More on Last Minute Travel.com

This is a GREAT site.  Jen went looking online for hotels in Chicago.. because we go with her kids we really need to have a suite.. a real live suite, not those fake ones like Comfort Suites, with a half wall to make it look like two rooms. 


So she gets on LMT.com and with a little digging finds an Embassy Suites in Downtown Chicago for $120/night LESS than their published rate.   Using LMT's details, you can find out how many rooms, stars and floors a hotel has.  


Go to Google and punch in that info and you can get an educated guess as to what hotel it might be.  We're 2 for 2 or 3 for 3 using LMT and Google.  So we are downtown for $140 a night. We were at $147 but there is another little thing online that says call for a cheaper rate, so she called and got another $7 off a night.  SCHWEET!!!!!!!!  

Travel sites for 2012

I found a great article on the NYTimes web site this morning.     19 travel sites for 2012


I will attempt to link to it. 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/19-web-sites-for-travel-savings-in-2012.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

Road trips

We just got back from a serious road trip from Michigan to Colorado and back in the span of a week   2800+ miles.  It wasn't that bad!  Aside from the gas expense. 


The weather was very nice.  Windy as hell on the way back but no rain until be got back to Michigan (duh!)  and no real traffic tie ups to speak of.  It was congested on I-94 but nothing too awful.   


We found a the BEST damn breakfast burrito in the world in Ft. Lupton Co.  Jen and I had just left Lyons and driving down the road we passed a sign that stated "hottest breakfast burrito in town"    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK !   (okay cars with anti-lock brakes don't do that anymore)   we pulled a U ie and by Golly... it was the best breakfast burrito I've ever had.   Santiago's in Ft. Lupton.    $2.  You will NEVER EVER find a better breakfast for $2 EVER again in your life. 


Omaha is the home of 6 different "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives'  locations.  We went to Brewburgers right off I-80 west of Omaha.  Super easy to get to.   I had a lamb burger with feta cheese and that Greek sauce I'm not going to try to spell.  Amazing stuff!  


One of the best meal days of my life.    


If you're ever passing thru Kearney NE and you're thinking about stopping for the night.. you could do a LOT worse than the Microtel in Kearney.  One heck of a room for $62! And they take dogs!    

Been a LONG time

It has been quite a while since I've put anything on this site. No one seems to notice that I have been blog free for almost a year. Which is fine. I've been to Colorado twice in the last couple years but I haven't had much to add to this blog.

We're going back out to Colorado next week to take Oscar out where he belongs... that is with Kate.

Chicago for the holidays

Thinking about a trip to Chicago for New Years.. prices are quite good for NYE. Hotwire is in the $110s for the 30th and 31st but Lastminutetravel.com has a hotel, I think it's the Wyndham for $78 (4 stars ) and the James for $95ish (4.5) stars...

Keep in mind they are a foreign company, my credit card company would not accept their charges no my card. Jen's would though SWEET!

Take the guesswork out of your hotel choice.

Jen and I are looking to go to Chicago for the 4th of July and we were perusing Hotwire and went looking at two newer sites for hotels where they don't tell you the name of the hotel until you purchase it. LastMinuteTravel.com and Travelocity's Top Secret Hotels.

It turns out that LastMinuteTravel.com lists the number of hotel rooms the hotel has available. A quick Google search indicated the hotel we were going to "steal" was the Westin on N. Michigan Ave. They show 521 rooms. We were right! We think we're so smart.

Once you book it

I was going to go to Chicago today and sell this digital board advertising... but I never pulled the trigger on booking hotel and here's why.. once you book it, you own it. NO cancellations allowed.. not for weather, not for missed flights, not for a car wreck. It's yours.

I wasn't totally sure I was going, the weather turned sour so I didn't go.

You can always stop at a Biggby or a Panera on the way, and book the hotel. Yes you may pay more, but..

Hotwire comes thru again in Chicago

I'm working with a couple guys with a digital billboard in Chicago, I ran into one of the guys one day in town and he said "HEY.. you know Chicago pretty well." I replied 'yes I do' ..

"do you want to sell it in chicago? " I said "yes I do". So I've gone down there twice to see if I can get some customers 'on board' (how do I come up with this stuff? .. and when will I stop?)

I used HOTWIRE twice to stay there and I'm telling you it's the greatest internet site ever. I got a Holiday Inn in Oakbrook Terrace (Oak Brook is where the Oak Brook Mall is.) for $36/night. How can you beat that? I checked their website and the online rate was $88/night... so I saved a bunch of money. Three stars Oak Brook Lombard Downer's Grove.. $36 Holiday Inn.. it's a decent hotel.. with the slowest elevators EVER!

If you're going to go to Chicago at all.. invest $10 in the IZOOM toll collector and avoid those lines at the tolls. It's the best thing you will ever do if you go there a lot. Tolls have gone up a great deal in the past couple years but sitting in a line to pay that toll.. will just piss you off. So get one $10 Izoom is the Indiana toll collector but it works in Illinois too.

The sales tax in Cook county and Chicago is among the very highest in the nation. It's about 10%.. room tax for hotels is 16%. Parking in the city at a hotel $32-35/night. Factor those hidden costs into your trip.. you'll be surprised at how fast they add up.

Parking on the street.. used to be Monday thru Saturday.. $1.25/hr pretty much everywhere. Now it's all week, probably holidays too.. until 9 pm. more nickle and diming. You can either take a LOT of quarters or use your credit card. I've never seen anyone checking the slip of paper you put on your dash.. but I'll bet it's $40 or more if you get caught.

Ah.. Chicago.. I love you.. but you are a whore for my money.

OMG!

I haven't entered in this thing since August.. and NOT ONE person has said a word to me. All my adoring fans have forsaken me!

Jen and I are off this week to Nashville by way of Indianapolis. Given the recent fun on the airlines and I'm sure the resulting increase in security.. driving is the way to go. Every time I fly.. I think 'why am I doing this? this is NOT fun." And while the drive to Nashville is about 8 hours or so.. I prefer it.

Rule #1 - the time between Christmas and the New Year is easily the best time of year to travel for fun. Simply, there is NO business travel this week and hotels are going begging. We got a 3.5 star hotel in Indy for the ridiculously low rate of $37.50.... thirty seven bucks.. roughly the cost of a round of drinks at a decent bar. The drive is pretty long to Nashville so we thought if we left Tuesday night and stayed in Indy we'd have more of a day to spend in "Music City" .

We are then going to Nashville where I found a Sheraton for $50/night!!!! Out by the airport. Rule #2 no business air travel makes for great rates out by an airport. Not so much in the downtown where touristy people might be hanging.

Thanks Priceline! for Nashville and thanks Hotwire! for Indy. This little trip points out how to use the two best sites online. For Indy.. we really wanted to be on the southwest side of the city to avoid 'rush hour' as we motored south toward Louisville. So I was as concerned about the area, than I was just price driven. I'd been following a 3.5 star hotel oh Hotwire for $46 for a week and I didn't think it would be going up... when it dropped to $37.50 I jumped on it.

For Nashville.. I just wanted to see how cheap I could get a hotel. With plenty of time on my hands between when I bid and when we left.. I made what I thought was an incredibly low bid. I was pleasantly surprised when they accepted my bid.

USA Today had an article a while back about how all of LAS VEGAS in on sale.. the best deal there was an all you could drink (wine or beer) buffet for $22! I'm sure it's still up somewhere on their site. if you like to travel and you like to do it cheaply.. right now is the time to go...anywhere (except Florida)

Here's ONE way to travel

Offer to work at a resort at no wage! I spent the month of July in Platoro, CO (don't look for it on a map!, it's probably not there) working at a lodge for no money. I got room and board and a lifetime of memories.

First bit of advice.. if you ever thought you'd like to own/run a resort.. try this. I knew in three days this was not gonna be for me. I'm not a people person.. it turns out, who knew?????????????

The hours are INSANE!!!! You are talking 12-14 hours a day depending on what is going on and maybe more.

The hiring (and firing) can shoot holes in your schedule. I was there 3 weeks, two people were let go. How do you replace people when you are 40 miles from a cell phone signal?

But the benefits were terrific.. the scenery was just fantastic, the southern rockies up around 9-10,000 feet, the sound of a rushing river just outside the lodge is like Prozac to me. Mule deer, elk, moose, antelope, marmots, hummingbirds all around the lodge.

The people I worked with were all characters, mostly great people. I enjoyed the change in my lifestyle. Some of the guests were terrific and I was glad to meet them. Others, notably a family from Texas, I could have collectively drowned them in the river.

LOTS of memories, lots of stories to tell.. worth every minute of the time I was there.

New way to travel

If you volunteer to work at a resort for free.. you can stay in Colorado for free!!!!!!  that's what I'm doing... 

Travel & Leisure magazine

I've been getting T&L for years now.  In my opinion it's the better of the two travel biggies, the other one  Conde' Nast Traveler.  Even though, I believe T&L  depends way too much on lists to fill their magazines.  Best Hotels, Best Spas, Best Travel Agents (really!).  You can subscribe for about a dollar an issue and if you have the travel bug.. it may help scratch it. 

I found the 33 best travel web sites in an old issue I unearthed from a pile of papers and some of them are worth passing along..

www.farecast.com  "predict the ideal moment to buy a(n airline) ticket

www.kayak.com and sidestep.com "best deals on flights and hotels" (still not cheaper than hotwire.com I'll bet)

www.traffic.com  'avoid roadblocks'

www.tripadvisor.com   'reviews by users'   (this is a GREAT site to check out hotel reviews) 

www.lastminute.com  'package deals one week out' 

There you have it.. from the 2008 December "Travel & Leisure". 

Jet America comes to Lansing

From Yahoo: 

Clearwater, Fla.-based JetAmerica said 34 nonstop passenger flights a week will start July 13 at Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Melbourne, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; Minneapolis and Lansing, Mich. Twenty-eight flights start or end at Newark Liberty International Airport. The carrier will add six more flights -- from Toledo to Minneapolis -- starting Aug. 14.

JetAmerica is targeting small and midsize cities like Lansing, which has seen the number of daily flights at its Capital Region International Airport fall from 35 to 12 the past five years. The decline is part of a national trend that has seen airfares increase at those airports as daily flights have decreased.

Robert Selig, head of the Capital Region Airport Authority, said JetAmerica will give Lansing business travelers direct access to New York City and carry leisure travelers to central Florida.

There will be a few $9 tickets on each flight.   I wouldn't go to NYC for $9 but I might go to Florida.

Nashville and Indy

If you love music.. then, by golly, get your butt to Nashville... Jen and I saw some great acts over the weekend.  We saw an act at the Fiddle and Steel Guitar bar in Printer's Alley that had GREAT stamped all over them. Their lead guitar was incredibly good and their singer was terrific, too. 

And CHEAP... once you get there...  it's about 530 miles from Lansing, (no construction though...) the bars downtown, don't charge cover.  They pass a tip jar around and you toss a couple bucks in.  Beer isn't too expensive.   One place, Robert's Western Wear  (bar, stage and footwear.. no lie)  has a Recession special ; PBR, fried bologna sandwich & a moon pie  $5!

Saturday night we went to the Bluebird Cafe, and listened to four guys you have never heard of that were wonderful   $10 cover.. over 2 hours of GREAT tunes. 

The photo is the lobby of the Frist Center for Visual Arts, a magnificent Art Deco building that was, at one time, a Post office.  The lobby alone is worth the price of admission (FREE!) 

Another little trick

We're going to go to Nashville next weekend  (Memorial day) for a two night stay.  We'll head to Indy on Thursday night to knock out about half the drive.   I got a Radisson Hotel in Indy near the airport for $45 plus fees  $14.    Not bad.     

 Big holiday weekends are LOW business traveler periods.   The best time of year to take advantage of this fact is the time between Christmas and New Year's.   Hotels almost PAY you to stay with them. 

Also.. we'll rent a car vs. my Buick  Rendesvous.   in addition to gettin much better mileage, I'll be putting miles a LOT of them.. on a car I don't own.   $15/day.. or about a half tank of gas.   If I get 30 mph vs. 20 mph..  I'll save about   $60/gas and spend  $81 for the rental .   that doesn't factor in wear and tear on the car. 

Thanks Hotwire

I took my mom to Chicago Friday night   ("took my momma to the hop last night" with apologies to Sam Cooke)  and we used Hotwire to book our hotel.  There wasn't a real need or desire (read.. too expensive)  to stay downtown.. so we stayed out near Oak Brook Shopping Center.   

You couldn't beat it.. the hotel was a Holiday Inn .. which, of course, they don't tell you when you book until you pony up the credit card.   $41/night.   With taxes and fee.. $51.   Great hotel.. nice comfy pillowtop mattress, quiet, good location.. especially if you want to shop  (I don't!) 

Taxes and fees... if you ever take a look at your bill after a trip (rental cars are the worst) you'll see taxes and fees make up a sizable portion of your expense.  Local taxing authorities LOVE to tax travelers..  that's how they pay for baseball stadiums or other huge projects to don't benefit the traveler at all. 

Chicago's room tax.. which is used to fund their marketing for the city.. is about 15%.  In addition, some of the booking groups charge a fee to use their system.  

I thought I was getting a heck of a deal on a flight from Lansing to Orlando a couple years back.. the 'fees' were $50 a ticket.. I bought two.. if I'd known that.. I would have just booked it thru Northwest and taken the frequent flyer miles. 

Lesson learned.. check your fees before you hit "BUY"     and if you're my sister, make sure you book your tickets on the weekend you actually want to fly.. you'll save yourself some HUGE problems. 

Last minute hotels

My previously mentioned buddy, Greg...  sent me a text one morning that he was on his way to Miami Beach.  I love that area and I have run down there, last minute to hang for a weekend with him.   (Two pudgy, middle aged, pasty white guys from the north.. we didn't stand out) 

So I asked him.. where you staying?     His reply was,  I won't know until I get there. 

That's how last minute his plans were. He landed at the airport and booked his hotel.  MOST people, would freak out at that though... but if you want ROCK bottom price on a hotel, that's the way to do it. Especially on Hotwire or Priceline.   

I would ask my son if he wanted to go to Chicago for the weekend.. if I could get a hotel for under $80, we'd go.   I'd book it on Thursday night and off we'd go after school on Friday.   We're guys..  give us about five minutes and we're packed and ready to go. 

I mentioned earlier, we were able to wake up on a Saturday morning in Indianapolis, during the NCAA regional finals and get a hotel for $57 downtown.  The HILTON, no less.. not some lesser hotel.  That was pretty neat. 

I did look one time, on Expedia, for a hotel in Santa Fe NM... and got a terrific rate.  I asked the front desk clerk if they could honor that rate.. she said she was sorry, but she couldn't.  It was $30 or so more...  but she did volunteer that they had wireless and I could book it online, from the lobby.  Which is what I did. 

It was almost instantly sent to the hotel.   

Last minute is the way to go.   I'm sure to be burned at some point.. getting shut out by HIGHER than normal prices.    I've found that at about 7 days out.. that would appear to be the best time to book at a reasonable price.  I'm not saying that will always be the case.. and, if you don't like the rate.. you don't have to go.

Airfare Watchdog

Farealert@airfarewatchdog.com    (double check this) is a terrific site where you can sign up and have rock bottom (sometimes) fares emailed to you.   I get them twice a week.   You sign up and give them your nearest airport.. and they send you low fares.  

Spirit Airlines, they fly out of Detroit.... if you join their $9 fare club  ($39  I believe/year) and you're lucky.. you can fly one way for $9.  I've found the cheap fares ONE way.. but never been able to snag one both ways.  I'd go almost anywhere for an eighteen  dollar flight.  Maybe not Mexico...  

Hotel Stars

When you utilize a site like Hotwire  or just about any travel site... they rank the hotels with up to five stars. 

It pays to have some sort of idea how the star system works.   The lowest rankings, one star.. are for places like an Econo Lodge, or Super 8... not your best properties.   

I used to go to Chicago with some guys to see the Cubs play a night game/day game.. we stayed at a Motel 6 which we refered to as the 'end of the runway motel' since it was right next to O'Hare airport.   When that 'first' plane takes off in the morning.. I am not kidding, 20 car alarms went off.  

Best Westerns and Red Roofs are two stars.. a newer property might go 2.5. 

Holiday Inns would be 3 stars.. I booked a night in Novi a while ago.. on Hotwire.. which was a 3.5 star property.  When you learn of the hotel after you're on the hook.. I found out it was a Holiday Inn.. I even contacted the Hotwire people and they assured me, this Holiday Inn was 3.5 stars.  I was skeptical.. but by golly,  it was a nice place to stay. 

After this.. I don't pay much attention....  Marriott's are 3 or 3.5.. Embassy suites 3.5  Hyatt, Sheraton  4 stars.. at this point I don't care.. I know it will be a decent hotel and if it's not.. I know you can complain about it and it will be taken care of.  Which is about all I need in a hotel. 

Stars work best if it's a hotel you're not familiar with.   Everyone knows what you'll get at a Holiday Inn or an Marriott..  not so.. if you're going with a non chain hotel.   

Trip Advisor has always been a great site for getting hotel reviews.  It can be comical.. one person LOVES IT!!!!  Best hotel ever.. next comment.. 'what a dump' .  It's hard to tell if one person NEVER gets out.. or one person is a picky pain in the ass.   Generally, I've had great luck using Trip Advisor for reviews.  I don't book hotels with them.. they aren't even close on price.

Mark Nester's trip to Mexico

We did just return from Mexico and stayed south of Cancun in the Riviera Maya at the Paradisus, a Melia / Spanish owned resort. 
Absolutely first rate all inclusive with 4 star restaurants, French, Japanese, Italian, etc. We asked for a room upgrade and got a fantastic room in a building steps from the beach!

Denise found a link on Sherman Travel to a great last minute deal from Apple Vacations.
We ended up purchasing this deal through our local travel agent. 4 nights, 5 days R/T flight from Detroit / Cancun transfers to the resort, and unbelievable meals and drinks for a total of $750 per person. Very clean, friendly, staff wanting to please, not crowded. We would definitely go again. Lots of people from Europe and Canada.