Call full-service hotels directly for best deals

by Jamie Rhein on

With the economy the way it is these days, hotel deals are for the asking. Although many deals are bundled into packages that include airfare, that’s not the only way to save money.

In this New York Times, “On The Road” article, Peter Greenberg, the travel editor of “Today” recommends calling full-service hotels directly to find out what deals can be offered “right now.”

Greenberg recommends asking to speak to the general manager and then asking that person in a congenial way what incentives he or she can offer. Although the published room rate may not go down, the incentives could sweeten the deal in your favor.

According to Greenberg, hotels’ willingness to throw in perks will not last forever. The message is to strike a bargain while you can get one.

If you’re looking for holiday R& R without the expense of out of town travel, add luxury to your life by looking for a hotel deal in your own backyard. Book a night in a luxury hotel where you live. Call around to see who will throw in the best perk by using Greenberg’s method. Even though home may be just a few miles away, pretend. A night away is a night away.

The photo by drustar is of the front desk at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. Yes, there are package deals on the hotel’s website, but call to see what else you can get. It’s a start.

Halloween graveyard tours and a graveyard joke

by Jamie Rhein on

There are haunted prison tours and haunted hotels to sleep in. Here is another way to traipse through some haunts for Halloween.

Graveyards that can seem peaceful during the day are perfect settings at night for finding chills and thrills. If there is a graveyard in a town or city near you, I bet there’s a tour. Regardless of the season, graveyards offer a span of history that includes triumph and sorrow. Each one hold clues and mysteries to the people who have lived before us.

Here’s a Halloween graveyard joke you can say when you are going past a graveyard: “How many people do you think are dead in there?”

(**Continue for answer and a sampling of graveyard tours.)

  • In Alexandria, Virginia, walk along the six blocks on the Ghosts & Graveyard lantern tour with a costumed guide who transports visitors to the 1800s through tales of ghosts and unsolved mysteries. The tour ends in the graveyard. Although Halloween inspired, it goes through November.
  • There are several ghost and graveyard tours in Nova Scotia. Several are offered year-round.
  • Ghosts and Gravestone Trolley Tours of Boston, Massachusetts goes through November 2. This tour is hosted by a 17th century gravedigger who tells tales of Boston’s murderous past. Two of Boston’s oldest graveyards are included.
  • The same company that offers the tour in Boston has similar tours in Savanah, Georgia and St. Augustine, Florida. The Website has a link to haunted tales and while you browse ghost type sounds put you in the mood.
  • In Charleston, South Carolina, there is a tour company that specializes in creepy, scary places. The Charleston Ghost and Graveyard Walking Tours brings people through graveyards where tales of love, loss and prominent people can be found.
  • San Antonio, Texas has several ghost tour options. Many included graveyards, whether you walk or take a vehicle. These tours are also offered year-round.
  • Like San Antonio, San Diego has several ghost tour options. Several include graveyards. If you scroll down the page, you’ll see many links for other ghost and graveyard tours throughout the United States.
  • To amp up a graveyard ghost tour, here’s one that combines a stay in a haunted hotel with a ghost and graveyard tour. This version is in Columbus, Ohio. The Lofts, a boutique hotel that was once a warehouse in the early 1900s has a ghost called “Lady of the Lofts. There’s a package deal that includes a night in the hotel, breakfast and two tickets to “The Haunted Columbus’s Best of 20 Years Bus Tour.” If that tour is sold out the Columbus Landmark’s Foundation has other ghost tours and guided visits through Greenlawn Cemetery. Greenlawn Cemetery is where humorist James Thurber is buried. Perhaps he’d appreciate the graveyard joke.

** Answer to graveyard joke: “All of them.”

This joke gets people every time. Here is the joke in its entirety if you forgot the question.

If you are passing by a graveyard say, using a voice that evokes the idea that you are looking for a number: “How many people are dead in there?”

Answer: “All of them.”

Naked sunbathing creating a stir in San Diego, but still okay

by Jamie Rhein on

Just last week a judge ruled that sunbathing in the nude at San Onofre State Beach in San Diego is still allowed.

Earlier this summer there was a brouhaha because the California Department of Parks and Recreation wanted to ban nude sunbathing, even though beaching it in the buff has been allowed here for decades.

The parks and recreation department said that some sunbathers were being lewd near Trail 6. Sunbathers who just sun themselves and frolic in their birthday suits felt that the ban was uncalled for since most behave themselves.

According to this article at San Diego 6 News, the judge has ruled that the people who will be cited for being without their clothes are only those that someone in the public complains about–otherwise, sans clothes is fine–for now.

Considering that there are many public beaches from which to choose in California, it seems that if people don’t want to see people sunbathe in the nude, go somewhere else–or if you do go here, stay away from Trail 6.

Great White Shark. San Diego coast. Not good.

by Iva Skoch on

Until this morning, it had apparently been some 14 years since the last great white shark attack off the coast of San Diego.

This morning, a 66-year-old swimmer in triathlon training was killed by a shark about 150 yards off Solana Beach, near San Diego, LA Times reports. Other swimmers apparently saw him actually being lifted out of the water and drug under and whey went to his aid and dragged him onto the beach. He was pronounced dead almost immediately.

Shark expert Richard H. Rosentblatt from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that based on descriptions of the attack and the wounds inflicted “this almost certainly was a great white shark.” A large one, too. 15-17 feet.

San Diego beaches will probably be not-so-popular for a while.

San Luis Obispo: Possible place to visit or move to

by Jamie Rhein on

A friend and I were talking today about what we’re up to. She’s up to traveling to California during the end of April with her boyfriend to look for a place to live one day. They’re starting in San Diego and heading up the coast. They don’t know exactly where they want to live so I threw out San Luis Obispo as a possibility. I’ve never been there, but have heard great things. One of my oldest friends, who does lives there part time, loves the place. He’s always saying I should visit.

My friend who is currently seeking out her future asked me if there are nature related activities in the area. “Oh, I’m sure of it,” I said, then followed with, “I’ll check.” Now, I’ve checked.

San Luis Obispo does indeed have nature type things. It’s the beginning of the Big Sur coastline. The Parks and Recreation department looks extensive. Mountains for hiking are close by. Along with nature, there are history and the arts. The Mission San Luis Obispo de Toroso was founded in 1772. Hearst Castle is also near here. This weekend is the Music for Your Eyes Gala and Art Auction. These are just a few of the things to do that I found. I’d say San Luis Obispo is a fine contender for consideration. Definitely a place to visit. Possibly a place to settle in for awhile.

Any more thoughts of good places to live in California? I’ll let my friend know.