After two restful stays at new Getaway House locations in New York, I was curious if a similar experience could be found in the summer in the South.
I’ll go ahead and get the bad news out of the way–
Continue readingAbout two hours northwest of NYC sits the small, trout-fishing mountain town of Roscoe, NY, where Donald Trump Jr. has a house he can retreat to as a restorative balm on his stressors.
So too, now, can you. This is where tiny-house campground company, Getaway House, recently opened its second New York location.
Note: These travels were completed a few weeks before the Covid-19 outbreak in the US.
As a Florida man living in New York for the past year, there was a lingering feeling for me that was unsettling.
In the NYC area I feel I’m at the mercy of humanity. It’s a stark contrast to the blanket feeling where I grew up in Florida of being at the mercy of nature.
Mankind is changing and deforesting Florida rapidly, but it still feels to me like lightning, grasshoppers, gators, greenery and other untamed habitants dominate the state.
On a hiking trail in John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, Florida.
A crisp New Year’s Eve afternoon, we sat parked a few blocks from Lands End, in the front seats of our rented Jeep Wrangler, waiting for the police officer to arrive.
The glass from our smashed-in back window was sprinkled on the seat behind us as three of our four pieces of luggage sped off somewhere in the hands of devils.
Three park policemen on horseback came clopping by us.
I thought one of them might ask if we were okay, but instead, we just heard one of them chuckle knowingly as they continued past us.
Fifteen minutes earlier we’d been relishing the weather and views of one of our favorite places on earth:
From my limited experience as a low-level elite status holder on Alaska and United Airlines for the past year, I thought upgrades to first class were practically impossible on transcontinental flights.
Then I got this alert in the middle of the night, 18 hours before my redeye, transcon flight on Alaska Airlines: Continue reading
It’s not looking very rewarding so far, but Skiplagged now has a rewards program.
Screenshot from Skiplagged.com
How does it work? Continue reading
It was late on a chilly night, a few days after Thanksgiving last year, when the flight deal alerts started going out on Twitter — flights from almost anywhere in the U.S. to New Zealand were on sale for around $400 round trip on United.com.
Here is what I tweeted.
Considering that round trips to New Zealand typically start at around $1k, this was a superb price.
Was it an intentional Cyber Monday deal, or a mistake fare? The question remains.
Because New Zealand was at the top of my bucket list, this was the sale I’d been waiting for.
I booked two tickets for early June. Continue reading
I wish someone had warned me.
I typically drive at or right around the speed limit, and I’d never gotten a speeding ticket before.
That is until a moment during my recent visit to New Zealand, when I went 38.5 MPH in a 31 MPH zone (62km/h in a 50 km/h zone), oblivious to the camera on a pole catching me in the act.
Back home about a month later, I got the surprise 80 NZD souvenir in the mail.
The ticket noted that I could email the police department for a photo of the infraction, so I did that and got this a few days later: Continue reading
I spent 6 hours waiting in line, in my car, to cross from the U.S. into Canada.
There are much worse things in life, but the experience was a psychological challenge, so I’m hoping this post may help a fellow traveler avoid it.
How did this happen? Continue reading
Outside of Best Western and Choice Hotels, New Zealand doesn’t have a ton of points options for chain hotels.
Why stay at a chain hotel though?
Loyalty status can get you free meals and upgraded rooms, and using points can make those rooms free.
Sure, you could always use bank points such as Chase UR points to book almost any hotel you want using those points, but this post is looking at four hotels you can book with hotel points.
Which hotels?
InterContinental Wellington, Hilton Auckland, Crowne Plaza Auckland, and Hilton Lake Taupo.
You might be surprised at what ended up being my least favorite of the four: Continue reading
easyjourneys 