FamilyTravelGurus

MSNBC published a good article last week about cell phone usage outside the U.S.   Columnist Tim Leffel writes “Start asking people about international cell phone and data bills and you’ll get a lot of scary stories. Most aren’t as shocking as Steve Surjaputra’s tale of a family who was billed $19,370, but what’s surprising is how often people get socked with hundreds or thousands of dollars after what they thought was minimal use.”  Read what to be aware of and some good tips in Tim’s column.

For my trips to Europe I have used  a Mobal phone   I like with Mobal you buy the phone and can use it on multiple trips - you are only charged for the cell time used.  This is good if you only need to call home rarely.  The Mobal phone worked great on our 12 night Mediterranean cruise but I found it did not work as well in Austria when I attempted to use it on my Avalon river cruise.

A friend of mine reports he has had good luck with his AT&T cell phone when traveling internationally, but that the phone doesn’t work as well back home.

There are lots of different options for international calling, as the msnbc article explains.  What option is best for you depends on your particular trip and needs, but a little advanced planning in this area can definitely save you significant dollars.

According to this survey in the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter, Las Vegas room rates are lower than they have been in five years.  An article in the NY Times reports Las Vegas casino revenue is down 5.1% from the same time last year.  It seems the high air and gas prices have taken their toll on Las Vegas.

 This is good news for Las Vegas vacationers!  With all travel affected by the higher fuel costs a trip to Las Vegas is still a great bargain.  We found Vegas to be a fun family destination to visit, too! (read our fall 07 trip report).  Anne and her Mom and sisters had a fun Vegas girls weekend getaway earlier this year. If you have cut back on your travel plans this year a vacation to Las Vegas may still be a viable low cost alternative.

Those of you who fly frequently are no doubt aware that many airlines are now charging a fee for a 2nd checked bag.  Recently US Airways announced they are implementing a $15 fee for your first checked bag!

You can read more about the extra baggage fees for some major carriers here:

• American: http://tinyurl.com/6ah6kd
• United: http://tinyurl.com/6gdlqa
• Delta: http://tinyurl.com/bp7g2
• USAirways: http://tinyurl.com/kc3u6

Delta, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, is also adding a fuel surcharge to frequent-flier tickets. Starting Aug. 15, the airline will charge $25 for frequent-flier tickets for travel in the U.S. and Canada and $50 for travel from the U.S. and Canada to other countries. 

One airline that has not (as yet) raised their baggage fees is Southwest Airlines - read their baggage policies here: http://southwest.com/travel_center/baggage.html   Hooray for Southwest Airlines!  We recently had the pleasure to fly Southwest on two different trips and in addition to having the best fare we appreciated their generous baggage allowance.

One alternative to paying these extra airline baggage fees is to have your luggage shipped by U.P.S. or a company like https://www.luggageforward.com/

 by Tim Larison

 Today we are announcing our new familytravelgurus.com website.  You may have noticed we haven’t been “blogging” in the last few months.  Behind the scenes we’ve been working on the site and we are very excited to announce this grand opening!

Our goal for familytravelgurus.com is to share with you the joys of traveling as a family. Many of the pictures and videos displayed here were taken on our own trips.  We write of our past journeys on our Review pages.  We invite you to participate by submitting the stories of your travels, too! 

As a travel agency specializing in family travel, we are glad to help with your vacation inquiries and to help plan your next trip.  Regardless of whether you use our agency’s services or not, all are welcome on this site to learn and share their travel experiences.

by Tim Larison

As a lifelong baseball fan I like to take in a major league game when traveling. We have been to major league games in Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, and St Louis in the past, in addition to many outings to watch our hometown Colorado Rockies. But this July we had a new experience - attending a “rookie league” baseball game in Casper, Wyoming.

I was invited to attend a game of the Casper Rockies - the Rockies affiliate in the rookie Pioneer League - as a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). A special treat for our group was to meet with the Casper manager, Tony Diaz, before the game. That’s Tony in the picture above with Josh and Andrew.

Tony gave our small group an interesting glimpse into what life in the low minor leagues was like. Many of the players on the Casper team are from Latin America and do not speak English, while others are fresh out of U.S. high schools. The team takes long bus trips to their away games (the closest opponent is 550 miles away!). For a good number of players it is their first time using wood bats in competition. Given these challenges many players get home sick. Tony said often playing baseball is the easy part - it’s the cultural adjustment that is the most difficult for his players. To help with this the Rockies place the players with host families in the Casper area.

We enjoyed the atmosphere of the game itself. Minor league baseball teams can have some creative promotions and the Casper Rockies were no exception. On this night it was “Johnny Cash” night with a Cash look-a-like brought to the ballpark by helicopter before the first pitch. Throughout the game Johnny Cash songs were played during the inning breaks and prizes were given for Johnny Cash trivia answers (”the first person who can tell the concession stand where Johnny Cash was born gets a free pizza!”). We saw many families in attendance, with young children playing with their friends and Moms chatting away, seemingly oblivious to the baseball game being played a few feet away. The hometown Rockies were to lose 3-2 this night, but the local fans did not let that spoil the evening for them.

When planning a trip like this I try to add other activities to make the adventure fun for the whole family. The hotel I picked, the Parkway Plaza , had an indoor swimming pool and a miniature golf course next door. Josh, who is not much of a sports fan, said he liked most “playing minigolf before the game and swimming at the hotel!”. Andrew, our baseball player, said “I liked sitting closer to the field than we usually do at a major league game. I didn’t know the players well, but it was fun!”. Anne said “I really liked meeting with the manager before the game. It was interesting learning about the culture shock these players experience and the small town feel of the stadium.”

At first when I suggested this outing I was met with some strange looks from the family. “We are going to drive 5 hours just to see a baseball game??” But the whole experience exceeded everyone’s expectations. What was the response I got when I asked the family how they liked our short Wyoming getaway? “When are we going to do this again?!!!”

by Tim Larison

Before I was a travel agent, I worked 22 years in the telecommunications industry as a software engineer. In my previous career I often came across co-workers who would never take a vacation. One person I knew got this feedback on his year end performance review: “You’ve got to start taking time off. You have two months of vacation saved up!”

Who was this person who never seemed to take a break from the job? Me!

While this may seem hard to believe when you read of my family’s travel adventures in recent years, it was indeed the case. For me what really changed the way we vacationed was buying into the Disney Vacation Club (DVC). With DVC we had so many vacation “points” to use each year, which forced me to start scheduling vacations months in advance.

Skipping vacations because of work is common in today’s workplace. In a recent story in the Denver Post 57% of small business owners say they are taking one week vacation this summer, down from an average of 67% last year. Alice Bredin from American Express Small Business Monitor says in the story “The double-edged sword of running a small business is that when you’re not busy, you worry about going away, but when you’re really busy and you’re in better financial position to get away, it’s even harder to get out.”

If you are one not to take a vacation because of work, I encourage you to schedule one soon. What helped me was to take out the calendar and mark off a week or two far in advance for a vacation, schedule our DVC stay for that time, and tell my employer “I’m taking off these weeks, no matter what!” Now as a small business owner I do the same thing - we schedule our trips months in advance. Business issues have a way of coming up right before or during a vacation, but we don’t let that stop us from getting away.

Our trips have allowed us to return to work refreshed and re-energized, and have drawn us closer as a family (that’s Anne and the boys - left - relaxing in our DVC one bedroom villa during a 1999 vacation). And in the end is there any work issue more important than that?

by Tim Larison

Recently I was in Las Vegas and I discovered one of the best views of the “Strip” at night is from the Mix lounge atop THEhotel at Mandalay Bay.

As you can see in these pictures there is outside seating at this bar, with only a glass partition between you and a long way down to the street.

The Mix Lounge is on the 64th floor and is accessable to all guests (not just those staying at the hotel). The lights of the Strip are always an impressive sight, and this is one of the best vantage points to see the display.

I can’t comment on the quality of the drinks (I just had pineapple juice!) but for the view alone the Mix Lounge is worth a visit!

by Tim Larison

The Larison family has taken many exciting vacations to far away destinations (Caribbean cruises, Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, etc) but often a trip close to home can be just as fun. We found this to be true last week during Andrew and Josh’s spring break. We took a trip to Glenwood Springs, Colorado - home of “the World’s Largest Hot Springs Pool”

That’s Andrew and Josh (above) at the hot springs. People have been visiting this area for centuries - the Ute Indians were first to discover the healing powers of the Hot Springs, calling them “Yampah” meaning “Big Medicine”. The famous gun slinger Doc Holliday, who suffered from tuberculosis, came to Glenwood Springs in the 1800’s to treat his illness. Today the hot spring pool is divided into two areas- a therapy pool which is 100 feet long with a water temperature at 104 degrees, and a large pool 405 feet long with a water temperature of 93 degrees.

I loved soaking in the therapy pool - which I would call the world’s biggest hot tub! Whatever aches you had were quickly soothed in this pool. The boys liked swimming in the main pool area. After a long snowy winter in Colorado it was fun to get in some play in the warm waters of the hot springs pool.

Glenwood Springs also had a variety of excellent restaurants, and we enjoyed our short two night stay at the historic Hotel Colorado. This hotel, within easy walking distance of the Springs, was built in 1893 and is a Colorado landmark.

If you live in or near Colorado, or if you visit our State on a future trip, consider a visit to Glenwood Springs for a fun and refreshing getaway.