Jill Russo Foster

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Planning Our Fall Vacation

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What to do in each port?  That’s a difficult question.  So much to do and so little time.

If it’s a new place, sometimes we just want to take a tour to get an overview.  That’s the case for the first and last stop of this cruise.  We are taking a cruise line shore excursion to see the coast and in another city we are doing a whale watch.

Yet another city, San Francisco with a two day stop (we have been there before), what to do?  Our original thought was to go to Yosemite for the day.  We even worked out the details to make it work for us.  But now the wildfires may derail this plan.

For us, the research is critical to saving money.  First, what do we want to do?  To start, we look at the cruise line shore excursions for ideas.  If we find something that appeals to us – great!  Then the research begins.  What other companies offer this excursion?  The research piece begins with for these other companies:

  • Is there a cruise guarantee?  Do you get your money back if the cruise line doesn’t come into port?
  • Will they guarantee you will make it back tot he ship in time?
  • Will they pick up and drop off at the pier or very close by?
  • What are the companies reviews like (both on the website and with outside companies)?
  • What is the cost and what does it include?
  • Are there discounts?

These are important questions that we need the answers to.

Some of my favorite websites are Trip Advisor, Viator, Cruise Critic and more.  I should tell you that Cruise Critic is the best. You join the chat room for your specific cruise and this puts you in touch with others sailing with you.  This is a great resource, as we have shared private tours many time by joining others (and sometimes we have booked the tour and are looking for others to share with us).

All these are factors in determining what to do in port.

 

Planning Our Fall Vacation

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Those of you that are regular readers, we have an upcoming vacation for the fall.  I am going to take you through the planning this week, to see how we save money.

Our airfare, hotels and cruise are booked and paid (a while back).  We always fly in a day or more before a cruise (never want to miss the ship).  Since we are arriving late the night before, we are staying close to the airport.

Getting to the the ship in the morning, we have several options:

  • Back to the airport and take the cruise transfer
  • Make our way on our own
  • Alternate transfer

Our choices was the alternated transfer.  This was our thought process, we have never been to this city and wanted to see some of it.  We didn’t want to get to the ship too early and wait there to board.  We found a cruise transfer tour company that will pick us up at the hotel and give us a 3 hour tour of the city and drop us off at the pier.

The savings for us:

  • No rental car needed
  • Tour company will take luggage on tour
  • Hotel pick up with pier drop off

Yes, this is more than the transfer alone, but we have never been to the city (I don’t count changing planes here years ago a visit).  This way we will be familiar with the city before we spend the weekend after the cruise.

 

Travel Made Easier

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You know we love to travel.  Personally, the $85 I spent to get TSA Precheck was well worth it.  It is so much easier to not have to take out your toiletries, electronics and/or take your shoes off.  Note, that not all international airports recognize this status.  Although, recently in London’s Heathrow airport and they did stamp my boarding pass on connecting flights and I was pleasantly surprised.

We actually had to wait weeks to get an appointment with the local (30 minutes away) office of IdentoGo.  Then you wait more time to get your TSA Precheck number.  Yes, it’s well worth it to not have to take off your shoes.

But by later this year, it will be easier.  IDEMIA, the company will be offering the interview process through select Staples locations to start – 50 locations to start.  How convenient will that be?  When my renewal is due, this should be so easy.

The Tulips of Kuekenoff

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Thank you all for your posts / comments over the past few weeks.  We are back from a fantastic vacation to Amsterdam (as you can see the flowers / tulips from Kuekenoff) and then a British Isles cruise.  Starting next week, we will be live posting and responding.

Gotta Vacation Coming Up?

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If you have travel plans for Memorial day weekend or the summer, you should check your pricing again (just before you leave).  We always recheck the pricing on hotels, cruises, rental cars and more.

A while back, we found our hotel room was $60 less per night. Made a new reservation and cancelled the original. For our most recent trip, we were able to get upgraded to an executive room for the same price.  The executive room includes breakfast and light dinner. This saved money as we will be paying less for food.

A few years back for an upcoming cruise, it seemed as if the price went down every Monday.  We we are able to save about $500 – this is money that was deducted from what we would have owed at the time the final payment was due.  After the final payment is made, any savings is given back to you as an onboard credit – which we had another $200).

Money is my pocket is always good.  Make sure to check your reservations to save more money.

Vacation Planning – Before You Leave

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As you know, we love to travel.  For this month, my posts are going to be about how we plan the day to day details of our upcoming cruise.

There is so much to do in the days before you leave on vacation.  Here is a check list of what has to be done before we leave:

  1. Place a mail hold with the Post Office – we stop it one day before we leave just to make sure it’s done correctly. This typically can be done up to 30 days in advance.
  2. Stop the newspaper while you are away – we can automate a vacation stop with one call.
  3. Notify your neighbors and police – one quick call to each, so that your home can be watched.  Our local police department will take your information and keep an eye out.
  4. Pay your bills ahead or schedule them to be paid from your account while you are traveling.  You don’t want a missed payment or worse a late fee.  Start the month before and make a note of the due date of each bill, keep a list so that a bill doesn’t get forgotten.
  5. Contact your debit and credit card companies and notify them that you are traveling to …. and on what dates.  They will approve your charges especially if you are traveling internationally.  Note this is not a prefect process.  Have a back up plan just in case.
  6. For international travel, make sure to have some foreign currency with you ahead of time.  We will have three separate currencies to deal with, so we typically get some of each before we leave.  Make sure to get some small bills and coins as you will need these.
  7. For international travel, you can notify the State Department’s STEP program (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program).  This service for US Citizens notifies the nearest embassies of your travel plans and contact information.  They will contact you if necessary about events you need to know about.

Happy Travels!

Vacation Planning – Travel Insurance

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As you know, we love to travel.  For this month, my posts are going to be about how we plan the day to day details of our upcoming cruise.

Should you buy travel insurance for your upcoming trip?  That’s not an easy question to answer, there are many questions to answer so that you can decide for yourself.

According to Wallet Hub, 1 in 6 Americans have an illness or natural disaster happen to them. Are you covered so that you don’t lose you hard earned money? Of these 1 in 6, only 22% have insurance to cover their travel costs and expenses.

Some credit cards offer you coverage for lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, trip cancellations and even death sometimes. All credit cards are different and you need to check your individual card for what your offers you. If you are covered, they offer you reimbursements. That means that you pay upfront. Do you have that money? And they come with restrictions. Remember my Microsoft Surface Pro experience from last fall?

We have one credit card that we always use to rent a car. It gives us coverage so that we can decline the optional rental car company insurances and feel comfortable. We have another credit card that gives us the travel protection of lost or delayed luggage, missed connections, etc. We have done the research for us and you should too.

You should think about what you may need and find out if you are covered with the credit card you already have. Typically, if you don’t charge the trip to that specific credit card, you don’t have the coverage. Then check with your personal insurance, such as auto insurance for rental car coverage, home owners / renter’s for loss of property, etc. Then look into travel insurance, if you need or want more or additional coverage.

You should do this process for your health insurance as well. Most insurance policies don’t cover you when you travel outside the US. All of this pre-planning could offer you the needed assistance in your time of need. So do your research and make the choices that are right for you.

Vacation Planning – Packing

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As you know, we love to travel.  For this month, my posts are going to be about how we plan the day to day details of our upcoming cruise.

You need to pack what you need for the vacation and stay within the limits of your airline.

First find out the dimension and weight of allowable luggage – both checked and carry on.  You don’t want any surprise fees when you arrive at the airport.  We are always allowed one free checked bag each because that is one of the benefits of the airline credit card.

Next, we use a packing list so we don’t forget anything.  There are different things to pack in addition to clothing – such as towel clips for a beach vacation, lanyards for a cruise, umbrella / windbreaker for unexpected weather and more.  Create a master packing list and stick to it.

I select three colors for clothing – that way I know that I can mix and match to create more outfits and pack less.  Packing cubes help keep everything organized.

A few extras that we do:

  1. Take a photo on our phone of our luggage.  If it’s lost or delayed, it helps with the claims process.
  2. Make copies of what’s in your wallet (including credit cards).  If yours in lost or stolen you have the information needed to cancel everything.  Also, leave a copy with a trusted person back home.  You may have to ask them to do this for you.
  3. We take different credit cards.  If one person’s cards are lost or stolen, you still have the other’s perspn’s top use.
  4. Just in case, have a copy of your passport with you.  If will be easier to have it replaced if the need arises.

Have a safe trip.

 

Vacation Planning – Pre and Post Cruise

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As you know, we love to travel.  For this month, my posts are going to be about how we plan the day to day details of our upcoming cruise.

Yes, we are arriving a few days early for this cruise.  We try never to arrive the morning of the cruise.  You never know if you run into a delay and miss the ship.

In my opinion it all comes down to planning ahead.  I spend time online and reading travel books to determine what we want to do, see and experience.  With this in mind, we plan out our time, research admissions, tickets, etc – sometimes there is a discount to purchasing in advance / online vs buying (it definitely saves you the time of waiting on line to purchase entry).

For our upcoming cruise, we determined what things we wanted to do and have been making the advanced purchases as our budget allows – that way much is pre-paid and we’ll have minimal expenses on the trip.

Because it’s peak flower season, we needed to make a reservation in advance.  This will probably sell out if we didn’t. We also have let our friends know our travel plans as we try to meet up with them when we are in town.