Good dog

 

Our Kooper, full of vim and vigor! 

Only northerners head to Fort Lauderdale in August…and while hubby and I have been in Florida six years now, I guess we are still northerners at heart. We spent a long weekend there last month.

For the past few years we travel mostly with our dogs. The two older ones are gone now, and the new guy at just nine months is full of “vim and vigor” as my dad used to say. All that means when we travel, we look for pet-friendly lodging and restaurants.

Easier to find now than it used to be, but still proved to be a challenge in the “Venice of America,” Fort Lauderdale. We stayed at the Hilton Marina, billed as pet-friendly; however, as soon as hubby told them we had a dog, we felt snubbed. The friendliest hotel staff was a bellman as we checked out. Disappointing.

Many of the restaurants we called did not allow dogs. Not even at their outdoor seating. One place said another dog bit someone once so no more dogs. We have heard similar stories at home, and that most likely means that their insurance companies told them no more dogs. Understandable, but people — control your dogs!

Don’t ruin it for the rest of who do. We keep our dog on a leash and we monitor him the entire time we’re out. We don’t want him to disturb anyone who doesn’t want to be disturbed. If your dog isn’t social and won’t behave, even on a leash, leave it at home!

And to hotels and restaurants who claim to be pet-friendly, make sure your staff know to treat guests with pets as well as they treat guests without. I’m not sure we’ll use Hilton Marina again, even though it’s a lovely property.

Wanted: big trip tips

We are contemplating a three-week road trip next summer, from the U.S. southern coast to the northern border. I’ll keep you updated on my trip project planning and would love to hear tips and suggestions from those of you experienced with long road trips!

Makin’ the most of the mini-vaca

Planning for meals is really the best way to travel economically for people like us. We just spent four days in Fort Lauderdale, and we spent about $100 a day on gas, food and beverages (soft and hard). That included buying dinner one night for two friends.

We traveled by car for this mini-vaca so could bring water, soda, snacks and breakfast food. Kind of a pain hauling it, but it pays off. Our first night there we ordered pizza for delivery. With large three-topping pie, we got a small cheese pie. Wasn’t sure we needed all that pizza, but it was worth it. Gave us dinner that Friday night and the next, as well as lunch Sunday. For less than $25..and it was great pizza! (Dough Boys on SE 17th St.)

We brought our own wine, too. Going out for drinks burns through cash in a hurry, but wine shopping in advance at sale prices, cut that expense.

We got a decent deal on the hotel, although as is often the case once you add in the taxes, parking fees and all those other hidden costs, the deal is suddenly $100 more than budgeted. Also in this case, we brought our dog and didn’t know the pet fee at this hotel was $125. That’s high in our experience so wouldn’t recommend using Hilton Marina if you travel with pets. We could have spent another $30 and boarded him. Would have given us more time to go out on the town, which wasn’t in the budget and besides, we would have missed our Kooper!

Bottom line: our four-day escape to sunny – and hot! – Fort Lauderdale cost just under $900 with everything. Small price to pay for mental health!

LWMac and Kooper, Fort Lauderdale Beach

Air travel and baggage

I traveled recently for the first time since airlines added the checked baggage fees. Paid $15 per bag each way, on top of the nearly $500 ticket!

When you’re planning a trip and your budget for that trip, remember to check your airline’s checked bag fees. You’ll want to include that in the budget, and the fees applies to both ways of a round trip.

Additionally, if you decide you don’t want to pay the fee, do everyone a favor and pack your carry-on accordingly. The TSA rules allow one carry-on that fits in the overhead bin or below your seat, plus a purse or briefcase. That mean two items…not the three or four that many travelers now seem to bring.

The airlines need to enforce these rules or drop the extra fees, in my opinion. But until then, as travelers it’s for our safety and comfort, as well as that of everyone on the plane, to follow the rules.

If you really cannot afford the extra fee, maybe you can’t really afford to travel by air. When you are planning your trip and the budget is the time to decide that and adjust your plans.

If you can afford it, then do the rest of us a favor and check your bag or pack lightly enough that you can board with one-count-em-one carry-on and a purse or briefcase. It’s a matter of courtesy and safety.

Hotel reservations

Keep in mind, you pay the third parties (Travelocity, etc.) directly when you make reservations through them. You can usually change the reservation but probably cannot cancel without losing some money.

Reserving directly with the hotel, or through AAA, offers some flexibility. Always check the cancellation policy to make sure it fits your needs. At most, hotels want 72-hour cancellation notice and most require it by 4 p.m. the day you are scheduled to check in. Same with AAA.

If your best deal is with a third party, but your travel plans or dates are questionable, check into their travel insurance options. Most offer something, usually reasonably priced. That’s certainly better than losing your entire deposit or the full charge.

As in most situations, read the “fine print” carefully.

Hotel shopping

With so many online options for reserving hotel rooms, where to begin?

When I know the city where I’m visitng and know the hotel I want there, I go straight to the hotel Web site. Often there are good deals right there, without going through a third party like Travelocity or hotels.com.

That said, once I know the rate the hotel is offering, I may still check Travelocity, etc. to see if they offer a better deal. If I’m flying to my destination, I check the air and hotel packages the third party offers. They are often good values and the best economic choice.

What if I’m off to a new city with no idea of the hotels? Enter www.AAA.com. Membership isn’t required to use the AAA search engines, but of course as a member you may find better deals.

What I like specifically is that I can select from a wide variety of amenities I need, for example, pet-friendly, before I click “Search for Hotels” on this site. I have found that information is not always readily available on other sites. If AAA doesn’t have the price I want, I continue at other sites armed with the information about the exact hotel(s) I want to check.

Mini-vaca is best

Most of the time, we prefer a four-day getaway; five days tops. It’s the most affordable for our budget, and usually after four days we are both ready to get home. It’s amazing how good your own bed feels!

We even did Vegas in four days. Arrived the Wed. night of Thanksgiving weekend (2006) and flew out Sunday. We managed to get in three shows, watch (on TV in the hotel lobby bar) Florida beat Florida State in the annual match-up and do a vow renewal ceremony at the Stratosphere to celebrate our 10-year anniversary! A whirlwind, sure! But that’s what Vegas is all about, right?

Even on those quiet relaxing getaways, four days seems to be enough. One Labor Day Weekend we rented a cabin in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, with my cousin and her husband. The pretty setting was tranquil, with warm days, brisk mornings, and cool evenings–perfect around a campfire. The guys got to fish a little, we all played nine holes of golf and had a great time visiting and hanging out together.

But when it was time to pack up and check out, we were ready…and so was our joint pocketbook. Plus as most of us know, there is a price to be paid for taking time off work.

You work like crazy to get things done before you go, and it seems to take a week to catch up even if you’re only out a couple of days. E-mails (which I love but…) pour in like rain in a Florida afternoon thunderstorm, adding to that drowning-in-work feeling.

The mini-vacation give you a little escape from reality, to enjoy some rest and relaxation without spending a fortune. It’s helpful if you can arrange them around holidays. For example take off Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day or Labor Day weekends, and return home Sunday so you have Monday to catch up a little at home before going back to the workplace Tuesday. Plus, you save a day of annual leave that way!

Just us!

So… we’re a married couple (his first, my second) and our 12-year anniversary is in December 2008. My daughter, his stepdaughter, is grown and married. It’s the two of us—average, middle-class Americans. We work hard and combined income is decent. We’re not rich and we don’t have exotic jobs, but we do okay.

We try to live healthy–good diet most of the time and regular exercise. We like to have fun and our diverse interests create some interesting opps for us. He loves sports, I love A&E. I’ve learned to be a football fan and he’s learned to be a symphony patron (fan would be a stretch!).

Travel is something we love and we have been blessed with a fair number of trips in our time together. Since we’re not rich, it is travel on a budget. A real, normal budget…not like the “budgets” you see on TV. We have to be practical and get as much bang for our limited travel bucks as we can.

Here at http://forpeoplelikeus.wordpress.com we’ll share our travel experiences, tips and critiques. We have other forpeoplelikeus categories, like shopping, cooking, exercise and wine. If you are people like us, read on, enjoy and let us know what else you’d like to read from us.