Vacation planning
Posted in Vacation by Christina on May 12th, 2008
Alright, it’s that time of the year where we need to start planning our vacation. Last year because of the new house, we didn’t want to go anywhere far or extravagant to keep the costs down.
This year however, I think we’ll finally venture out to the west coast.
I totally suck at trying to find the best deals, I always end up just purchasing the entire package from expedia or travelocity. I don’t really know how people compare between what you get on these sites or the actual hotel website, etc. I guess after finally picking a location, everything starts to look the same including the price.
So the question is should we try to stay in a boutique hotel or a corporate hotel in San Diego? And what location should we be staying in?? And do we want to do all the touristy stuff like the Zoo or Seaworld? I know we should since it’s supposed to be awesome. But I’d also like to venture off and do something offbeat. Not sure what though?
Before I want to book anything though, I need to pay off this month’s credit card bill. It’s higher than normal but that’s because it included the new office furniture, car maintenance, and other random big purchases. I think we blew the tax rebate payment before we even received it.
san diego is a lot of fun! you’ll love it there. we stayed at the hotel solamar for our honeymoon (it’s a kimpton hotel. join the loyalty program online at kimptonintouch.com beforehand and you’ll get a nice little welcome amenity). it’s in the gaslamp district, which is downtown where there are a lot of bars and restaurants within walking distance. there are a bunch of other hotels in that area too. it made picking a place for dinner each night really easy. i can point out some good restaurants we ate at.
the zoo is amazing. you can find cheaper tickets online too. i can pull links for you if you want. torrey pines state park up the highway in la jolla is beautiful if you like hiking. balboa park has gorgeous architecture and lots of gardens & museums. we ran out of time to see coronado island, but you’re supposed to have amazing views of the pacific.
you can see pics from our trip here. http://el-twirpo.com/gallery/2007sandiego
let me know if you have any questions. we had an awesome time!
May 12th, 2008 at 2:01 pm #
off topic question: how did your mypublisher books turn out? my wedding photog is charging an arm and a leg to design and print a book for us, but i’m thinking of making separate books for parents/grandparents to cut down costs. do you get a discount for each additional book you order? what did you think about the layouts?
May 12th, 2008 at 2:04 pm #
MyPublisher will work just fine for family. The printing quality was great. They did screw up once and didn’t print out the last page, but I got full credit for it. My opinion is that it would only look good if you’re good with photoshop.
I’d like to someday get a real album from our photographer, but it’s just so dang expensive. An alternative to that is http://www.candid2000.com/wedding_album_tuscany.asp
May 12th, 2008 at 2:08 pm #
Also, mypublisher always have specials for 50% off during major holidays. I don’t really know about any other specials, but I’m sure you can find something on the website.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:09 pm #
How much do you value your own time Terri? Christina spent hours and hours and hours doing the books so it’s a good thing that she enjoyed it. (I think.) I bet she probably spent 20 hours designing the darn thing, which means it may be worth it to pay someone else to do it if you don’t have the stomach for it.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:39 pm #
the prices i was seeing from my photog was for a 10×10 book with 60 pages runs $759. each additional print would be half that. so for 3 extra books (2 sets of parents, 1 set grandparents) we’d be paying more than $1000. i don’t know. if i can design my own books (and i do enjoy doing that), it might be worth it to save the extra $$.
i’m not in a huge hurry either. 7 months till christmas right? :o)
May 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pm #