unsolicited opinions on random things
Have you signed up for Groupon Getaways yet? The service hasn’t launched, but you can join, so you’ll get the deals when they do launch. Groupon Getaways is a partnership between Groupon and Expedia, and will feature special travel deals, often at 50% off or more. For more info, read an article about Groupon Getaways on Budget Travel’s blog.
We’ve rented out our house for 3 weeks in August, and are now looking for places to go while our guests are here. Check out this yacht rental I found in Marina del Ray, California (just outside Los Angeles). Doesn’t this look amazing?
Have a great weekend!
Seems everyone’s talking about San Francisco these days. Two bloggers I follow, Joanna (of Cup of Jo in Manhattan) and Victoria (of sfgirlbybay in San Fran) are doing a house swap this week. My pals Hilary and Tristan are planning a baseball-themed trip to San Francisco and LA this summer. And now I see a “36 Hours In” article in the NY Times Travel section all about San Francisco. Makes me want to jump on a plane!
…But you don’t have a car? No worries, you can drive someone else’s.
If you’re a good driver with a clean record, you can sign up to drive someone else’s car from one location to another, and get paid for it. Or at least get your flight home covered. For example, think about all the snowbirds that need their fancy automobiles driven down to Florida for them each year. Or the people that are moving across the country, but don’t want to drive their own cars (I guess because they’d rather fly).
Sound interesting? There’s a Toronto company that’s always looking for new drivers: Toronto Drive-Away Service. Or check out the US-based Auto Driveaway for opportunities in locations across America. Also check with any major car rental agency – they’re often offering one-way rentals at a steep discount. For example, check out these one-way Florida specials from Avis.
If you want to do a really big road trip, consider driving an RV one-way. The big RV rental companies need their vehicles moved around, and will often offer a big discount on the cost of a rental if you pick up the rig in one town, and drop it off in another. Have a look at the one-way rental deals offered by Cruise Canada here.
Would you (or someone you know) like to rent my house? We’ve put it up on the vacation rental website AirBnB for anytime in August, September, or October (minimum one week rental). We’d like to do some traveling ourselves during those months, and don’t want our house to sit empty (and of course, we’d like to make some money).
Check out our listing on AirBnB here.
Lately I’ve been a little obsessed with looking up vacation rental properties. It’s partially because I like to dream of cool holidays, and partially because we hope to do some traveling in a few months, when Ian and I are both on parental leave. As much as we’d love to go to Scotland (or anywhere else overseas for that matter), we think a vacation within driving distance is a little more practical (and affordable).
Check out this beach house available for rent in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (on the Outer Banks, where I still want to visit). Wouldn’t you love to hang out in that living room, cook in that kitchen, swim in the private pool, walk to the beach, and soak in that bathtub? Dreamy.
Budget Travel magazine has done a roundup of 30 Spectacular Images of US National Parks, and these photos are seriously amazing. Makes me wanna dust off the camping equipment, pack the baby and dog in the car, and hit the road.
PS – if you’re inspired to hit the road too, they have a great article with four itineraries for checking out National Parks (Minus the Crowds).
I’ve been hearing about Hipmunk a lot lately. It’s yet another travel search website, kind of like Kayak (it aggregates flights and hotels). But Hipmunk is a little different – it adds a subjective component to your search called “Agony” or “Ecstasy”.
When you’re looking for a flight, you can display your results by “Agony” – a combination of the flight’s price, duration, and number of stops. Which is really helpful, because I hate layovers, and will often pay more to avoid them.
And when you’re searching for a hotel, you can display your results by “Ecstasy” – a combination of price, reviews (from Yelp), and amenities.
I don’t have any trips planned right now (the baby has temporarily grounded us for a few months), but next time I’m looking, I’ll give Hipmunk a serious try.
The weather this past weekend in Toronto was downright weird. Wind, rain, snow, sun, with temperatures above and below freezing, all in 48 hours.
When it’s nasty outside, the only thing I want to do is escape to somewhere else… so I often end up trolling the internet, looking for home exchanges, deals on holiday packages, or cool vacation rentals. One of my favourite places to browse is the “collections” section of AirBnB.
They’ve taken a wide selection of some of the vacation rental properties available on their website and broken them down into 56 thematic collections, ranging from Life’s a Beach to I’m On A Boat, Ye Own Castle to The Modernism Collection. There are also city collections, including New York, San Francisco, Madrid, Sydney, Budapest, and Barcelona (and more).
There really is something for everyone… check out all the AirBnB Collections here.
I found the blog Hither and Thither through Cup of Jo, and immediately added it to my Google Reader (where I keep track of the blogs I follow via RSS feed).
Hither and Thither is the blog of Ashley and Aron, a young professional married couple in Manhattan. They’re expecting a baby, they like cool design, and they love to travel. Sounds kind of like Ian and me, non? I think of them as a cooler version of us.
One of my favourite parts of their blog is their travelogue section, where they write long, journal-like entries about trips they’ve taken. And they have taken a LOT of trips (India, Croatia, Ireland, Costa Rica, Italy, and all over the States). I love to read their travelogues for inspiration. Just last week I read their Montreal travelogue for last-minute ideas for our trip this past weekend (photos to come soon, I promise).
