Übercheap Weekend Getaway to San Francisco

The fabulous deal I got on next weeks trip happened like this. I went to United's e-fare website, where they post weekend deals every Tuesday morning. I found Santa Barbara (SBA) to San Francisco (SFO) for $74, round-trip. We'll leave Saturday around noon, and come back Monday around noon. The total price came to a little over $100 for each ticket, after taxes. Still, that's $100 for a round-trip ticket!

The hotel came through Priceline. Just like on TV, I bid a ridiculously low price for a 4-star hotel in San Francisco. The first bid was $50, which was declined. But Priceline said I could raise my bid by $14 and bid again. So I did, and it was accepted. So Saturday and Sunday night, we'll stay at the Hyatt Regency, for $64 each night. $155 after taxes.

And the rental car. I went back to United and used their offer for Hertz. A midsize car was $55 for two days, taxes and everything included. Plus we get a ton of United miles.

And then I went to Restaurant.com, typed in a zip code for San Francisco, and bought a few gift certificates for restaurants on Fisherman's Wharf.

The only thing I don't have are the Broncos/Raiders football tickets for Sunday!

Beam me up!

On Monday, I acted like a tourist in L.A. I drove down Rodeo drive, cruised around Beverly Hills, and then drove over to the take a few pictures of the Hollywood sign. But the highlight of all this was this picture. That's Nichelle Nichols handprint! And my hands fit perfectly inside. I knew she was my hero. Uhura is the fictional version of what I do. I work in Space Command, and my on-crew job was basically to repeat the computer alarms and say, "Yes, Captain."

In Lompoc? Check out this Texas Cattle Company deal.

I just found this deal for Texas Cattle Co. in Lompoc, California. It's a little reminder to you to always, always, always do a simple Google search before you go out to eat. Here's what I found.

A Google search for Texas Cattle Company Lompoc found this:

http://www.restaurant.com/microsite.asp?rid=317830&mcn=00013518

See how it says "$25 gift certificate for $10"? You read that right.

So proceeded to checkout with that, but then there was a box to enter a coupon code for Restaurant.com. So I searched for that and got this:

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/restaurant.com

Scroll down. I used the Allstate coupon, "ALL".

So in the end, I got a $25 gift certificate for (ahem) $5.

I wonder how many people wait for "something" in the Premier Check-In line?

Leaving Bismarck, we stood in the line marked "Premier/First Class" to check-in for our flight. The regular line only had about 5 people in it, but I like to use my Premier perks whenever I can.

Except it meant nothing to the ladies at the check-in counter. They processed everyone else first. Even people that got in the Economy line AFTER us.

After she finished processing everyone else and I was invited to step forward, I asked if there was any difference between the regular line and Premier line. She said (wait for it), "I didn't know if you  were waiting for something else." Apparently, a lot of people like to stand in the Premier line at the United Check-In counter at 5am in Bismarck, while they wait for "something else." And then she informed me that she was "new." Holy smokes. I think she might be under-qualified for the job.