Half-price Haute Cuisine

Or,  'Ways to take a bite out of travel dining costs.'

A friend asked if we ever eat out on our travels as I’ve been so focused on ways we save travel dollars by eating ‘at home’ on the road.

Of course, we do eat out - just not every meal.   

Recently we've discovered such a great way to enjoy haute cuisine – for as much as half off, that we just had to tell you about it.

First a disclaimer: I’m not a ‘coupon clipper’ (a popular money saving activity in the United States in which food manufacturers offer coupons for discounts of varying amounts on grocery purchases).  It’s not that I don’t like the concept, it’s just that when I have clipped them, I put them somewhere so I won't forget them, then can’t find them when I head out to the store and by the time I do find them, they've expired.

But a number of social media sites have been tempting us with coupon deals that we've been unable to pass up. These types of coupons must be purchased within a designated time frame and then you print the coupon when you are ready to use it.

It was friend and fellow travel enthusiast, Tara, who suggested we start watching these sites for deals in cities that we might be visiting. So now we have coupon offers arriving in our inbox from Groupon, Living Social, Amazon, Juice in the City, and yes, even Travelzoo.  

We tested the ‘coupon-dining’ close to home at Purple, a wine bar and cafe in Kirkland. We had a great meal and glasses of wine for $15 - half the usual price.

It was Travelzoo that tempted our palate with a deal at “Comme Ca” fine dining French Restaurant in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, City Center, Las Vegas: (Comme Ca is like the French phrase, Comme Ci, Comme Ca,--  kohm see, kohm sa, -- ‘like this, like that’)

We purchased for $79 a coupon for two three-course dinners (including a $30 bottle of wine) – regular value, $140. And then hoped the restaurant would recognize the coupon when we tried to use it.



We shouldn’t have worried. . .not only did they recognize it, they had so many 'coupon diners', they’d printed a special menu for Travelzoo customers. (Our waiter said 1,100 coupons were purchased in the four hours the coupon was available).

The photos I've included in the post take you from the French onion soup (a meal in itself), to the Beef Bourguignon, and of course, we couldn't resist sampling each of the desserts. All of which paired nicely with the dry French rose wine the waiter recommended.

Another Money-Saver:
We have joined a frequent diner club, Lettuce Entertain You, that offers discounts and points for dollars spent at a number of restaurants throughout the country – from Washington, DC to Las Vegas and cities in between.  We've used it primarily when dining in Vegas and have already accumulated enough points to have a significant discount on a future meal. We've also used 'my birthday' coupon for a $15 discount last July at one of the participating restaurants.

So how about you?  Have any tips to share about ways to save dining dollars?

TP Thursday: A Poros Morning

It's been a year and still the memory of the stroll we took on Poros is as brilliant as was the morning we took it.

The day simply dazzled the senses. We wound our way from the harbor, climbing higher into neighborhoods on narrow pathways that looped between houses; the shutter's snap, the sound of  birdsong and an occasional dog’s bark were all that broke the silence.

This Greek island, about an hour from Piraeus (Athen's neighboring port city), is part of the Saronic Island chain near the Peloponnese coast.  You can see on the map the narrow strip of channel that separates Poros from Galatas.

We’ve spent a  lot of time this last year rememboring Poros: the people we met, the dogs that befriended us, the places we ate, the long walks we took, the hours spent watching boats and ferries come and go, and we speculate about the possibility of returning for a much longer stay. . .weeks. . . perhaps a month. . .perhaps more.  It could be done, we think.

There are places like that in the world that draw us back to them, the Greek islands of Crete, Symi and Poros among them. 

What about you?
To where do you dream of returning?

It is Travel Photo Thursday and to see more photos from around the world visit Budget Travelers Sandbox, creator of this project.

Going cruising with “Connie”

Now that we’ve finished the Southwest road trip, our suitcases are in the early stages of repacking for our upcoming fall adventure . . .

Ambles through Andalucia

We’ll fly from Seattle to Spain’s interior, beginning our trip in Sevilla, departure gate to the New World a half dozen centuries ago - the perfect place to delve into both culture and history. After a few days poking around the city,we’ll hop a train out into Seville province's countryside to spend a few days in Osuna, population 18,000. Then we head south to see the mark of 20th Century tourism and the Costa del Sol.  In the port town of Malaga we’ll meet friends, pick up a rental car and head out for the trendy, touristy Marbella on Spain’s Costa del Sol. 

A week later a train will take us north from Andalucia to Catalunya, where we will have a couple of days to explore Barcelona.  We’ve been here before, but always on a cruise ship stop that allowed only a few hours exploration, this time we’ll have plenty of time to ramble through its Barri Gotic and Las Ramblas and to ponder Gaude's architectural handiwork before we meet:

‘Connie’. . .

. . .  the cruise ship that will be our floating home for the two weeks it will take to reach the United States.
 

We are already thinking of the ship as ‘Connie’, the nickname given her by her former passengers/admirers. Formally, she’s Celebrity Cruise Lines’ Constellation, a 965-foot long (think 2.5 football fields) luxury liner.

Our 13-night cruise will take us from Barcelona, Spain to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; with stops in Alicante and Malaga, Spain; then after passing through The Pillars of Hercules, we’ll be off to Funchal, Madeira, and Tenerife, in the Canary Islands followed by seven ‘sea days’ as we  cross the southern Atlantic.

  

We’re sold on repositioning cruises for a number of reasons: they are a good travel value, and they provide a mix of ports of call and plenty of ‘sea days’ to kick back, relax and enjoy all the ship has to offer.

We had such a great first time experience with Celebrity on their Solstice transatlantic crossing last spring going to Barcelona, that our expectations for Connie are high.  As we did on the Solstice cruise we will tell you about ship board life and introduce you to folks we meet along the way.

Note:  We’ve listed a number of agencies and websites that we’ve used to nab some incredibly good cruise fares on our TravelnWrite Deal Finder page.  It isn't too early to think about spring repositioning cruises. Some, like the transatlantic crossings, can take a couple weeks.  Others, like one we took from Vancouver, B.C. to Seattle, was a one-night 'crossing' and made for a fun Pacific Northwest getaway.

Back to Spain and our cruise: Do you have recommendations for us?  Restaurants? Flamenco shows? Tapas bars?  Send your tips by email or leave a comment.  And what about ‘Connie’ – are you a member of her fan club?  I'll compile your responses in a future post.

TravelnWrite: "Pack a Book" for the Road



Scottsdale - (c) Jackie Smith, 2011

While the High Plains Drifters were seeking sun in America's Southwest, we also were enjoying Spain. . .thanks to the books we were reading - one a novel and one a narrative - both set in our next destination.

Pre-trip 'research' is half the fun of our journeys.  And our bags, no matter how small, will never leave home without a book or two tucked inside. Yes, the printed-on-paper-kind of book that whisks us into the history of the place or that is set in a place we may be visiting one day. Really it doesn't matter if its about a place we are visiting, might visit, may-never-visit. Books provide us a window on the world.

We are armchair travelers and armchair shoppers as well.  Nothing like Amazon or Book Depository web sites to search for new reads. But often those are a game of chance: sometimes we find something and other times not - just like visiting the local bookstores.  How often have I lamented, "If only there was a place that had all those books in one spot so I could spend my time choosing between them and not searching for them."

And then a few weeks ago while reading a favorite blog of mine, A Traveler's Library I was introduced to a virtual travel book lover's paradise, Packabook.com . Created by London-based Suzi Butcher, this site groups books by country: novels, memoirs, and guidebooks. Countries range from Afghanistan to Vietnam; Bosnia to Brazil, Thailand to Turkey and dozens of others in between.

Packabook also has a great on-line book club, One Country One Book.  Each month a country and a book are featured.  The first week the novel is introduced, the second week the country is the focus, the third week offers travel ideas and the month wraps up with reviews and ideas for the next destination.  This month's book/locale is, "The Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Peel Pie Society." It's free and fun - I highly recommend signing up.

Me on "Zoba's' Beach - Joel Smith photo

Packabook has an accompanying blog of the same name.  And I can't tell you how much fun it was to add our reading recommendations after Suzi invited TravelnWrite to be guest bloggers.  Read our guest post to see where we followed Zorba and other novel characters on Crete.

TP Thursday: The Arizona Oracle

We are in America’s Southwest this week and it seemed fitting to highlight the stark beauty that is found in this arid region of the country.

We were near Pinnacle Peak, to the north of Scottsdale and exploring the Four Seasons Resort . . .as we walked from the Residence Club parking lot to the hotel, this was what we saw between two of the casitas.  It was as if the rock was addressing the two saguaro cactus . . . we could only imagine the stories the rock could tell.

For other travel photos, check out Budget Travelers Sandbox.

High Plains Drifters find an Oasis

There are certain clichés that travel editors preach against writers using. One of them is “Oasis” as in, ‘After miles of dry desert, we happened upon an oasis.’

So with all due respect to editors everywhere, I need to tell you that we happened upon a most memorable ‘oasis’  Saturday on our road trip between Las Vegas and Scottsdale. 

We had taken Highway 40, a route that led us east through northern Arizona’s high desert along the Coconino Plateau; a route punctuated with road signs marking our climb in elevation to beyond the the 5,000+ foot level.

Our original plan was to have lunch in Prescott, the bustling town 95-miles north of Phoenix, but by noon we were still miles from there. . . however, we were nearing a turn-off to Ash Fork.

Kingman to Phoenix

Ash Fork, with a population in 2007 of 2,300, didn’t make it on this map, but is near Seligman. It was Ash Fork, we decided, we’d have lunch. As we drove the two-lane street toward what we thought was town center a welcome sign told us this place was  “The flagstone capital of the world”. The claim was illustrated in all types of construction -- homes, planters. . .there was flagstone everywhere.

What we didn’t see was any sign of was a commercial center, that is until the Oasis appeared. . .the Oasis Lounge, to be exact.
As we got out of our car, two big black guard dogs barked out a welcome from their viewing stand deck above the red truck in the photo. (Click to enlarge the photo if you want to see the canine crew).

Three people were sipping beers at the small bar to the left of the entry and a shuffle board table and pool table served as the tavern’s centerpieces.

“You folks looking for food?” called out the leather-jacket-clad bartender. He gestured to the back room and said, “The food’s back there.”

We were the only ones in the ‘cafe’ section so we selected one of the six booths that ringed its perimeter. Our booth provided a view of a Van Gogh reproduction on the opposite wall, as well as a washer and dryer sitting next to two center tables in the cafe, and a hand truck propped against another booth. Near the kitchen's swinging doors, a booth was set up with computers – we assumed it was the business office -- and near it were a couple broken chairs and some kids toys.

Okay, I have to be honest – I was ready to leave, but Joel reminded me we travel for ‘the experiences’ and this had promise of an experience.

Our waitress was also the cook.  We had a selection of a half dozen Mexican dishes from which to choose from on the 'lunch specials'.  Joel got the combination plate; I ordered two chicken tacos.  Although they came out as beef tacos, our  food was steaming hot. We were too early for the rice to be  quite ready but our cook/waitress had us taste it anyway –  (it was good).  In fact all the food was good, with a home-made good taste to it.

While we waited for the food we chatted with the bartender who told us the place had once been a car repair garage (note the front door in the photo – it was the car bay entry once). 

The town, he told us,  had once been a railroad stop and is right off the old Route 66. 

The train comes by these days - it no longer stops.  A section of old Route 66 is a scenic bypass between Kingman and Ash Fork. 

As we drove out of town we noted two other more traditional diner-type eateries down the road a bit, but our stop at the Oasis Lounge at 346 W.Park Ave., Ash Fork, AZ 86320, phone 928-637-2650 proved those editors wrong: you can find an oasis in the desert!.

Ouch! This one “Hertz”

Or the tale of our tiny silver ‘limo’.


The old adage ‘the devil’s in the details’ comes to mind as I tell the  latest segment in the High Plains Drifters travels. Those details are important when it comes to travel. . .and this time we slipped up and missed one tiny detail.   A costly little one, at that.

Rental cars are not cheap commodities these days no matter how good a deal you get. There are the usual add-ons like city, county, state taxes to which are added  “concession recovery  fees, facility fees and vehicle license cost recovery fees'” and, in the case of Hertz, the second driver (me) fee of $12 a day which we passed on. 

. . .ah, yes, then there is that drop off fee if you don’t return the car to the same place you picked it up.

That’s the  one  that nailed us.  We thought we’d confirmed we were picking up in Vegas and dropping off in Phoenix but somehow missed that detail.  A costly error indeed.

The Hertz counter agent quickly recalculated our rental and without blinking an eye our six day Nissan Versa  ‘economy’ car  (meaning ‘tiny’ not ‘cheap’) skyrocketed from the $285 to $604.

So with our accommodations pre-paid in Phoenix and our plane tickets home from there, there weren’t many options before us.  (Yes, we considered turning it in immediately upon arrival in Phoenix and renting a car there but that created a one-day rental fee of $245, pretty much defeating the purpose of salvaging some of the cost).

So we set off in what I am calling our ‘tiny silver limo’’ on a great route to Phoenix. More on that in our next post. For now, if you have a trip planned, go check your documents – one more time.

Free and Easy (Art) in Las Vegas

By Wednesday it was clear this would not be the trip we envisioned when we left the dark, damp Pacific Northwest last weekend.  The same clouds we thought we’d left behind were covering this sun-seeker paradise, rain was  falling, and that, coupled with wind blew any plans for poolside basking  out the window. 
So what to do?

Here’s our Strip Tip for rainy day entertainment:  A Do It Yourself Art Tour that costs nothing (unless of course you can’t resist buying a piece to take home).
 
First stop:  Bellagio Resort Casino lobby where internationally-known-glass-artist-Pacific-Northwest-son Dale Chihuly’s flower sculpture , a 2,100 square foot chandelier fills the hotel lobby ceiling. There are 1,600 individual hand blown glass pieces (each weighing about 50 pounds.) that make up the piece inspired by Italy’s Lake Como and created at the Venini Factory in Venice.

Walk through the lobby to get to the the seasonal garden displays at the  Bellagio’s Conservatory. Designers have again created a seasonal whimsical setting that shouldn’t be missed.  This fall’s display includes a pumpkin made of 2,000 fresh carnation blooms and red apples made of red rose buds. And a framed art piece (pictured) made of flowers and greens.

Walk through the Bellagio casino to the Cirque du Soleil “O” Theatre Lobby and  gallery that showcases the figurative sculptures of Richard Macdonald. His passion for dance is captured in the dancers, mimes and performers highlighted in his pieces.   Watch a video of dancers and the artist capturing their moves as a piece is created.  No admission cost, art is for sale.

Macdonald is currently working on a massive piece – a tribute to the founder of The Royal Ballet that will be installed next year in London’s Hyde Park.

It will cost to tour  Bellagio’s Gallery of Fine Art (admission $15/adult) but in the current display (through January 2012) you’ll see pieces from Monet to Hockney that compare and contrast expressionism in landscape art.



A new Bellagio gallery that opened within the last year– Jeff Mitchum Galleries –is next door to the Fine Art Gallery in a space once occupied by the fine art gallery shop. Walls are filled with Mitchum’s stunning light and landscape photography. Open daily at 10 a.m. Free admission, art is for sale.
Staff in each gallery were eager to talk about their artist and his work. At the Mitchum gallery art consultant, Jerry Olivarez, who was staffing  the gallery desk, was a great source of information about  the Las Vegas visual arts community.

One of our ‘fun finds’ this trip was on the second floor of City Center’s Cosmopolitan Hotel, just south of Bellagio.  As its name, Art-o-mat, implies  it is a vending machine for art. It is one of six they have in this property – reportedly the only place in Nevada you will currently find them. They are old cigarette vending machines that have been recycled into hip, retro style art vendors.  Insert $5, choose an artist and out comes a piece of art boxed and wrapped inside cellophane.