London (or Prague, or Berlin) Calling to the far away towns...

Technology has grown in leaps and bounds. And it has gotten a little more affordable but I still refuse to pay $1.99 a minute for talk time! When I'm in a foreign country I turn off my phone. Except for my iphone which I just leave on the airplane mode. Instead I carry prepaid phone cards which I can use from the hotel room or anywhere while on travel. I have found payphones are more readily available in Europe so I usually just call while on the road. And calling from the hotel room will give you such clear service my mother-in-law told me I sounded better from Rome than I did from my home!

Here's a little Monday Morning Clash for us all

Blog play and hotel stays

I'm having fun playing with the different backgrounds. I'm currently using a picture of Big Ben and the Thames. I love that I can recognize these icons but I would rather have something more generic. I'll keep playing until I find a layout and pic I really like.

I just booked our hotel for our SF race. It will be me, my mother and my aunt sharing two double beds. This should be interesting. For a variety of reasons. It was one of the only hotels in SF that would allow more than 2 people to a room. WHAT IS THAT???

Before booking any hotel I like to look at TripAdvisor.com. For two main reasons...

1. The site separates out ratings based on purpose of travel. I love this! If I'm there for business, what does a rating based on the helpfulness of the staff for a family of 6 really mean to me?

2. The site allows the hotel to respond. Any Tom, Dick and Asshole can leave a bad review. How do we know if it means anything??? Reviews should be taken with a grain of salt (GOOD AND BAD) but I've seen several hotels respond and attempt to make right bad reviews and that goes a looooong way with me.

Group work I can get behind

I hate group work. OMG it's the bane of my master's program. I work at home alone. I'm an only child. I prefer quiet reading time ALONE so having to depend on others for a grade is like licking emery boards. It leaves a bloody rough taste in my mouth (and I'm not speaking from experience mind you). I was told of Groupon.com when I got my hair and facial done a week or so ago and it took my some time to sign up for our local site. I thought about my travel for a second but didn't actually think through all the places I'll be visiting this year to store up on coupons until this morning.

$40 green fees + cart at a Vegas Golf Course???

$25 sky diving lessons in San Francisco???

19 euro sunglasses in Berlin???

WHY WOULDN'T YOU SIGN UP???

It works like this...AWESOME savings everyday is different cities around the world. The coupons have short expiration days (so look at the site 30-45 days prior to your trip) and the most important caveat is that a minimum number of people have to also purchase the coupon (hence the GROUPon name)...so even if you sign up for a spectacular deal you might not get it!

Completely stolen from a friend's facebook post:

Dear Tide to go Pen,

Thank you for fitting in my carry on quart bag. You're the best thing for my clutzy self in travel.

Sincerely,
happytraveler

Signs you are ready for travel (or at least GETTING ready for travel)

** The Euro/Dollar Conversion rate is a top pick on your computers history.

** You spend more time worried about the politics of Greece (a country you aren't even travelling to) than politics of your home country

** You put together your reading stack for travel (ok maybe that's just me!)

** You hesitate to buy any clothes that won't look good after hours and hours of sitting (on a plane, train or bus) or hours and hours of walking

** Bed bugs websites suddenly seem much more important

** You start tearing apart your travel books to make your cheat journal (Craig told me this last weekend that he thought our Rome one was so fantastic. Made me grin for the day! It's work planning to be spontaneous!!)

** You start spending more time on foreign websites pretending you understand the words and hoping you aren't getting all the dates wrong. (WHY does America have to be the only place it is month/day/year and not day/month/year which would be SO MUCH MORE intuitive, no?)

** You watch America's Next Top Model and snicker at the girls (really girls I don't care how old they are they aren't women. In fact they are so skinny they probably aren't even menstruating yet) try to find their way in an Amsterdam metro. These girls can't read a map to save their lives. Note to self: Teach eldest to read map.

I could probably come up with more. I have less than 2 months until our Europe trip and I'm starting to notice how it niggles into my thoughts daily. Soon it will occur hourly until all I can talk about is my trip. This is about the time my friends all mysteriously become busy.

People really do listen to me....if only my children would

My friend Janet (the best hostess Evah!) told me she and her family booked two Context Travel tours when they travel to Italy this summer. Her husband didn't buy the fact that she needed me for wardrobe changes so alas I did not bum a ride there. Ah well. I love to hear when people use my recommendation and hope she has as much fun on her tours as we did on ours!

Webcams - a peek at real life

At first this kind of freaked me out. Especially when I think of all the people who could be watching me in my home town. But because i REALLY want to see what people are wearing in other countries before I visit I think I might just have to suck up my freakedoutedness and watch the people.

But then I realized that most of these places are tourist traps and I'm more likely to see American tourists than real Czech or German natives. So my search is on to look for local spot web cams. They MUST be out there.

Like this Kaiser Supermarket.

Of course next time I search for webcams I need to do it early in the morning. There isn't much to see anywhere at 3 am