Best Alaska summer deals
March 8th, 2010 by meredith
Certainly you’re aware of Alaska’s awesome natural beauty. But did you know that Alaska’s people are among the friendliest in the U.S. to strangers in their state? Once, as I backpacked into the tiny town of Haines, a stranger loaned me his bike. “Just leave it at the hotel,” he said. He didn’t even ask me my name.
The summer deals to Alaska are rolling out hard this season, via Travel Alaska, Alaska Tour and Travel, and Alaska Cruises. All three websites are credible and deal-making.
Here are my best bets (and book early):
• This 10-Day Royal Caribbean Cruise, which includes hotel stay and tour in Seattle, and sea cruising deep into Alaska’s Southeast Passage. Starting at $799 per person. Leaves September 8.
• Up to half off the Denali Pricess Lodge, located only one mile from the park’s entrance. A premium, full-service resort, discounted rates here start at $149 per night.
• Up to 40 percent off at River’s Edge Resort Cottages in Fairbanks, a four-star collection of cottages on the Chena River. Nights starting at $119.
• Plus, this fabulous rebate on motorcoach (bus) transportation. Alaska’s a big state, and transportation between places can be hefty. (This rebate could be worth up to 30 percent of the cost of your trip.)
—Meredith
Tags: Alaska, summer, travel deals Posted in Travel Meredith | No Comments »
First you paid for bags—
March 8th, 2010 by meredith
—then a blanket. Now your leg room.
Like United and Jet Blue, Continental will now charge you $50 or more for seven more inches of space to accommodate those items we always take with us when we travel—our knees and feet.
This is getting dumb. I’m heading over to the RV sales lot. Or the train station.
—Meredith
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Spring’s “green” hotel round-up
March 8th, 2010 by meredith
As the snow begins to melt, winter’s trash begins to emerge. Fast food bags and plastic water bottles lie in muddy puddles everywhere. Gross.
Time to mull over the best eco-friendly hotel options for traveling this spring. Lately I’ve been loving IStayGreen.org, a website devoted to helping members travel and stay green in hotels all over the world. (Membership is free.) They audit hotels on their green-ness, and members weigh in with reviews.
I’m also loving all the U.S. hotels currently holding or pursuing LEED certification. Right now, there are about 30, with many more awaiting confirmation of their applications.
My five favorite “Green Hotels” this year:
Hotel Felix—Chicago
Chicago is one of the nation’s leading “green” cities, and Hotel Felix is the city’s first hotel designed for a LEED Silver rating. (Silver’s the best you can get.) I made note of this fabulous hotel back in November. I love the paperless front desk, the eco-friendly cleaning supplies, the efforts to reduce non-biodegradable landfill junk, and the in-progress “Green Roof” project.
Orchard Garden Hotel—San Francisco
San Francisco’s “purely ‘green’ boutique hotel”, and California’s first LEED-certified hotel, the Orchard Garden has a key card energy control system, in-room recycling bins, and locally made organic bath amenities. Even the sheets and bedding are partly recycled. The hotel’s next mission: 80 – 90 percent diversion from landfills.
Proximity Hotel—Greensboro, North Carolina
Proximity holds the highest LEED rating for a hotel—Platinum. Built to use 40% less energy and 30% less water than a comparable hotel, it also has an elevator that captures its own energy and feeds it back into the building’s electrical grid. (It’s the only elevator system in the U.S. like it.) In addition, 100 solar panels on the roof generate energy to heat water. Sun-sational!
Len Foote Hike Inn—Dawsonville, Georgia
The first LEED-certified hotel in the country, it’s the kind of place that advertises “hot showers” and “odor-free toilets”. Umm, this place is not owned and operated by a Hilton. (Actually, it’s operated by the Appalachian Education and Recreation Services and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and is accessible only by a five-mile hike.) But it is the kind of place your family will learn from. You’re going to sleep in bunk beds. All your meals will be served family style at a big table. And all your organic waste will be composted using vermiculture, otherwise known as red wiggler worm beds. (You don’t have to see them if you don’t want to.)
The Palazzo—Las Vegas
It’s the largest building in the world to receive LEED certification, and four times bigger than the second largest LEED-certified structure. The steel is made from 95 percent recycled content. For the water-starved desert, the Palazzo has drip-irrigation and planters to reduce run-off, and moisture sensors to prevent unnecessary watering. Non-thirsty turf grass replaces real grass. All swimming pools are heated with an expansive solar pool heating system, and in the summer, the excess solar energy is directed to the hotel’s hot water system.
As Paris Hilton herself might say, “That’s hot.”
As Meredith says: Let’s travel responsibly.
—Meredith
Tags: Chicago, eco-travel, Ecotourism, Georgia, green hotel, green travel, IStayGreen.org, Las Vegas, LEED certified hotel, LEED hotel, North Carolina, San Francisco Posted in Travel Meredith | No Comments »
SoCal’s Catalina Island—
March 4th, 2010 by meredith
—is perfect for families.
And so is this deal: $109 per night for the Family Adventure Getaway. It includes all the things kids love: ferry rides, kayaking, mini golf, glass-bottomed boats, and a hotel stay (at Hotel Atwater).
What a great, active weekend (at a great price)!
—Meredith
Tags: Catalina Island, Hotel Atwater, vacation with kids Posted in Travel Meredith | No Comments »
Incredible Hawaii Spring Break deal
March 4th, 2010 by meredith
Remember when the Brady Bunch went to Hawaii and found that idol and Greg almost died in a surfing accident?
Well now you, your six kids, and your wise-cracking housekeeper can afford to do the same!
Three nights with air to Hawaii starting at $455 a person from Pleasant Holidays. Island and lodging options vary, but kids stay free, and there’s a great rental car deal attached too if you extended the nights out.
And all during peak Spring Break dates. (Deals end March 29.)
—Meredith
Tags: Brady Bunch goes to Hawaii, Hawaii, kids stay free, spring break deals, spring break with kids Posted in Travel Meredith | No Comments »
Great flight-booking advice…
February 21st, 2010 by meredith
…from a very frugal traveler. The writer of the Frugal Traveler blog for the New York Times to be exact.
His name is Matt Gross, and in this particular post, he details exactly how he finds the cheapest air fare for an upcoming trip.
Spoiler: it’s an extensive process involving at least four websites and several hours.
And here we thought we were the extreme deal scroungers!
—Meredith
Tags: cheap flights, Frugal Traveler blog, how to get the cheapest fare, Matt Gross, New York Times travel Posted in Travel Meredith | No Comments »
Darn-good Disney deals
February 21st, 2010 by meredith
You’re looking really good right now, Disney World.
Your 25 – 40 percent off deals for spring are nice, but now I see you’ve added summer dates, too.
I think the dreams of some very lucky kids will be coming true soon.
Keep up the good work, Mouse.
—Meredith
Tags: discounts on Disney, Disney hotels, Disney World Deals, Disney World Resort deals, Orlando deals Posted in Travel Meredith | No Comments »
I’m on a boat! In San Diego!
February 21st, 2010 by meredith
Won’t the kids love this: Skip the hotel in favor of a stay in your own private houseboat or yacht docked in San Diego Harbor?
Harbor Vacations Club offers this cool alternative to the “two-queen-beds-plus-television” stays your family usually crams into.
And right now it’s 20 percent off. From $79 a night for a two-bedroom boat, which you can cook in, and on which you can sun yourself from the deck.
You’re on a boat! You’re on a boat! You’re on a boat!
—Meredith
Tags: family-friendly hotels, Harbor Vacations Club, San Diego, stay on a boat Posted in Travel Meredith | 2 Comments »
A little wine-tasting in Sonoma
February 21st, 2010 by meredith
Sound good about now, doesn’t it, while you sit at home in front of your computer as winter drags on and on and on and on….
Oh, just book one of these Sonoma Wine Country deals already, from Sonoma Creek Inn.
Winter is the slow season in wine country, but the wine is just as delicious as it is any other time (heck, maybe even more if your seasonal depression is in full force.)
From a very reasonable $115 a night. All packages include complimentary wine tastings at various wineries.
And that’s all you really want anyway. Let’s not kid ourselves.
—Meredith
Posted in Travel Meredith | No Comments »
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