Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Fare stalking

I spent weeks obsessing over the fares to Germany. Finding the best fares was easy, but the layovers were insane, and the travel dates were way out of our range. We are going to be travelling with a 7 year old, and spending hours in an airport in Amsterdam or London did not seem like a good time.

I checked every site, everyday. Kayak, Vayama, Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, CheapTickets... and the airline's websites, too. I signed up for every fare alert and deal detector I could find. I even tried FareCast, but they didn't have predictions for Denver to Frankfurt. I made bets with myself. I found cheap tickets, about $400 round trip, but that didn't include the extra $400 in taxes. And again, the layovers, ugh. I waited. And waited. For weeks.

Biting the bullet, I jumped on a chance to get all three tickets for $3000. Sticker shock? Yes. It was not the $1800 I had hoped for, obviously. But the itinerary was a breeze. Colorado Springs to O'Hare, a piece-of-cake one hour layover, and then direct from O'Hare to Frankfurt. The return itinerary is similar. The travel time is approximately 12 hours both ways.

I booked through Orbitz. The flights are on United, but the fare wasn't available on their website. Plus, Orbitz has this Price Assurance thing. If someone else books my itinerary at a lower price, they refund the difference.

Also, while booking, Orbitz offered a rental car for all 11 days for $350 from Avis. Seriously. Not Euros. Dollars. I got that too. It's a VW Polo, so it's small, but not Smartcar small. We'll fit. And probably get bumped to a higher class vehicle (cross your fingers!).

At any rate, the Germany/Austria Christmas 2008 trip is now definitely happening! I'll be dusting off the Rosetta Stone discs and brushing up on my German.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Red Carpet is for me!

I finally broke the 100,000 mile threshold with United's Mileage Plus plan!! And I have 30 Elite Qualifying Segments. Which makes me a "Premier" member. And you know what that means? Of course not, so I'll tell you.

1. I am now exempt from baggage fees. $15 for the first bag? $25 for the second? Over weight fees? Not here. I will pack as outfits as I want, and fill my bags with as many souvenirs as I choose, and I will never be charged. (Yes, I know if you're military on orders, they won't charge you.)

2. 25% more miles. Oooh, I have 100,000 miles already, and they are making it easier to get more... This is kind of like how movie stars get swag bags full of stuff they already have. Ha! Anyway, so now my 1000 mile flight now earns 1250 miles. AND it includes Lufthansa flights, which is my favorite airline.

3. Priority wait and standby. Have you ever flown standby, and wondered how you kept getting bumped farther and farther down the list? It's because Premier passengers like me are requesting to fly standby, and pushing you down the list. Don't hate. I spent more than my fair share of time hanging out in LAX because I could not get on a standby flight. It's my turn.

4. Premier check-in and boarding. You know that line with the red carpet? That's for me.

5. Automatic and free upgrades to the next class of service, if available. So if there is an empty seat in First Class, I automatically get it, even though I bought the back-of-the-plane-and-the-seats-don't-recline seat. And I automatically get Economy Plus, no matter what, if the plane has it (those are the extra-legroom seats).

6. And best of all, all these little luxuries apply to anyone flying with me!! If we're on the same itinerary, we all get bumped up. I told you I would never forget my friends on my rise to the top!

And you may think it's all because I've been flying back and forth to see James, and while that's part of it, that's not even close to the majority of miles I earned.

I have the Chase United Visa DEBIT card. So even my debit card transactions earn me miles. I also have the Chase United Visa CREDIT card.

I shop at Vons/Safeway, and with their Club Card, I earn miles there too (I had to link my United Mileage Plus number to my Von's card).

If I'm buying something online, I check the United Mileage Plus Mall - some of those stores earn 10 to 1 on the miles (spend $20, get 200 miles). A great deal if you were going to buy it anyway.

And finally, I do exclusively fly on United. They are usually the cheapest anyway, and they have the best schedules and fly into nearly every airport. I always check eBay for a United coupon before I book. People are always selling those vouchers they get for getting bumped. I can pay $20 and get a $100 voucher. It's like trading a $20 bill for a $100 bill.
Be careful of changing your itinerary, the fee is now $150 to do that. For you. Not for me. I'm Premier baby. I can change it whenever I want.

Roll out that red carpet!!!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Boston, Massachusetts

I switched my flights from Sunday morning to Monday evening, giving me enough time to get my tourist on. I called my friend Will (a Brookline resident), and asked him to scout out a B&B for me to serve as my base of operations. The Boston In A Day tour was going to be a blitz. After the fiasco with the Sea Crest Resort, I was ready for anything.





The Bertram Inn was beautiful, marvelous, and fabulous. Good job with the recommendation, Will! I could live here. The staff was extra friendly, even Googling directions to Harvard and printing them out for us. Our room was adorable. It looked like something on Martha Stewart, and we all know Martha Stewart is my imaginary friend. It was perfect. And guess what? The price was the same as that ghetto Sea Crest Resort I stayed at the two nights before.

I started my tour at Quincy Market, on the recommendation of one of Jenn's wedding guests. She said it was a good place to find all kinds of food, street performers, and shops. I walked around for a little bit, then noticed the "Cheers" sign - a replica of the set of the TV show "Cheers" (duh). I almost stopped in for a bite there, but they had directions to the real Cheers, about a mile away, with walking directions. And I was off!

Lucky for me, the path to Cheers is also the path of the Freedom Trail. If you really intend to do Boston In A Day, you must include the Freedom Trail. It's a red-brick inlay into the cement sidewalks that snakes through the city. Once you find it (I found it outside Quincy Market), start walking.

The Freedom Trail is history overload. There a so many historic sights along the. The Latin School, King's Chapel, the Robert Shaw & 54th Regiment Memorial (of "Glory" fame), Frog Pond, Boston Common, lots of statues of famous dead people, and lots of creepy, soggy graveyards. Ew. The Robert Shaw Memorial was my favorite part, a particularly poignant reflection on the Civil War.I made Cheers the last stop on the Freedom Trail. I think the trail went farther, but who wouldn't stop at Cheers? The outside is just like on TV, but the inside is not. This is the place that inspired the TV show. I got decent food, and great service. It is a tourist trap though, so there are catchy names for their cocktails, and at least 2 souvenir shops. But who can resist going to Cheers? So the tourist trappiness is forgiven. Plus, I needed another pint glass for my collection.

I walked back to the Quincy Market, though I'm not sure how. I went through Chinatown, my favorite stop in any big city, even though we were lost when we found this one.

Back at the B&B, Will & Alyssa came to show us around a bit, and we took the T (the subway) right back downtown. We hoofed it to the North End, which is "Little Italy" in most other major cities. Dinner at Giacomo's Ristorante was the recommendation of another friend. It was good food, decent price, but a little bit too... ??? No reservations, no credit cards, guests have to wait outside in a line, it was far too cramped... they were creating their own hype. Excellent business practice, crappy experience. We felt rushed, especially watching the other people waiting outside in line. The food wasn't THAT good. Doesn't an authentic Italian meal take hours, with plenty of time for wine and dessert?

We picked up biscotti at Modern Bakery for the guy who told us to eat at Giacomo's. 3 lbs of biscotti is a lot of biscotti. (James put it in his carryon to bring back!)
Then we got gelato for ourselves at a little place across the street from Modern. You can't miss it. There's a big sign that says "Gelato". Ha. Let me tell you, I would kill a squirrel for gelato. And for gelato from North End, two squirrels.

With full bellies and light spirits we decided to kill our happiness with a walk through the Holocaust Memorial. It was eerie, and we could all do without the simulated coals burning below our feet.

Across the street was the Bell In Hand Tavern, which dates back to 1795. But it also a pretty happenin' place nowadays. Except for the fact that the windows were wide open, allowing the less-than-courteous cigarette smokers outside to share their smoke with us. We had a few rounds of drinks, and I was happy to be enjoying the evening with Will and Alyssa. It was getting late, and time to head back to our beyond-cute B&B, so we took the T back to Brookline, and bid adieu to our sleepy-head friends.

Of course once we got back, I didn't want to sleep, so I went out to the Sunset Tap & Grille, because they had 200+ beers on tap. We don't even drink beer, but a place like that must have pint glasses, right?! Of course they do, and so we went. (The picture only shows one set of taps, there are many more.)

My feet hurt from walking, we experienced a ton of history, we went to where everyone knows our name, we had great food with great friends, and we ate gelato in the North End. I am super excited to say that I feel like we saw a lot of Boston, and we hadn't even been there a whole day!

Here are a few links for you.
The Bertram Inn http://www.bertraminn.com/
The Freedom Trail http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/
Giacomo's Ristorante http://www.frommers.com/destinations/boston/D39702.html

North Falmouth / Pocasset, Massachusetts

I must apologized for the generic pictures in this blog. I forgot my camera!!

THE HOUSE AT POCASSET


Now THIS is what I would have hoped for in a visit to Cape Cod. I didn't stay here, although alot of the events of the weekend happened there.  This is where the bride, groom, and their families stayed.

You can rent the whole house for a full week at $2500, with discounted rates for military personnel. Based on availability, you can also get single rooms from $75 to $150/night. Fabulous!



http://www.thehouseatpocasset.com/.


I arrived at Boston Logan at 6:50am, after my red-eye flight from Santa Barbara, via Los Angeles. I drove straight to the Sea Crest Oceanfront Resort (and Conference Center), hoping they would have an empty room and allow me to check in. You know, like they said they would when I made the reservation. I got there around 9am, and of course they had no empty rooms. Not only were there no empty rooms, they had no idea when my room would be ready. When I asked if I could just have the first room that was ready (after all, I was standing right there), I was told there was no way they could do that, and I would have to wait for my room. I wasn't asking for an upgrade. Just a common courtesy extended to guests paying $155 + tax a night. Anyway, I was denied, and fell asleep in my car in their parking lot until 1pm.

The front desk manager was horribly abrupt, confrontational, and quite rude. I will never stay at this place again just for her demeanor alone. But wait, there is more.

Sea Crest Resort does not look like the website suggests. It smells like mildew, and there is an old dank feeling to everything. The beds are literally 18 inches off the ground. The cheap bedcovers were that unexplainable material that begs the question, "When was the last time this was washed?" This place is a Motel 6 on the beach. And it's not even a nice beach! Spend your money on one of the plentiful and gorgeous B&B's in the area. The Sea Crest Resort is a heap, and they took $350+ from me over the course of the two nights I was there. Do you know what $350 is? It is more than a round-trip ticket from Santa Barbara to Seattle.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Steamboat Springs, CO

We drove up to Steamboat for a volleyball tournament.

The trip overall was... OK. A 3 on my scale of 1 to 10. Granted, any international trip automatically garners at least a 7, and domestic trips get a 2 point deduction for lack of effort.

I'm not in a hurry to get back to Steamboat. It is a very pretty place, like Breckenridge or Vail or any other winter resort in the summertime. But it offers nothing that the other, more convenient, resorts don't already have. Steamboat is also very tourist-trappy. The market it as a family-friendly resort town, but it isn't even that. There were lots of people loitering about on Saturday night. It seemed more of a college town than a family getaway.


The weekend was July 12-13. They did have a hot air balloon festival that weekend. Great if you've never seen one before, but who hasn't? We did do a dawn horseback ride on Sunday, complete with a real cowboy as our guide. The morning ride was beautiful, especially with the hot air balloons in the background.


We stayed in a condo rented through Mountain Resorts. It was nice and clean, well kept. But not worth the cost as far as I am concerned. When the local La Quinta has rooms for $85/night, and we are paying $$$hundreds for a condo, I start to worry about value. We shared the condo with a couple of volleyball players (friends of James'). And while these two are my absolute favorite friends-of-my-husbands, the quarters were a bit cramped. Better to have separate hotel rooms, with maid service, of course.


The weekend was not a total bust. I can't complain about the company I had. I've got great memories of the dawn trail ride. But if you are ever considering Steamboat vs. Breckenridge/Dillon/Vail/any other Colorado Resort, I'd choose the alternative.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Memphis, Tennessee

Since I've been in California, I've spent most of my earmarked vacation dollars on plane tickets to Colorado Springs to see James, so there hasn't been much in the way of exploring strange new worlds. No complaints though, I love my James!

This past weekend though we roadtripped ourselves from Colorado Springs to Memphis. There is no easy way to get there, it's just 16 hours of driving no matter which way you go. And we drove through the night both ways, since we were traveling with a 7-year old. We figured he would sleep most of the trip (he did).

The point of the trip was so that James could play volleyball in the Italian Fest tournament. He won! I knew my man was good, but I didn't know he was professional good! It was insanely hot and humid, one of those days Southerners call "normal." I was sweaty and dirty, and I wasn't even playing!

Nathan and I decided to go and scope out some wedding locations. We went to the Hunt-Phelan Inn. It's at 533 Beale Street. Close to downtown, it's an antebellum mansion that has been converted to a bed-and-breakfast. They have 11 rooms available, and decorated in lush antebellum style. The back patio area is perfect for entertaining. And the restaurant is where the posh meet to eat. Perfect for a "Southern Affair"!

We also checked out the Pink Palace museum. Give yourself a few hours on this one. We stopped by there thinking it was another possible location for our wedding ceremony, but one look at the unkempt grass and barren facade told us otherwise. We did take Nathan through the museum though, and he loved the dinosaurs, Civil War displays, and the shrunken head (they give you a recipe for this too). Great for kids!

The Italian Fest itself was just a standard, dusty pseudo-fair. There was a bandstand and tons of booths of retail and food vendors. You use the same tickets for the kids' rides as you do for the food. Don't try to calculate how much you're spending, it's too much. I imagine we'll go there again for future volleyball tournaments, but it's a definite "pass" on my list for the festival itself. The food was questionable, and the rides weren't even rides, just blow up slides and bounce castles. And the stench, ew. I don't think people should be cooking outdoors in 95 degree heat, right next to uncovered trash cans with quickly decomposing garbage. I am not a fan of the Memphis Italian Festival.

We ate a Gus's, a place known for it's fried chicken. The recipe has remained unchanged since 1852. Not really. I'm not sure what the date was, but it's famous. I didn't like it, though. I'm a Popeye's kind of girl myself. And this stuff was the type you could just squeeze and watch the fat drip out. Gross.

On the other hand, Rendezvous was delicious. It's in 1000 Places To See Before You Die. We went with a large group, and they wouldn't seat us until the entire group showed up. This is pretty standard practice in my experience, but some members of our party (James) were upset by this. The service was great and hilarious. Don't expect to be coddled here. When the waiter (working there since 1948!) asked what we'd like to drink, someone said, "What do you recommend?" To which the waiter said, "Oh, don't start." And walked away! Again, complaints in my group, but I thought it was great.

The dry rub ribs were perfect, but I'm no food critic, so I won't get too specific. Add this to your list of things to do in Memphis, though.

We went across the street to The Peabody to see the ducks, and took the elevator to the rooftop to see them. Lovely place, lovely view, a little out of my price range though.

We walked Beale Street on Friday night, but it just seemed like a college bar scene. Apparenly, frat boys like to hang out in the birthplace of the Blues. We didn't spend much time there. James said it's better during the daytime, without all the drunks hanging out.

There is so much to do in Memphis though, just avoid the summer if you're not used to the heat. I'm not, and if it were up to me, I'd never go there again between May and August.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Pimp United Airlines with eBay

No joke. I went on eBay to see how much United Airlines vouchers were going for. BTW, you know you can sell those free flights you get for volunteering to get bumped? Anyway, they were going to about $350. Great deal if your reg flight is more than that.

But mine is usually right about there, so I didn't want that. Then I saw these United Airlines $100 vouchers going for $19.99. I thought it can't hurt to try it, but I kinda thought it was a scam too. So I used Buy-It-Now, and the seller emailed me the promotion code within 30 minutes.

I checked how much my flight was on United first... it was $419. Then I went right back and entered the code, and voila, $319. Simple as that. I bought and paid for my flight immediately, still fearful that the men in black were about to show up at my door and arrest me for something.

I also went right back to eBay and bought another one from the seller. Which I just used today for another flight that was $339. I used the code, and abracadabra, $239.

Not to mention I also went through United to book my Hertz reservation at the end of the month. A whole week for $143, including taxes. It's a Ford Focus, but I have a double-upgrade coupon. So for $143, we get an Impala (or similar, as they say).

So let's tally that up. It looks like $700 for TWO roundtrip tickets to Colorado Springs and a full one week car rental (which happens to be over Memorial Day weekend). Damn, I should be a travel agent. I'm a travel goddess. I'm a roaming gnomette.

So let eBay hook you up next time you need a plane ticket!!!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Racking up those miles

I've decided to stick to United, since that's how the Air Force usually flies me. Plus, they are one of the few airlines that flies out of the Santa Maria airport. I've got almost 60000 miles so far! I'm trying to hit 100,000, which is enough to get two round-trip tickets to Europe. I've got my Vons (Safeway) Club Card linked up. I'm also on the United Mileage Plus Dining plan, where I can earn X amount of miles for money spent at participating restaurants. AND I even have their 1:1 United Debit Card, so I don't even have to use my credit cards to earn miles.

That sounds like a big ad for United, which it's not. I prefer Alaska Airlines, British Airways, and Lufthansa. But man, you can really rack up those miles, all for doing regular stuff like using your debit card and getting groceries.

I'll keep you posted. Hopefully, I'll get enough to get James, Nathan, and myself to Germany this Christmas! If not, at least I'll have enough to bump us all up to 1st class ;)