Last Friday morning, as I was getting ready to fly to Wisconsin for the wedding of our best friend’s daughter – a wedding where I was doing a reading – I noticed in my Southwest app that our evening flight was already showing delayed. I thought that was a bit odd so many hours before our flight, so I kept checking all day long, and kept watching the delay steadily increase to over 3 hours by late afternoon.
And then I got the dreaded alert: Cancelled. Read more
Everyone wants to know they’re getting the best possible price for their vacation – but how do you actually do that?
Do you scour “discount” travel sites that offer trips at cheap prices? Do you grab that Groupon that just showed up in your email? Do you ask thousands of people you don’t know in a Facebook group? Do you book the inn that your Aunt Martha said was a great deal when she and Uncle Harry visited there 20 years ago?
The answer actually starts with two truths that you probably heard as a kid:
Have you ever booked a room for a particular view, and then arrived to find out that the view is nothing like you expected?
Few things are more disappointing than looking forward to watching the waves with your morning coffee on your balcony every morning, only to find out that you have to stand on your balcony and lean……way……over…..the…..edge…..in order to actually see the ocean. (Plus that’s not very safe either!)
If what you see when you look outside is a priority for your vacation, making sure you book the right “view” category is important. Especially if you’re traveling to a tropical island for a bucket list vacation – where you may be expecting to see turquoise waters from your balcony – you’ll want to know what those room descriptions mean.
Oceanview. Oceanfront. Beachfront.
They all mean the same thing, right? Read more
I may be what my husband calls a “souvenir junkie” – but not in the way you think. I just feel that vacation souvenirs deserve more attention than a random ‘grab-a-quick-chochki-in-the-hotel-gift-shop’ type of attention. Because once you get home and recover from your PTD (post-trip-depression, which is totally a thing), having some truly special items that provide you with treasured vacation memories is worth more than whatever you spent on them.
I think that souvenirs deserve a little thought.
Over the years, we have accumulated a variety of interesting souvenirs, both when our daughter was young and on our own, and I can truly say that I pretty much know where, if not when, we got nearly all of them. Those souvenirs are packed with precious memories, and whether they were expensive or cheap, they’re pretty priceless at this point!
So what are some of the vacation souvenirs that have become our “past vacation” treasures? Read more
Travel is back! And if you’re planning your first trip since the pandemic – especially if it’s the first time you’ll be flying – some of our experiences on our recent vacation to the American southwest will likely be helpful for you to know. Because when you know what to expect, you can be prepared! Read more