“Hot Hawaii Deals from $216 a night!” Really, Fodors ?
“Hot Hawaii Deals from $216 a night-fodors.com”
I just got this tweet, and my blood immediately started to boil. $216 a night is a bargain? No wonder people think travel is out of reach! Fodors take pains to point out in the article all of the amazing bonuses like 10% off a massage, or a free fourth night at a room that goes for $1500 A NIGHT! Really, Fodors?
I’m not planning any immediate trips to Hawaii, but right off of the top of my head (and five minutes at hotels.com), I come up with the following, searching the Big Island, a week in high season (March 2012) with two adults, an 8 and an 11 year old:
A one bedroom condo on the ocean at the 3.5 star Castle Kona Reef for $149 a night
a 2000 sq foot townhouse in a resort that has 8 pools for $160 a night
I repeat, this was in five minutes while I Facebook chatted with a friend. My point is, until the travel literati stop assuming that a 10% massage discount is a deal, most people will never realize that travel is accessible, affordable, and in my opinion as important as breathing!
Original publish date Nov 18, 2011
What’s the Deal? Not this clunker to Hawaii, @WaPoTravel!
The Washington Post Travel Section publishes a weekly “What’s the Deal?” column that is supposed to highlight “This week’s best travel bargains.” Thousands of readers eagerly consult this section every week looking for a way to afford that dream trip to, say, Hawaii. Why, here’s one:
Pleasant Holidays is offering discounts on trips to Hawaii. The offer is valid on packages of three nights or longer at participating resorts on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii (the Big Island). Prices vary. For example, a mid-September package on Oahu including round-trip airfare from Washington Dulles, seven nights at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa and one-week rental car from Hertz is $5,071 for a family of four. Priced separately, the package would cost $6,459. For the best prices, travel through June 6 or Aug. 14 through Dec. 18. Book by June 30.
(Can you see where this post is going?)
Many readers are going to see that post, say to themselves, “I don’t have 5K lying around, guess it’s Ocean City again!” and lose out on the opportunity to see the world, all because of BAD ADVICE. I’m going to take apart this deal, piece by piece, and put it back together stronger, cheaper, and better, because, dang it, I’m TIRED of beating this drum alone: YOUR KIDS DESERVE BETTER, AND SO DO YOU.
Why does this bother me so much? Because we frequent travelers know reflexively when we see a bad deal, but our friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors don’t. They trust the so-called “experts” to guide them, and when the experts steer them to bad deals, they are either:
a. Suckered into paying $300 a night for a parking lot view at a 40 year old Marriott, then too gun shy to ever try again.
b. Convinced they aren’t “rich” enough to travel in the first place.
I’m not saying you can get to Hawaii for free, but even using only basic travel strategies, I KNOW you can do better than the $5,071 “sale” price on this stinkier. Because the Washington Post travel section is targeted at the average family, I’m going to skip points and miles pep talk and stick to cash only tips and widely available promotional rates. Also out the window is tons of planning time…I’ll keep it short and sweet.
NO family with school age kids is going to travel in mid-September as school has just started! Clearly the price has been cherry-picked, but even so we’ll use it as a guideline. A better week is Nov 1-8, which includes Election Day (schools are closed for polling) and usually one or two other school closures for teacher workdays/conferences.
Flights:
Using ITA Matrix the best flights I found November 1-8 from a Washington airport were $819 each on Alaska Airlines, or $3276. However, expanding my search turned up the following:
You have to get the airport and/or park no matter where you travel from, so that’s a wash. Let’s add $100 for gas and tolls, so your total savings is $3276-$2856=$420. Worth the drive to Newark? I think so!
Car:
This one is a no-brainer. I see an economy car for $254 including tax on Orbitz. I expect this to go down, so I’ll keep an eye on it. I would normally use AutoSlash as they’ll re-book any changes for me, but they didn’t show availability.
Hotel: To be comparing apples to apples, our family should stay at a hotel at least as highly rated on Tripadvisor. Fortunately, the Marriott is only #40 out of #82 in Honolulu, and I only have to beat a garden/city view room. I double checked the property, and there’s nothing special facility wise (no crazy pool, etc.) to beat. Let’s see if I can do better!
A quick check of Hotels.com gives us a bunch of options. Using tripadvisor as a backstop (only picking hotels ranked #40 or higher), I chose the Aqua Waikiki Wave, rated #25 for much less.
To sum up: our family, who was told they needed to spend over $5,000 for a week in Hawaii, got the same trip, on better dates, in a better hotel for $4,352, or $700 than the “best deal of the week” price. This was with about 20 minutes booking time and NO miles or points. Imagine what this family could do if they really tried!
May 13, 2013
An open letter to Chris Elliot, or why miles programs benefit even infrequent travelers
Frequent flier programs are a scam – here’s why you should quit yours now
was the headline that greeted us on Linkedin last Tuesday, written by Christopher Elliot, “LinkedIn Thought Leader” (among many other publications including the Washington Post and National Geographic Traveler). Many bloggers had some words to say on the topic, notably View from the Wing, but the message wasn’t getting through to the right people: the infrequent travelers who are harmed by such wrongheaded advice.
Before you get the wrong impression, let me clear up a few things:
1. One of the oldest tricks in the blog book is to start a fake “fight” with someone 100 times bigger and more successful than you in desperate hope you’ll get increased traffic and trackback links. Not my intention. (BTW, this always backfires and makes you look stupid.)
2. I respect success. Chris Elliot is successful and respected in his field, and in the area of ombudsman-ship, I rate him a 10.
However, I have a problem that Chris Elliot can’t solve, because he and his ilk are the cause. The so called expert who tells people that Frequent Flyer programs are a scam does a disservice to the very public he claims to serve.
The Negative Nellie routine frightens people into throwing away free money. It’s as if some “consumer expert” watched a single episode of “Extreme Couponing” and told grocery shoppers to shred their Giant cards! Do people in the points world go crazy? Sure. But for every pudding guy, there are thousands of everyday people going about their daily lives, collecting miles and points along the way for free or greatly discounted travel.
I should know. I am one of them.
Who am I? Well, I’m a Mom of two school age kids, a wife of a Federal Employee who doesn’t travel for work, and an occasional blogger. In other words, Jane Average. Without going into debt, in the past two years we’ve been to Panama, Guatemala, Quebec, Spain, France, Florida (three times), Las Vegas (twice) the Midwest numerous times for family and have flown family to us. For Christmas last year, I flew my husband’s best friend first class to meet him in Las Vegas. We’re just back from front row spots at the Macy’s parade.
I’m not telling you this as a brag, because there’s really nothing brag-worthy about it. By making some small shifts in how I pay my bills combined with a few credit card bonuses I’ve been able stretch my travel budget many times where it should have gone. For example, last summer we got 24 days of vacation for $2124, the cost of an average weekly beach rental!
Any family of four that flies twice a year, say once from DC to Miami (1,842 miles) and once from DC to St. Louis ( 1,432) will earn 3,274 miles each. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but you can use an airline such as BA (flying American) that has a household account and you’re already 1/2 way to a free ticket. Flying someone else? Wait until a share miles promotion comes around and transfer them at a penny each to one account, buying bonus miles at a penny a mile. Don’t even want to do that? I just used 1,700 of Deal Girl’s miles for a subscription to the Economist worth $51. Still want to cut up your card?
Is the system perfect? No. If you only want to redeem miles to get to Orlando for Spring Break, then, yes, you are probably going to get hosed. But with advance planning (tickets are released 330 days out) and flexibility I’ve never not been able to get at least close to where I wanted to go.
Do miles expire? In some programs. But, as View from the Wing also explains, simply buying an iTunes song for 99 cents keeps your miles active. I also recommend every other piece of advice Gary gives. In fact his is the piece I intended to write, but he did it better anyway.
So what is my dog in this fight? It’s the Snake Oil act. By calling miles anything other than what they are: a rewards program no different than that at Safeway, you put the fear of voodoo into people and I’m tired of it!
I posted my Macy’s parade pics to Facebook last night. Many of the responses include the word “jealous”, and I blame you. If people lost the fear and leveraged the earning opportunities in their own lives, they wouldn’t be jealous. They would be posting pictures from their own adventures!
Original publish date Nov. 26, 2012
Have all the travel experts lost their minds? Today one gives terrible advice about Amex Membership Rewards
What is going on in blog land? I’m not a ranter but for the 2nd time in two weeks I find myself stunned by what I’m reading by a well regarded “expert”. Last week it was Christopher Elliott’s “advice” to cut up your loyalty program cards and now we’re subjected to this:
Johnny Jet presents: Points for Presents: Using Membership Rewards Points for Holiday Shopping
I’ve certainly got nothing against making a buck and am pretty transparent with my affiliate relationships. If American Express offers a sponsorship opportunity, I can see where you wouldn’t want to turn it down.
Here’s my problem: this marketing effort demonstrates how much money American Express saves by encouraging cardholders to use their Membership Rewards points in the WORST POSSIBLE WAY…merchandise redemption. There’s a reason American Express has a budget for all of these paid experts…the money they save by convincing members to get that telescope or Garmin with points saves them literally MILLIONS of Dollars every year. Who pays? You do!
Johnny Jet is successful and respected in his field, and I’m a regular follower on Twitter. I love the “where am I?” airport game, who doesn’t? However, encouraging folks to literally throw away their Membership Rewards points on awful redemptions is a sad way to go.
Take #1 on the list: Bushnell 789961 Voyager Sky Tour Refractor Telescope for 25,500 points. Amazon has it for $207.41, or a redemption value of 81/100 of a penny.
#2 is even worse: Maui Jim 527-02 Black nakalele Rimless Sunglasses Polarised for 35,700 points. Amazon has those for $231.98, or 65/100 of a penny.
But they both pale to #3: the Garmin nüvi 50LM 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps at a jaw dropping 29,370 points. The Garmin sells for $166.99 for a redemption value less than 6/10 a penny per point (.0056 if you’re curious)!
How can anyone suggest this redemption with a straight face?
#4, redeeming for spending on Amazon, is almost as bad, wanting to charge me 9,750 points for a $69 Kindle.
I will give partial credit for the suggestion of hotel gift cards (#5 on the list), but take away credit for not mention that American Express often has promotions where they discount cards to a much better value ratio.
I get it. Not everyone loves to travel. But even if you don’t want to use your points for airline bonuses (the BEST way to use your MR points, if you’re curious), there are many options that don’t rip you off as badly as redeeming those points for the merchandise in their catalog. You can redeem them for gift cards to over 30 locations at a minimum value of 1 penny a point.
Here’s the bottom line: You should not redeem any Membership Rewards at a value of less than a penny a point. I don’t care how much you want an item, you are always better served by redeeming your points elsewhere. How about for a gift card to the the store that sells an item you want to gift? That way you get to have your points and save them too.
I have to think that even Johnny Jet would tell you so.
UPDATE 12/2: I heard from Johnny Jet (extremely promptly after my post was published) and he did respond to my concerns. It would have been very easy for him to ignore me as a troll, but he did listen which I think shows a lot of class.
I see that he has added some language about this gift cards, etc. and that it is a sponsored post, which I do appreciate.
However, my original advice stands: until AMEX fixes the point levels to something close to a penny a point, redeeming points for merchandise is a terrible idea, no matter who tells you so!
Original publish date Dec 1, 2012
The Most Miserable Hotel Stay I’ve Had in a Long Time
I’m just back from Soave Italy via Des Moines, Iowa. (I know.) I’m also just off my most miserable hotel stay in a long time.
To be fair, the problem had nothing to do with the hotel. The problem had to do with a family of four, including a teen boy and a tween girl, trying to exist in a single hotel room.
This trip made me remember why I avoid a single hotel room with a family of four like the plague. The bottom line is that a teen boy and a tween girl aren’t going to sleep in the same bed by choice, and I’m not going to force them to do it. So we ended up with a boys in one bed, girls in the other sleeping situation.
Chaos ensued, as anyone with trying to share a bed with a teenager or tween kid might expect. Choruses of “stop kicking me!”, “turn the TV down!” and “what’s that smell?” rang from the rafters. The result of this was four sleep-deprived, cranky, and all-around miserable people.
I have no idea why families do this to themselves when there are is any other option. The Deal Family has traveled together for over a hundred nights in the last three years. The vast majority of those nights featured a separate bedroom for the kids, and in many cases a bedroom for each kid. I feel so strongly about vacation rentals that I’m speaking on the topic at Chicago Seminars.
The cost between a vacation rental and a hotel room is nominal, and in many cases the vacation rental costs less. For instance: in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay last summer I paid about $150/night for our three bedroom historic house. The alternatives were the Radisson at 44,000 points/night or a variety of independent hotels in the $150 price range for a single room.
I’ve argued that hotel status matters less for families and this last stay reinforced why. Sure, we don’t get “free breakfast” and the pool in a resort town might not be as fancy, but I’ll trade both of those for a good night’s sleep with my husband instead of an uncomfortable one with my daughter.
So my question is for those of you who prefer hotel stays with families to vacation rentals: how do you sleep? Not just how well do you sleep, but how do you handle sleeping arrangements? Please share your thoughts in the comments- I really want to know how you do it.
August 20, 2018
Some Thoughts on Stewardship
My kid stayed home from school last Thursday as did 3/4 of his high school. Not due to illness or bad weather, but because someone threatened to shoot his school up on Twitter. The police located the teenager who had a grudge, but not any weapons this time. The police are not only charging the kid with inciting terror, but sending his parents the bill for all of the extra policing. How they calculate the value of 2,500 kids staying home from school for a day I have no idea.
I know that seems a strange segue to miles and points, but stick with me. The episode got me thinking about personal responsibility and stewardship in the age of blogs and social media. It’s surreal that one tweet affects 2,500 families, but that’s our new normal.
Miles and points is a strange space to write in. In one sense, blogs and social media are public, but in another, we operate as a tight knit community. Most bloggers in this space are making profits off of a product that has the capability to ruin lives if used improperly. And most of us deal in “secrets” as our stock and trade.
Most of us do this responsibly.
However, a few bad actors have outside influence and the ability to bring the entire house crashing down. To quote myself:
Selling credit cards while also selling “travel is free” is like selling a bag of tools to a customer who doesn’t understand basic construction. It’s just like ACME selling TNT to Wile E Coyote. You just stand by and wait: eventually he’s gonna blow himself up.
The collateral damage is not limited to those saddled with credit card debt. Another kind of TNT exposed its ugly head this week. A “blogger” (and I use the term extremely loosely) decided to market his access to high-status hotel benefits in a public forum. He was promptly (and correctly, IMHO) outed on a major site for doing so.
This same “blogger” has a reputation far and wide for being “that guy”. I’ll just let that statement stand on its own merits.
Normally I wouldn’t waste my time writing about the gum on the community’s shoe. However in this case another series of events quickly transpired. Whether these events are related is open for debate. However, the fact that they took place less than two days after the outing is, well, notable.
The second series of events included a very, ahem, interesting phone call I received from a major hotel chain. The person on the phone (in an opaque way) tried to tie me to the same unasvory marketing tactics.
His tenuous game of connect the dots consisted of the fact that I wrote about how a number of friends gifted me hotel nights during my remodel last year. The hotel involved wholeheartedly accepted the gifts I received and no one was deceived. When pressed, he immediately backed down, but the call was awkward to say the least.
Which brings me back to stewardship.
What anyone in this community does affects the rest of the community. Period.
I’m all in favor of some type of community HOA that could evict bad actors, but unfortunately I’m not aware of a way to make it work.
I don’t claim holy ground on the “bloggers kill deals” battlefield. That said, I am keenly aware of the responsibility of both what I say and what I do NOT say. Again quoting myself:
Nice people are travel hackers, too. In fact most of us are really nice people! You just might have to go out of your way to meet us in person because- like in real life- usually those who scream loudest on the internet have the least to say.
March 2, 2018
Bali: am I the only one who says “No way!”?
I’ve been reviewing everyone’s 2012 year in review lists and 2013 resolution lists and keep seeing Bali listed as a dream location, which makes me wonder if my experience was unique.
Deal Grandma and I took a Mother-Daughter trip to Bali about fifteen years ago and while it was beautiful in that third-world Paradise sort of way, there were two features that immediately spring to mind when Bali is mentioned, and neither of them are positive!
1. It’s the only place in the world where I’ve been chased by vendors on Mopeds. I’ve scolded vendors in the dirt market in Beijing, haggled over 5 Baht at Chatuchak, and once was offered in trade for 10 camels to Deal Dad in Tangier, but have never been harassed by merchants like those on Bali. In hindsight, we were there during a massive devaluation of their currency, so I will give this one a pass.
2. See the picture above. I chose a cartoon rat because the true image is just too disturbing…hundreds upon thousands of rats! I’m not squeamish by nature, and the Deal Kids even have pet mice, but the possum-sized rats we saw on Bali still give me chills.
Granted, we weren’t in a five star hotel, but we weren’t Lonely-Planeting it either. We were staying in Ubud, which is rice country, but the rats were EVERYWHERE…in our room, in the restaurants (UGH), on the beaches, in the shops, in the streets, in the temples, I mean EVERYWHERE.
By the end of the week, we chalked the rat invasion up to the mixture of the food offerings left on the ground daily (a nice gesture, but maybe not in front of our hotel room!) and the Hindu value of treasuring every life.
Bali WAS beautiful, physically, culturally, and spiritually, but the rodent presence overwhelmed the experience. To this day, if I’m ever on Password and the clue is “Bali”, I would say “Rats”.
Am I wrong about Bali? Is there a place others have loved that you just didn’t get? Please share!
Original publish date Jan. 2, 2013. Ed note: For years at least ten people a month found The Deal Mommy by searching “rats in Bali” so I know I’m not alone here.
Does Bali Deserve a 2nd Chance?
I’m starting to think about Camp Mom 2015 and could use your help. This trip is a homecoming of sorts; I had the opportunity to live in Beijing and Bangkok pre-kids but haven’t been across the Pacific since before Deal Kid was born in 2003. The first 2 weeks are blacked out for Japan and the last 4 days for Hong Kong so I’m working with about 10 days open with the kids for some beach time.
I went to my old friend Twitter and asked for suggestions for 10 days in Asia with the Deal Kids. Time and time again came up one place: Bali.
To which I shuddered and responded: “No, absolutely not Bali!”
Allow me to explain. I spent a week in Bali in the fall of 1997 (economics history fans already know where this is going). While it was a physically lovely country with really lovely people, 2 features of the trip stand out to this day:
- Witnessing firsthand what happens to a society when your money loses 30% of it’s value in a week and
- R.O.U.S.. I know I’m not alone on this as “rats in Bali” on Google brings people to my blog at least once a day.
I also have a story to share about arrival at Depensar airport. By this time I was pretty used to the Asian squat porcelain toilets so wasn’t shocked to see one in my stall. What I couldn’t find was a way to flush it. Looking around, I spotted a pull-chain dangling from the ceiling and thought “this must be it”. NOTE: if you EVER see a pull-chain you can’t verify, DO NOT PULL IT. I learned very quickly this specific pull-chain operated the (heretofore unseen) shower.
But no one has seen rats at the Grand Hyatt and the Rupiah seems fairly stable for now. Is it such an amazing place that I’m doing myself a disservice not to return? Or should I let the Bali ship sail and set out for another amazing Asian beach? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
(And please don’t mention Ko Samui. Been there, loved it, but it’s the Vendome of South East Asia.)
Sept. 22, 2014 (We ended up in Da Nang, Vietnam, which was lovely.)
PSA to Loyalty Programs: Hire a White Hat Travel Hacker
The frequent travel community lost its mind when Wyndham announced, then abruptly pulled, a promotion that offered to quadruple SPG* points and match status if you donated the points to charity. It took a savvy travel hacker about 10 seconds to spot the Mack truck sized opportunity: SPG and Marriott’s loyalty programs are currently linked so it would be a no-brainer to take an SPG screen shot, send your points to Marriott, then take another screenshot of SPG with a zero balance. It wasn’t the most ethical thing to do, but crazy simple to execute.
*Side note to Wyndham: Starwood? Really? Love you, really I do, but what on earth makes you think a Starwood Platinum would stay at 75% of your portfolio? Please, stay in your lane. Go after Choice next time.
Or how about last year when some marketing executive at Hyatt thought it was a brilliant idea to give SPG “platinum elites” instant diamond status over twitter? In this case not only did Hyatt have to cancel the promo within a day, they had to make up to thousands of diamond customers who earned their status through loyalty to Hyatt. (Note to Hyatt: I put “platinum status” in quotes because hundreds, if not thousands, of those “matches” were photoshopped. Saw that one coming a mile away.)
Both of these examples required “fraud” but a percentage of the travel hacking community is more than comfortable making a few keystrokes work to their advantage. Savvy and ethical travel hackers can see the opportunities but decide for themselves where the slippery slope lies.
Even when promotions are followed to the letter some unintended consequences can come back to bite companies in ways they didn’t expect.
Flash back a few months to an IHG promotion that included a sweepstakes portion, which meant legally they had to have a free entry component. To be fair, IHG kept their end of the bargain but I’m quite certain their intention was not to give thousands of people a minimum of 47,500 points each in exchange for having their kids fill out postcards and attach postage stamps.
I could add any number of other promotions that had good intentions but were so quickly exploited that the company was overwhelmed by what they missed in the fine print. This is of course not specific to travel (looking at you, Victoria’s Secret, as I type this wearing free underwear).
Travel hackers live in the fine print and companies cross us at their peril. The only trait we possess more than detail orientation is social media savvy. (A sense of entitlement is a close third.)
Each time one of these promotions goes sideways I have the same thought: doesn’t the company have a hacker on staff? Most software companies now have teams of white hat hackers whose sole purpose it to destroy that which the company is working so hard to create. Companies do it for their own protection- one hole plugged in advance can save the company
Oct. 12, 2016 (Ed. note: This is one reason Bilt Rewards has been successful and also hard to game. They hired a white hat hacker from the start.)
Traveling With Kids Is More Important Now Than Ever-But Not For The Reason You Think
America First! America First!
Those four words in President Trump’s inauguration speech took on two entirely different meanings depending on how you view the world. To some they simply reaffirm a return to common sense policy and a nation’s self interest. To others they caused fear and revulsion, not to mention a reminder that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Count me in the second camp.
I imagine you’re expecting me to tell you now how traveling with kids teaches them about America’s place on the global stage. And it’s true that isolation looks less viable to kids who understand that China is only a twelve hour flight away.
But that’s not what this post is about.
This post is indeed about why traveling with kids is important. However, I think we who travel have missed a piece of the puzzle. We focus so much on exposing our kids- and ourselves- to international culture that we neglect our own backyards.
A history lesson
Deal Dad and I were both born in the Midwest but have been East Coast Urbanites for 25 years. The 2004 Iowa primary ad against Howard Dean above could have just as easily described Hilary Clinton. However, with the exception of “body-piercing” (hey, I don’t judge) it may also describe you. We drove a Volvo up until a few years ago and I love sushi.
Much of our families still live in “flyover country”. Just as I had to explain a 1980s Bloom County joke to Deal Kid Deal Dad had to explain why almost no people of color went to his high school. And that’s the problem. Aziz Ansari recently noted that more Donald Trump voters than we think simply have no relationship with minorities or liberals save that they see in the media. It’s a lot easier to believe in the bogeyman if you have no other evidence.
But this cuts both ways- much of my Facebook feed is cluttered with end of the world “commentary” from friends that ought to know better. Pablum that makes all Donald Trump voters and conservatives out to be “deplorables”. Stuff that makes me wonder if they’ve ever been to a state fair or seen corn knee high by the fourth of July.
I’ve spent a lot of time on the blog talking about Camp Mom. Usually on the off years I focus my blog time on the solo travel I get to do. Today I want to remind you of the importance of Camp Dad. For two weeks every other year the Deal Kids head to the Midwest to visit relatives. They ride tractors, feed farm animals, see life size cows made of butter and eat more fried food on a stick than you can imagine.
But most of the time they just sit around and visit. Talk to cousins their age about manga, video games, movies. Listen to older relatives talk about their days. They learn that farming is a real business that takes acumen in accounting, human resources and finance. And the Deal Kids’ cousins see that East Coast kids are cool, too.
That’s why traveling with kids is important
One lesson I’m taking from the 2016 trainwreck is that America needs to heal itself. Marches and political involvement are great- as far as they go- but to me they try to assuage the symptoms instead of healing the patient.
Not so long ago one side party won and one party lost but we all pretty much went about our business. We all agreed on the basic principle that Americans as a whole were good people but some just happened to disagree with you. Now it seems like those who don’t share your views are evil.
Call me PollyAnna but here’s my thought: travel with your kids- here in the United States. If you’re a Bi-Coastal, visit the Midwest. If you’re in flyover, spend some time in the cities. Let your kids loose in a playground while you chat with another parent on a park bench. Don’t talk politics. Talk about The Walking Dead or the Super Bowl. Talk about how kids can make friends anywhere with anyone.
Any maybe, just maybe the next time:
a)President Trump says something wackadoodle or
b)Some biased reporter totally misreports the news
You’ll pause and delete before you post your rant on Facebook.
Original publish date, Jan 2017. (Ed. update 11/6/24: oh, dear God.)
Travel is a Value – and It’s Under Attack
Value: Principle or standard of behavior; one’s judgement of what is important in life.
“That’s why we slow it down and make sure that if they are a five year old that maybe they’re with their parents and they don’t pose a threat. . . . To assume that just because of someone’s age or gender or whatever that they don’t pose a threat would be wrong” — Press secretary Sean Spicer, when asked about the five-year-old Iranian boy who was detained under President Trump’s new executive order on refugees.
You might wonder what these two phrases have to do with each other. If you’re a frequent traveler, you probably already know. But if you don’t see the connection, please allow me to explain.
Travel is a value
When I say travel is a value I’m not talking about “vacation“. Many folks vacation two weeks a year at the beach or Beaches and I’m not here to pass judgement. But for me (and for most of you who I’ve met over the last five years) travel is in your blood. Exploring the world with your kids is more than a hobby- it’s a mission. Your judgement of what is important in life. A value.
Those of us who model travel as a value for our children see our kids reap the rewards. The Deal Kids hang out with kids with parents from Iran, Spain, India, Pakistan, Georgia (the country), Egypt, China, Korea…and that’s just off the top of my head. I recently asked Deal Kid where one of his friend’s parents were from (I was curious about his name) and he looked at me like I had two heads. “Centerville, Mom”. Point taken.
Travel is a value under attack
When a 5 year old is detained by America as a terrorism suspect we all become less safe. America loses her moral high ground when a wheel chair bound couple in their 80s, both green card holders, one of them blind, are interrogated. ISIS has recruitment video fodder for years to come courtesy of our own folly.
But here’s the thing- I can’t blame Donald Trump as it’s not just happening in America. Nativism is spreading like a virus all over Europe as well.
I visited Liguria in rural Italy over the summer and the exact same thing is happening over there. Driving from Cannes into Italy is a jarring experience. Even without a border you know you’re in Italy right after you cross as everything just looks, well, poorer. The British woman who owned my Air BnB and I got to chatting about Brexit and Trump. She shared with me that while she (and her college educated British friends) were horrified, her local Italian friends were thrilled about Brexit. In fact, they couldn’t wait for Italy to leave the European Union as well.
Let that sink in for a minute. Rural Italians, whose livelihoods depend on the olive oil and wine they sell to other European countries, were chomping at the bit to go back to the Lira. I can not fathom a scenario in which an exit from the EU ends well for Italy. Can you?
When facts lose all meaning, what do you hold on to? Your values.
I’m not going to argue about terrorism or safety because none of what happened this weekend has anything to do with either. Percentage-wise the people giving the strongest support to this executive order live in places more likely to be hit by a meteor than a terrorist. Can we please at least be honest about that?
Not even a week ago I encouraged you to talk to Americans who lived differently than you. I stand by that post, but have to admit my faith in what unifies America is shaken. Some things used to beyond red or blue- like holding five year olds and blind wheelchair-bound octogenarians as terrorism suspects.
So I’m going to hold on to the belief that travel is a value- an American value- and I’m going to keep passing it on to my kids. Travel is now not only a value- it’s a political act.
Original publish date Jan. 31, 2017. Ed note 11/6/2024: Oh, dear God.
The “I hate year in review posts” post: What I learned in 2016
Bloggers navel gaze by nature-heck I’m documenting our home remodel week by week. But there’s something super-indulgent about year in review posts that gets under my skin. Do you really care which post from 2016 was the most popular or how many flights I flew?
So instead I thought I’d share the things I learned in 2016 in hopes you garner some value out of my successes and foibles. A few are blog based (and are overdue as I let TDM’s 5th anniversary pass without fanfare), some are miles/points/travel and others are just from taking another trip around the sun.
Things I learned in 2016: Blogging
- A decision I made early-readers first, always- was the right one in the long run. It’s meant turning down easy money but it’s also kept me sane. You won’t find me writing about pee pads anytime soon.
- This can be filed under life lessons as well: a cadre of loyal friends beats a stadium full of fair weather fans any day of the week. You help me- and each other- more than I help you.
- No one is telling readers what NOT to do- and they crave authentic advice! My post about Disney World resorts to avoid is on over 4,100 pinterest boards and has taken on life of its own.
- Miles and Points bloggers are missing a HUGE opportunity by not having a larger presence there. Pinterest even highlighted The Points Guy in its hot 100 for 2017.
- Twitter is waning as a traffic source and is going back to a straight news feed. Probably best that way.
Things I learned in 2016: Miles/Points
- BYOE is here to stay. I have a few friends going for one last ditch Hyatt mattress running exercise- but I think it’s an exercise in futility. Spend the points for upgrades when you want them- or rely on a friend to make you a guest of honor- but chasing status is going the way of the dodo.
- I’m thrilled to see other bloggers tell readers that they don’t have to chase status, but they’re about two years late to the party.
- The best tips are going underground. They have been for a while now, but “bloggers kill deals” hit a new high (sunk to a new low?) in 2016. If you have a chance to get into a group- even for a subscription- it’s worth every penny. I’m in a group that shall not be named and learn something new daily.
- If you can’t find a group, look for a happy hour or a conference. Face to face is still the best way to begin. Might I suggest Family Travel for Real Life?
- MacGyver always wins in the end.
Things I learned in 2016: Travel
- Bucket list hotels like the Hyatt Grand Martinez are worth visiting but sometimes the Holiday Inn Cannes down the street actually has a better view.
- I’m a second city girl. Marseille over the Riviera, Naples (WAY) over Rome, Osaka over Tokyo, Belfast over Dublin I could go on and on. I just prefer places where people live to cross off the list sites. It’s OK and also useful insight for future planning.
- Even better are places off the American travel radar: Pigna, Matera, Puerto Plata. I’m really looking forward to sharing new locales in Chile with you after our Camp Mom trip this summer.
- The Canary Islands were just as good the 2nd time. There will be a 3rd, soon.
- This should have been self-evident, but I realized in 2016 how much American History occurs in beach towns. Doing Yorktown and a crabfest in the same day was an unplanned highlight.
- Allianz, Allianz, Allianz. $5000 and Deal Dad’s 4 days in a Gran Canaria hospital reaffirmed NEVER to travel without proper medical insurance.
Things I learned in 2016: Life
- Your online friends are just as awesome IRL. Rich took on the FT4RL Dallas happy hour to give me some breathing room when I needed it. I traveled through Monaco and France with Arielle this summer and we had an absolute blast. Brandi and I shared Mexican pastries and got Presidential in Dallas. Haley shared not only her knowledge but a bunch of her secret stash of fastpasses with Joe, Leslie and me. So many others I have met through the blog and FT4RL have impacted my life in a positive way. Trevor…well, Trevor saved Christmas. I’ll just leave it at that.
And to sum up: You do you. Nuff said.
Slippery Slope, Party of One: Where Do You Draw the Line?
I’ve gotten some blowback this morning and would appreciate your take. No wrong answers here as I attempt to answer the question for myself, too.
The context: most of you know that United Airlines had a mistake fare posted yesterday for about 4 hours. The fare was related to a faulty foreign exchange rate and to get it, you had to set your browser to Denmark. That didn’t bother me and I booked 3 tickets.
Until I got to the payment screen. On the payment screen you had to put your billing address and the only way the charge would go through was if you changed your billing address to one in Denmark. 2 thoughts went through my head:
- United has a legitimate basis for not honoring this fare as I have to clearly lie to get it.
- What the #$#$# am I doing?
So I closed my browser and went on with my day. Sure enough, about 6 hours later the thousands of folks, including many friends of mine, got the email from United explaining that their tickets would not be honored. Most brushed it off and went on with their days, but over and over I kept seeing “United sucks” and “file a DOT complaint” on my twitter feed.
There’s another well-known story in certain circles about a Canadian blogger who filed a DOT complaint when a system glitch wasn’t honored and sent the whole scheme crashing down. That glitch didn’t bother me a bit, even if I never took advantage, as you didn’t have to lie to get it. Well, maybe you had to purchase a round-trip ticket when you only intended to go one way, but again it didn’t seem an outright lie.
Slippery Slope, Party of One?
Much of travel hacking is a grey area. It’s called “hacking” for a reason. But I see a clear difference between exploiting holes in a poorly designed system and outright deception. Or do I?
No judgement here. I’d just appreciate your take in the comments.
Feb. 12, 2015
Listicle Top 5 Reasons the Listicle Needs to Go Away
Here it is Saturday, and I’m not motivated by any news out there, so how do I fill space? I know! I’ll put up a bunch of stuff you already know in listicle format so it seems catchy and new. In case you aren’t familiar with the term, a “listicle” is exactly what it sounds like: a list with just enough words around it to make it look like an article instead of a complete waste of time. Bonus points if you’ve done a slideshow for additional pageviews. And to make sure I have good SEO I need to have the keyword “listicle” at the beginning of my title and the title in my first paragraph, so here is a listicle about the top 5 reasons the listicle needs to go away:
I haven’t lost my marbles- this post is an experiment. It’s written in a manner that satisfies every Google SEO requirement I can find. I’d have put this at the top but it would have ruined the SEO I’m working so hard to achieve.
Here’s where I insert a headline with the focus keyword listicle for no other reason than it improves SEO
5. There just aren’t 12 reasons to visit the Holiday Inn Express in Topeka. There isn’t a reason to review it in the first place when TripAdvisor does the trick 90% of the time. Even if there’s a compelling reason to stay (or not stay) at a 3 star hotel, I guarantee you a list including items like “outdoor pool” and “waffle maker” is testing your readers’ patience.
4. Just because you CAN write 800 words doesn’t mean you SHOULD. This one is a beef with Google. Google search ranks posts with more than 800 words higher than posts with less because it considers them higher “quality”. I guess diarrhea of the mouth is coveted by Google. All normal editing rules get thrown out the window if you want good SEO. I prefer writing shorter posts with a valuable tidbit or two but get more traction by tossing them all in a salad with listicle dressing.
3. Listicles are prime candidates for clickbait headlines. How many “you won’t BELIEVE #3!” will your readers tolerate before you lose all credibility? If my Facebook feed is any indication, quite a few! But that doesn’t make it right. I WILL believe #3 because it’s just as inane as the rest. Please. Stop.
2. Listicles are lazy writing. I know bloggers are supposed to have editorial calendars, but if you truly aren’t inspired to say anything, why are you at your keyboard? Get out into the world and do something worth writing about! Your readers will appreciate one good post more than two crap ones. Ditto for splitting up what should be one post into a series of listicles just to get more content. How many parts can a weekend trip report have? I’ve seen some with more than 20! Organize your thoughts, tell a story, then wrap it up!
1. Readers are smarter than SEO gives them credit. Really. They are. Are YOU so vacuous that the transparent tricks in this listicle post (like having the word “listicle” 10 times in 800 words) make for enjoyable reading? I’m hopeful that you’re not because I just used the term “vacuous” and if you are that transparent you have no idea what “vacuous”means.
But here’s the thing: in the short term listicles work. Some readers apparently want to know the rankings of bathrooms in Rapid City. If no one clicked, the listicle would go away faster than Gangham Style. Remember Psy? Wonder whatever happened to him…
Readers, I implore you to stop reading listicles that are insulting your intelligence. Every once in a while a list makes sense but the format is now so overplayed it’s impossible to know the difference. Ditto for obviously clickbait headlines, meaningless hotel reviews and 800 words where 200 would suffice. Posts like that are written just to satisfy SEO, but in actuality they fill space and waste time.
I sat through an entire hour a few months ago with “experts” who instructed me to write in exactly the manner this post is written. Google only creates rankings out of what the company thinks readers want. If readers demand more fulfilling content, than Google will rank it accordingly- word counts or other tricks be darned.
Finally, I made it! I can end this post now, because I’ve hit 800 words and this post has every SEO greenlight. Because we all know great SEO makes great reading. Thanks, Google. (Outbound link to website with high authority, check.)
Any blogging memes annoy you? Please share in the comments (and yes, I know asking stupid questions at the end of every post to increase engagement is one of the “top blogging tips” but I’m genuinely curious).
Dec 19, 2015. Ed Note 11/6/2024: This is even worse now, because Google told everyone to create “helpful content” then single-handedly decimated the entire industry.
