So I Was Just Thinking

Have you heard of Groupon ? When I first heard of it, my friend ABW was trying to use hers up before moving back to Texas. I was unsure about them. Now, I know that they are a great way to go on vacation. If you haven't used them before, they are basically deals that give you about 50% off meals, lodging, services, entertainment. When you sign up for Groupon notifications, you will get a daily email letting know about the latest deal. Each offer is only available for a short time and often for only a limited number of deals. When you see a deal that sounds interesting, you go to the main site and read the "fine print". This is VERY important. I will explain more about this later. You will then purchase a voucher for the meal, hotel, or service. This will stay active in your account until you redeem it. For example, if you buy a $20 voucher for frozen yogurt for $10, you can redeem it for $20 until the expiration date. (Watch out for those.) If the expiration date passe...

Passport - Check Travel Guides - Check Language CDs - Check Plane Reservations - Check Hotel Reservations - Check, Check Tranportation Arrangements - Check, Check, AND Check Great Travel Companion - SUPER CHECK! Things left to do: Finish working summer school Buy travel clothes Buy comfy shoes Look up Trondheim activities Clean house I have been chatting with Miruspeg via email. Planning, deciding, collaborating. Do you want to go by bus? Is this hotel okay? What do you think about staying this long here and there? Doesn't the train sound like fun? Oooh! Check this out! If you were inside my head, you would have to be a ninja to avoid the flying thoughts. Thank goodness for the internet. In the past, a person would have to rely on a travel agency, word of mouth and travel guides from the book store in order to plan a great trip. Where would we be without Google Maps , Expedia , Google Search and Google Translator ? This vacation started out almost three years ago as a wish, a drea...

My parents loved the family road trip. Since my father was in the military, he would have 30 days off a year for vacation. He always waited until summer to use them. The trips always started with Dad getting out the old Rand McNally, a Best Western Guide and a pad of paper. (These were the days before Mapquest.) He would then map out our route correlating travel times with Best Western Motel locations. Dad knew he would be doing most of the driving while mom read the map, and my brother and I sat in the back of the metallic blue Chevy Impala station wagon continually saying, "I'm not touching yoouuuuuu." It's a wonder dad never pulled the car over. Lunches at roadside parks consisted of foods that would survive long times out of the refrigerator. Mom found something called "deviled ham" and another product known as "Cheez Whiz." She would use these together to fashion a ham and cheese sandwich with mustard on the white bread that stuck to the roof ...