Alaska!

We just got back from a 10-day cruise to Alaska.  This was our first vacation in seven years and things sure have changed!

The good:

• It was great to see friends and family (we had a group of 21 people), some of whom we hadn't seen in decades
• The scenery in Alaska was AMAZING
• The food on the ship was really good and the Indian food part of the buffet was sublime
• It was nice to see green landscapes, flowers, smell the ocean, etc...all things we don't have in Las Vegas
• The staff was wonderful, friendly, and very helpful. 
• Our room was at the very front of the ship so we had great views for the entire cruise.

The bad:

• We have been on more than a dozen cruises but this was the biggest ship we had ever been on and 4500 cruise passengers on one ship is way too many people
• Traveling with mostly elderly people is like herding cats.  One person, I think, was showing signs of dementia (she kept getting lost, getting confused, missing group dinner time, etc...her cruising roommate was not happy to have to be her keeper).
• Since we are getting old as well, it was a big change from our earlier cruises where we would hit the nightclub dance floor until the early morning hours; this time we found the nightclub on the last day of our cruise and bedtime was at 10pm each night!  I also brought heels and a dress which I didn't wear--these days I value comfort above style.
• The cost of cruising has increased quite a bit but everything that made cruising a "wow" experience--room cleaned twice a day, towel animals, turn down service with a mint on your pillow every evening, lobster night, formal night, entertainment options--have all been greatly reduced.  Our room steward said she used to clean 12 rooms a day and now she needs to clean 24 rooms a day; instead of a Broadway style show every evening there was a show complete with set changes/costume changes only once during the cruise; there were a few bands on the ship and all were just OK...

The ugly:

• There were long, long lines for everything--lines to check in to the cruise, lines and long wait times at the elevators any time of the day or night, lines at the buffet, lines to get off the ship in the ports, etc.
• Don't even get me started on the massive crowds at the airports...
• Since Alaska cruises are only available a few months of the year, it seems like there were four or five cruise ships disgorging 15,000 cruise passengers at each port we visited.  There were tourists as far as the eye could see; I can experience that at home!
• Alaska is so cold in the summer!  I knew it was cooler than Vegas but 50 degrees and pouring rain at a couple of ports kept us onboard and inside at a couple of ports.

The final verdict:

• A cruise is a great way to sample various ports in Alaska (one guy in our group headed out hiking at every port and said he definitely wanted to return to a few places for future backpacking trips).
• Hubby and I were very happy to get home.  We both decided we now prefer staying home rather than traveling (this is completely opposite the couple of years of non-stop travel we did just 15 years ago).
• The people were great.  After watching cruise brawls on YouTube, I was a bit concerned but everyone--adults and kids alike--were all kind and polite.
• Some cool things: we watched a glacier calving; watching these giant cruise ships maneuvering around fjords and narrow passageways was nothing short of amazing; I photographed an entire tiny cemetery at Icy Straight Point; hubby's sister gathered a bunch of kids on the cruise--and there were LOTS of kids since it is summer break from school--then taught them a few dances and brought them on stage with her when a band was playing to show off their dance skills--they were so happy dancing! 
• Here's some pictures from the cruise...

10 Summer Vacation Tips

While we aren't planning to travel this summer (at least not at this point but I would like to do a marathon in each state so that is on the agenda for some future date), a lot of people will be hitting the road this summer for vacation.  Here are ten ways to save money on your summer travels:

1. Look at all transportation options: driving, renting a car, taking the train, taking the bus, flying, taking a cheap bus such as Megabus or Bolt Bus, taking a cruise ship, etc.  Sometimes the most obvious way to get somewhere is the most expensive, especially during the high tourist season.
2. Spend cash.  When you put your vacation on a credit card you are more likely to spend more money than planned and less likely to immediately pay the card off.  A cash-only vacation doesn't leave you with the credit card hangover after all you return home from your trip.
3. Bring or buy your own food as much as possible.  I live in a tourist destination and I can tell you that eating on the Las Vegas Strip or downtown Fremont is super expensive compared to either visiting off-Strip restaurants or shopping at local grocery stores for things like snacks and breakfast/lunch picnic foods.
4. See if you can find a discount pass for your destination.  If you will be hitting some National Parks, an annual parks pass can be much cheaper than paying regular-priced entry at each park.  Many cities also have an Entertainment Book with tons of two-for-one restaurant coupons, as well as "city passes" which get you in to several tourist attractions for a low flat rate.
5. Visit family or friends while you travel and you can save money on lodging.  Similarly, doing things like staying in Air BnBs or youth hostels as well as staying loyal to one hotel chain which gives you a free night for every few nights you book can help you save some lodging dollars.
6. If you must fly, try to be flexible with your dates (flying on a Saturday may be twice the cost of flying on a Tuesday for example), travel with only one carry-on bag, and skip the extras if possible (things like picking a seat ahead of time or choosing seats with extra leg room can cost a lot more).
7. Try to travel in the less high, high season.  Summer travel in general is more expensive but you can still save a little money by traveling in early June or late August as well as avoiding holidays weekend when everyone and their brother is trying to go on vacation.
8. Plan to visit a few big attractions and many smaller, cheaper attractions.  You could literally spend tens of thousands of dollars in Las Vegas doing all of the major tourist things ($5000 for a booth in a night club with bottle service, $500 for a deluxe machine gun package, etc) but there are plenty of free and cheap things to do here that are still a lot of fun and very memorable.  All of the Smithsonian museums and zoo are free in Washington DC, we visited a very nice free zoo in Chicago a while back, walking in the mountains or on the beach is free, etc.
9. Instead of the usual tourist vacations (London, New York, Tokyo) consider cheaper or more unique alternatives.  A cruise may be a good idea as everything is included for one price (lodging, food, and entertainment).  Instead of visiting Tokyo, Osaka or Kyushu are just as nice and much cheaper.  A stay-cation is always an interesting option (depending on where you live).  And staying in smaller nearby cities may be just as interesting and fun as the large city you fly into (ie: Victoria is just as nice--maybe nicer in my opinion--than Vancouver BC; Bath is just as historical as London).
10. Travel during the off-season or shoulder season.  If you can work all summer (as yours truly is doing) you can make your vacation dollars go a lot further by vacationing in the spring or fall.  There are less tourists then and prices tend to be lower.

Save Money on You Vacation With Travel Passes

If you love to travel and love to get great discounts, consider picking up these annual passes before you head out on vacation:

1. National Park Pass (entry to all of the national parks in the US)
2. Canadian Parks Pass (if you will be traveling in Canada)
3. ASTC Travel Passport (science centers and museums pass)
4. American Alliance of Museums Pass (ditto)
5. Annual passes for state parks you will be visiting (examples here and here)
6. City Passes (a flat rate for various attractions in listed cities)
7. A daily/weekly/monthly transit pass for the city you will be visiting (example here)
8. An Entertainment Book for the cities you will be visiting
9. If you like to travel by train consider a rail pass for the places you are visiting (examples here, here, and here)
10. Annual passes or memberships for specific places you like to frequent (examples here, here, and here)

Vacation Wrap-Up (Part 3 of 3)

And here's a final wrap up of our vacation...mostly random musings...

• This vacation allowed me to knock two more goals off of my annual goal list--visiting San Francisco and visiting my family.
• We each took a small suitcase and a small backpack with us (both were easily carried onto the plane so we didn't have to pay to check baggage) and we still had a bunch of clothes that we didn't wear!
• Airport USOs are awesome!  This is such a great service for military members.  Free everything: coffee, food, info, bag check, shower facilities sometimes, wi fi, computers to use, bunk rooms sometimes, etc.  And the volunteer staff are wonderful as well.
• I will definitely want to go back and see more of San Francisco.  I am a bit disappointed that the BART system doesn't have a day pass like many city transit systems.  You have to pay per trip which can really rack up the charges!
• Going back to visit our home town was kind of bittersweet.  We were happy to see friends we hadn't seen in ages, less happy that as everyone is getting older (most of our friends are in their 60s and 70s) they are also getting sicker and dying (one friend has stage 4 lung cancer, one has stage 4 colon cancer, another friend will soon go on permanent dialysis, and when I asked another person we ran into at the buffet how his wife was he said she died unexpectedly a couple of months ago...all of this happened in ONE DAY!  At this point I pretty much didn't want to hear from anyone else unless they were young and healthy.  Sad).
• After a week of grey, rainy Washington weather I was SO HAPPY to get back to the hot, sunny weather of Las Vegas.  Should I become wealthy, however, I think it would be nice to have a summer home in Washington and live there only for June, July, and August when the weather is much more pleasant.
• Due to all of the wet weather, the myriad shades of green and profusion of flowers everywhere are a bright spot (pun intended) in an often dismal place.
• My friend's "adopted" two year old grandson (no relation but she makes a better grandma than most) cracked me up.  I asked him what the dog says (he barks), I asked him what a pig says (he oinked), then I asked him what the cat says and he scrunched up his face and hissed.  Seems the cat has learned to stay out of his way since he learned how to walk.
• I can literally tolerate my family about once a year, for a day at most (fortunately my friend understands this so we stay with her when we are in town).  I have no idea how my classy grandmother and well educated, hard working great aunts and uncles ended up with a family legacy that is more a mix of Teen Mom/Honey Boo Boo/Duck Dynasty (minus the money) than anything else.  
• I didn't realize how enmeshed we were in our small town until every single place we went (buffet, casino, mall, restaurants) people came up to ask how we've been.  I miss that sense of community here in Las Vegas.

Now that our vacation is done, I am NOT SPENDING ANY MONEY until fall.  I want to work, work, work all summer and save up a lot of money for a really great vacation in the fall (hopefully a trip to the East Coast, a volksmarch festival, a cruise, and a trip to the UK followed by a trip to Asia).

Some Vacation Pix (Part 2 of 3)

Here's some pictures from our recent vacation to San Francisco and Washington State.  I'll post more pix over at my other blog as well.

San Francisco was wonderful!  The weather was perfect and so was the clam chowder!

There seemed to be a lot of churches in San Francisco...

And cable cars too...

Seattle was grey and rainy as usual...

But it makes for some beautiful flowers...

This is my $3.00 backpack from the Goodwill (from now I am checking out Goodwills in every city we visit!)...

And a picture of my sister's fat cat...

If you ever go to Kingston, Washington at the ferry entrance, you must try their crepes...

And the Seattle train station which dates to 1910 is absolutely gorgeous...

Financial Report: San Francisco and Washington (Part 1 of 3)

We had a wonderful trip last week!  We flew from Las Vegas to San Francisco, spent the day in San Francisco then flew to Seattle, took a ferry to the Kitsap Peninsula, visited there for a couple of days, came back to Seattle, took the train to Portland where we stayed for a couple of days, then flew home to Las Vegas.

The finances (costs for both of us):

• Flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco $184.00
• Flight from San Francisco to Seattle $140.00
• Train from Seattle to Portland $61.05
• Flight from Portland to Las Vegas $230.00

We spent the day in San Francisco and it was wonderful!  We dropped our bags at the USO (its like a very fancy lounge at the airport for military and retired military members) and got a bunch of tourist info from the guy at the desk there.  We hopped on the BART train for the trip into downtown San Francisco, got off in Chinatown, then walked down to Fisherman's Wharf.  At Fisherman's Wharf we had to try some clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl (yummy) which is kind of a San Francisco classic, then we took a cable car back up to Chinatown.  We ate lunch in Chinatown (both yummy and cheap), then took the BART train back to the airport.  We hung out a bit at the USO before our flight left and chatted with the volunteer staff there who were great!  Total spent in San Francisco: $79.10 (for BART train, cable car ride, and food)

Next we were off to Seattle where we took the lite rail from the airport to the ferry then took the ferry to the Kitsap Peninsula where we stayed with hubby's cousin who had just visited us in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago.  Total spent on transportation: $14.50

The next day we hit some of our favorite places including the most amazing crepe place ($17.67), hubby played poker with some of his old poker buddies while I met up with a friend for lunch ($21.11), we stopped by the $1 Store to buy treats for my friend's kids ($7.75), meandered by the Goodwill where I found a brand new Sherpani backpack for $3.03, and then met up with a bunch of friends for a wonderful buffet at the Suquamish Casino ($5 for tip, they paid for dinner).

Thursday we were off again!  I picked up a hot chocolate at my favorite coffee place for $3.35 then paid $4 for the city bus to get to the ferry.  The ferry was free on the return trip to Seattle, and we had a great lunch at one of our favorite Chinese places (Harbor City dim sum...as usual it was a half hour wait just to get in the door) for $29.58.  I picked up a bottle of water for $1.95 then we hopped on the Amtrak to head south.

On Friday I spent the day working at my friend's office then we were invited to dinner with my sisters (which, surprise, I got to pay for...$120.00!).

Saturday was our final day of vacation.  We went to a buffet ($27.11) for our big family reunion where I saw family members I hadn't seen for 30+ years!  We also gave $20 to a niece to pay for her dinner, then picked up candy at the $1 Store ($2.00) before we caught our plane back to Las Vegas.

What saved us a lot of money was staying with friends and relatives in each place plus they gave us cars to use while we were there so no hotel costs and no rental car costs saved us a lot of money.  We spent a crazy amount of money on restaurants which was fine because we pretty much expected this as mostly what we do when we vacation is eat out.  We also got a couple of nice discounts because I asked for hubby's senior discount on things like the train and ferry.

Total spent on our trip: $971.20

In order to keep this post less than 500 inches long, I will post pictures of our trip in the next blog post...

A Wonderful Weekend

We took our "vacation" this weekend to downtown Las Vegas (a whole ten miles or so from our house) and had a wonderful time!

Thanks to hubby's online poker playing (it's free to play at www.goldennuggetpoker.com) he won us a three day, two night stay at the Golden Nugget hotel in downtown Las Vegas, $100 for meals at the restaurants there, $50 in gaming chips, and two tickets to the Gordie Brown show at the same hotel.  Here's how we made a free-ish stay even more frugal:

• The hotel room was wonderful however we brought our own bottled water and hubby brought instant coffee because buying these items in the room costs $7 for the water and $10 for the coffee!  Yikes.  We also brought our own snacks to eat in the room.
• We ate at the medium-priced restaurants instead of the expensive steak house and split each meal.  These places serve troughs of food and it is a waste to order two meals because we don't eat that much and there is no fridge in the room so we would have had to throw away the leftovers.  This way we didn't waste food and the $100 easily lasted for all three days.  We did tip though so our only expense for this trip was around $25.
• The $50 in gaming chips was a fun way to play for free.  My $25 went in two hands of pai gow poker and hubby's lasted for three hands.  Other than that I don't gamble at all and hubby plays poker-- fortunately he came out a little ahead this trip!
• The Gordie Brown show was wonderful (we had seen it before and it was just as good the second time around) but we never order drinks when we go to shows, mostly because we usually just come from dinner and also because neither of us drink so paying $10 for a soda is a waste of money.
• We got to enjoy lots of free entertainment--we hung out by the pool for a while, walked around the Life is Beautiful Festival venue before they closed it off, watched the light show and live bands on Fremont, I read a couple of books I downloaded to my Kindle from our local library while hubby played poker, and there was plenty of people watching as the Red Dress Run was taking place at our hotel (there were A LOT of guys in red dresses!) as well as many people in costume for the Life is Beautiful Festival.

Overall, a wonderful "vacation" and even better, it was practically free!