More Airline Fees

Today Airtran has followed the lead of other airlines in charging a fee for the first bag checked. They followed suite with Delta who just started last week and United, US Airways, American, Spirit and Allegiant who started last summer. Airtran officials claimed it needed all the revenue it could get after a rough summer. Just because there's been some relief with current oil prices doesn't mean you'll see ticket prices drop. Many airlines have been operating at a deficit to remain competitive while we have experienced the highest fuel prices in history.

La Tomatina-The Spanish Tomato Fight

During this summer in Milan, Italy a huge pillow fight broke out and was captured on video. It made the rounds of youtube and facebook and others. Now it's showing up in television advertisements. While watching, the pilot told me about a tomato fight that takes place in Spain every year. Naturally, I had to find out more. Here's what I found: In the Spanish town of Bunol in the Valencia region of Spain, there is an annual tomato fight where 240,000 pounds of tomatoes are thrown at festival goers. This festival is held on the last Wednesday of August and called La Tomatina. Here's a video from youtube that shows the fight from 2006 and shares the colorful history.

Don't Buy Gas From the Rental Car Company

On our last trip to the Eastern Seaboard in early October, we rented a car. We got outstanding service from Avis. In fact, we liked the car so much we're considering buying one when we make our next vehicle purchase. The pilot took care of all the arrangements. The friendly person behind the counter asked him about taking care of his gas so he wouldn't be so inconvenienced when he returns. The pilot inquired about gas and thought he was getting a great deal. This was when gas was the highest EVER. Georgia had some of the highest prices in the country at the time, so the gas price he got looked very good. Well, as we drove along we were totally shocked at the low gas prices. Georgia has taxed gas so highly that it remains fairly high compared to other states. Lesson learned-no more gas from the rental car company.

Virginia Beach Can Kiss My A@@

From the title you can figure out the pilot and family did not have a good experience in Virginia Beach. Due to our stand-by status with the airlines, we travel off peak which makes good economic sense (although it does have its downside). Since the Atlantic coastal beaches have their peak from Memorial Day to Labor Day, it seemed like the shoulder season during the first week of October would be ideal. The weather still remains fairly nice in that area during the time of year and this was no exception. Well in Virginia Beach they damn near rolled up the boardwalk. First, we had to walk and walk to find a restaurant that wouldn't call for selling any organs in exchange for lunch. While we were walking along, rather than keep going back and forth to the boardwalk to each restaurant, we walked along the bike path to the side. Some rude person on a bike nearly hit us and loudly pointed out that the boardwalk was "over there." We finally did find a little local owned restaurant. There were still a few people there on the covered patio eating and drinking beer. We didn't even sit down when the waitress nearly broke a marathon record to tell us they were closed. We questioned it since it was only 12:30. She nastily told us that they closed at 1:00. We pointed out that was still 25 minutes away. She then stated in her most exasperated voice, "Well it's off season." So we again wandered away only to find Quiznos where we spent $25 on a wrap, a half-sandwich, whole sandwich and one bag of chips.

Rest assured that we will never intentionally go back to Virginia Beach. We went for a long weekend trip to the Outer Banks and Norfolk which more than made up for the rudeness and overpriced Beach in Virginia. More on that later.

Be Prepared

The Scouts had it right to make this their motto. The other day when I was merging from one interstate to the other my tire blew. Everything was okay-my husband was home to change the tire and take care of business (my hero!). That added about another 45 minutes to a day filled with activity. I had to go potty, but figured I would be home shortly. Needless to say, once the tire was changed and we were back on the road, the first order of business was to find a bathroom. The moral of the story is that whenever you have a chance to stop then stop. You never know what's in store for you--a traffic jam, a tire blow out, etc.

Your Travel Profile

This little widget will help you find your travel profile. It gives you a series of pictures and you pick the picture that best fits for the question they are asking. I found it to be quite accurate. So take a look and find out what your travel profile. Mine was Easy Rider. Have fun!

Kentucky Wines

As I was driving through Kentucky recently, I kept seeing signs for wineries. It was a pretty regular occurrence. It got me to wondering if there were really that many wineries or just a way to draw some tourism, so I did a little research when I got back home. Kentucky is home to 34 wineries. Who knew! When you think of wineries in America, Kentucky doesn't ever come to mind. Due to time limitations, we weren't able to check any of them out personally. For more information, check it out here. www.kentuckywine.com.