Vacation Day 1 San Francisco

San Francisco airport (SFO) is really a very nice airport. We landed at 5:30 something pm and is 2 hours behind my normal Central time zone. Its an easy adjustment to make when you gain hours.
 My husband thought he would go get our rental car while we waited for our luggage. Let me tell you it was very slow! But its a big airport. Good thing he waited. So after you get your luggage you have to go down an escalator into a parking garage and then...no signs anymore for rental car pick-up!!! Lucky a guy was there that was familiar with the airport was going the same way we were. Other wise we may still be lost looking for the rental car counter.
 Here's what we had to do from the garage. go up the elevator to the top floor, cross a hallway, up another escalator, get on a train!, all the way to the end of the line. then another escalator. So then my husband gets in the roped off area to start the line and some guy rudely cuts me off to get behind my husband. As if he was going to be first in front of me. This really made me mad so I cut his wife off...so there! Take that! then I cut back in front of the rude Jerk and joined my husband. I bet hes so glad that worked for him!!
 We rented a mini-van. After having one for years and trading ours in for a AWD SUV I developed a hate for mini vans as a mommy grocery kid hauler. Now my kids are grown and 1 has her own car I don't need the space and its like an upgrade to a cool car. NO offense mini van drivers.
 For this vacation the mini van was really nice to have. It gave us all the space we needed for our luggage the 3 teenagers and us parents.
 So after getting the rental counter taken care of, and the Jerk left behind we headed to another parking garage and the guy at the podium told us to have a seat on the bench and they will drive the van around to us. Neat!! I like that service! 30 seconds later he came over and said..Its parked over there you can go get it and gave us the keys. Well! There goes my excellent service I thought I had.
 We loaded our luggage and noticed a guy inspecting his rental for damage before he got in. Great idea! I remembered that you should do this so you do not get blamed and charged with repairs. So I walked around the van and its good I don't notice anything.


credit photo cargurus.com

 So off we go. Our Hotel is supposed to be a short drive away according to my cellphone directions. The airport is unbelievably huge!!! The rental car garage is North of the airport and our Hotel is south of it. So we drove by the entire thing. The highway is right there too and I can see the traffic is heavy even at 6:30 pm.
 Our Hotel is the Embassy Suites in Burlingame. Kind of a suburb town to San Fran. Its located right on the water and has a running path right there too! Checking in went rather smooth, but our room was not ready. at 6:30 something PM?  The reception Woman said they have a Managers reception every night and we were welcome to use that while she found us a room.
 The reception was really great and the best I have ever experience in a hotel. They had a nice Bar with mixed drinks, beer, and wine, soda and juice machines that were self-serve and a snack bar with a zesty Cajun snack mix (I love Cajun!!) and they had chops, great salsa and nacho cheese. We were hungry so we kind of pigged out...we didnt have dinner yet and we had planned on getting a pizza delivered.
 About 20 minutes later, the front desk called my cell to tell me my room was ready. YES!! We are all kind of tired and cranky form the long day flying and sitting in airports. They sent us to the 8th floor a corner family suite. It has a partial Bay view which is great.
 When I walked in the room the patio door was open to the balcony! It kind of was scary because I didn't know if someone was in the room! The curtain was blowing around, so I went to go shut it and I couldn't! Okay..I tried again harder nearly pulling a muscle in my shoulder! That thing was awful!!!
 The balcony was tiny and only 1 person could stand on it, it was that small. The room though was great. When you first walk in there is a sofa and dining table with a TV. A small hallway with a mini fridge and sink, with a coffee maker setup. There is a door to separate the bedroom. Then the Bedroom has a bathroom with a full tub/shower. the the room had 2 full sized beds...not Queen but skinny full beds barely bigger than a twin! OH this will be fun trying to sleep in with 2 adults!!!
 Lucky for me a brought Melatonin! I started taking it help me sleep and this really worked this night.

 Tomorrow is a Sunday!!! There is a Divas race in the area so the roads out of the hotel are closed off and we are happy with that so we can sleep in a bit.
 Next chapter Day2..San Francisco, a pleasant surprise, how I lost $7, and another wonderful addition to our sightseeing plans!!!! This addition turned out to be a wonderful highlight of our trip. Also with many pictures!!!!

Family semi-road trip to California and Nevada

Another vacation complete. I plan for so long and then poof its done and then I am left with.... beautiful memories.
 Let me tell you a bit about our family. We live in a small town just outside of Green Bay Wisconsin. Me, my husband of 20 years, and our 3 daughters. 1 in college, and 2 in high school. 
 I am a small business owner of a travel agency called FantaSea Travel. I book mostly cruises and Caribbean vacations. My Husband is in the paint manufacturing business and travels a lot to many of his plants all over the US. My 3 daughters almost all grown up it seems are for most part good sisters and get along pretty well..

 So, the plan was to fly to San Francisco and then drive to Reno, and the to Yosemite and Sequoia National Forests.

 To begin let me start with our planning. My husband flies a lot for business and earned enough frequent flyer miles on Delta to score us 3 tickets!! I only had to pay for 2 more, as we have 5 in our Family. 
 The trick was trying to get 2 reservations to be the same and getting seat assignments together. I used two computers at the same time to score the same flights so I could compare the itinerary side by side.
 Being a travel agent I researched fares for hotels on all of my vendors and found one where I do not have to put money down at all. This was to my advantage because a month later the prices all dropped and I cancelled them all and rebooked them saving me over $600!!! I keep a close eye on prices, as a penny saved is a penny earned. I keep that philosophy with my travel clients as well. If I save them money and give great service I hope they will be loyal back to me and book with me again. It does seem to work as I have several clients that only book with me. 
Anyway..
 Planning hotels in many locations and what we want to see and how much time we need for each place is a bit stressful. The entire area has so much to see and we could in reality spend a few more days to see things we did miss and are on the bucket list.
 Our bucket list is not written on paper but in my head. Some day I will write it down. 
 So months and months of planning all came down to 6-4-16 at 0830 am when we were all seated on the Delta Flight from Green Bay to Detroit, then to San Francisco..

As I write this a huge storm is brewing!! and I hear major thunder. 
 check back in real soon for he continuation of my Family travels!!!

MY vacation reviews and travel tips and ideas: I booked a cruise........Now what?

MY vacation reviews and travel tips and ideas: I booked a cruise........Now what?: Once I have booked a cruise for myself it begins a whole new adventure in planning and dreaming!! Many people often put the thoughts on the...

I booked a cruise........Now what?

Once I have booked a cruise for myself it begins a whole new adventure in planning and dreaming!! Many people often put the thoughts on the back-burner about their vacation. I don't think I could do that if I tried!!

 Booking a cruise is just a tiny part of your vacation plans! There is so much more to do to make sure you have a smooth sailing process until you are checked-in and on-board the ship.

 Having a great Travel Agent (uhhh-hummm) like myself will guide you through the process of making sure first of all your booking is accurate. I have heard many horror stories of people booking themselves on a cruise an not realizing how important some of the steps are to being accurate and following U.S. Customs laws and TSA guidelines. IF any part of their rules are not followed you could be left at the port as the ship sails away without you and all your money. They do not give refunds because you booked with wrong or erroneous information. Or one of the other reasons you could be denied boarding.

 The cruise lines all have a website that you use to do an early online check-in. Just like the airlines, except this one you do as soon as you book as possible(except Disney-you can not do the check-in until final payment).

 Here are some of the most popular links:

www.royalcaribbean.com/onlinecheckin/

https://secure.celebritycruises.com/checkin/

https://secure.carnival.com/BookedGuest/

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/

https://www.ncl.com/

http://www.princess.com/

Copy and paste to your Browser. If you do not have an account already go ahead and create one. 

Then you will go to the booked guest or Manage tabs.

 The system will walk you through the check -in process. Make sure all data is accurate.

   Once that is done you can officially begin the countdown. 

     Now what can you think about and plan for?

   Start thinking about what you want o see on your vacation. There are hundreds of shore excursion possibilities 

There are many different companies to compare along with the cruise line offerings. 

 Airfare is also a very tricky and sometimes complicated process. When do you buy, what is the best price, do they 

charge baggage fees. There is TSA and Federal Government rules to follow. Some websites I see say the best time to 

book is 45 days out for best price. I kind of disagree. I start shopping 6 months out. Why? Airlines have eliminated many 

flights that often flew almost empty. Now flights are flying full or oversold. Getting the flight times you want and least

amount of connections and shortest flying time is harder to get if you wait too long. 

 I always price compare prices. Airlines do not pay Travel agent's commission. I do not charge my clients a booking fee,

 so I often advise my clients to book their own airfare. I do book for them if they like though, only if they are getting a

vacation package from me.  I do however, look for prices for them. If I see something good I will let them know.

Start or join a Facebook group. This will connect you with fellow cruisers on your ship for fun and information sharing before

you cruise. My groups have a private page and are really fun.  

Ok. So we covered the fact we need to do our online check-in, think about shore excursions and watch for airline prices.

I should back up a little. Ports. Since you are already booked you chose your ports based on maybe price, or specific things

 you wanted to see on each island or port. Shore excursions will cover all the major attractions in each port but there are

 hidden gems you may have to uncover on your own. For example Irie Blue Hole in Ocho Rios Jamaica. They do not

offer an excursion here, you have to get a taxi or private excursion company to take you. Its not touristy at all but is a 

gorgeous place.

Lets talk about some more fun things you can plan pre cruise....

Plan door decorations for your cabin door. A small percentage of people decorate their door. But they are fun to see. I usually put a dry erase marker board on my door and some nautical theme cutouts. Some people get very creative. One great reason other than its fun and cute is that you will recognize your door easily everytime!!!

In one of my future blogs I am going to go over what to bring in your cabin and some hints and tips to make your packing a success. 

Cruise planning can be incredibly fun and build your anticipation for the cruise itself. With some prep work and research you will be able to have a much more relaxed and stress free cruise or land vacation. 

come back again soon for more chapters on cruising tips and hints. My future topics will include, packing tips and what to bring on your cruise you never would have thought of; ship layouts and areas of the ships that are less crowded;all about cruise ports do's and don'ts, and so much more. So stay tuned!!!