Making More Progress On Next Cruise Planning
April 20, 2008
As we have mentioned before, we have booked our next Cruise, a Transatlantic from Barcelona, Spain to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We continue to make more progress on the planning for this cruise vacation.
Being that the cruise departs and returns to ports that are a long ways from our home, we have to add in some air fare to the trip. Also, since we have never visited Barcelona or San Juan before, we need to decide how much time to spend in those cities before and after the cruise which requires additional accommodations. This is a painstaking process that requires quite a bit of time to get it done right. Luckily, Suzanne really enjoys this kind of stuff and does most of the research.
Obviously, the cruise is booked. We now also have our airfare lined up. That was a challenge given different departure and arrival cities. Its not cheap either. Its really a shame when airfare to get to your cruise costs almost as much as the cruise itself. Definitely not worth the price, but no choice either. We have also booked our accommodations in San Juan. We will only be staying one extra day. We found a strange opportunity with one of the hotel vendors I deal with when I travel on business. They were running a promotion where you could put up frequent stay points and $60 for a room. The best rate on the room we could get straight up through the frequent stay program was around $400. I didn’t have enough points for the program so they allowed me to buy additional points. The additional points cost me $122, so it was an easy decision. Strange thing was that if I had 0 points and wanted to purchase enough to qualify for the promotion, it would have only been about $160. You don’t usually run into a situation like that.
Today, we spent a fair amount of time trying to decide where to stay in Barcelona. We have decided to arrive three days before the cruise departs to ensure time to enjoy the city. We looked at a lot of hotels and a bunch of apartments for rent in the city. The hotels tend to be double occupancy (ie need two rooms) only and very expensive. The apartments tend to be much cheaper and more in the heart of the city. We have decided to get an apartment and have narrowed it down to a couple two or three choices. We should make a final decision by mid next week.
That will only leave excursions on the cruise and our transfers to/from the hotels, airports and cruise ships. This travel planning sure is a lot of work.
Our Trip to Bandera Texas, Part I
March 30, 2008
We headed off to Texas last Friday for a one week family reunion/vacation at the Flying L Guest Ranch in Bandera, Texas. The trip started off very smoothly with me picking up Steve from work at 4:15 and our heading East on I-10 towards Texas. We made a longer than planned stop in Lordsburg, NM at the Love’s Gas Station. We got dinner at the Subway inside and there was quite a line and only one person making the sandwiches and one person working the register.
After we got our dinner, we were back on the road and made it all the way to El Paso before we were ready to stop for the night. We had a bit of trouble finding a room as the first three hotels we stopped at were filled, but we hit the jackpot when we tried the Hampton Inn. They only had one room available, a suite for $109. We gladly took it and enjoyed the added privacy of two separate rooms, and the extra space it afforded. It had a kitchenette and a refrigerator, as well as two TVs. We also liked that the sink was in a separate dressing area from the bath and toilet. Steve and Savannah enjoyed their free WiFi, and I took the kids down to the pool for a quick swim.
After enjoying the free hot breakfast, we loaded up and got on the road towards Bandera. The drive would have been rather boring had we filled up with gas in El Paso, but instead we decided to wait until we were a bit lower. Well, we ended up being a bit lower, and near empty, right in the middle of nowhere. It was a little dicey as the signs said that Ft. Stockton was 22 miles away and our on board computer said we had about 26 miles to go on our current amount of gas. Needless to say, we took the first Ft. Stockton exit and as we pulled into the gas station our computer said we had “0 miles” to go our our current tank. We all breathed a big sigh of relief.
We got lunch at “Kentucky Fried Bell” and headed East again on I-10. We enjoyed the increasingly beautiful scenery as we entered Texas Hill Country. We found the Flying L right away, and were very pleased with our roomy accommodations. We had the one bedroom side of the duplex with a King size bed, small bath, kitchenette, living area, two TV’s and a sofa bed. Mom and Dad had the two bedroom side with a larger bath, full kitchen, larger living area, sofa bed and a small bunk room. The kids took the bunk room.
Next we headed over to the RV park to meet my sister and see her camp site. I was pleasantly surprised at how luxurious and roomy her “pop-up” camper was, only to then be told by my Brother-in-law that this was actually a new camper that they had just traded in for on Thursday. The new camper is a hybrid, hard shell with two fold out sleeping areas, a sofa, kitchen table banquette, large kitchen and a bathroom with a complete door, toilette and shower. I never knew camping could be so luxurious. The new camper is really beautiful.
Coming soon – Part II featuring Bandera Shopping and Barbecued Shrimp.
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