Cheap Travel During Shoulder Season

by Jamie Rhein on

It’s “shoulder season” time in some places. That means it is between high and low seasons. In April and May, crowds are not so big and not so small and temperatures are not too hot and not too cold, particularly if you are heading to the Caribbean, Europe or to ski resorts. I guess if you are going to a ski resort, you do need it cold enough for snow.

Considering that it snowed today in Columbus, Ohio (yes, the tulips do look pretty with their white dusting), it’s not so far-fetched to be thinking of hitting the slopes next week. Here is a link to OnTheSnow.com, a site that covers snow resorts and snow conditions.

If you’re interested in Europe, here’s a link to a web page of Transitions Abroad. It provides links to budget travel in Europe. While you’re looking, you can find other budget travel hotspots as well.

For Caribbean travel, here’s a website I came across called Cheap Caribbean. That sure gets right to the point. If you want to broaden your scope even further, here’s an article on shoulder season travel on away.com.

Convent Stays in Italy: An Inexpensive Option

by Jamie Rhein on

Several years ago, just like in this recent article about staying in convents in Italy, I did stay in a convent in Rome, and not because I fancied being a nun. We’d heard that convents were wonderfully pleasant, inexpensive places to stay. It was a pleasant place to stay and inexpensive, but we should have noticed that this information was coming from a person who goes to bed early. There were a few downsides. One was the curfew. I can’t remember how early it was, but 8:30 p.m. sounds about right. Rings true. Not a bad time if you don’t want to stay out, or if you don’t want to eat dinner at a leisurely pace. If any of you have been to Italy, you might know that dining out at night doesn’t happen until fairly late.

To make it back to the convent before curfew time, we would find any place we could that was serving dinner, shovel down food at a break neck pace, drink wine like we were doing shots and run like heck to the convent’s doors so we wouldn’t get locked out. Also, even though we were traveling co-ed, the rooms are single sexed and single beds–at least where we were staying.

Despite the curfew, convents are an option for a place to stay where you can get some peace and quiet in peace and quiet. We were left on our own more or less, so the overall feel was homey-and peaceful–and quiet.

Here is another article I found in Go World Travel with information about convent and monastery stays.

Ask Nan at BabyBoomersTrips.com. and you’ll get an answer

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’ve ever had a travel related question and have been stumped about where to find the answer, there’s help. Her name is Nan. I just found out about Nan a couple days ago and thought, now that’s clever.

At BabyBoomersTrips.com, Nancy Zimmerman, former talk show co-host of WE TV’s StyleWorld, answers readers’ questions that range from ghost town jaunts to what in the world is going on with airline seats these days. It turns out that if I had read “Ask Nan” in December, I may have taken some time out to go to St. Augustine. (We were heading in a non-direct route from Orlando through St. Petersburg to Ft. Lauderdale.) St. Petersburg was a lunch stop off visit with my husband’s aunt. We could have combined this with a tour of the St. Augustine’s haunted hot spots. Evidently, there are plenty and the Ripley’s Ghost Train would have taken us to them.

About the airline seats. Nan’s news kind of makes a person never want to sit down again, unless, there’s something between the seat and you. Airline seats are a real germ carnival. She suggests bring along a stole or an airplane size blanket (cuddly) to put between you and the seat.

BabyBoomersTrips.com is also filled with other detailed tidbits divided into catagories of “Budget Boomers,” “Big Shot Boomers” and “Beauty Boomers.” Passport information, spa vacations and how to get the best travel deals are part of the offerings. It’s interesting to see what people want to know about. So, if you have any questions, “Ask Nan.” Or you can always ask us at Gadling. There are plenty of travel questions to go around.

Torkells on Surviving the Holidays

by Erik Olsen on

I trust that most of you have gotten over your Triptophan comas and are now happily settled back home or at work after a couple of grueling (um, I mean joyful), days with family.

I know, I know. We should all be grateful for this time off, for precious moments with kin whom we see but once a year. Yes, let us for a moment celebrate a few of the joys of being with family: the caterwauling herds of children, the alcoholic in-laws, the agonizing small-talk…and of course, everyone has an Uncle Alfred who does that chopped off finger trick, even though we are in our thirties and we’ve seen it fourteen thousand times. This is not my family, of course, but more of a mélange of our collective family experience across the country.

Which brings us to a very interesting question. Is there a way to make it all tolerable? As a matter of fact, says Erik Torkells over at Budget Travel, there is.

This is actually quite brilliant, and I salute Herr Torkells for having the courage to say in print what many of us can only write in our journals or in blog form: that family-based holiday travel has its ups and downs. Sure, if you’re lucky enough to be skiing in Vail for the holiday, you’ve got serious options on how to make fun use of increasingly rare time off. But what about those long days and eves hanging with family and others in warm, cozy (and often boring) homes?

Torkells makes several recommendations in this piece over at BT, including things like “Get your own space” by which he means, where possible, get a hotel room that you can retreat to if necessary (which is a bit dubious…I mean, if you find sitting alone in a hotel room more enjoyable than being with family, well, I’ve got the number of someone you can call to talk about it). But perhaps the best idea is: Take some personal projects. For me, this means writing a journal. I’ve kept one since I was 16, but don’t often find time to write in it. But vacation time is a perfect time to scribble down thoughts and events about your life, stuff you NOW you’ll be glad you committed to “paper” in years to come.

One thing I’d add to Torkells’ list (and I don’t mean to be a shill for Apple), but I suggest too you load up your ipod with audio books and/or videos, and when there is a dull moment, find yourself a little nook to enjoy your own personal entertainment system. It’s worked for me!

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of September 10

by Adrienne Wilson on

Kick back, relax and get ready for your weekly highlights of some Gadling’s favorites. There were dozens this week, but I managed to narrow it down to these five. Hope you enjoy!

5. BT Blogger Blab Post Mortem:
Sure this one isn’t really going to help you in making your next big trip plans, but I liked it. Our very own Erik Olsen had the opportunity to hang out and better yet be apart of a panel for the Budget Travel Blogger Conference. This posts highlights some of his thoughts and gives the low-down on the event. I just think it’s awesome that he went! Hi-five!

4. Theater: Dress Up (or Not):
Why something like this has never made the Gadling tops before I haven’t a clue, but I’m sure happy we have Iva writing pieces like this one. You’re on the road backpacking and all when you want to go some place fancy, like the theater. The questions now is to dress up or not? I’m with Iva on this one (dress it up a bit), but what’s your take?

3. I Eat Cannibals:
Cannibalism is beyond me. In fact, making plans to travel to places where the locals might be practicing such things blows me away, but would I be tempted. Heck yeah, so long as I’m not on the menu. Neil leads us to a fascinating find from the Smithsonian Magazine which follows Paul Raffaele in Indonesian New Guinea. Very cool read.

2. Burning Man Photo Results, Sort Of:
While it sadden me none of the Gadling readers were compelled to enter the Burning Man Photo Contest or just didn’t go I’m delighted to find these brilliant photos from elsewhere posted by Neil. I admit, I hope to head to Burning man one day and even if you think you don’t or won’t one look at these photos and I’m sure you’ll have a slight change of heart. They are…spectacular!

1. Reverse Culture Shock: Teaching the Somalians About America:
Every American should read this or maybe just everyone in general. This funny piece looks at the culture shock someone from let’s say Somalia might have when entering America and the classes they have to take before embarking into the “Promised Land.” It makes you think about how much we take for granted over here.