September 21, 2010
It wasn’t
meant to be a vacation. I had, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to go on this trip with PiC out of a sense that I should go with him, because he really wanted me to come along. He would have been fine with or without me, really, but it was a nice idea and so it was penned into the planner as another chore of sorts to be gotten over with. And the beginnings were not, one would say, auspicious.
Behold the paper towels that did not hold back the flood overhead five minutes into my flight after a mind-numbing two hour delay and numerous other WTHeckeries that punctuated our transit out of California
After a nice settling in, the rest of the weekend was incredible. Restful, full of good food, good sleep, nice people, exploring, and good laughs.
It’s an incredibly runner friendly town we visited, and I felt like we were in the country though we honestly weren’t. We didn’t manage to hike because it rained most of the time, but we still managed a lovely 3 mile walk around a park and visited with the world’s wriggliest puppy, had hot chocolate and coffee at the Wandering Goat Coffee House, drinks at the local posh restaurant where they acknowledged their local foragers (apologies for the photo quality but it was just so cute):
By the by, my French 75 cocktail? Knocked me on my tail! I’m not much of a drinker to begin with, but 1/2 way through on an empty stomach, I realized, oh, I’m going to be that girl tonight. I like to pretend that I wasn’t, but I probably was.
While this wasn’t an inexpensive trip, it wasn’t too pricey either. We ate in most meals, with the exception of one lunch and one very nice dinner for four. PiC and I footed the bill for that dinner because we didn’t bring a hosting gift, and our host friends cooked simple but alarmingly* good food the rest of our visit.
My biggest disappointment was forgetting to take food pictures – everything was so fresh and delicious we immediately devoured it, every time.
Mini-Photo Gallery
The deer that earned me the moniker “Elmira”: Just because I dashed out the door yelling “I’m gonna pet the deer!” nearly before getting clothes on … And no, the deer didn’t wait around for me to pet them.
Gone walkies …. over a river
My first wild-blackberrying on the side of a road
Late bloomers
September 16, 2010
This time we’re flying, thank goodness. Not that our relationship didn’t weather the last two drives to Southern California, it’s just that PiC insists on doing the majority or all of the driving and that wipes him out spectacularly.
This is our first time trying a mega-discount airline (Allegiant Air) and I’ve got to say, I’m a little hesitant about this. The “administrative fees” tacked onto the ticket had me seeing red when he first booked the tickets, so with that and the one flight per day frequency, I can’t say the deal was good enough to stoke my enthusiasm. While I’m usually a no-frills traveler, this feels closer to riding the rails without any siding on the car. We’re giving it a shot, a review will follow after the weekend if I’m so motivated by joy or rage.
Arrival at Oakland Airport doesn’t do much for the wary, adventuring spirit either. Between the 1960s decor of Terminal 1, the nearly barren dining landscape and dim lighting reflecting off the extra shiny metal strips that sporadically covered an otherwise exposed ceiling strung with festive … wiring… well, I’m just glad that I’m here with PiC, a working laptop, phone and plenty of electricity to charge up both pieces of tech. Especially since PiC’s left to go wander about. Perhaps he’ll discover something strange and wonderful and bring it back for me to pet.
(Maybe the free wifi will let me load Twitter so I can chitter chatter with my friendsy strangers online instead of the strangers I’m stuck at the gate with during this two hour minimum delay?)
We’re visiting some friends this weekend, and we’ve got something lined up almost every weekend from here through the end of the year, whether I know what it is yet or not. I asked PiC if we could simply have one month when we didn’t travel and he just laughed at me. *sigh* Not this year.
At least we’ll have racked up 4 free roundtrip flights on Southwest after Chicago between flying and credit card rewards. That’s gotta count for something.
September 14, 2010
Oh so very randomly, except for the bit where he entered on purpose, PiC won a giveaway for a free entry to the Chicago Marathon. I’m told that registration runs a bit over $100, and it’s one of the races he’s always wanted to run, so I was willing to support his desire to go. In spirit. To complicate matters, though, because our friends have moved out of the Chicago area, he wouldn’t have anyone to stay with so he wanted to make a weekend of it with me. Oh, the nerve of him, wanting to spend quality time together! 😉
Financially, I was hesitant. We have very different saving and spending styles, so if the Travel Fund doesn’t support it, I’m usually less in favor of taking a trip. He, on the other hand, regularly saves a big chunk every month sight unseen and says that’s good enough – the rest is for spending.
Leave it to a giveaway prize to reveal our money philosophies, yet again!
My compromise was this: Given the potential cost of a marathon weekend out of town, I’d be willing to consider going if we could keep it under a certain amount. In the meantime, however, I would check hotel points and other airline points/miles/reward options to see if we could creatively fund the trip. Between a Southwest reward flight and Hilton points, I was seeing the budget drop to less than $400 for transportation. Clearly, I was Olly-olly Optimism.
Alas, Southwest’s Standard rewards were already all booked out, leaving me with only the Freedom reward. For those who aren’t familiar, that’d call for using two 1-way tickets to equal an unrestricted free 1-way flight. Not exactly worth it in this situation.
A sale came up and PiC jumped on it during the work day, but I’d rather he didn’t yet tell me how much we blew my second estimate out of the water (I’m guessing airfare was about $900 for both tickets, *cringe*); meanwhile I’ve finally put my hard-earned Hilton points to good use and booked two nights for free at a downtown Hilton hotel. I’ve been using the Hilton Platinum American Express for six years, charging only post office, cell phone and restaurant bills for a 5x point return to earn enough points for two nights in a decent hotel. Call that dedication to the financial cause! 🙂
It’s a bit stressful doing all this last minute planning for a trip in early October, and all the while wondering if he’s going to be physically prepared for the race because I can’t carry a full grown man to the airport on my back if it comes to that.
We set up the reservations so that I could back out up to the week before without any real financial repercussion and he wouldn’t lose the hotel room as it’s booked in both our names. Well worth the 10 minute phone call to the Hilton reservations line!
Speaking of giveaways, here’s hoping my luck is as good as PiC’s but costs us less money in the following!
July 28, 2010
I’m barely mentally unpacked from San Diego Comic Con, and I’m looking up another itinerary to go back down to SoCal. I haven’t been *home* since May but this is another quick round trip. Possibly even a same day trip.
In a couple months, we’ll be memorializing the passing of my dear friend’s beloved father. We lost him exactly midway between my birthday and his – we were four days apart and he always joked that I was four days older than him. Growing up, I hated my birthdays because they were always strangely lonely, now I don’t know how to feel about it.
Every year that passes and takes with it another loved one makes every memory and tradition that much more poignant.
I’m considering using my Southwest award tickets for this trip. Between the recent vacation spending, the purchase of tickets for next year’s vacation, the upcoming dental expenses for both my parents, it behooves me to stop bleeding cash.
May 25, 2010
I’m not big on summer or high season travel but this year’s trips have suddenly piled up as a California highway is wont to do on any given day. Not having the itineraries settled was annoying me at odd times. Completely inappropriately like, say, during meetings my brain chose not to attend. In keeping with my neuroses, I’ve started a joint expenses tracking spreadsheet to total up this year’s travel spending now that Partner in Crime and I are in the same area at the same time.
So we sat down with pencil and paper (seriously!), computers and calendars to map out the summer months.
Airfare is no joke, folks.
I’ve been juicing the value of some Southwest credits (just over $600) to pay for my travel to attend a graduation, the Comic-Con expeditions, and had a little left over for a solo trip that PiC is taking. I have no interest in traveling 3 weekends out of 5 in a month, so he’s on his own for that one. They actually stretched to pay for 7 one-way trips so that’s a big fat sigh of relief, but it most certainly did not cover the wedding in LA.
Road trip! And over the holiday weekend, that last. Pray for me!
With only $100+ in the travel fund, covering my share of the rental car, food, comics, and any other gifts from Con will be an interesting challenge. Though, let’s be honest, if I do well enough on the current savings challenge, I will share some of that bounty with … myself.
I’m also hoarding a couple other travel credits (a free round trip and some other airline credits) in case my hypothesized short vacation to see a host of relatives and friends on the East Coast this fall proves true. But that’s a whole other story. For now, I plan to be a complete homebody in the months of August and September.
What does this summer hold in store for you?
May 21, 2010
Speaking of weddings ….
The furthest distance I’ve ever traveled for a wedding was Miami. [2348 miles]
The furthest distance I’ve been invited to go is Greece (no go, sadly). [6900 miles]
Before age 25, the furthest I’d ever gone was Atlanta, and that was also the furthest I’d been invited to travel. [2190 miles]
The lowest cost (to me) destination wedding attended: Nashville [$350]
The highest cost (to me) destination wedding attended: Miami [$500]
The lowest cost (for them) wedding attended: Los Angeles [under $100]
The highest cost (for them) wedding attended: tie between Miami and Napa [both were six-figure weddings]
May 14, 2010
This gorgeous, thick, almost plush orange envelope landed in my mailbox yesterday. It was addressed to “Revanche and Guest” – you know what that means!
Wedding bells are ringing in honor of my dear old friend. He was my one of my favorite freshman year teachers and we’ve kept in touch lo these many years – through college, through the dissolution of his marriage, through some incredibly tough job hunting and soul searching years. And he’s found the woman who, without even meeting her, it’s plain she so matches his personality that reading her writing is like reading his. They’re not the same, but it’s close enough to make no never mind.
I’m delighted for him. He’s a warm and loving soul; a troubled marriage, divorce, ex-wife’s hasty remarriage to the strangest match ever (oh yes, we knew the guy) and the loss of his beloved pets who were children to him didn’t tarnish his quest for beauty (Whitmannish, Emersonian, Byronlike) and love.
My hope is that sometime after the wedding, I’ll get to know his wife and we’ll get along, and we’ll continue meeting up at odd times in our lives and be friends until the end of time.
In the meantime, it’s a scramble to make sure that I’ve travel funds for another trip back down south to witness their nuptials and wish them well. As luck would have it, they’ve scheduled it for the holiday weekend in July so with that Monday off as buffer/recovery time I’m considering driving instead of flying. It’s more cost-effective when you have more than one person in the car. Tallying for two: driving would probably cost less than $200 for the weekend, compared to 2 plane tickets at $180ish each. And if any other friends want to hitch a ride down to LA for the weekend, that’d defray the cost further.
Between this unexpected news and the flight back home for a graduation I neglected to budget for, I’ve emptied the well of travel money, travel credits, and travel anything else! But I wouldn’t dream of missing it and can’t wait to see him again.
