Category: Travel Tips

Bad Photos Spur Life Changes

Bad photos can spur a lot of major-life decisions.

In high school, a bad photo spurred me on to lose 20 pounds. And I didn’t even know it was me in the photo at first. I had gotten a camera at Christmas, and took a photo of myself in the mirror. Weeks later, when I had the film developed, I flipped through my prints and thought, “Who is that fat girl in the mirror?” Imagine my horror when I realized it was indeed me. I didn’t touch bacon or butter for weeks and my jumprope became my new best friend.

Other photos have inspired  new haircuts or a change in color. There have been wardrobe changes as well. A photo I took last March in Las Vegas with my daughter inspired me to race to my closet and toss out that dress that I thought looked so cute, but in reality looked like I’d been the subject of a preschool art project gone horribly wrong.

My latest change came from seeing photos of myself in my prescription sunglasses and realized I didn’t look nearly as cool as I thought I did. But not wanting to invest a few hundred dollars in a new pair when that money could instead  go to a better cause, like my eBay handbag addiction, I sought other options.

That’s when I heard consumer guru Clark Howard talking about Zenni Optical, where you can get glasses at a big discount. Now Clark is not known for being fashion forward, and thinks a hotdog at Costco is a fine dining experience, so I wanted to check this out before I went and got all excited about it. Read the full post »

No Comments by admin on September 29, 2009
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Refrain From Going Inn-Sane in the Rain

The skies over Amelia earlier this week looked like this.

The skies over Amelia earlier this week looked like this.

Today is a happy day, as I’m in St. Simons Island with a clear, sunny forecast and an entire day that is blissfully agenda free, except for the eight hours I plan to set my sunscreened, sunglassed, straw-hatted self on a chair oceanside and soak up the sun. The only interruption will come in the form of a juicy tomato sandwich made with homegrown tomatoes from the local veggie stand.

Contrast that to our grey, rainy skies on Amelia Island the other day, where we were staying at the Amelia Plantation Inn. I’ve faced my share of rainy days at the beach, and rather than spending another minute cursing the skies and staring forlornly at my packed-up beach bag sitting in the corner, I found more productive ways to spend my time.

• Put self tanner in the shape of a heart with my initials in the middle on my napping husband’s back.

• Watched Dr. Phil and ate an almond cookie every time he said, “It’s time to get real.”

* Continued reading South of Broad and pondered whether Barbra Streisand and her fingernails would star in the movie adaptation of this Pat Conroy book.

• Painted one of my husband’s toenails with red polish then went on Facebook to take bets from my friends on how long it would be until he discovered it.

• Tried to learn the Thriller dance figuring if more than 12,000 Mexicans can do it, I can too.

• Thought of my old college boyfriend. I had first visited Amelia Island with him and his family just a few months before he dumped me, and pictured him now as chubby as John Goodman, as annoying as Larry David and driving his wife (the woman for whom I was dumped) rapidly towards the brink of insanity by wearing hideous cowboy boots and calling waitresses purty lady, just because he lives in Texas.

• Decided to make up new drink recipes with items in our room. The winner was a Triscuit-tini, made with gin and vermouth and garnished with little Triscuit shavings and a olive and chunk of cheddar cheese strung together with dental floss. Hors d’oeuvres and a drink together, clever, huh?

By this time the rain had quit and we decided to go take a bike ride. Even through the dark skies I had no trouble keeping up with my husband – I just followed the flash of the red toenail.

No Comments by admin on September 4, 2009
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Airlines Take Us for a Royal Fleecing

My $120 up in smoke

My $120 up in smoke

Have a trip planned but you have to be back at work earlier than you thought for a meeting? Let the hotel know a day in advance and you’ll get your money back. Change a dinner reservation? No problem. Change an airline reservation? Sure! Just get out that credit card and get ready to be ripped-off.

As many of you have learned, it can be easy to change a reservation – just expect to pay up to $150 for the privilege to do so. Maybe it’s because it costs so much to re-issue you that fresh paper ticket. Oh wait, they don’t do that anymore. Or because you took so much of the representative’s time to make the reservation. No, that’s not it – you did it yourself online.

The reason airlines fleece you on change fees is simple. Because they can. Read the full post »

No Comments by admin on July 31, 2009
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Two Ways to Travel Lighter

 

 

Orlando Bloom is coming with me on my flight to Maine tomorrow.

Orlando Bloom is coming with me on my flight to Maine tomorrow.

You’d think a travel writer would have the packing thing down pretty well, right? Well in the case of this particular writer, you’d be wrong. Plainly speaking, I suck at packing.

 I’ve gone away without a toothbrush, a nightgown and even my underwear. Twice. When my son was young, he spent a week at the beach wearing two left shoes. I had thought I was so clever to buy him two pairs of shoes exactly the same so we’d increase our chances of finding one. He may still walk a little lop-sided but it’s just part of his charm, and I sure didn’t want to spend my precious vacation time shoe-shopping for kids, which is right up there was toilet-cleaning as a least favorite chore. Read the full post »

1 Comment by admin on June 10, 2009
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Travel Germ-Free!

This man may escape swine flu when he travels. And any chance at a social life if he wears that make-up. For the rest of us, it's not that easy.

This man may escape swine flu when he travels. And any chance at a social life if he wears that get-up. For the rest of us, it's not that easy.

Ha! There is no such thing. And even if you think you are ever-vigilant about germs, something like this could happen to you.

We were on a family trip to St. George island in Florida. As we were packing up to go, my son said, “Who has the yellow toothbrush in the bathroom?”

“That’s mine,” I said.

“Oh, I used it to kill a bug”

“When???” I asked, thankfully remembered that I hadn’t yet brushed my teeth that day.

“Tuesday,” he said. Today was Saturday.

Here’s my first tip on how to cut down on germs when you travel – never, ever have children of any kind. Maybe it’s too late for that. Anyway, here are tips for anyone to cut down on germs when you travel. Read the full post »

1 Comment by admin on May 1, 2009
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Five Things to Know Before You Go

spring-break-crowd

If this isn't the scene you're looking for, be sure to check out the latest on your accommodations, including any large groups that may be there.

In the old days when I’d prepare for a trip, I’d read everything I could get my hands on about the weather, the attractions, accommodations, dining and even which restaurants had waiters with the sexiest accents. Thorough? Yes. Exhausting? You betcha.

I also learned that while guidebooks can be quite valuable in helping you find the best soup in Florence, they can also sometimes lead you astray. Once we rode our bikes all over the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco looking for the reported “roaming herds of buffalo.” After many miles, we finally came upon one tired-looking old guy who showed little enthusiasm for our efforts and whose roaming days seemed decades behind him.

So I’ve now settled into a compromise position of learning just the minimum. The rest I can choose to research or just wing it. Here are the five things you need to know before you go. Read the full post »

No Comments by admin on March 9, 2009
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Stress-Reducing Techniques for Traffic and Travel

It’s no news flash that we have traffic in Atlanta. Yes, people have given birth, learned to speak Chinese and

My latest stress-reducing technique on planes is watching DVDs of Dr. Katz.

My latest stress-reducing technique on planes is watching DVDs of Dr. Katz.

formed rock bands all while rendered immobile on the roads. But guess what? Other countries aren’t immune. I was in the Dominican Republic last week where we got stuck in a massive jam along one of the few major roads. The only difference there is that our van driver was determined to forge ahead despite the long line of cars, and plowing through a sugar cane field or driving on the wrong side of the road were just a few options considered viable.

And for anyone who has set foot on a plane in the past few years, you’ve got your stories to tell as well – the smelly/obese/talkative/fidgety person next to you, the shrinking seating area rapidly approaching the size of our desks in elementary school, the inexplicable delays and the lack of even a drop of water to drink.

Basically if you leave your house, and considering today’s world, not leaving it is starting to look more inviting, you’re going to encounter frustrations that are beyond your control.

So here are some ways to deal with life’s little unpleasantries. Read the full post »

No Comments by admin on February 10, 2009
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Surviving Bad Travel Moments

If this isn't you, your bad travel moments just can't be all that bad.

If this isn't you, then your travel moments just aren't all that bad.

I’m feeling pretty lucky these days. After all, none of my trips involved me hanging half-naked upside down off a ski lift, then having my bare bottom blasted all over cyberspace. And not one of them ended with exiting a sinking plane and standing on the wing, ankle-deep in frigid water and debating alternate forms of travel in the future, should I ever venture off my couch again.

But let’s face it – travel can involve a lot of hassle, from cancelled flights to icky road food to itchy rashes in uncomfortable places.

Here are a just a few stories some readers sent in. Jackie shared a conversation she had when she called an airlines to change a flight so she could fly back with her husband and asked them to waive a change fee.

Airline rep: You know you aren’t supposed to fly with your husband anyway right?
Jackie: Excuse me?
Rep: Most married people don’t fly together.
Jackie: Excuse me?
Rep: In case of a crash. If you have small children back home, usually one parent flies separate so there is someone left after the tragedy to take care of the kids.
Jackie: Are you SERIOUSLY having this conversation with me right now? …..(last three words are in a “trying not to cry” voice)
Rep: Let me check with my supervisor and see if I can get the fee waived for you.
Read the full post »

No Comments by admin on February 2, 2009
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Save Money on a Cruise

Going on a cruise can be like buying an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen. You start out with that vanilla cone for $1.29, but before you know it you’re adding a fancy waffle cone, getting it dipped in chocolate and nuts, and all of a sudden your change from your $10 is fairly piddling.

The price for a cruise is the same way. It can start out unbelievably cheap – $249 for four nights in the Caribbean. But five days later, you’re staring down a long list of charges and your $249 cruise is now going to set you back more than a mortgage payment.

Here are just a few ways we saved on our holiday cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. Your savings may vary by number of people and cruise ship of course, but here are just a few ideas to get you started.

1. Take a taxi rather than a shuttle from the airport. Our group of seven flew into Miami and needed transportation to the Miami port, approximately 7 miles away. We could have booked the shuttle ahead of time for $30 round-trip. But taxis have a flat fare of $24 to the port. We found one that held all seven of us. Savings? More than $150.

2. Take your own luggage on board. On previous cruises I had noted that as soon as you arrive at the port, a nice gentlemen offers to take your bags. You are expected to tip handsomely and may not see them for several hours. Savings? Around $20-$30 and no hassle waiting for our bags to show up on the ship and back at the terminal when we disembarked.

Majesty of the Seas

Majesty of the Seas

3. Compare costs on excursions. During our day in Nassau, our group decided to go visit the stunning Atlantis resort on Paradise Island. As we were unable to come to a consensus prior to our cruise, we hadn’t booked any type of excursion, which proved to our benefit. Rather than paying a hefty $54 a person and being on someone else’s schedule, we just strolled off the ship at our leisure, found a water taxi for $6 a person round-trip, and toured the property on our own. There is a public beach you can visit as well, at no cost. (Unless you decide to accept one of the many offers for all-you-can-drink coconut drinks for $20.) Savings? More than $340.

4. Take your own alcohol on board. Sssh! This one is a secret, as our cruise line did not allow alcohol on board. Many do, however, and we found that the best way to handle taking on wine is in a box. No worries about breakage, and you can fine decent box wine that holds the equivalent of four bottles of wine. Savings? More than $150.

5. Join the cruiseline’s loyalty program. If you’ve cruised with that line before, get details on their loyalty programs. I joined the Crown & Anchor Society for Royal Caribbean and received a coupon book for discounts and an invitation to a members-only cocktail party.

Cruising can be an enjoyable, and affordable vacation. Just keep an eye on all those extra charges.

2 Comments by admin on January 5, 2009
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