Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip

Family travel through a slightly twisted lens. Sense of humor required. Shoes optional.

Who’s On First?

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What is it about Abbot and Costello’s classic routine “Who’s On First” that makes it so funny no matter how many time you see it?  At the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY, you could hear the laughter of baseball fans echo through the halls while the legendary comic team banters back and forth as the frustrated Abbot tries to figure out who is on first.  Like baseball, it’s just classic.

Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball Hall of Fame

And classic is how I would describe our first day of vacation in Cooperstown.  Main Street looked like something out of a Disney movie that was written and directed by the kind of guy that wears team logos 24/7.  You couldn’t spit without hitting someone or something wearing a baseball logo, including me.  And, as a Red Sox fan, it was just a tad painful to see Yankee memorabilia was the focal point of most window displays.  Since Cooperstown is in NY I guess it’s understandable.  Even with all that testosterone, it couldn’t take away from how pretty and clean and charming the town and the people were.

The Baseball Hall of Fame blended in perfectly with the surroundings – red brick exterior with tasteful banners of the 2009 inductees including Boston favorite Jim Rice!

Like my brother and sister, I became a baseball fan at an early age thanks to my Dad, an avid sports lover.  The difference is my siblings and I could never be persuaded over to the evil empire and have always routed for the Red Sox against my Dad’s Yankee loyalties.

Like the town itself, it was the history of the game that was in the forefront of this long-standing museum, not the glitz.   The struggles of players like Jackie Robinson and others from the Negro league who stood tall against hatred and ignorance were told with such honesty.  The glory of legends like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams were showcased for fans to walk through history.  Every turn offered something new and interesting to see.

We saw not one but three “Screwballs”, Abe Lincoln and the “Holy Cow”.

Which one is the Screwball?

Which one is the real Screwball?

"Holy Cow!"

"Holy Cow!"

As a Bostonian, I couldn’t stop staring at Curt Shilling’s bloody sock from the 2004 playoffs when the Sox came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yankees and go on to win the World Series.  Sorry, just a moment to gloat…

The story never gets old!

The story never gets old!

Even with all those historical moments to revel in, they didn’t match up the feeling I got when I entered the records room.  You knew instantly where to find the plaques of Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth by the small gathering of folk pointing and telling stories or by one of my family calling out “Hey!  Look over here!”  Personally, I made a bee-line for Carlton Fisk.

Records Hall

Records Hall

My only regret is that we didn’t allot enough time to stay in the quaint and picturesque NY town for an entire afternoon.  It was a great way to start the trip.

Next stop Sullivan OH to visit our friends.

Snapshot Tip: Cruise Hawaii

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Susan & Douglas on Diamond Head, Oahu. More Hawaii pictures.

About four years ago, we went to Hawaii for two weeks. After much research, we decided to do Norwegian Cruise Lines’ week-long cruise of the Islands, bracketed by a few days in Waikiki at the beginning of the trip, and after the cruise, a few days on the western side of Oahu at Marriott’s Ko Olina resort.

Why the cruise?

We did both hotel stays on points, and probably could have exchanged a timeshare week for a week on one of the islands, but since we’d never been to Hawaii, we really wanted to see as much as we could. We are generally sightseeing vacationers; we like to go to places where there are lots of historical, cultural, nature and amusement options. An occasional morning or afternoon at the pool or sitting on the beach is fine, but we like to keep moving.

The cruise turned out to be the most cost efficient way to see all that Hawaii had to offer. We unpacked once, and every day, were able to explore a different aspect of the Islands. The cost of Island hopping by air would have been much more in the end, and if we moved the bags as well, a nuisance. Especially with a five-year old.

We booked well in advance, and that made the costs even more manageable as we were able to book one of NCL’s family cabins with balcony. As far as I can tell, the Hawaii cruise is the only one that offers this particular option, and it was a great deal. There aren’t many on the ship, so you do have to book well ahead, but you only pay full price for the first two guests. Everyone else pays a cabin-share supplement, so Dave and I were effectively full price, and we paid the supplement for my mom and Douglas. We had plenty of room and an awesome balcony, which effectively doubled the cabin living space.

One thing that is really nice about the cruise option, apart from not having to un- and re-pack multiple times, is that it offers something for both sightseers/adventure seekers, and destination tourists – those folks happy to land in one place, find a beach or deck chair and relax for the week.

If you are thinking about  your first trip to Hawaii,  I urge you to consider the cruise option.

Bonus Tip: The airline lounge may be worth the cost of membership.

If you’re making the long trek to Hawaii from the East Coast, or Europe from the West, you’ll probably have a stop-over on the alternate US coast before your final flight. When we went to Hawaii,  I had enough air miles for us to all travel in first (and was also still a member of the American airport lounge), so we were able to relax in the lounge between flights. This came in particularly handy on the return when our Los Angeles to Boston flight was delayed by a few hours. It’s a whole lot easier dealing with a five-year old in an airport lounge than out in the public areas, especially in a big airport like LAX. If you aren’t a member, you can purchase a day pass for most lounges. It’s a bit pricey on a day basis and depending on the size of your party (and how strict the lounge is), you may need more than one, but if you have a long layover, it really pays off.

For the upcoming trip to Africa, I am considering joining Priority Pass, a service that allows entry into more than 600 airport lounges. I haven’t really dug into it yet to be sure that all three of us (my mom, brother and I) will be able to use their lounges on one membership or if they are even convenient to the airlines we are travelling, but we’ve got some long waits on the way home, and it will be far more comfortable in a lounge than hanging round the airport terminal. It may make more sense to use miles to join United’s Club, as it has reciprocal privileges with South African Airways, and our international flight is a codeshare. I would definitely appreciate any feedback from readers on the best way to go on this, especially if you’ve used Priority Pass and its lounges at JFK in New York or OR Tambo in Johannesburg.

T’was the Night Before Vacation

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T’was the night before vacation and all through the house; no one could sleep, especially my spouse.

We ran through the day over and over again; We both wanted to sleep, we were leaving by ten!

The packing was done, everything ready to go; the neighbors all watched, we put on quite a show.

With Dad going to the left and me going right; the kids down the middle, only concerned where they rest their heads at night.

We thought we were careful and just packed what we needed but the list seemed to be endless, I felt nearly defeated.

But then what to my tired eyes did appear, It was a clear table top, the end was so near!

Some folks wanted to help and others came to say goodbye; It was late before we knew it, the time just flew by.

Finally left alone with our thoughts and last minute plans, My husband ran through the list in his hands…

It read “Got comet, got cleaner, got stove and got towels,

got food, got beer, use the rest stops to move your bowels”

The list was complete.  We had everything we wanted to have a wonderful vacation and RV around the country.

And as we leave our home and drive out of sight, Happy and Safe Travels to All, we’ll be back soon so leave on a light!

Africa

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In September, my mom, brother and I will be going to Southern Africa for 10 days. It’s not a place I ever imagined that I would travel to, but I am looking forward to it immensely.


Why are we going?
Long story short, a few years ago, my mom got really involved in watching the live activity on National Geographic’s webcam at Pete’s Pond. Pete’s Pond is a man-made reservoir in the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana that was created from an old irrigation system as an alternative to the Limpopo River and its poachers.

My brother Doug (not to be confused with my son Douglas) got the idea that we should go to Africa, and after crunching numbers, we decided to go for it. We also agreed that this was a trip for the three of us.  My son, at  nine years old, is really too young, and if he is to stay home, so must my husband. When we told Mum, she was flabbergasted, but quickly got into the planning.

We started with some very clear requirements:

  • Mashatu Game Reserve was a must
  • We couldn’t see going all that way and not seeing Victoria Falls
  • We expected some layovers in Johannesburg
  • Cape Town would be nice (but was eventually eliminated from itinerary due to both cost and time.)

My brother took on the job of sourcing travel and safari operators and I handled the airfare search.

First, the safari operators. Doug contact Rhino Africa, Go2Africa and Journeys of Distinction (the travel agency associated with Mashatu and Mala Mala in South Africa.) Everyone was responsive but we decided to go with Journeys of Distinction. Angela, the representative from Journeys, was very helpful in narrowing down the options for the trip and because she was the “house” agency for Mashatu and Mala Mala, was able to offer us a package deal for the two reserves.

We’ll be flying into Johannesburg, with a very small window of sightseeing time there. Our main destinations are Victoria Falls (staying in Zambia), and the two game reserves. The most likely time for Johannesburg sightseeing will be the Sunday we arrive, although we do have another afternoon there between Victoria Falls and the game reserves. We are bound to be tired… but I really don’t want to miss any MUST SEEs because odds of a return are slim. I don’t sleep much anyway.

So readers, please chime in with your thoughts for Johannesburg as well as any recommendations for Victoria Falls. We have two nights there, and one full day.

Airfare

Sometimes you need to be creative. When I searched Boston to Johannesburg, everything seemed to run through Europe, adding hours to the total trip. NY JFK however had direct flights to and from which were NOT available from Boston no matter how I sliced the am departure. I think it’s because the international flight requires a two-hour layover, and nothing from Boston on a Saturday morning qualified. Whatever.

So we’re flying down to JFK the day before our Johannesburg flight and staying in an airport hotel. On the return, we’re supposed to land in the morning, so I’ve booked an early afternoon flight from JFK to Boston. They are separate tickets, so we could always get screwed by time gods on the return, but we’ll deal with that if it happens.

Moral of the story: always look at alternate airports, other options for making the connection.

SAFARI

We’ll get into more detail about the nitty gritty of preparing for safari as the time draws nearer, but here are two books to whet your appetite:

To RV or Not to RV

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Deciding to travel across this great country was easy but trying to determine how to actually get from point A to point B proved to be a bit more complicated than I first thought.

First, get your basic framework in place – where you think you want to stop, how much can you afford, how long will you be away…stuff like that.  Then the fun begins, detail by detail. But when you are talking about dropping $12,000 for a vacation, I guess detail is warranted.  I always assumed we would take an RV but you know that saying about assuming, well, it’s true.  I should have never assumed anything.   I’ve been with the same man for almost 20 years – I should have known that we’d start with opposite opinions.   Every time I said “we’ll rent an RV…” my husband would stop me dead in my tracks.  “Do we really need an RV?” he said.  “Why not just take our car?  Lots of people do this trip in a car.  I know this guy at work who…”  That’s the point he would always loose me.  I kept thinking “Are you INSANE!!??  Five weeks in a car with two hormonal 12 year old boys!  I’m the only girl!  I need my space!”

With an advanced degree in communications, I quickly ascertained my argument that he was just simply out of his flippin’ gourd was not going help us come to an agreement (yeah, I’m quick like that).   We debated the pros and cons of our travel options.  There were many sides to our discussions from the trivial pee breaks to the obligatory Robin Williams RV reference but ultimately it boiled down to three key factors:  availability, cost, and experience.

On a side note, if you do plan a cross country trip, be prepared to be asked if you have ever seen the movie RV by every co-worker, teacher, acquaintance, relative and neighbor.

Availability – The first step to help decide if an RV is right for you is to learn what’s available in your area.  When we began our search, we came up with basic criteria.  We knew we wanted it to be small, under 25′ to be specific.   Clean and smell-free also topped my list.  More practically, vehicle mileage and miles per gallon were very important factors.  With those basic criteria in mind, we started on our search.  The internet was an obvious first start.  A Google search gave us hundreds of RV sites to review.  Most sites allowed us the opportunity to narrow down the search even further by our criteria.  Immediately we saw a trend in location and availability – California, Arizona, New Jersey and New Hampshire were the hot beds for rentals.  My super reasoning powers allowed me to quickly identify that availability wasn’t a problem for us.  We live in New England; New Hampshire is in New England…see where I’m going with this.

Cost – Once we knew the model/size we wanted was available to us, we moved our discussion to cost.   My philosophy on vacationing is exactly the same philosophy I employ at work – DO THE MATH.  Make a list of all the costs you will occur for the different travel methods.  For example, if you were to rent an RV you will need to consider the cost of:

  • rental fees
  • mileage fees (most places give you so many “free” miles each day and you pay a cost for any additional miles traveled. $0.35/mile was an average figure we saw)
  • taxes
  • gas (you’ll need to get miles per gallon to figure it out)
  • meals (consider groceries vs. restaurants)
  • RV park/campground fees (many National Parks ave. $25 per night, private sites can range as high as $40 per night)
  • insurances.  Not all insurance is created equal and, in most cases, you auto insurance will NOT cover you driving an RV. 

While visiting each dealer, we asked them for a ballpark estimate.  The two big questions we got consistently were estimated mileage and timing.  As you can imagine, the fees are higher in season.  There is also the option to purchase an RV vs. renting.  I’ll delve into that topic in a separate blog.

If you think you may want to drive your own vehicle consider

  • mileage
  • wear and tear on your car
  • meals
  • lodging/hotels/campgrounds
  • park fees

Depending on whether or not you want to camp or stay at hotels, you may also need to consider whether or not you’ll need to pull a pop-up camper or even a trailer for your camping gear.  Obviously it is less expensive to camp but will require a lot more planning and towing on your part.

There is always the option to fly.  You’ll need to look at flights, car rentals and meals.

When we ran our numbers, we determined that the cost of renting an RV and driving our own vehicle staying in hotels was only a couple hundred dollars.  The hotel and restaurant costs, even assuming light meals at fast food places, added up quickly, making the rental cost nearly a wash.  Again I highly recommend that you run the numbers appropriate for your own travel plans.

One tip when looking at RV rental costs – shop around!  We priced out rentals with 4 different dealers and the cost varied by as much as $4,000.

Experience – By experience, I don’t mean whether or not you’ve ever driven an RV.  Was your trip enjoyable? Fulfilling? Satisfy your expectation?  Did you make the memory you dreamed of making?  Understanding the importance of experience became more and more clear with each conversation we had with friends, family, each other and anyone else who wanted to hear about our plans.  There are hundreds of ways to approach this trip and everyone knew of someone who did it a little differently.  My favorites were the tales of adults who remember being crushed in the back of their parents’ station wagon 30 some odd years ago.   Or the college kids who jumped into a car with nothing but a backpack and several hundred dollars.  The common denominator of all the stories was how it was the best trip of their lives!  Everyone with a different flavor but all consistently talked about the experience – “I remember teasing my brother…”; “We were exhausted by the time we got the Grand Canyon…”; “You have to see Crazy Horse.  When we were there this guy…”

For me, the deciding factor wasn’t the cost or even the comfort but the experience.  I knew at the end of a long day traveling and sightseeing, I wanted to be able to talk to my kids and not compete with the cable in the hotel room.  I could see us sitting around the campfire, chatting about the day, joking about the crazy stuff we saw on the trails.  When we reviewed our options after all the discussions and research, the answer presented itself.  We knew we had access to what we wanted, the cost was close enough either way, we couldn’t have a campfire in our hotel room at night and I’m just not a tent type of girl.  So, to answer the question to RV or not to RV – I’m RV’ing!

TIPS

  • Know a basic framework of your vacation dreams before you being your research – length of time, distance, budget
  • Research several options. The Internet is the perfect starting point. Don’t forget to talk with people you know, learn from their experience as well
  • DO THE MATH! Be realistic about your costs – hotels, restaurants, pit stops, gas, fees, insurance, repairs, etc. Be as thorough as possible.
  • Be true to you and your family. Know your limitations, like sleeping in the rain, and your expectations, such as quality time around the campfire. This is not the vacation you want to look back on with regrets.

Copyright 2009-2018. All Rights Reserved. Photos copyright Susan Getgood unless otherwise noted.