Archive | November, 2008
Christmas in Europe might seem like a pricey venture for a family with two kids. My husband always says that you can’t save money while you are spending it, but here are a few ways that I saved money while spending money on this trip!
1. Airfare — We bought our tickets directly through the airline agency about 6 months before our departure date. When we decided that we were going to make this trip, we started checking prices obsessively on a nightly basis. They fluctuated from 1500 dollars a ticket to $750 before bouncing back up to 1000 dollars. One night, they were $525! We didn’t hesitate and bought them on the spot. Have your trip planned out. Make sure you know when you are going and where you want to go so when the tickets become available, you will be ready to make the purchase without worrying about it. It paid off for us…two days later the tickets had jumped up to 800 dollars!
2. Hotel — When we started looking for hotels, we read all the travel books, travel guides on the Internet and got recommendations from friends. Then we got out the maps and searched for hotels on discount hotel websites. After choosing the area of town and street we wanted to stay on, we found a hotel next door to a swankier, more expensive hotel. The reviews are fantastic and we are paying about 75 dollars less a night.
3. Christmas in Europe — Christmas in Europe means that we will be bringing our presents to Europe in a suitcase. It means that for the most part, Christmas in Europe IS our family Christmas gift. This has helped cut down some major spending. All of the money that we are saving by buying fewer gifts that are less expensive is going into the family travel pot! This has opened up a few other opportunities that we may not have had otherwise.
Last summer we took the kids to Wyoming and headed to
Yellowstone. These are a few pictures of the amazing buffao that you can see all over the park!
This post is part of Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.
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| Thirteen Things Places Jennifer is Visiting in the Next Month
This is my first Thursday Thirteen! Thanks for letting me play along!
1. Garmisch, Germany
2. Munich, Germany
3. Brixen, Italy
4. Vienna, Austria
5. Innsbruck, Austria
6. Salzburg, Austria
7. Atanta, GA
8. Panama City Beach, FL
9. Destin, FL
10. Mobile, AL
11. Bratislava, Slovakia
12. Pensacola Beach, FL
13. Gulf Breeze, FL
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This weekend was the First Annual Girls’ Night away. We headed over to Biloxi about 1.5 hours away. Stopping for coffee and a bathroom break once at the Mississippi/Alabama border, we made fantastic time, checked into the hotel, and got ready to roll. Because we waited so long to get our act together, we had to stay at the Treasure Bay Casino and Hotel. Both the Hard Rock and the Beau Rivage, our first and second choices, were booked. We were pleasantly surprised! Since the hurricane came through, Biloxi has been working at rebuilding and they are doing a great job. The streets on the “main drag” are still torn up and make for slow driving during prime cruising time, but for the most part Biloxi is coming back to life.
The Treasure Bay checked us in right away without any problems. Our room had a Gulf view (and a view of the air conditioning unit on the roof as pictured below). It was very clean and classy. The bathroom was the kind of bathroom that I would put in my own house. It was in a beautiful beige and black tile with a cool walk in shower. It was one of those showers with no doors. Everyone was extremely pleasant and helpful. There is a free 24 hour shuttle that will run you to and from any casino or tourist spot that you would like to go.
We headed to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, where I had the tastiest hamburger I have had in awhile. After that we sat around and listened to the band play. We had a blast listening to Five Star Iris. After their set, we got to talk to them for a little while. Next time you are listening to a band in a small setting, sit close to the stage if you can stand the sound! You just might get to meet the band!
This is something that I have recently been doing on my family blog. I love to read and think that Teaser Tuesday is a great way to introduce people to books they might not have heard of. I am going to use my travel books for Teaser Tuesday, seeing as this is a travel blog!
TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!
DK Eyewitness Top 10 Vienna Top 10 Viennese Cakes Pg 72
“#5 — Linzertorte — Named after the Austrian city of Linz, this cake has been popular for nearly 300 years, with recipes being included in cookbooks as early as the 18th century. There are various versions but it is essentially an almond pastry filled with rasberry or redcurrant jam.”
I can tell you that I will definitely try to locate one of these cakes while I am in Vienna next month!
Tomorrow I get a day off from work to honor the veterans who have fought for our country. If you have some time, visit a local memorial or museum in honor of Veteran’s Day. Some of my local favorites:
The National Naval Aviation Museum — One of my hometown personal favorites! We love to take the kids the Naval Museum. They have a fantastic IMAX that shows several different movies a day. The kids can run and play in the different planes and helicopters. If you time it right, you might even meet a Blue Angel!
My son checking out one of the helicopters at the the Naval Aviation Museum
Korean War Memorial – A tribute to honor those who served in the Korean War
Battleship Park — Go see the USS Alabama Battleship up close! Afterwards, head to Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines in Mobile, AL.
We leave in 39 days for our winter trip to Europe. My father has graciously offered to watch the kids for two nights so that we can go anywhere we want, just me and the hubby. We were going to go to Prague, but after calculating costs, we decided to stay a little closer to “home”. After much searching, we decided that we are going to head to Innsbruck right around New Year’s. This is the first problem. We cannot find a hotel for under two hundred dollars a night and we can not find one for two nights in a row. So right now, we are at the point where we decide to either a) forgo the trip all together b) change our dates or c) stay for only one night, limiting what we get to do. So, if you haven’t already booked your hotels for the holidays, make sure you book them tonight!
I have become addicted to blogging. Not just blogging myself, but stalking and lurking on other blogs as well. I have just now started commenting on some of the blogs that I have been lurking on. This morning I was reading some of the other blogs that participated in Photo Friday and I came across one post in particular that reminded me of my family trip to Europe. The author of Teacher Meets World talks about how being a child in Europe is a great thing!
It made me think of my trip through London with my husband and son, then 10 months old. He had to wear a helmet 23 out of 24 hours a day because he had severe brachycephaly and torticollis. We were often stared at and people had some ridiculous comments. Sometimes it was too much to take! We were trying to get on the tube through the stroller entrance and the attendant was staring at us. It was a blatant stare, not the kind where you try to hide the fact that you are staring at someone. His eyes could have bored holes through us. My first reaction was “Bring it on…”
When he finally found the courage (or audacity in my mind at the moment) to speak, he said “That is the STRANGEST buggy I have ever seen!!!”
You see, we had bought this Kelty Backpack Stroller (a must have for the stairs and cobblestone streets of Europe) and it is a little strange looking. He couldn’t get over how bizarre it was. He probably noticed my little beautiful boy in a helmet, but that was no big deal. He saw past the helmet and just saw this little guy sitting in a big rectangle on wheels! It was an eye opening experience for me!
This is of the beautiful beach in Destin, Florida. We had such a blast last weekend. We stayed in the gorgeous Holiday Inn Destin.
We just enjoyed laughing and relaxing!
This post is my first go at Photo Friday at Delicious Baby, one of my new favorite blogs. I know I am just starting out, but stay tuned!
This weekend, we celebrated a birthday and then headed to Destin, FL to do some more celebrating! We stayed the night in the beautiful Holiday Inn Destin. It is only about an hour and a half drive for us so the kids were relatively good. We put Tinkerbell into the DVD player and the kids were entertained for the entire trip. While in Destin, we took the kids for a walk on the beach, a kid friendly dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, and did some shopping. It was a wonderful night of relaxation. At one point, Josh and I were so frustrated with the children because they would not settle down and fall asleep. Well, we took one look at our daughter, who had managed to get her shirt over and then stuck on her head, and we just busted out laughing. We all laughed so hard all evening. It was just what the doctor ordered! Beach pictures to follow!
