Gift Ideas for Your Tech-Loving Traveler

November 24, 2012 No Comments

If you’ve got a digital junkie in the family, we’ve got gift ideas that will keep them charged and happy all year long!

Thin is In! –If you need your gadgets to step up and do double the duty, the Logitech Ultrathin IPad Keyboard Cover not only protects your precious Ipad, but also acts as a keyboard. You can hit the deck and the keys while away. Finally you can leave your laptop behind. It pays to be thin. $100

Power to the People – A big challenge every traveler faces is keeping their many devices fully wired no matter what the location. Innergie mCube Mini 90 is your go to on the go. The small power in your pocket can provide an extra 4.5 hours on the Ipad and 15 hours on the phone front. Whether on an obscure African safari or dealing with a power outage in the urban jungle, Innergie will keep your world fully wired. $59.99

Music To My Ears – When it comes to business, it needs to make sense. It’s all about the ROI and performance potential. Logitech’s UE 900 Noise Isolating Earphones performance and multi-tasking potential is music to any traveler’s ears. If you want to zone out fellow in-flight passengers, noisy neighbors in your hotel or simply pick up verbal nuances on the company’s conference call, Logitech’s earbuds will have you singing their praises. $400

Scan the Man – Time is money, but in today’s world space is too. One can’t afford to carry a boatload of docs or brochures home. So, slip VuPoint’s Magic Wand Portable Scanner in to your purse, briefcase or knapsack and capture images, menus, brochures or business docs all in a matter of minutes. With the wave of the wand, store up to 32G on microSDHC cards for easy storage and transfer. Now you have room to shop. $99

Next! – Whether packing for business or pleasure purposes, space and weight is always an issue. If leaving the laptop behind, but still in need of backing up precious photos and videos, slip Nexto DI Digital Photo Storage into your carry on to capture those images and memories while keeping the weight at bay. $399

Green with Envy – Netbook? Notebook? Tablet? If you can’t decide, opt for the Hybrid Tablet/Notebook HP Envy X2. HP Envy X2 gives you the best of both with a slide and detachable touch screen and an action packed window with an eight hour battery life for long haul flights and long layovers. If you’re waiting for the wave of the future, it‘s here this holiday season. $850

Reduce Holiday Travel Stress – 5 Tips!

November 17, 2012 2 Comments

For lots of people, the holidays mean more than family, gifts, and fun… They mean TRAVEL STRESS. Usually it centers around missing a train or plane, but can include not being packed in time, not packing the right things, or getting lost in a strange place… But a few easy ‘prep steps’ can reduce the possibility of these nightmare scenarios from becoming your reality.

Since many of us are on a tight budget,  saving money is step one to reducing holiday travel stress. Several travel insider sites, including farecompare.com, agree that Wednesday is the best day to travel if you want a good deal. Travel consultant Peter Greenberg believes Wednesday is the best day to BUY your tickets too, suggesting that midnight is the best time to plunk down your greenbacks, due to the competitive nature of the various airlines.

Relax Maxie, no taxi! That’s another way to say have a good plan for getting to the airport. Sounds easy right? It might be if you live close to a major airport and your flight isn’t too early… But sometimes that’s not that case. Sure, you can try to convince a friend or family member to get up in the wee hours to drive you there. But sometimes that’s not an option, and that’s where we come in. At ParkSleepFly.com,  we offer affordable packages that let you spend the night at a hotel, and then leave your car there during your trip. Parking lots often fill up over the holidays, so the peace of mind of a guaranteed reservation is a huge stress-reducer. Get a good night’s sleep, take a quick shuttle trip to the airport, rest easy knowing your car is secure, and enjoy your trip!

Back to the pricier issues of flight and hotel. There are lots of great travel search engines (Kayak, Expedia, and Orbitz to name a few) that publish low fares and allow for comparisons among airlines and hotels. Timing is key on these sites too, as a recent search for first class tickets from LA to New York proved. Staring first with Kayak, all the one-way fares on major airlines were approximately that same price, except the first flight of the day on American Airlines, which left at a decent hour and was significantly less expensive (just over $800, vs $3,000!). Don’t wait until the last minute and hope that these fares will magically be there waiting for you; Start your search well in advance of your target travel date – The bargains may influence your plans and save you a bundle. Also, check out the chat-rooms of travel sites such as Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Travel Forum or Fodors for great tips from fellow bargain hunters. Also check out travel books from your local library – a free excuse to start dreaming of your tropical getaway while it’s still snowing at home!

Get your suitcase out of storage ASAP. Don’t worry if your trip is weeks away. Find a spot in your bedroom and open up that suitcase. Each time you do laundry, set aside a favorite pair of jeans, seasonally appropriate attire, even spare undies. In no time you will have packed without realizing it! Bonus points for only using a carry-on, as you won’t have to stand around after that long flight or stress about the possibility of lost luggage, and you’ll save money on baggage fees. If you do have to check bags, try to carry one change of clothes in your carry-on, just in case. For more useful packing tips check out this post.

And on the eighth day, they invented earplugs. For just a few dollars, most local drugstores sell earplugs that come in a handy carrying case and cut out plane (and airport/bus/random people) noise. They are re-usable, can be rolled up into a ball, and are worth ten times their weight in gold. (Click here to compare earplug options.) If you can spend a bit more, look into buying some noise reducing headphones. While not as compact as earplugs, they can do wonders for your need to sleep.

Do you have tips that might help ease our readers’ way this holiday season? Share them in the comments!

Thanksgiving Go-Outs 2012: Turkey, Tamales, and Cola-Glazed Ham

November 10, 2012 No Comments

If ever there was a holiday not to be toyed with, it’s the one falling on the fourth Thursday of November. We’re rather sweet on our tried-and-true traditions, so when a restaurant steps out of the box and adds a new element to the Turkey Day proceedings, we raise a glass of something sparkling to their boldness and creativity. Here are five places around the country that love all that Thanksgiving gives while giving patrons a little something extra.

Grove Park Inn
It’s a historic hotel synonymous with its picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains setting but the Grove Park’s four-day Thanksgiving celebration is just as famous. Why? The November feasting coincides with the North Carolina landmark’s much-photographed National Gingerbread House Competition & Display. Gussied-up kids, nog-like drinks by the fireplace, and a grand porch overlooking the Smokies complete the pretty picture.

Plimouth Plantation
Even if we think we’re being incredibly old-fashioned in our Thanksgiving meal preparation, we’ve probably taken on a few modern practices. To see how that legendary first Thanksgiving went, and to gain some knowledge along the way, a certain Massachusetts destination much associated with the Pilgrims serves up a faithful feast. There are several slots on Thursday and Friday, and they do fill up, no surprise.

Turquoise Room
The quaint, train station-adjacent restaurant inside Winslow, Arizona’s La Posada Hotel still has that ‘30s railway charm, but the menu is gourmet. More than that, it is deeply local: Piki Bread with Hopi Hummus, Holiday Tamale En Nogada, and a Southwestern Caesar are Thanksgiving Day staples (turkey’s on the offering, too). Be sure to walk outside on a post-dinner stroll to wave at the trains before hitting old Route 66 for the ride out.

TGD
There are those that like the holiday table classics 365 days a year and not just on that fabled November Thursday. Their go-to spot? TGD, which happens to be short for Thanksgiving Dinner. Green beans, ham, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and a certain bird, plus all the classic trimmings, are what this casual eatery is about. There are two TGDs, both in Ohio.

Corner Office
We’re all aware of Black Friday, certainly if we hit the shops mere hours after we wash all the pots and pans. But Black Wednesday happens to be the lesser known celebration before T Day, and it has a bit of merry mischief about it. This cheeky, hip Denver eatery goes all out for its Wednesday night Turkey Time Machine Party. JELL-O shots, cola-glazed ham, ‘90s tuneage, and a deviled egg flight are on the roster.

Have you ever been to one of these turkey-fests? Got a favorite go-to restaurant for this foodiest of holidays? Tell us about it in the comments!

Camping in Pinnacles National Monument

October 20, 2012 No Comments

Mu husband and I wanted to get out of town for my birthday… But we didn’t want to spend a lot of money. And we wanted to send some time outdoors before it got too cold (even in Southern California.) Inexpensive outdoor getaway? Sounds like a job for CAMPING!

We’re talking car camping, not backpack-and-powdered-food camping. We have a roomy tent, a big cooler, and a nice propane stove. Hubs made a reservation at Pinnacles National Monument (most major campgrounds take online reservations nowadays,) the site of a long-extinct volcano about 2 1/2 hours from San Francisco. Actually, it’s two-thirds of a volcano; Thanks to movement along the San Andreas Fault, the other third is still near Lancaster, where the volcano first came into being. But it felt more like being in a forest, the campground was beautiful and shady, nothing like the barren, rocky landscape we expected.

We didn’t rough it the whole time… We broke up the drive with stops in the charming Dutch town of Solvang, and did a little wine tasting in Paso Robles. We spent most of our camping time reading, cooking, and relaxing, though we did take a beautiful hike to the Bear Gulch Talus Cave. Talus caves are formed by big boulders falling such that they create spaces inside, where the temperature is blissfully cool, and visitors might run into a few Big-eared bats. (We didn’t, though. We also didn’t spy any California Condors, but 32 of the rare birds live within Pinnacles as part of the California Condor Recovery Program.)

We did get a little dirty, and discover we need to invest in a better air mattress… But Pinnacles National Monument was such a wonderful place to find some peace and tranquility, we’ll definitely be back.

Spotlight on Indiana – Stonycreek Farm Pumpkin Harvest Festival

September 29, 2012 No Comments

This week, we hear from Michele in Customer Service, about one of her favorite hometown autumn traditions!

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