SHE SAID:

Now that the spring weather is upon us and summer is just around the corner, the season of road trips has begun! Brad would try to convince you that any season is fair game for a road trip, but I do not share in his zeal for navigating unfamiliar, snow covered highways in the dead of night. So call me a bad wife.

There are many ways to go about a road trip:

On a Whim – This is not for the faint of heart! No organization is required. In fact, it’s discouraged. Once inspiration hits, just grab your purse and go! I have never mustered up the courage to try this type, but I know Brad is bursting at the seams to try it with me, as most of his “before Susan” road trips were of this variety.

Day Trip – As the name implies, this road trip takes you as far as you can go in the run of a day. These types are especially good if you don’t have the cash to spend on accommodations or the time to commit to a long haul.

Surprise – Surprise your special someone with a getaway! Disguise it as a trip to the grocery store, mall, or in-laws, but the point is that you keep driving to whatever treat you have in store. Keep in mind that this option only works well if you don’t have to cross any borders.

Destination – This is my favourite type of road trip as it involves planning! If you followed our Winter Escape, you know I love to make lists and check them twice and this type of road trip lends itself quite well to that obsession. Other than picking a particular place to visit, you could base your destination on a concert or festival you’d love to see. We did this a couple of years ago when we went to see John Mayer in Mansfield, MA. And now let me pause and just say if you ever have the opportunity to see John Mayer in concert, go! Say what you will about the man’s personal life, but he knows how to play his guitar and put on a good show. Other than getting engaged, this was by far the best birthday present Brad ever gave me. We didn’t have a ton of cash so we made it a weekend trip with friends and had a really great time.

Roads trips are lovely because they can be as simple or elaborate as you please. Other than our very first road trip (aka our honeymoon) all of our road trip experiences have been positive. Of course, there are moments in any road trip (usually on the way home) when the last 3 hours feel like 3 days and you never want to see the inside of another convenience store washroom ever again. Speaking of creepy gas station washrooms, beware of the one on Rte. 9 in Maine. I have no idea where we were (other than Maine), but I do remember being told to “follow the yellow line” to the washroom. It was literally a line painted on the floor that led from the store into the garage where it weaved around cars and tools until you eventually reached the little closet that contained Maine’s scariest washroom. I only wish I had taken a picture. Don’t let stories like that deter you, though. It’s all part of the fun to look back on.

I would recommend a road trip to anyone at any point in their relationship. They are great for spending quality time with the one you love and give you that sense of adventure we all crave from time to time.

HE SAID:

Some of my fondest memories of good times with good friends are built on road trips. There was the time me and a friend drove to Toronto. We left my parent’s driveway on Friday night, arrived late Saturday afternoon, and began the journey home around noon on Sunday. Then there was the time me and that same friend drove down to Washington, D.C. and back during a massive winter storm. (Side Note – The police do not like it when you pull your car to the side of the road and cook up dinner on a Coleman stove beside the car. Also, crossing the border in the middle of the night to go to Washington, D.C. “for fun” is not a good thing in the eyes of the authorities. Who knew?)

I thought all of that experience would come in handy when we decided to go to Ontario for our honeymoon. As usual, I was just as excited for the drive as I was for the destination. I was so confident that Susan would love the big city of Toronto, and the beautiful scenery of Niagara Falls. If only I knew then what I know now. I had one thing right, she did love Niagara Falls. The rest, not…so…much.

Let’s not dwell on the bad experiences though. Since then we’ve hit the road a few times and have had a lot of fun. We have travelled alone and with friends, both with great success.

I have learned a few tips over the years that might be helpful to you if you are planning a road trip in the near future:

• Before you start the car, decide who will be the navigator and who will be the driver. Since Susan isn’t a big fan of hitting a highway with more than three lanes, I’m usually the driver. Plus, she’s a much better navigator than I will ever be.
• This one is for the fellas. If your girlfriend/wife/friend wants to stop and stretch/eat/shop/whatever the heck else she might want to do, make it happen. On road trips in the past, my friend and I would drive for days, only stopping for fuel or food. Susan does not share the same zeal for non-stop driving. Lesson learned.

Road trips can be a lot of fun, and since we’ve learned a few lessons about each other, we look forward to hitting the road again soon. If you have any scary, funny, or otherwise entertaining stories about going on the road, let us know in the comments. If you can beat Susan’s “Yellow Lined Bathroom” story, feel free to share it with us.

If you have the itch to travel the world but your bank account won’t allow it, a destination date might be just what the doctor ordered. The idea is simple, everything you do on the date has to relate to a particular country you would like to visit. For our first destination date we chose Italy.

________________________________________________________________________________

SHE SAID:

Since creating our vacation box, I’ve been dreaming about ridiculously expensive trips to places like Italy, England, France, and Belarus. Okay, maybe not the last one, but you get the idea. Since my dreams cannot be realized just yet, I thought it might be fun to pretend a bit more and further delude reality by bringing those places home. Say what? Since we can’t go to any of those fancy destinations just yet, we thought we’d have a night devoted to the food and entertainment from one of our top dream destinations.

One of the hardest parts with this whole date was deciding on a destination that had both appealing food and entertainment, in our case, a movie set in Italy. Though we hope our next destination to be England, the food from Italy trumped the Queen’s and we rushed to the bookstore for more Italian food inspiration, which we thought would be an easy task. Not so, my friends, not so. It turns out Italian food is more than just pasta dishes and even those can be quite complicated when venturing beyond your standard spaghetti and meatballs. We eventually did end up finding one tortellini dish we thought we might enjoy and headed to the grocery store, where Brad almost lost the list of required ingredients. Gulp.

One thing this date does require is preparation, but don’t let that discourage you from giving it a try. You can shave off an enormous amount of time by simply ordering in Chinese or going out for sushi. If you can’t seem to find appealing forms of food and entertainment for one country, you could do an “around the world” approach that touches on several different destinations.

After we had stuffed ourselves with 5 varieties of cheese to the point of indigestion we switched to one of our favourite forms of entertainment, the movie. After reading about Only You over at Paula Jane’s ever entertaining and equally informative Best in Romantic Comedies blog, I knew that would be the perfect compliment to the evening and I wasn’t disappointed. I don’t think Brad felt like gouging his eyes out either.

HE SAID:

My favourite date ideas tend to be ones that put a twist on a typical date and are inexpensive. The destination date fits both of those requirements. I loved the idea right from the get go because there are so many possible things to do to have a fun time.

For our first destination date we chose Italy. This was largely because the night was going to revolve around a meal. Although making the meal wasn’t too difficult, choosing which dish to make proved to be a little more work than was expected. In our Indoor Picnic post, we warned against waiting until you are hungry before beginning food preparation on a date. Though we didn’t exactly wait until we were hungry, it took so long for us to decide what to make, get the groceries, and prepare the meal, that we were on the brink of disaster by the time it all came together. If you want to make your destination date easier, you could always order in from your favourite international restaurant, but we enjoy the challenge of making a new dish.

Because the meal took so long, we didn’t spend the time decorating the living room to conjure up thoughts of vacationing in Italy. However, I took a few minutes and made some mini Italian flags to put in our dinner. If you do a destination date though, feel free to decorate your house based on the country you choose.

We chose to do a destination date by having dinner and watching a movie. If that’s not up your alley, feel free to try other activities. You could play a sport that is popular in a certain country, an art form that derived from your destination of choice, or try to find new and interesting music from another part of the world. The point is to bring the culture of that country to your own home for much less money than it would take to travel.

I really enjoyed our destination date. We’ll definitely be doing it again with a different country because there are so many fun options for things to do. If you dream of travelling the world but don’t have the cash to do it, I would definitely recommend you try a destination date. If you try it, let us know how it goes. We’re always interested in hearing about your experiences.

SHE SAID:

Every year around this time when summer is on the horizon, I get the itch to plan a vacation. I absolutely LOVE searching out hotels and attractions and planning a whole trip itinerary, even if I don’t have the money to bring it to fruition. Brad is the complete opposite. The man would be perfectly content to have 5 minutes notice to go anywhere in the world.

That being said, it is nice to take an evening to talk and research any and all the places you’ve ever thought of visiting. You may surprise each other with the places you suggest. Keep the list of locations handy to refer back to in the future when you’re getting the itch to get away.

Since we already went on a little winter escape this year, the vacation funds are a little low. However, to keep the hope alive, we decided to make a vacation box where we could throw loose change and make more significant contributions once in a while. Once summer hits, we’ll open the box and see where our savings can take us. Here’s hoping we make it farther than the next town over. I only wish we had started saving sooner…

HE SAID:

Having a place to throw spare change is nothing new for me. Up until now I have always kept it in an empty jam jar tucked away in the closet of my office. I love the feeling of emptying out the jar full of coins and being pleasantly surprised at how much it all adds up to.

So why mess with a good thing? Well, I personally believe that a husband and wife should not keep secrets from each other unless Christmas or a birthday is involved. Until recently, I thought my wonderful wife felt the same way. Then she revealed to me that she has been secretly dipping into my jam jar fund in order to buy snacks at work. The nerve! From the ashes of my disappointment in her stealing ways came the idea for a new spare change savings system (say that 5 times fast!), one that we both contribute to but neither of us can dip into until vacation time.

We had some fun making a little cover for the shoebox that is now our Vacation Box. We found pictures of four places we’d like to visit, or in one case revisit, both to inspire us to keep adding to the box, but also to keep from stealing from it. But we didn’t stop there, oh no. Once the cover was on the box, I took some masking tape and taped the you-know-what out of it. There were also holes in the bottom of the box, so I taped those up too so no coins could fall out. There is no way anyone is getting at that money without it being very obvious.

Though this isn’t much of a date idea in itself, it was a lot of fun to put together, and to dream up ideas of where we’d love to go someday. It’s a great way to plan for some fun dates in other parts of the world, whether in a different country, or just a few hours from home.

SHE SAID:

The first time I went to Disney World I was 21 and it was awesome. Back then I thought it might be a little disappointing for a girl in her 20’s since Disney is so geared towards kids, but I was wrong. It was everything I had been promised – beautiful grounds and buildings, fun rides and great fireworks to cap off the day (I think I may have stopped breathing the first time I saw Tinkerbell float out over the castle during the fireworks).

For our second trip to Disney we decided to visit two parks in one day: Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We weren’t obsessed with seeing everything since we had already been there, so we got a map at the front gates and plotted out our top destinations. If it’s your first time to Disney and you want to see everything but don’t want to kill yourself doing it, you’ll need two days in each park, especially the Magic Kingdom. Here’s a run down of the highlights and lowlights of each park for me:

Animal Kingdom

Highlights

• Kilimanjaro Safari – Though corny at times with the tour guide’s attempts to make you believe you are hunting for poachers, nothing gets old for me about seeing massive animals twenty feet away with no barricade in between.
• Affection Section – This will probably go on Brad’s lowlights list, but I had so much fun here! You get to go in an area with sheep and goats and brush them to your heart’s content. There’s something about goats that make me giggle inside. They seem insane and ready to head butt you while at the same time so tolerant and gentle.

Lowlights

• Expedition Everest – Some may be surprised that this roller coaster is on my bad list, but it was terrifying. I went in thinking it might be a little more intense than Thunder Mountain, but I should have done my research and thus avoided a really sore neck and back for two days. It dropped and whizzed around corners in the dark too fast, leaving my head feeling like it was literally going to pop off. Roller coaster enthusiasts will probably love this, but it is a thumbs down for me.

Magic Kingdom

Highlights

• Thunder Mountain – This roller coaster is pretty tame and I love it. There are no huge drops, you don’t go upside down, and your aren’t sucked backwards.
• Astro Orbiter – Brad warned me that this ride might be boring, but I thought it was fun. You get to get in your own little space ship and you can control how high or low you go.
• Mad Tea Party – aka “the tea cup ride”. We both felt like weirdos standing in line for a ride with a bunch of little girls dressed up as princesses, but it was a lot of fun! There’s a wheel in the middle that you can use to control how much you spin, which Brad whipped into overdrive and sent my brain flopping. It’s like a tilt a whirl and scrambler ride in one.
• Fireworks Spectacular – No one does fireworks like Disney. It’s all synced to music and lasts for at least ten minutes. A great way to end the day.

Lowlights

• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – Going to a show can be a great way to burn some time while you’re waiting for your Fast Pass time to become active, but this one had me on edge. It’s very audience interactive and you never know when the camera is going to focus on you and a man is going to run up to you with a microphone.
• Haunted Mansion – I imagine this would scare the snot out of little kids (and it did for one kid in our group who exited early) but I found it boring. The beginning is the scariest, where they put you in a room and make you think something’s going to jump out at you, but it slowly goes downhill and fizzles out from there. It’s basically a ride through the dark looking at robotic fake corpses and ghosts.

Five years later, Disney is still pretty amazing, but some of the magic has worn off. It’s not like Disney has fallen on hard economic times or anything like that. The paint on the castle is not peeling off and the streets are still as pristine and clean as they ever were, but the second time around the mystery goes away.

If you’ve already been to Disney World and don’t want your second trip to leave you feeling empty, try some of the following suggestions:

• Disney scavenger hunt – see who can be the first to find trash on the street, get Cinderella’s signature, and ride a roller coaster the most. Make your own list of obscure items and have fun.
• Photo tour documenting a different angle on Disney
• Fancy Date – dress to the nines and have a Disney date. Stroll down Main Street in a tux and gown, go on a few select rides, dine at one of the more high end restaurants (or not) and finish off your date with the fireworks.

HE SAID:

While this was Susan’s second time at the Magic Kingdom, it was my fourth. I was lucky enough to be able to go two times when I was younger, and once before with Susan and my family. Though I didn’t go into it worried that the fun would wear off, we did do things a little differently than when I went with the whole family.

First, I’ll quickly give you my favourite and least favourite things in both the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom:

Animal Kingdom

Highlights:

• The Safari – They do an amazing job of making you feel like you’re being driven across the plains of Africa. Though some of the animals were in hiding this time due to the chilly weather, it was still great fun.

Lowlights:

A toss up between Expedition Everest & the Affection Section.

• Expedition Everest completely took me by surprise. It was incredibly intense. I’m not necessarily against intense roller coasters, but I found hurtling backwards around twists and turns in the dark to be very unenjoyable. I know it makes me sound old, but I had a sore back for days afterwards.
• As for the Affection Section, I knew it wouldn’t be up my alley right from the get go. You literally walk around the equivalent of a giant goat litter box and brush them. No thanks.

Magic Kingdom

Highlights:

• Thunder Mountain – A roller coaster that doesn’t try to murder you
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – I know this one is meant for kids, but I have so much fun every time I go on it. Words cannot explain how excited I get waiting in line for this one.

• My favourite thing at Magic Kingdom that wasn’t a ride, was a barbershop quartet that was singing on Main Street as we entered the theme park. They were fantastic, not only in their singing ability, but they played to the crowd really well.

Lowlights:

• My biggest disappointment was that some rides were temporarily shut down. This is common in January, since it’s not the most popular time to go. I was really looking forward to Splash Mountain, but it was out of commission.
• There were a few rides that I really only went on for tradition’s sake. The Pirates of the Caribbean ride is kind of lame, with it’s dated robotic pirates, but I can still remember being terrified as a kid when I thought I might actually get hit by the cannon balls being “shot” at our boat. I can’t go to the Magic Kingdom without going on this. The other one was the Jungle Cruise. The first time I saw the animatronic animals on the Jungle Cruise as a kid, I honestly thought they might be real. Now I prefer the real thing over at Animal Kingdom, but again, it’s one of those things I have to do when I’m at Disney. This time there was a little extra excitement when our Jungle Cruise boat got stuck inside the temple because the boat in front of us broke down. Good times.

Disney is definitely geared towards families, and specifically children. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun as a couple though. I enjoyed going to Disney as just the two of us because we could do everything at our own pace. We took lots of breaks and enjoyed the day instead of walking non-stop for 12 hours and covering our feet in blisters.

We found certain rides were especially great for couples. The Mad Tea Party was perfect for two because you can take turns turning the wheel that makes your tea cup spin. The Buzz Lightyear ride is fun for couples because they only put two people in each “cart” and you ride through these rooms and shoot things with your laser gun. There is a scoreboard on each gun so that it’s easy to see who hit more targets. Not only that, but there is a joystick in the centre of the cart that you can use you turn in any direction. This can be used to help yourself get points as well as to keep your partner from winning.

Overall we both had a great time at Disney. Though we don’t see it in the same magical light as a child, we found ways to make it fun. My biggest piece of advice is don’t feel pressured to see every single attraction. That applies to any theme park, but especially to Disney. Make the day about having fun, regardless of what you do.

FOR THE LOCALS:

Florida residents can now get a 4-Day Dream Pass for only $99! That’s a little more than the price for only one day! The catch? Offer ends May 25, 2010.

HE SAID:

During our first week in Florida the weather was so cold we couldn’t go outside and do anything around where we were staying, so we decided to go check out the outlet shopping. I don’t hate shopping, but it’s not my favorite thing to do either. My version of shopping is going to a specific store for a specific item, buying said item then going home. That’s assuming I don’t just buy it online. Since we’re on vacation I decided to ease up on my expectations and enjoy walking around the various shops. I figured it would be a good way to get a bit of exercise (Christmas + Vacation = A desperate need to lose some weight) and find some deals.

The first place we went was Pointe Orlando. It was in a busy part of town, but the actual shopping area wasn’t too busy. In fact some areas seemed a little deserted. My three favorite places were Tommy Bahama (geek alert! – I really only went in there in hopes of a Scott Bourne siting as he has mentioned several times on MacBreak Weekly that he shops there and is currently in Florida), Johnny Rockets, which was a fun restaurant similar to the Chicken Burger at home, and B.B. King’s Blues Club. We only went into the gift shop at the blues club, but the best part was the interesting paintings outside on the walls. There were all kinds of Blues legends on the walls, so I had to get my picture next to the best of the best, Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The second place we went was called Orlando Premium Outlets. From the road it sort of looked like a decent sized shopping mall. As soon as we entered the doors we realized it was a massive, sprawling, shopping paradise. All the area between shops is open to the elements, which was nice. As we browsed store after store, we quickly realized that our definitions of “deal” and “cheap” are very different than some people’s. Everything was incredibly expensive, even though it was all marked down. Even though it was all a little too rich for our blood, it was still fun to walk around and see everything.

We shopped all day. We bought nothing. Normally I would consider this a colossal failure, but I decided to look at things differently. It’s kind of fun to look at what rich people spend their money on. It’s not every day that we go into a sunglasses shop and try on pairs worth a few hundred dollars. The high prices kept us from actually buying anything so it made for a cheap day out. I got to see a new place, people watch, browse some ridiculously expensive shops, and hang out with Susan. All in all it was a good day.

SHE SAID:

I’m not the biggest shopper in the world, but when Florida hits record low temperatures, it’s a nice alternative to sitting on the couch next to an electric heater. I had never really visited any big outlet shopping areas so I was excited to see what all the buzz was about. I’m still not sure what all the buzz is about.

Pointe Orlando didn’t have a whole lot to offer in my opinion. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of shops, but what it did have was Johnny Rockets, my new favourite retro restaurant. The moment you walk through the doors it feels as though you have stepped back into the 50′s with checkered flooring, red vinyl booths and jukeboxes. The menu is very American with a huge burger selection, but that’s expected in a restaurant of this type. We heard from a good source that their milkshakes are delicious and they truly are the best I’ve ever had. They come complete in an old fashioned style milkshake glass and metal holder. If the friendly waitresses with their cute little ribbon tied pony tails and white aprons aren’t enough, surely the jukeboxes at every booth will satisfy for just 5 cents a song.

As the cold weather persisted, we went to Orlando Premium Outlets, the huge shopping centre with over 100 stores, which I don’t think we even covered half of. It was HUGE. I strolled in thinking I would surely walk away with armfuls of shopping bags, but left with zip. I always thought the big appeal of outlet shopping was the great deals you could get, but I didn’t find very many pricetags with deal like numbers on them. Regardless, it was still nice to browse through stores we don’t have at home and take it all in. Apparently the Orlando Prime Outlets have better prices, but we got shoppped out and headed home for the hot tub instead.

If you love to shop and have money burning a hole in your pocket, you will love outlet shopping. However, if the thought of shopping causes your feet to ache instantly, you’re probably better off ordering a milkshake at Johnny Rockets and watching the crowds buzz by.

One of our favorite ways to get out of the house and have fun without spending a lot of money at home is to go on day trips. After going to SeaWorld here in Florida, we wanted to do something a little easier on the wallet, so we got in the car and drove to St. Petersburg.

HE SAID:

Day trips are a completely different animal here. At home, I get in the car and relax as I drive to whatever destination we choose. Most of the time there is no need for maps or brochures as we follow the signs to our small town of choice and then get out and walk around. When I’m driving on the freeways here I can’t relax as much. Though the roads are flat and completely straight for miles and miles, the traffic is much heavier and everything is unfamiliar, so it keeps me on my toes. Thankfully we have a GPS with us so we don’t have to mess with maps.

When we got in the car we didn’t necessarily have a specific destination in mind. We simply set the GPS for Tampa and let it take us wherever it chose. That wasn’t the best choice. We thought it might take us into downtown Tampa as the high rises appeared before us, but then it told us to exit. As we slowed down and exited off the freeway, our heart rates quickened and our doors locked. Lets just say we probably weren’t in the friendliest part of town. We saw a billboard that said www.tampabaygangs.com and panicked. I whipped that rental car into a U-turn and got back on the freeway as fast as I could. Turns out that website is geared towards warning people against getting involved in gangs.

After that we stopped letting the GPS take us into death traps, so we headed to St. Petersburg. Once we got there we immediately knew we made the right choice. The downtown area was really nice, with brightly coloured buildings, and a view of the ocean. It all felt very tropical.

Our first stop was The Pier. It’s apparently a big tourist attraction, but I had never heard of it until this trip. You can browse little gift shops, or eat at a choice of restaurants with a view of the bay in a building at the end of the pier that looks like an upside down pyramid. To be honest, I found the pier to be more interesting from the outside than from the inside. It’s a beautiful spot, but the shops and food really aren’t that great. There was one exception, though, with a music, movie, and sports memorabilia store inside the pier called D. D. Collectables. It had all kinds of signed pictures, musical instruments, as well as some great display pieces. A lot of the pieces were quite expensive so I didn’t buy anything, but I had a blast looking through everything.

Lastly, we took a trolley tour of the downtown area for a whopping $0.25. It was a great way to quickly get a feel for the town as the driver pointed out all kinds of landmarks along the way.  You can’t really go wrong with anything that costs a quarter.

Our day trip to St. Petersburg and the pier was great. We didn’t spend much, and we got to see a part of Florida that was new to both of us.

SHE SAID:

If you’re in Florida looking for a place to unwind after endless days at major theme parks, St. Petersburg may be the answer. It’s a nice place to stroll around and explore. As Brad mentioned, we went to The Pier, which was a cool shape, but nothing to get excited about. It has a lot of touristy gift shops on the bottom floor with hawaiian shirts and tacky sea shell souvenirs. The second floor houses the Pier Aquarium, which we figured would be a bit of a let down after SeaWorld so we didn’t enter. The fourth and fifth floors are restaurants, but we settled on Captain Al’s on the bottom floor.

Captain Al’s was weird. I was expecting a nicer, cleaner experience considering the nice view. This was one of those times where the food was very average in comparison to the view. I had the cheeseburger sliders (mini cheeseburgers) and Brad ordered a veggie wrap that came with a weird bowl of oil. The food was okay, but the atmosphere made me feel like I had to take a shower. There was chicken on the floor beside us and everything just felt sticky. If that sort of thing doesn’t phase you, you’ll probably get along just fine at Captain Al’s. I’m starting to wonder why restaurants near the ocean always feel compelled to sell seafood. I guess some people expect it, but I think it would be refreshing to have some different cuisine served up. Every single restaurant at The Pier was seafood oriented and all I wanted was lasagna.

There are more things to do than just stroll around, if you’re willing to spend some money. You can rent an electric boat, go fishing off the pier, or go for a cruise on the Dolphin Queen. Instead, we opted to grab a bag of sweets from the bottom floor candy shop and go on a 25 cent tour of St. Petersburg. We found out about this cheap tour when we got on the trolley that takes you from the parking lot to the actual pier. I thought for 25 cents it would be a short ride, but the trolley went for a good 20 minute ride through the town pointing out various landmarks like the Salvador Dali museum and Little St. Mary’s public restroom, a church that the builder turned into a restroom after he was unsatisfied with what the church paid him, or so the rumour goes. You can get off the trolley at your choosing and get back on at various spots along the route.

St. Petersburg was a very nice afternoon trip and picturesque drive across Tampa Bay. If you’re looking to unwind and have a good pair of shoes to walk around for the afternoon, St. Petersburg probably won’t disappoint.

HE SAID:

We made it to Florida safe and sound and have had a few days to relax after two days of traveling. It’s great to be here, although it’s not exactly the warm, tropical vacation we had planned. Florida is currently experiencing its coldest temperatures in 40 years. It even snowed and hailed a few days ago. However, things are looking up as the forecast says it will warm up very soon.

We started our trip on Thursday by driving about 8 hours to Bangor. We stayed the night in a hotel and then flew to Florida the next day. The drive and the flight both went really well. I really enjoy long drives, so the 8 hour drive wasn’t a problem. The Holiday Inn in Bangor offers a Park and Fly rate where you can leave your car with them for up to two weeks without any extra charge. This worked out great for us because leaving our car at the airport would have cost us quite a bit.

The next day we didn’t have to fly out until 6pm so we were able to relax at the hotel until about 2:30 before we headed to the airport. As we’ve mentioned before, I’m usually terrible to be in a plane with. But this was one of the most pleasant flying experiences I’ve had. I think our recent flight over Debert made it easier. We were able to book our seats in the exit row so we had lots of leg room, and our side of the plane only had two seats in each row, so we didn’t have a stranger sitting next to us. The pilot pointed out all the major cities that we flew over, which was great. We actually flew over New York City, and it was amazing seeing it lit up at night from 35,000 feet.

It’s been cold here, really cold, but we are having fun anyway. We’ve done a bit of shopping, a bit of relaxing indoors, and we even bought a puzzle to help pass the time until things warm up. Once the frost melts, we’ll spend more time outside and do some more fun activities.

SHE SAID:

I think one of the funnest parts of going on a trip for me is the preparation. I love making lists, checking them twice, and plotting out itineraries. Even though I make detailed lists of everything to do I usually spend the first hour of any trip fretting that I forgot something major, and this trip was no different. If you’re not the type of person to make lists, I’ve included the one I used for this trip to help you along:

• Passports – the most crucial thing you must remember. You can forget your underwear, but don’t leave home without your passport. Gone are the days when Canadians didn’t need a passport to enter the US.
• Travel insurance – If your job doesn’t provide you with a health plan that includes international health insurance, you’ll want to purchase some. You can get comprehensive plans that include trip cancellation insurance, but we usually just get the emergency medical plan. The cheapest provider we found was President’s Choice, which was $54 for both of us. The next cheapest was Blue Cross for $124. The price, of course, depends on your age and how long you’re vacationing.
• Money – I was content to use my credit card for purchases, but Brad insisted on cash, which is a good idea for little incidentals along the way.
• Prescriptions – if you take medication make sure it’s in the bottle it came in with your name on it if you plan on taking it in your carry-on bag.
• Travel information – I wrote down the addresses and phone numbers of the places we were headed for at the border. If you’re anything like Brad and get nervous at border crossings, this eliminates any brain freezes.
• Hotel – a no brainer. If you’re not traveling to visit family you’ll need somewhere to lay your head. Print off the confirmation email or jot down the confirmation number.
• Flight itinerary – print off your flight details sent by your airline. This is very useful reference for those times when you panic and wonder if you remembered the wrong flight time.
• Cell phone packages – if you’re made of money or your job pays for your phone, it’s worth investing in an international phone package. Brad checked with Roger’s before we left and it would have cost $30 for 10 MB of data. Hardly worth it.
• Pets – if you have any little four-legged friends at home make sure they’re taken care of before you take off.
• Vehicle check – take your car to the garage (or do it yourself if you’re smart like that) if you’ll be traveling by car for any lengthy distance. Make sure your tire pressure, wipers, and oil levels are good. If you’re anything like me you’ll also want to clean the car before you take off.
• Credit cards – call your credit card company to let them know you’ll be traveling so they don’t suddenly freeze your account in the middle of your shopping sprees.
• Electronic devices – cameras, video cameras, cell phones, iPods – make sure you have all your essentials with batteries, chargers, and memory cards.
• Work stuff – if you must take a bit of work with you but don’t want to lug your laptop, consider putting the files you need onto a USB stick. As long as the place you’ll be staying at has a computer you’ll be made in the shade and save a ton of space.
• Clothes – remember your pj’s!
• Bathroom items – a lot of hotels will provide you with complimentary bathroom items like toothbrushes and toothpaste if you forget them, but you probably don’t want to leave home without your deodorant and facial products such as moisturizer.

I know this list may be exhausting and make you reconsider your trip, but it will make a smoother travel experience. We had such a great travel experience this time and I think it’s in large part due to having all our ducks in order.

Probably one of the most expensive purchases of any trip is the flight. While we were shopping around for flights after Christmas we couldn’t seem to find anything cheaper than $1000 for the two of us to travel to Florida, and none of the flights were direct. Thank heavens we called Grammy. She told us about Allegiant Air and saved us over $500. Our trip from Bangor, ME to St.Pete’s, FL was only $427 for both of us, taxes included. We could have gotten it cheaper if we hadn’t paid for the exit row seats but they were totally worth it. The cost of the hotel and the gas money to drive to Bangor was still cheaper than any other flight we could find.

The drive to Bangor was very pleasant. If we wanted to we could have driven to Bangor the day of our flight since it took off at 6pm, but we didn’t want to chance any bad weather and by the time we paid for airport parking it would have only cost $10 less than staying the night at the hotel. We decided to go the relaxed route and are so glad we did. It helped ease us into the flying experience, which we needed.

Since this was the first time since our honeymoon that we’ve traveled alone, it was nice to not have to navigate major airports together. The hotel shuttled us to Bangor airport and then we had 4 hours to kill before our flight, which wasn’t too dreadful since they have free wi-fi. About an hour before we took off we socked the Gravol to our systems and faded into oblivion. My biggest concern about flying was the claustrophobic feeling of being in a small tube with 150 people for 3 hours, but the exit row seats cured that. Since one of the catches with Allegiant Air is that there’s no in-flight entertainment, I loaded a movie onto my iPod and watched it for the first half of the flight, and played Scrabble for the second half. The pilot was nice enough to point out major cities along the way and there was next to no turbulance. Here’s hoping the flight back is just as smooth!

Since Florida’s been in sort of a cold snap since we arrived, there’s not been as much to do, but we’re finding ways to enjoy ourselves and have fun. Yesterday we went on a blustery golf cart ride around the neighbourhood and today we’ll be heading out to find some shopping deals. The important thing to remember with any trip is to not have huge expectations for things you have no control over, like the weather. You just have to roll with the punches and so far we haven’t been knocked out.

The winter months here in Canada can be quite harsh. And although we love it here, sometimes it is nice to get away to a warmer climate. What better way to get through this time of year than with a winter escape?

Susan and I are headed to Florida on Friday for our first vacation together since our honeymoon, almost four years ago. For those of you who might not be able to take off to a warmer part of the world this winter, don’t fret because we’re taking you with us!*

While we’re away we will be blogging about how to travel without emptying your bank account, as well as all the fun things to do that we come across. Travelling doesn’t have to throw you into debt, so hopefully we can share a few tips (and you can share yours too) that help you travel for cheap. We’re excited to find new things to do that we don’t have here in Halifax. If you have any suggestions of things you’d like us to seek out and do please feel free to leave a comment, email us, or you can find us on Twitter. Make sure you come back over the coming days to see what we’re up to.

*Note – we’re not actually taking you with us, you’ll have to read the blog and then pretend. Sorry.

We were recently invited to go on a local photo tour that was put together by the St. Margaret’s Bay Regional Tourism Association and Colour. The idea behind it was to show that there are so many beautiful and unique places to see that are so close to home. Well, we would like to congratulate them on a job well done because we had never been to most of the places we travelled to.

SHE SAID:

I don’t know if I’ve been living under a rock (or maybe just a pile of school work) but I had never heard of a photo tour before. I had heard of photos and also tours, but not the two combined. Photo tours are now my new favourite thing because I get to explore the outdoors, experiment with photography, and discover the hidden treasures of our province all for a very low price.

Our particular photo tour had a wonderful tour guide named Anne who really added to the experience by telling us little historical anecdotes and facts about the areas we visited. Were it not for her I would still be oblivious to the fact that a castle exists in Nova Scotia!

If there aren’t any photographers or organizations in your area that arrange photo tours, I would still highly consider scouting out a few places to explore on your own. Try the touring section of your area’s tourism website for inspiration.

Also, get a camera and remember that you don’t have to be Annie Leibovitz to have fun. We are definitely rookie photographers, but we still managed to get a couple of nice shots. Now we can make really cheap prints to hang around the house.

HE SAID:

When we got asked to come on a photo tour I was pretty excited. It’s something we had never done before, and since I’ve really gotten into seeing new parts of Nova Scotia lately, it sounded like a great way to spend a day.

Our first destination was Bayswater Beach. It was a beautiful spot with nearly white sand, and plenty of nice scenery to take in. Then we went to a little fishing village not too far from there. Our guide told us the story behind a castle we could see across the water, as well as an island covered in dead trees. Apparently, cormorants (a type of bird which are not native to Nova Scotia) were brought here and ended up destroying all the trees on the island. It was actually a pretty creepy thing to see. I’m sure we would have been making up some pretty wild stories about how it might have happened if we hadn’t been told about the birds.

Then we drove a bit farther and had lunch in Hubbards at a little spot called Dauphinee Inn. It was such a cool spot. The outside of the building was painted in very bright colours, and the staff inside were very friendly. They even gave us a little explanation about the history of the area as well as the Dauphinee Inn itself. The food was a very welcome thing as we had done a fair amount of walking that day. We had fish and crab cakes (which I hadn’t had before), beans, biscuits, and a great blueberry dessert. It was all very tasty. We then took a few pictures of the area around the Dauphinee Inn before we unfortunately had to split from the group and head home.

Unfortunately we couldn’t fit all of our pictures into this blog post, so make sure you click on one of them to see the whole Photo Tour set in Flickr. I think it’s safe to say we both had a blast. Even if you don’t have a top of the line camera (we borrowed one from my sister), or you aren’t an amazing photographer (we were worried about that at first since we aren’t pros) you should still seek out any photo tours in your area. If nothing else, you get to see some places you wouldn’t have otherwise seen, as well as meet some new people. The best part is that it’s a fairly inexpensive way to have fun. Not only that but the scenic pictures you take can be enjoyed for a long time to come (more on that in a later post). I would suggest you dig around on Twitter or Facebook to see if there are any photo tours being planned in your area. If not then why not organize one yourself?

Day trips are a fun thing to do when you can’t go anywhere too far away, but you want to feel like a tourist nonetheless. You get to escape your own town and return home to your own bed at the end of the day. What could be better? On this particular day we went to Mahone Bay, which is about an hour from Halifax.

___________________________________________________________________

SHE SAID

I love visiting little towns. I love the people, I love the atmosphere, and most of all the unique shops! Mahone Bay is one such town that I keep coming back to for its charming, old fashioned feel. Its cute little shops are filled with everything from antiques to candy. On this particular day we didn’t get to all of the shops, but we did happen upon some great finds.

Find #1 – The Eclectic Garage

Don’t judge this one by its appearance. Though it may look like a run down, converted garage, guess what? It is! If you like antiques and unique gift ideas, you’ll love this place. It is jammed packed full of antique bottles, vinyl records, books, dishes, furniture, and it doesn’t stop there. You’ll also find modern gift items dispersed throughout. Though I didn’t buy any antiques this trip, I did find an antique-ish sign I hung in my kitchen. Check out our Flickr album for more finds.

Find #2 – Jo-Ann’s Deli Market & Bake Shop

Though there are quite a few nice places to dine in Mahone Bay, Jo-Ann’s offers quite a unique experience. Not only can you get fresh, made to order sandwiches and seafood lunches, there is a vast array of fresh baked goods to indulge in afterward that are made daily. If you’re looking for something cooler, you can visit the “I.C.U.”, aka Ice Cream Unit, and choose from one of their 16 flavors (and they have waffle cones!). If that’s not enough, you can buy local produce, a large section being organic, and they also have the largest selection of imported cheeses on the South Shore!

Find #3 – Candy Cravings
My sweet tooth was well fed after this stop. This shop is packed full of old-fashioned and modern candy alike. I was a wide-eyed little kid again gazing at the walls full of sugary delights. Once I got a grip, I ended up buying a “tickle stick” (not sure of the name’s origins), which is a wooden skewer full of gummy candies. We also stopped by their fudge station and picked up some chocolate peanut butter fudge. Yum!

I can’t wait to visit this town again. Maybe I can convince Brad to go to the Great Scarecrow Festival and Antique Fair in October!

HE SAID:

Over the past few years I’ve really grown to like the idea of taking day trips. Not only is it a cheap way to enjoy the nice summer and fall weather, but I’ve also gotten to see some smaller towns around Nova Scotia that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Let’s be honest. I’m a city boy who married a country girl. So as much as I do enjoy a day trip to a small town, you won’t see me singing in the streets in pure joy like Susan. She really lights up when she’s in a town where people consider driving the speed limit to be too fast, where everyone knows everyone, and there are more trees than people.

Having said that, I can appreciate what a great place we live in. The drive to Mahone Bay is full of beautiful scenery. We even came across a parade along the way and stopped to take a look.

On the day we went to Mahone Bay the temperature was pretty high. So, naturally, certain unnamed members of our group decided it would be a good idea to walk to some of the antique shops we planned to visit. While the exercise was nice, I’m pretty sure I almost died of heat stroke. I kept reminding her that the further we walked, the further the walk back to the car would be.

Thankfully the walk was worth it as we came across some really great shops. One of my favorite spots in Mahone Bay is Candy Cravings. I don’t like it for the same reasons as Susan though. She likes the candy, but I like all the little toys and trinkets you can get. It’s sort of like a more tame version of Freak Lunchbox. There’s superhero lunch boxes, funny action figures, and lots more. I was also really excited to find what was labelled “drawer knobs” at an antique shop that used the same stick figures as we have in our logo. They don’t really serve any purpose, but I couldn’t pass them up.

Day trips are a great way to get out of the house without draining the bank account. It’s also an opportunity to check out the areas around where you live. If you enjoy fun drives and exploring new towns then you should give it a try.

Let us know some of your favorite day trip spots in the comments!