A website devoted to great, cheap food at non-chain restaurants

by Jamie Rhein on

My discovery of HollyEats.com came about as I was searching out a place that serves Cincinnati-style chili. HollyEats.com is a site devoted to great, cheap food that often has a regional connection.

For those who wonder, Cincinnati-style chili, a chili version that is popularly served on spaghetti and hot dogs, has Greek origins, and is generally available only in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Packets of seasoning, however can be found at Krogers, an Ohio-based grocery store. Skyline Chili restaurants are also working their way outward into the rest of Ohio and down into Kentucky. There are a couple in Columbus. HollyEats lists the restaurant in Englewood, Ohio and mentions that they can be found in Florida.

Even though HollyEats listing is not the Cincinnati-style chili place I was looking for, there are many food hot spots and finds that could easily help a person eat across the U.S.

Click on the Carolina Barbecue link and there you’ll barbecue places a plenty. One of the places is Wilbur’s in Goldsboro, North Carolina. It’s the barbecue restaurant on the Blue-Gray Scenic Byway.

Each restaurant is rated by grease stains. The more grease stains–5 is the maximum, the better the food. Although 3 grease stains, the lowest rating, still means the food is great. I also enjoyed reading the background history of the places Holly visited.

Holly is actually Hollister Moore who has the nickname Holly. He has been a foodie for years. Before you head out on a vacation, I’d check here to find interesting eateries that are worth a stop. The photo of the drawing of him is on the website. You can see the original at the Palm Steak House in Philadelphia. I wrote about the significance of The Palm restaurant group in October. Small world.

A handy guide to help you wade through airline rules and restrictions

by Jamie Rhein on

While I was packing yesterday for my daughter’s and my trip to Denmark, I asked her if she wanted to take a lightweight shawl to use as a blanket on the airplane.

“Don’t they give you blankets?” she asked.

Maybe. Some airlines charge extra for a blanket and pillow. Jet Blue already does. U.S. Airways is going to start soon.

In another conversation yesterday, this one on the phone, my father told me that he decided against checking a second bag on his Delta flight from Columbus to JFK in New York when he found out that this would cost him $50. On December 5, that fee will go down to $25.

My dad’s plane was an hour late leaving Columbus yesterday, and he said that the JFK connection to Albany was a hassle to navigate. Perhaps, that’s why the extra baggage fees seem unreasonable. Plane travel is anything but heavenly.

Blanket fees, bag fees, reservation fees, carry-on size changes, meals or no meals, drinks or no drinks, working toilet or no working toilet–just kidding on that one–are details that make air travel more confusing than it used to be.

Sure, buy the plane ticket, but don’t think you’re done paying for the cost of getting from here to there. Keep some extra cash on hand because you’re bound to need it for something when you fly.

In this comprehensive article at Smarter Travel, Tim Winship covers 25 policy changes that are coming to various airlines. When trying to find the best deal, knowing an airline’s checked baggage policy, for example, can make a difference as to how pricey a cheap ticket may become.

One point Winship makes is that complaining can work. When United received complaints galore from passengers who were miffed about paying for meals on overseas flights, the airlines dropped that charge.

If there is anything that’s certain, as soon as you learn an airline’s policy, it’s going to change.

Bagball: a smelly traveler’s best friend?

by Justin Glow on

While flipping through the latest issue of Time Out: Chicago, I noticed a small blurb on the Bagball: a little sphere you place in your gym bag that releases flavored fumes to combat sweaty-smelling clothing.

The product targets three demographics: 1) the aforementioned gym monkeys, 2) hunters (to help mask your human smell from the animals — yikes) and 3) your house. Oddly enough, they’re missing out on a huge core group, one where smelly clothes in overstuffed bags are the norm: travelers.

How great would it be to have one of thee little balls floating around your backpack? If I had a dime for every time I pulled a wrinkly shirt out of my pack only to sniff it and dry heave (while still putting it on, of course), I could afford at least three or four loads of overpriced loads of hostel laundry.

While daydreaming of the wonders of having fresh smelling travel clothes, I realized that I could probably come up with something cheaper, and more portable, to keep me smelling fresh on the road. For instance, a few dryer sheets floating around my bag would probably do the trick, and take up a lot less space to boot.

But if you’re interested in giving the Bagball a go on your next trip, they can be had from their website for $7.99 a pop.

Enterprise receives highest rank for rental car companies. What are the others?

by Jamie Rhein on

According to J.D. Power and Associates, the company that conducts a survey on customer satisfaction with rental cars, Enterprise-Rent-a-Car came out ahead. Good for Enterprise. This is the fifth consecutive win for this company. They are the only company to receive a 5 out of 5.

Other top rankers-with 4 out of 5, are Hertz and Alamo. Maybe Alamo listened to customer complaints because that company improved its service since 2007.

What makes great car rental service? Car companies were ranked according to “cost and fees, pickup process, rented car, return process, reservation process, and shuttle van/bus” according to this summary at MotorTrend. Cost and fees were what most people were after.

One in ten people report a problem at the rental desk which is a problem in today’s economy when less business people are traveling. Keeping customers satisfied is one way to increase their likelihood of returning.

The companies that ranked 2 out of 5 from bad to worse are:

  • Thrifty
  • Dollar
  • Payless
  • Advantage Rent A Car
  • Fox Rent A Car

The photo is of Enterprise’s hybrid fleet, perhaps another item that makes customers satisfied.

Is There Trouble in Hawaiian Paradise?

by Brenda Yun on

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal might just be over-exaggerating the tourist slump that is taking place here on the Hawaiian islands. As the article puts it, “dozens of pool chairs and canopied cabanas sat empty… restaurants had plenty of free tables… In town, “50% Off!” signs hung in the windows of many souvenir shops.” I’m pretty sure this can be the case if you’re walking around anywhere on the Big Island on a Saturday afternoon because people aren’t interested in relaxing by a pool, eating at a restaurant, or shopping. I would hope they are doing more productive things like visiting the Volcano National Park, enjoying one of the island’s many gorgeous black sand beaches, or hiking around waterfalls near Hilo.

Although I don’t want to believe the article’s proclamation, “There’s trouble in Polynesian paradise,” I’m sure the tourist industry is feeling some effects from a poor economy and the closure of ATA and Aloha Airlines – two of Hawaii’s biggest airline carriers – earlier this year. My own observations of the state of Hawaii’s tourism is far more optimistic and maybe even idealistic. I like to believe that vacationers are taking advantage of some of the great money-saving deals and discounts on accommodations and travel packages. If there’s a silver lining to a cloud, it’s that this state, my home, has always been a paradise and will remain so to many visitors in the coming year.

The WSJ article does point out that the neighbor islands – namely Maui and the Big Island – are being hit the hardest right now. If it’s any indication on my island of residence, Oahu, a decrease in tourists remains to be seen. If tourists are willing to make it out to Honolulu and stay in Waikiki, a good portion of them would make the journey to at least one outer island during even a week-long visit to the islands.

Additionally, the winter time sees an increase of vacationers to the islands to witness some of the state’s most popular events, like the Triple Crown of Surfing (on the North Shore of Oahu, Nov. 12 – Dec. 20), the Honolulu Marathon (on Oahu, Dec. 14), the Maui Whale Festival (on Maui, February), the Waimea Town Celebration (on Kauai, Feb. 20-2), and the Merrie Monarch Festival (on the Big Island, April 12-18).