky Water Street Hotel (www.waterstreethotelporttownsend.com) where rooms with a shared bath started at $55 a night in the June shoulder season.
You can reach Port Townsend from Seattle by ferry, or by taking the drive up Highway 101 along the Puget Sound as I did. Allow plenty of time for the drive, because you’ll be pulling over every few miles to gasp once again at another evergreen covered mountain plunging dramatically into the sound. |
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| My Summer Vacation |
[Jun. 6th, 2007|03:10 pm] |
I’m trekking about the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest.
I paid $314 for two roundtrip tickets from New Orleans to Seattle on American Airlines. That’s two hundred dollars cheaper that the fare would normally have been because I forked up $134 to join the airline’s TrAAvel Perks program. (https://traavelperks.com/home/login.do?method=enter&c=0610-61-041) So initially my net savings is $66. The program gives each of two people traveling together a $100 discount if each of their tickets has a base fare of $200 or more. I bit restrictive, but as airfares are rising, finding tickets under $200 is getting tougher. And you can repeat in six months. So the really big savings kick in when I use the second discount later in the year.
The program also gives you bonus frequent flyer miles and a one day pass to the airline’s Admiral Club, along with some fairly basic discounts on car rentals and such.
But another perk that I’ve found surprisingly useful is access to a program that offers two for one dining coupons. Our trip will end up in Portland where I’ll be using a buy-meal-get-one-free coupon to dine at a local Ethiopian restaurant, perhaps my favorite African fare, and one of the few cuisines that we can’t find in our part of the world.
And for those of you with less exotic tastes you can also use it for a discount at the Sonic in Woodvillle |
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| Fantastic Fare. Fantastic Festival. |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:56 pm] |
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AirTran (www.airtran) has just launched new service to Charleston, South Carolina, and is kicking off that service with amazing fares starting as low as $69 each way from New Orleans during the middle of the week. Even more amazing is that those fares are available on a handful of days in early June during Charleston’s heralded Spoleto Festival. Spoleto Festival USA was founded in 1977 as a spin-off of an Italian festival created in 1958 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti. For seventeen days the festival fills the already fascinating city with 125 extraordinary performances of opera, dance, theatre, jazz, chamber music—even circus performances. Not to mention countless ancillary events and parties. Get a schedule of performances at www.spoletousa.org. Other airlines are matching AirTran’s fare into Charleston. |
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| The queen has come and gone, and now it’s our turn to visit. |
[May. 16th, 2007|04:01 pm] |
Life wasn’t all that fun for the folks who founded the first English colony in America. But four centuries later, Jamestown has all the makings of a fascinating and fun family summer vacation.
And fortunately there’s an excellent $159 airfare from New Orleans to nearby Norfolk on midweek flights through the summer. Even with the ever growing list of taxes and fees, it comes in under $200 if you choose the right dates. You can search for available dates using the flexible dates feature at www.travelocity.com.
For the ultimate adventure back in time, you can stay in an historic cottage on the grounds of stunningly recreated Colonial Williamsburg (www.colonialwilliamsburg.com). This option will run you about $200 a night, but fully immerses you in the experience. So much so that you can in fact, rent historically appropriate clothing for your kids to wear. I found myself wondering just how many kids go along willingly with that prospect. I will say though, that while my kids didn’t wear breeches when we went many years ago, the amazingly talented re-enactors did keep them spellbound for most of our visit, with programs specifically designed for children.
There are other less expensive options available, and shuttle service is supplied to Jamestown, just a short distance away. Activities to celebrate the anniversary are scheduled through the summer. Get details at www.americas400thanniversary.com. |
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| I confess. I clip coupons. |
[Mar. 28th, 2007|08:29 am] |
And it’s saved me hundreds of dollar when I travel.
I suspect that when they were growing up, my coupon clipping was the source of some embarrassment to my children, when I’d step in line at the supermarket clutching a fist full of paper scraps. Fortunately, today we can do our couponing in a much more discreet fashion—electronically.
This morning as I was surfing about www.site59.com, which specializes in last-minute trips, I found an excellent deal to Philadelphia leaving a week from today. Two people can fly roundtrip from New Orleans and stay four nights at a hotel in the historic district for $647.50. Not bad at all. But then I noticed there was a little blank box in the reservation window that said “promotional code.” I didn’t have a promotional code but now I knew there must be one out there! So I Googled “Site59 promotional code” and up pops www.dealtalker.com with instructions to type HOLIDAY59 into the little box. I do. And voila! The price drops by $59 to $588.50. An even better deal.
Knock a hundred bucks off a hotel stay of five nights or more booked through www.orbitz.com when you type MEGA100 into the little promotional box. And that’s often on top of another deal they may be offering. I found a Microtel not far from San Antonio’s Riverwalk that came in at $46.50 per night (including taxes and the Orbitz fee) for a five night stay in June, after I applied my electronic coupon.
The promotional code for Site59 must be used by March 31, and the Orbitz code by the end of April. But there will be more where those came from. |
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| Your Home Away from Home near Mickey |
[Mar. 21st, 2007|08:27 am] |
I’ve just found a place to stay near Disney World for $65 a night. Not bad. Especially when you discover that this isn’t a budget motel room. In fact it’s a three-bedroom house with a pool.
For my money the best accommodation value in Orlando for visiting families is one of the seemingly thousands of homes that you can rent by the day in the area. The rate I just mentioned is for the off-season, but the same house is only $99 in high season. That translates to $33 a room. Plus let me mention one more time, you have your own pool. And a kitchen, which can be a huge cost-cutter when you’re traveling with the whole family.
These rates are “Magicard” deals available through Orlando’s Convention and Tourism Bureau (http://www.orlandoinfo.com/magicard/index.cfm?act=offersinCategory&cid=14) where you’ll also find discounts to everything from hot air balloon rides to significant discounts at one of the cities plethora of themed dinner venues.
And here’s another little secret about visiting Orlando. Our kids tend to get out of school a bit earlier than those in the north, because we don’t have snow days. So if you round ‘em up and head out as soon as that final bell rings, you’ll beat the worst of the summer crowds, and the heat. Let’s face it, Orlando is just as hot and humid in summer as it is here.
Southwest (www.southwest.com) has just announced $59 one-way fares to Orlando from both New Orleans and Jackson. Several other airlines are matching. If you’re going to be back by mid-June you can also fly one way, and rent a car from Avis (www.avis.com/AvisWeb/JSP/US/en/deals/oneway07.jsp?ICID=DealsLanding&IID=oneway07) for $12.99 a day, if you’ll drive it back to either the New Orleans or Jackson airports. |
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| Airfares, Arts, and Architecture |
[Mar. 14th, 2007|08:23 am] |
So what do George Bernard Shaw, Frank Lloyd Wright and $138 have in common?
They’re all reasons to catch a flight to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, now that the Lake Effect Snow Season is coming to an end.
Buffalo’s (www.gobuffalo.com) recent economic history has been a mixed bag, but at the turn of the twentieth century the city was a thriving industrial hub, an era during which Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design an office building and a half dozen homes that are just part of the cities rich architectural heritage. The city also still boasts parks and mansion-lined parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, often called the father of American landscape architecture.
Hop back in your rental car, head over the bridge to Canada, and after (of course) the mandatory stop to admire breathtaking Niagara Falls—head another few miles down the road to the shores of Lake Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake. This exquisitely charming village is home to The Shaw Festival (www.shawfest.com), the only theatre in the world that specializes exclusively in plays by Shaw and his contemporaries, and in plays about the period of Shaw's lifetime. The season begins April 3 and runs through October.
Stay in one of the town’s charming B&B’s (www.niagaraonthelake.com) then wander about dining and shopping between performances, and you’ll swear you’re in England.
A $138 roundtrip fare is currently being offered on select travel dates to Buffalo out of New Orleans on AirTran (which now offers satellite radio onboard, I love that!) and for an extra $20 those of you nearer to Jackson can fly to Buffalo aboard USAir or American Airlines. Fares are available into the summer, so I’d save this trip till we’re sure the last of the blizzards have ended in Buffalo, and the humidity is taking its toll here. |
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| Travel Trailers and Tiki Gods |
[Mar. 7th, 2007|03:08 pm] |
Okay, so I’m about to recommend that you fork out a $105 to spend the night sleeping on a bus. And you’ll thank me for it after.
At the Shady Dell Trailer Park in Bisbee, Arizona, you can overnight in your choice from a dozen vintage mobile dwellings—ranging from a homemade travel trailer that was built in 1952 using plans out of Popular Mechanics magazine—to the aforementioned bus, described thus on the Shady Dell website(www.shadydell.com):
“It’s Tiki time…you and two friends can spend a night in this 1947 Airporter bus that has been transformed into a ‘Polynesian Palace’, complete with your own hand carved outrigger bar. Accommodations include a kitchen, small bathroom, vintage television and phonograph. After a night of Mai Tai’s stagger inside and pay homage to the resident Tiki god.”
It’s a lodging experience unlike any other in America, part of the charm of a small community that that celebrates non-conformity.
A former copper mining town, Bisbee has transformed itself into a respite from ordinary life, and not surprisingly has become a mecca for creative folk of all sorts. You can get a real sense of the vibe of the city from the stories and photos at www.sliceobisbee.com. More pragmatic info for visitors is at www.discoverbisbee.com.
Bisbee is about a 3 ½ hour drive southeast of Phoenix, but with stops in lovely Tuscon and kitschy Tombstone along the way, it’s a great driving tour. And we currently have airfares into Phoenix from New Orleans starting under $200 roundtrip. |
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| A Vegas Magic Act: The Disappearing Deal Reappears |
[Feb. 21st, 2007|03:23 pm] |
For me it all began many years ago with Melinda the Magician. She made things disappear. Mostly her clothes. She’s gone on to become quite well known and is now billed in Vegas as “The First Lady of Magic.” But back then her show was in a small casino off the strip, where for $8 you got a show, prime rib and a cocktail. Now that’s my kind of entertainment. I’ve been a huge fan of the amazingly diverse array of shows on offer in Las Vegas ever since.
And while today, the shows are more numerous and elaborate than ever, the amazing deals are largely gone. Or so I thought until I stumbled upon a new feature at one of my favorite websites. I’m a huge fan of travelzoo.com which sends out a “Top 20” list of their picks for the best travel deals that week. Last week included on the list was the announcement that they’ve added a section for half price show tickets in Las Vegas. http://shows.travelzoo.com.
Their offerings include tickets to the Vegas production of The Producers starting at $37 and to one of Cirque du Soleil’s four current productions in Vegas (KA), starting at $67. They were careful to include the caveat that the discounted tickets were in limited quantity, but with a little calendar juggling you just might be able to combine this ticket deal with some decent airfares out of New Orleans hovering just over $200 roundtrip. This is stuff for the dedicated deal digger. You’ll need to quickly coordinate the dates on which show deals are available with remaining discounted airline seats. And like at the tables in Vegas, the size of your payoff depends in part on your skill and a lot on luck. |
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| When a Mars Bar from the Convenience Store Just Won’t Do |
[Feb. 14th, 2007|03:20 pm] |
Okay so here it is Valentine’s afternoon and some of you still haven’t figured out what you’re giving that special someone as a heartfelt tribute to your undying love.
Never fear, here are detailed instructions that will make you a hero.
Make Your Own Love Boat
Step 1:
Print out the following:
Roses are red,
Oceans are blue,
Let’s run away together,
On a romantic cruise for two.
(Feel free to substitute an equally cheesy poem of your own making.)
Step 2:
This is where you start looking really clever. You’re going to fold this little love poem into an origami boat. And as always, the web is full of handy tips on just how to do so. Here’s one from a city in India intended to amuse children in the rainy season http://www.nagpurcity.net/netzine/980815a1.html.
This one has boat folding tips and other activities for your Sunday school class http://www.dltk-bible.com/crafts/mboat.htm.
And for those of you like me who have trouble following instructions here’s a site that has a step-by-step instructional video http://hobbies.expertvillage.com/videos/origami-boat.htm.
Step 3: Once you’ve crafted your vessel, throw in a handful of those little candy hearts and prepare to bask in the radiance of your loved one’s response.
Step 4: Curl up on the sofa with your special someone and your laptop and start surfing for your cruise deal.
If you’re in a hurry to whisk your honey away, a last minute deal search on Expedia.com turns up a $399 per person fare on the Norwegian Dream out of Houston leaving March 3 for seven nights. And you get a bonus onboard credit.
If you’re not in such a hurry to get away, Travelocity.com shows a sailing later in the year on Carnival for four nights out of Mobile for as little as $219 per person, with a free upgrade if you book by tomorrow.
Book Royal Caribbean’s April 28th sailing from New Orleans to San Juan, and the cruise line will throw in terry bathrobes for two, so that you and your sweetie can lounge about in your cabin feeding each other grapes. You’ll find this deal starting at $399 per person on Travelocity.com as well.
Your travel agent is also likely to have a host of hints if you’re not the self-service travel type. |
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| More Tools to Dig for Travel Treasure |
[Feb. 1st, 2007|03:41 pm] |
Recently a friend forwarded to me an email from AirTran about a poll it was conducting to help guide its decisions for future destinations, and he included an urgent note asking me to vote for Baton Rouge. I understand his sense of urgency. There are great airfare deals on a regular basis out of New Orleans. And often out of Jackson, thanks in part to the fact that Southwest serves both those cities. But Baton Rouge remains a challenge without a budget airline to ramp up competition. So I’ve gone in quest of anything I could find that would help with the search for good travel deals from BTR.
One useful tool is to check out the features on websites like Travelocity.com, Expedia.com and Orbitz.com that let you combine purchasing airfare with a hotel room. Awhile back I actually found such a combination for Dallas, where the combined cost of hotel and airfare was cheaper than the airfare alone. Don’t ask me why, and I have no idea if it will ever happen again. But I did just do a little checking for future dates, and discovered for example, that I could find a package with airfare to Albuquerque and four nights at a hotel in nearby Santa Fe, for only a few dollars more than the airfare alone out of Baton Rouge.
If you can fly on short notice, Site59.com offers similar packages for even less.
SmarterTravel.com offers a weekly roundup of last minute web fares out of Baton Rouge, which most weeks turns out to be a $99 roundtrip fare to Houston on Continental. But I’ve seen the occasional deal appear to Atlanta or Washington, DC.
And finally there’s Hotwire.com, which sometimes has significant discounts if you’re not picky about who, or exactly when you fly. You pick the dates, the website tells you how much, but you won’t know your exact travel times or the airline till after you’ve paid. So this works best on longer trips where a couple of hours at either end don’t matter much, or for travel to Europe, where pretty much every flight leaves in the afternoon and arrives the next morning.
Hotwire also offers discounts on hotels and cars that can be huge, with the same caveat. For hotels, you’ll know the approximate area, and the service level of the hotel, but you won’t know the name of the hotel till you buy.
Cars rentals offer perhaps the least mysterious experience, the only thing you won’t know in advance is the name of the rental company, and they use only major car rental companies. I’m headed to Raleigh this weekend and found a rental car from Hotwire for $16.95, ten dollars less a day than I could find anywhere else. Keep in mind though, that once again, these deals aren’t refundable, so make sure of your plans before you book. |
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| The Tools to Dig for Travel Treasure |
[Jan. 23rd, 2007|03:39 pm] |
Much to my amazement it was still there when I woke up this morning. I blinked and squinted and looked again. There on my laptop screen was a $134 roundtrip airfare between New Orleans and Seattle. Amazing. (MORE)
That’s before taxes of course, but it’s still an absolutely astonishing deal, and it’s valid for travel into May when Seattle’s weather is much improved. The fare is offered by both American and Delta, but good luck finding it on either of their web sites. While all the airlines “guarantee” that their sites have the lowest fares, the booking tools on most of those sites don’t give you much help finding them. Which makes the few extra bucks you’ll pay to book through Orbitz.com or Travelocity.com well worth it. They both have flexible search tools that will show you what the lowest fare is between two cities, then actually help you find it. In this case the “Weekend Trip” option on Orbitz turned up the best fare to Seattle with the least amount of effort on my part.
One airline that you won’t find through Travelocity or Orbitz, fortunately does do a good job of helping you track down their best fares. Southwest’s reservations page has a “Shortcut to low fares” link that takes you to a calendar with a color-coded display showing travel dates with the best fares.
And they have another cool tool with an equally cool name. If you’re in striking distance of the New Orleans or Jackson airports, the two airports in our area served by Southwest, take a moment to download “Ding!, a small piece of software that sits in the background and promises to deliver news of the occasional extra special airfare deal. I was skeptical at first, after several weeks passed and nothing happened. Then suddenly one morning I was greeted by the news that there was a fare from Jackson to Sacramento (gateway to the bay area’s wine country) of $47 each way. And a similarly low fare from New Orleans to Albuquerque. And you could only get these fares through Ding!
I was instantly hooked. |
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| New Year. New Adventures. |
[Dec. 28th, 2006|01:34 pm] |
We’re about to celebrate the arrival of a New Year, and for me that includes celebrating the arrival of a new crop of vacation days. So this is when I begin putting together my travel strategy for the year ahead. I thought I’d share my little checklist as a beginning point for you to start your own planning.
I start by determining what my “must” trips are, for work or for family events. Then I ponder if I can I use any of these trips as a launch pad for another trip I’d like to take.
Where would I like to go this year? I keep a running list of places I’d like to visit, or revisit. And I’m careful to distinguish in my own mind, whether it’s a specific place I’m interested in or a kind of experience. If I’m looking for a chance to see great theater, I could do that in New York. But I could probably have a very similar experience for a lot less in Chicago or Toronto. I love Europe when I have the time and money, but Quebec can provide a very similar experience for a fraction of the cost and without jet lag.
Once I’ve updated my running list I keep a continuous watch for an airfare sale to any of my choices, or an opportunity to tack one on to a business trip. Asheville has long been on my list. I have to go to Raleigh on business next year, so I’m planning to leverage that airfare someone else is paying for, add a couple vacation days to the trip and take the scenic drive to Asheville.
If I know I’ll need to travel over a major holiday, I save some travel days to “bracket” around the peak travel days. I’m in Iowa visiting my family for the holidays as I write this and by delaying my return until tomorrow and using an alternative airport, I was able not only to use frequent flyer miles, but also take advantage of a special that let me fly for just 15,000 miles roundtrip. It’s a four-hour drive back to St. Louis for the flight home, but halfway I’ll stop to explore Hannibal, Missouri, a beautiful riverside community that was Mark Twain’s childhood home. And I’ll save $300.
If you’re planning to travel with kids this summer, remember that our schools tend to let out slightly before schools in the north because we don’t have to allow for snow days. Use that advantage to head straight for Disneyworld to beat the crowds—and while there are still lots of hotel deals Orlando.
If you’re traveling without kids, fall and winter usually offer the best deals on airfare. The airlines have already started announcing their January sales. Watch for more to come. Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, and Expedia.com all offer special tools that will keep an eye on the destinations on your list and notify you when the fares drop.
So there you have my travel strategy for the year ahead. And whether your travel plans take you across the globe or across the street to have coffee with the neighbor, I wish you a New Year filled with good health and good company. |
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| Frugal Fun in Florida |
[Dec. 6th, 2006|02:27 pm] |
I’m just off a plane back from Ft. Lauderdale. It’s been almost a decade since my last visit and thousands of new high-rise condos seem to have erupted from the sand since then. And thousands more luxury yachts seem to be lining the canals that interlace across the city.
And while all that’s amusing to observe, I’d come back to immerse myself in a totally different Ft. Lauderdale—the diver/backpacker/extended family/budget hipster crowd that hangs out around tiny vintage pools in funky 50s era motels a block or two from the beach or in one of the older canal-side neighborhoods inland. Recognizing the cultural value of these properties, the Ft. Lauderdale tourism folks have a program that rates them and makes them easy to locate. Look for the “Superior Small Lodging” icon in the hotels section at www.sunny.org.
This was also the vacation where I put several of the tips I’ve been writing about in this column into action. How well did they work? Here’s the report.
1. As I’ve often advised I flew on the holiday, leaving late Thanksgiving afternoon after a slightly earlier than usual turkey and fixings with a lively group of friends. The airport was all but empty; I was through security in record time. My return trip yesterday was timed to be after the rush on Sunday and Monday.
2. Thanksgiving morning I checked in online, and took advantage of a service that let me put in my cell phone number to be alerted of flight changes. Two minutes after doing so, my phone rang. My flight had been cancelled. But because the warning came in early, I had plenty of time to arrange an alternate flight.
3. I used Orbitz.com to book my lodging. I found a no-frills-but-friendly mom and pop place a half-block from the beach, and after applying one of the special discount codes I mentioned in an earlier Further Afield, I ended up with the room for $41 a night, including taxes. It was right next door to Bahia Mar Marina, from which many of the snorkeling and excursion boats leave. Sweet! That particular deal seems to be gone, but others pop up all the time, so look for them, not only on Orbitz, but Travelocity, Expedia, Hotwire and Priceline.
Through the end of December, it’s still low season in South Florida. Fares to Ft. Lauderdale are terrific at the moment, starting at $98 roundtrip from New Orleans. You can compare availability on most airlines at Travelocity.com. But to take advantage of Southwest’s non-stops to FLL, you’ll need to go directly to southwest.com. |
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| Awesome Deal to Seattle |
[Nov. 28th, 2006|07:40 am] |
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It's about 7:30 on the last Tuesday in November, and if you stumble across this post soon, you may still be able to score one of the amazing $130ish (plus taxes) fares from New Orleans to Seattle on Continental. Northwest is just a few bucks more. But there were just a few dates left when I checked just now. Try travelocity.com, and use the flexible dates feature to look for dates the fare is still available. |
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| Sleepless in Seattle |
[Nov. 22nd, 2006|01:39 pm] |
I was walking out of a charming little Japanese restaurant on my first visit to Seattle, when I began to realize that trouble was brewing in my belly.
Sure enough, by the end of the evening I was curled up in a fetal position in my hotel room with a raging case of food poisoning. My health plan’s “nurse on call” assured me that it would run its course, not much comfort with only two days left to explore the city—and to make a pilgrimage to a place I’ve yearned for a decade to visit.
For years I’ve shopped online from Archie McPhee (www.mcphee.com) This purveyor of all things weird and wacky was my source for things like wind-up hopping lederhosen, cat lady action figures, and bendable party mustaches. On this trip I was determined to score a pair of fire-breathing Nunzilla wind-up dolls as stocking stuffers for my Catholic schoolgirl daughters.
And so not yet recovered, I headed off for an afternoon of shopping that was everything I imagined it would be. When I wasn’t bent over from stomach cramps, I was bent over in hysterical laughter.
Pepto Bismol in hand, it was then off to tour the city’s sewer system. Well actually its historic sewer system. Just how many other cities can boast an historic sewer system? Today it’s a system of sewage-free underground tunnels that lead to fascinating discoveries about the early days of this pioneer city. Trust me, I was skeptical too.
Get details at www.undergroundtour.com. And for those of you with more conventional sightseeing aspirations the tourism folks will be glad to share an array of other fascinating (and above ground) things to do at www.visitseattle.org.
All these memories were brought flooding back by my discovery that several airlines are offering early December fare of around $200 roundtrip from New Orleans. Check for available dates at Travelocity.com. And if you can’t go then, both Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com have tools that let you put a “watch” on specific destinations. They’ll alert you when the next fare sale rolls around. |
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| Travel Tips for Preserving Your Holiday Spirit |
[Nov. 9th, 2006|09:26 am] |
Remember the Christmas holiday airline meltdown a couple years ago? I was in it. My Christmas Eve flight home to see the family was cancelled because of a blizzard in Cincinnati. I was told that the next available flight would be the day after Christmas. After some begging the reservations agent found a flight very early Christmas morning that would involve an extra connection, but would get me to my folks that afternoon.
Remember how it snowed in New Orleans on Christmas morning two years ago? A wonderful thing if you're peering out the window of your living room next to stacks of presents under your tree. Not so nice when you're peering out a plane window on the Louis Armstrong Airport tarmac while you wait your turn for de-icing. As you can imagine, there isn't a lot of de-icing equipment at the New Orleans' airport.
It took two hours. The good news is that we were able to watch the entire movie "Elf" while we were waiting.
The delay of course meant a missed connection in Atlanta, and then again in Minneapolis. I ate Christmas dinner at the Chili's in Terminal G.
All that said, I did eventually make it home on Christmas Day. But countless others did not.
So forewarned, here are some thoughts on how to prepare yourself for holiday travel.
Know which days are the least crowded in the skies. This year airlines are offering their best deals for travel November 23, 24, and 29. Then again on December 25. The holidays themselves are often the least crowded days to fly. Many airlines have handy calendars on their websites that show the best, and next best, days to fly.
Look for alternate airports. It will cost me about $250 to fly in to the airport closest to my hometown in Iowa, even flying on budget days. I could fly into Chicago for half that. It's a four hour drive, but if I decide make the Windy City part of my holiday celebration and catch a Second City performance on one end of the trip, it puts a whole new spin on the experience.
Take advantage of all the electronic tools out there. Every airline now lets you check in online. Check their site for the latest on what exactly you can bring aboard in your carry on luggage, and how much you can carry on. You can also arrange to have the airline text message your cell phone if there is a change in your flight status. Orbitz.com and Travelocity.com have services that will forward a message to someone if your flight is delayed. There's a really cool website called seatguru.com that shows you the best and worst seats on every aircraft in the sky, a handy thing in crowded flights.
If you're flying out of New Orleans, consider reserving a parking space. I showed up with my daughter one year for a Thanksgiving trip to Cancun, only to find that every parking space within a mile of the airport was taken. After circling for half an hour, with dread that we'd miss our flight setting in, the airport mercifully opened up an empty field for emergency parking. Surprisingly, parking can still be a problem even with the airport still not back to its original flight capacity. You can make an advance reservation at www.parknfly.com.
And finally, if you do find yourself trapped in airport limbo somewhere, remember that it is still the Season of Light. Give the gift of good cheer to the other folks caught in the same circumstance. Smile even if you don't want to. Organize the folks at Gate 32 to go caroling at Gate 33. Ask the lady at the Natural Nut Stand to make up a dozen little bags of cashews and hand them out randomly.
Once some years ago, during the chaos that followed a cancelled flight, I had a gate agent come in to a crowded terminal looking for me, then guide me down a back corridor onto the last seat on an oversold flight. Why? Because, he told me, while a sea of other passengers had been screaming at him for the last hour, I had been polite.
Enough said. |
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