condo

How to Arrange the Perfect Family Trip From Your Desk

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:44:36 PST

Pick a destination by your own preference or by doing a web search for “great family vacations” or “places to vacation for families”
Go here and use their airline ticket pricing service by putting in the dates of your trip, the departing and arrival airports and number of passengers. You can request non-stop flights if you prefer which cost more, but are great for families with children. If you chose Mexico, I recommend the website Locogringo. We used to stay in hotels in Mexico, but prefer to rent condos now due to the size of the family.
Go to VRBO and look for a condo, house, or cottage to rent for your stay. The site is self-explanatory and includes descriptions and pictures of the outside and inside of the properties. I have used this site to rent condos in San Diego, San Francisco, Florida, and other locations and can frequently find a condo for the same price per night as an expensive hotel. ($150-$250 per night) The days of staying in a small hotel room and eating marginal room service food are over. Instead, sleep, eat, and play in your own condo or rental home for the week. The last place we stayed was a 3BR/3BA, 2200 sq. ft. condo on Jacksonville Beach ($1800 for a week in a high rise luxury condo building).
Arrange a rental car to get you to and from the airport and condo or rental home. Unless you are staying in a big city with great public transportation, you'll need a car for trips to the local attractions and grocery store trips. We frequently eat breakfast and dinner in the condo and dine out for lunch while exploring the area. We take day trips to adjoining areas and need a van for our family of six. I like Alamo or my car rental needs and have always gotten good service and vehicles from Alamo.
Look up the visitor's bureau or chamber of commerce for the proposed destination and get your “free guide to…” mailed to your home in advance to plan out your stay and to avoid missing the top hot spots. These guides are usually free and give ratings for local restaurants.
Make sure to take appropriate electronics to plug in as many of the kids as possible to allow some down time for the parents. We take the Gameboys, Nintendo DS, and our Playstation 2, as well as ten DVD movies. Most of the properties on VRBO are family friendly and many have pools, Flat screen TV's and entertainment centers with DVD players and cable, etc.
If you are going someplace with sun, take the sun block, sunglasses and some Aloe Vera gel for mistakes. Most of the places on VRBO have had beach towels available.
Get a ten-day weather forecast from Yahoo Weather or the Weather Channel to help plan your stay.
Have a good time. Life is short. I have never taken a vacation I regretted. Make sure you use all your vacation time. Some people in the U.S. leave some time on the table at their workplace.

Avoid Hotels When Traveling with Kids

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:52:01 PST

Traveling with small children especially ones that cry a night or still nap can be tricky. One of the longest nights of my life was spent in a hotel room with my kids. The baby cried, like she always did, but I couldn't “let” her cry, she was disturbing everyone else. The air conditioning was loud and the air was bone dry. Not to mention that fact that my two year old went to sleep at 8, so what did the rest of us do while she was sleeping? My husband took my 5 year old to the lobby to read and I sat and watched TV, very softly.

I avoid hotels like the plague when vacationing with kids. They just don't make good sense. Instead I plan in advance and do a little research to find a great condo or rental home in the area. One great site that I'd recommend for your research is VRBO.com, Vacation Rental By Owner. More on that later.

There are huge advantages to renting a condo or a home

More space for toys, sleeping and fun. While the little ones are napping, you or your older children can do “awake” things. I try to look for places with yards or condos with balconies or decks so you can still be outside while still being close by.
A kitchen with a fridge and a microwave. You can pack lunches for the day, have breakfast, and serve healthy snacks. My husband and I love feeding our kids an early dinner of Mac n Cheese then heading out to a nice dinner where we eat and they get to color. We save a ton of money and time bringing or buying groceries. More time to vacation and less time sitting in restaurants (our kids least favorite place to be!)
Indoor amenities. Rental places usually have DVDs, VCRs, games, magazines, books, suggestions of things to do, a big coffee pot (my husband and I are addicts), beach towels and swim toys. We once stayed at a place with a pool table.
Outdoor amenities. Anything goes with this one, just search for what you want. Rentals can come with swimming pools, hot tubs, playground equipment, snorkel gear, private decks, and private beaches. Last summer we stayed at a cabin in the Smokey Mountains that was on a river. The owner's s provided fishing tackle. It had a private deck on the water with a fire pit. The secluded private hot tub was a big hit.
Off the beaten path. You can stay in town or out of town. In the Bahamas we opted for a place on the beach, but within walking distance of the boardwalk and docks.
You can park close to the door. Coming “home” is always a breeze. Park in you private spot and head right in. You don't have to drag tired kids and a days worth of gear through a lobby and wait for elevators.
Money saved. Eliminate the middleman by giving your money to a person. Renting a private residence is much cheaper than a hotel. In many cases you don't pay taxes or resort fees. You get way more space, including bedrooms and privacy to relax. My kids love exploring their home for the week!

While there are certainly many websites out there that provide this service. I have always been happy with the selection and owners at VRBO.com. The site provides details about availability, amenities, photos, and nearby attractions. You can search by state, town and general area. The prices and number of bedrooms are clearly posted. Best of all, it seems that wherever we want to go, anywhere in the world, there are a lot of choices!

What's also cool about the site is that most of the time you are emailing and communicating with the owners so they can give you personal service about their favorite place to be, on vacation in their rental unit!

Next time you want to travel consider a rental unit. My family and I have some great vacation memories and saved a lot of money and frustration renting from someone else.

Escaping the Cold Weather: Why Moving to Florida is a Good Idea

Tue, 29 May 2007 08:35:07 PST

After many years of living in the frigidly cold state of Ohio, it was time to make a change and move someplace warmer. After weeks of research and planning, I packed up my pets and belongings and drove down to the western coast of Florida. The first half of my life had been subjected to huge quantities of snow, having lived in the “snow belt,” where snow piles on its residents mercilessly during the winter months. Florida does have its own problems, namely hurricanes, but since I didn't plan on buying a house, it was less of a concern to me.

The condo I chose was near the beach but out of the evacuation zone, in the Tampa Bay area. If there is a hurricane, people in evacuation zones must evacuate, because they live on low ground and risk flooding. My new place is situated on a peaceful lake, off the main streets in a quiet neighborhood, which is close to stores of all kinds. Every day, large water birds come to visit, looking for food. Most common are egrets, wood storks, blue or green herons, moorhens, and ducks.

Turtles can be seen basking themselves on logs in the water. It is a serene setting that is most definitely worth the pricey rent. With large windows, and a lovely balcony, my houseplants are growing without my needing to do anything except prune or water them once in awhile.

The bright sunshine, blue skies and puffy, white clouds naturally improve a sad mood here in Florida. Up in Ohio, the skies tend to be gray most of the year, and that can make many people depressed. It never occurred to me how much my mood had been affected by the weather until moving down here.

Driving in Florida can be intimidating, due to the many people who all decided to move down here to get away from the northern weather. Roads are crowded and traffic moves fast. Parking in cities can be hard, but it comes with the territory of living where everyone wants to be. Taxis are plentiful and cheap I prefer to hire taxis instead of using my own car, to save money and avoid parking hassles.

The stores and malls here are plentiful and fun to browse. Since tourists come here all the time, there is a huge variety of merchandise to see. It is a shopper's paradise. It is so convenient to live in the suburbs, where everything you need is only a street or two away. My former home in Ohio was in the suburbs but nothing was close by, without a car life would be hard. There is everything from large international style malls to family owned small stores, and everything in between. And, if you feel like being a tourist, drive over to the beach nearby and check out the gift shops and boutiques nearby.

If you love nature, sunshine and being outdoors in general, Florida is a wonderful place to live. As long as you have a good air conditioner for those hot months, living here is comfortable and there are many activities to entertain just about anyone. Sure, there are big bugs, snakes and spiders, but well-maintained properties are vigilant about keeping the critters where they belong, outside and away from your living areas, by spraying regularly with pesticides. Wherever you go, there are lush, tropical landscapes and beautiful flowers. Come to Florida for a visit, and like me, you may want to move here. If you do, you'll be very glad that you did.