Tips on how to conquer jet-lag during the holiday rush

The holidays are tough enough on our bodies, so why can’t we get to where we need to go and not worry about having our body-clocks catch up to the new timezone?? Unfortunately jet-lag is unavoidable, but you can try a few simple tips to make it less of a lag on your trip:

1) A couple of days before you travel, try going to bed earlier if you are traveling East and later if you are traveling West.
2) Avoid eating a big meal before traveling. The lower air pressure in the cabin can mean you get bloated more easily. Avoid typically “gassy” foods for the same reason. Fellow passengers will thank you! :)
3) Drink lots of water during the flight. The dry air inside an aircraft causes dehydration.
4) Try to adjust your mealtimes and bedtime to the local clock immediately on arrival – even if you want pancakes when the chicken is being served.

Safe travels!

Latest Fuel Cost Report

There's an interesting gas price study out by the EPA that I read in the June 16th BusinessWeek. While it's getting more painful to fill the tank lately, the EPA says that the price we're paying now as compared to June 2007 isn't much more. The report compared the cost of driving round trip to destinations this year, vs last year at the same time. The results were very revealing - end result is that it doesn't cost much more to drive to your favorite vacation spot this year vs what it did last year.

From the report - how much more this year it costs vs last year roundtrip: (By Car/By SUV)

Los Angeles to Las Vegas: $15.04/$20.01
Denver to Grand Canyon: $42.51/$56.55
Chicago to Memphis: $29.75/$39.58
Atlanta to Orlando: $24.46/$32.54
Montreal to New York: $21.23/$28.24

A few cost saving travel tips

We've had a few people ask us how they can save some money when they're planning their summer vacations. Like a lot of people, the company car is an SUV, so we feel the pain when we fill it up and it makes us think differently about driving all around town. So when it comes to getting away from the hectic daily routine, is the ridiculous cost of gas going to change the way people vacation? Honestly - it probably will - for now. We think it's about vacationing smarter and getting the most value out of your hard earned dollar - you deserve that vacation! Some ideas that come to mind for cutting your travel costs:

• Vacation closer to home - the savings of time and hassles, not to mention not having an expensive airline ticket is a big factor in the overall travel expense.
• Find airline deals - they're out there - it just takes time to find them. One site that we like is http://www.farecast.com/ You can check to see when the rates are competitive and the likelihood of them going up and down in the future. It is interesting to see a quick aggregate of the fares and the predictions - it's saved us some money when we book flights at the right time.
• Delete cookies on your browser -Say you go online and purchase an airline ticket from Seattle to Kauai. The next time you visit that site, you could be quoted a higher rate than what's actually available because of your spending history. Tricky isn't it? :)
• Travel in the off-season - we're biased but we think all of our properties are great year round
• Plan ahead - you know what they say about the early bird...in this case the bird gets the best deals
• Clubs - the Entertainment book http://www.entertainment.com has some great rental car coupons that save a good amount of money -easily paying for the $30 book and then some on your first booking. AAA has great discounts for events and attractions. www.aaa.com
• Gas saver - plan your route and make sure to include the best gas price locations utilizing a site such as www.gasbuddy.com
• Consider alternate transportation - take a train to your destination -when was the last time you did that? That's an adventure in itself.
• Ask your friends to join you - half the cost but twice the fun

If you have any ideas, we'd love to hear about the ways you're maximizing your travel budget and enjoying all your vacation has to offer.