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Destination Trip Reports North America

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Day 3

This was our last day of vacation and we wanted to spend the whole time………drumroll……. pretty much at the beach :). We wanted to check out the Hollywood Beach and the famous Boardwalk. We packed our lunches and icebox and drove there just past 11 AM. We forgot that it was a Saturday and the parking lot was already starting to get full. Parking entry fee is $8 for the day. The beach was pretty crowded by the time we got there. We were there to spend our day in the water and without much ado, jumped right in. The …

Destination Trip Reports North America

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Day 2

We woke up early and decided to head out for the Keys after breakfast. The rental car agent had told us that it will take us about 5-6 hours to drive down to Key West. Since we were staying the next two nights in Fort Lauderdale, we didn’t know if we would go all the way there because the round-trip drive alone would take the whole day. We decided to get to some point midway, spend the day and return back. The drive is pretty interesting. You get through many stretches of single lane road where there is water on …

Destination Trip Reports North America

July 2013: Independence Day Weekend Florida Trip – Day 1

We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport just before 9 AM after an American Airlines non-stop red-eye flight from Los Angeles. I had 2 AVIS Free-rental-day paper certificates and only after arrival at the airport did I realize that I had left them at home. Bummer !! I knew that the rental rates were pretty expensive here, but remembered seeing better rates at carrentalsavers.com compared to Kayak/Southwest/Hotwire and all the individual car rental sites. So using the phone, I booked a 2 day rental with Budget through that website. After arrival at the Budget Fastbreak counter, we got a complimentary upgrade …

Destination Trip Reports North America

June 2013: San Diego Zoo Safari Park Trip Report

Last month we went on a day trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  We had never been to this safari park but had heard good reviews about it. There was an Amazon-Local deal where the regular entry tickets of 44$ were on sale for 20$. Obviously Karen jumped on the deal right away and got 3 tickets for us and her sister Danny. The park is near Escondido, which is around 30 miles from San Diego. The park opens at 9 AM and closes at 5 PM – 7 PM depending on the time of the year. After entering the …

Destination Trip Reports North America

May 2013: Portland Trip Report

During the Memorial Day weekend, we went on a quick getaway trip to Portland. We wanted to do some hiking, seeing waterfalls, simple outdoors stuff. We flew on Southwest from Ontario to Oakland and then to Portland. For the first time, I checked in online exactly 24 hours early and we were able to get letter A boarding number. I was excited to get exit row seating without paying for Early Bird check-in. Day 1: We reached PDX around 10:30 AM and after getting our rental car from Budget, we were on our way. First up on our list of …

Destination Trip Reports North America

October 2012: Weekend Trip to Ventura and Del Mar, California

Me and Karen took a weekend trip to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary last weekend. Wow!! It’s been 5 years already? How time flies…. We had originally planned a 4 day weekend getaway to Fort Lauderdale, Florida but after seeing the thunderstorm ravaged 14 day weather forecast, we decided to cancel our airline and hotel bookings and attempt a local getaway instead. Thank goodness I had booked the flights on Southwest which has a zero penalty cancellation policy!! The AAA rate at the Marriott is a refundable rate so no problem there either. We wanted to stay two nights at …

Destination Trip Reports North America

September 2012: Seattle Trip Report

Me and Karen decided to go for a quick Seattle trip over the Labor day weekend. I have always wanted to see the Space Needle up close and since we live on the west coast, the flight was going to be nice and short. The idea was to fit in a trip without having to take any extra days off from work. Flights: I had booked my ticket about 2 months out on Southwest and added Karen’s ticket for just $5 with my Southwest Companion pass. I did not pay for early bird check-in and got C group boarding. The …

Destination Trip Reports North America

May 2012: San Francisco – Lake Tahoe – Solvang Trip Report

Me and Karen along with my parents went on a long weekend trip up north to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend (Road trip!). Day 1: We took a 6 hour drive from my home in southern California to San Francisco. Since we were planning on driving down PCH on our way back, we took the 5 freeway for faster timing on our way north. We saw lots of vineyards on both sides of the freeway along with some other trees and plants while passing through Central California. There are lots of opportunities to stop at various …