Airfare Deals

I just hate trying to figure out when to buy airfare. It seems like the minute I buy a plane ticket, the rates go down. The last time I had to book air travel, I used Bing's travel alerts. Just go to bing.com, select Travel, and set up a Travel Account. Once you have a travel account, you can set up a fare alert by specifying your departure and destination airports and the dates of travel. Bing will track the fares, using data from all the major travel websites, and send you alerts as the fares go up and down. Bing will also tell you when it is recommended that you buy, based on those trends.

This is a great time-saver, not to mention a money-saver.

Vacation Rental Report

Back in March, I blogged about the vacation rental we had arranged for in Provo, Utah. We stayed at a place called Aspenwood Manor, and aside from the terrible pillows for the beds, we really enjoyed our stay. The apartment was gorgeous, the furnishings were comfortable and in excellent shape. The kitchen was well-appointed, though we only used it for cold cereal in the mornings. The bathroom was small, but functional and had awesome fixtures. There were plenty of beds (the king-size bed was one of the nicest away-from-home beds I've ever slept in) and plenty of pillows, though they were all the same--awful, soft, squishy, no support. Next time, I'm packing my buckwheat and millet hull pillow!

When we arrived, I was kind of taken aback that there was no one there to greet us. We just entered our secret PIN into the electronic lock on the front door and the door of our apartment. Slick! Same thing when we left, we just closed all the doors and windows and left.

We stayed in the European Loft, and never saw or heard any of our neighbors (though we assume there were other guests, as the parking lot was always full and we had to park on the street the whole time). For $86/night, we had beds for everyone and 650 square feet of space (more than our first apartment when we were newlyweds). We will definitely stay here again!

Vacation Accommodations

I've been busy lately planning our Spring Break trip, arranging airfare, rental cars, and accommodations. We'll be visiting my family in one state, then heading to another state for a college reunion, so it has taken some pretty clever feats of scheduling. I also had to consider the fact that even though there are only four of us, my 13- and 16-year-old sons won't sleep together in the same bed, and I wanted to try to save some money on food by having a kitchen.

So, with those parameters in mind, I checked out a website called VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals By Owner) and on Craigslist, under vacation rentals in the city where we would be staying, and ended up renting a luxury apartment in a totally remodeled 1908 mansion with a king bed, twin bed, and two full sleeper sofas for $86/night. We plan to cook breakfast every day and several dinners during our stay.

Because there are only 4 of us, most of the properties were a bit out of our price range because they were meant for larger numbers of people. For larger families, though, this is the way to go. Most of the listings I found during my search were for homes or condos that would sleep upwards of 6 people. For example, a two-bedroom condo in Green Valley Ranch, Nevada (10 min. from Las Vegas) that sleeps 4-6 people rents for $175/night (VRBO). Or, a three-bedroom ski condo in Eden, Utah, that sleeps 6-8 people rents at $150/night (Craigslist). Try putting your family of 6 or 8 in a standard motel or hotel for only $150/night! Add in the fact that the condos/homes almost always have a kitchen stocked with pots, pans, dishes, and utensils, and you save even more by cooking meals instead of eating out.

We're really looking forward to our trip, and I am very excited to see what the apartment is really like. (It looks gorgeous on the website.) Stay tuned for a report after we get back in April!

We're Staycationing This Week

The hottest term this summer is staycation, which is a vacation either at home, or at a destination close to home, made popular of course by the soaring cost of gasoline and air travel. Well, not to brag, but we've been doing the staycation thing for years now! The highlight of our summer is always our 5-day stay at the Sandpiper Beach Resort, near Pacific Beach, WA.

Only 140 miles (approx. 3 hours, due to the reduced speed on the country roads we have to follow) from home, it is a getaway like no other. We go with my in-laws, and my mom is also joining us again after coming last summer for the first time. Kite flying, boogie boarding, beachcombing, and relaxing are the order of the day. There's no cell phone reception, and there are no TV, Internet, or telephones in the rooms.

We're heading out this morning, but thanks to Blogger's ability to let you schedule posts, I'll leave a few little bon mots to appear here throughout the week.