Some thoughts about our trip.

We love going to the States.  They are such a patriotic bunch, flying the American flag everywhere. They truly believe their country is the best and I admire them for that.  Only once did someone mention how bad Obama is and as I said to him, "who would you prefer him or Donald Trump, running the country?"

He muttered something and as I then said, I was from Canada, and honestly we are no better off with the bunch of "misfits" we have running to be the next Prime Minister!

As many of you know, we are British born and as we came to Canada when we were in our 20's, we still have our British accents (dh and I;) the kids though sound as Canadian as the next person.  It totally confuses everyone and for some reason American's love hearing us talk?

Anyhow, we have got our response down pat now when people ask where we come from:

"We are British born, but live in Canada."

I must admit I think I blushed bright red from head to toe though one day, as I was talking to a cashier when I noticed another lady standing next to me, just looking at me.  I thought I was holding up things, and of course I apologized......I am Canadian after all...LOL  We apologize for everything, whether it's our fault or not.  Anyway she said no she was enjoying listening to me talk, and then turned around and told her friend to come and listen to me talk.  At that point I just clammed up, as I couldn't think of a thing to say.  

I honestly don't think about my accent and it surprises me when people notice I speak differently, as I never hear it.

The majority of the people are so well mannered; at least with us.  I guess it helps that we always say please and thank you, and if a job is well done I will let people know.  Whenever I talked to the ladies who took care of our hotel room, I always said thank you for a job well done.  I did find though that some people were just plain rude with people especially in the fast food places.

We were in one place and the daughter who was my age or older and her mother, were just plain bloody rude to the girl behind the counter.  Now granted she was as slow as molasses, but even so, don't be rude and disrespectful.  

I finally said to the mother and daughter, "you both seem to be having a bad day?"

Now I am not sure if it was my accent or someone spoke to them, but they both stood there with their mouth's open!!!  I don't remember what they said, but their attitude didn't change with the poor server.....LOL

My only gripe........I wish the exchange rate had been better, as I couldn't/wouldn't/didn't spend anywhere near as much as I normally do when do there.  The one thing we did find cheaper was the gas/petrol; they have super cheap prices for gas and we paid as low as $2.26 USD per gallon.

I look forward to our next visit to the States.  

Just shows you they let anyone into the States!!!

Yep they let us in!!  Mind you the border guy was more interested what was in our cooler (picnic box) than anything else!!  Maybe he had forgotten his lunch and figured he could confiscate ours?  All it was, was store bought salad and yogurt.

Then we were charged $5 for crossing the bridge?  Never understood that.

We crossed over at Windsor into Detroit.  If you have never been to the States before crossing there is an eye opener especially if you're travelling on the I75 as it takes you through a rough looking part of Detroit and the highway is in desperate need of repair.  Once out of Detroit things take a turn for the better and as it was a Saturday the roads weren't that busy.  If you drive in Canada driving in the States is a doddle and vice versa.

We only drove 8 to 9 hours and ended up in Florence, Kentucky.  We were here by just aback of 4pm, so what should we do I wondered?  Heck, lets go shopping!!!  Hobby Lobby was my first port of call. Only bought a magazine with my 40% off coupon and a yard of material that I wanted.

Supper was at this restaurant:

The place was heaving; I mean it was heaving, even we had to wait 15 minutes.  We had planned on going to the Olive Garden but the line ups were even worse there and we were tired.

Dh had this:

I had their version of a Cobb Salad; wouldn't have it again and sorry about the quality of photo, the place was very dark.  That is advocado on the top of the salad.

Dh had a beer with his meal, I had water.  Cost $35 with tip, which is the cost of an average meal in Canada.  Gas/petrol is a heck of a lot cheaper here at $3.55 USD per gallon.

The hotel we stayed at I'll post about at a later date as I will be emailing the manager and want to see what the outcome of his response is before I post about it.  Lets just say I don't have a lot of good things to say, and you will never believe why!!

When we get to our cabin I don't have internet access, so unless I can pick up someone else's Wi-Fi I won't be posting.  I have prepared posts though while we away and do hope to check in where free Wi-Fi is available.

Thinking of where to go on vacation in 2009.......

When January rolls around, me and dh's thoughts turn to where should we go on vacation this year?

This will be the fourth year in a row we have been on vacation, prior to that we rarely went on vacation. I remember we took the kids to Myrtle Beach when they were in their mid teens. However other than that we never really went on vacation. It was never a priority and we couldn't really afford it.

When the kids left home, we decided to make it more of a priority and although we still don't have a lot of money, with doing a couple of things we make sure we get away.

Here are a few things that save us money when going on vacation.

1. We prefer to stay in a condo or a house, as that way we can come and go as we please. I tend to get up early, so like to go and read or go on the Internet, which is a lot easier to do in a condo/house than a hotel room.

2. With staying a house/condo we eat breakfast in the house, and we either eat lunch or dinner in the house. This saves us money and also saves our stomach's. We find that eating out both at lunch and at dinner kills our stomach. We also eat out a lot at lunch time, as it tends to be a little cheaper and we don't like having heavy meals late at night.

3. Once we know where we are staying I check out on the Internet what grocery stores are in the place where we are staying and go on the Internet to see what they have on sale. Also I check to see if they have loyalty cards, which give us better savings.

4. As we have no young children or school age children, we tend to go on vacation when the school children are in school and it's a bit cheaper.

5. I check on the Internet for the tourist information for the area where we are staying, and request brochures and coupons for the area.

6. I put money away each week, year round towards the vacation, that way we are not scrambling to come up with money for it. As an example if you decide to go away Labour Day weekend (September 5th), and you put $20 a week away every Friday starting January 9th, you will have $700 saved up before you go away.

7. We drive to our vacation destination as it gives us more flexibility and it means we don't have to hire a car at the other end.

8. If we have to stay overnight at a hotel on our way to our vacation destination, I cash in my air miles for a hotel gift cards, so again it doesn't cost us any money. There are other ways of getting cheap hotel stays.

9. I research the area where we are staying and what attractions we would like to see, then go on their websites to see if they offer discounts. We bought a multi-attraction pass this summer when we were in Charleston and it was so worth while, it saved us a lot of money.

10. Booking last minute can save you money, however we like to plan ahead. Mind you, I discovered that they had reduced the rental fee on our condo in Charleston when we were there, so I asked them about reducing our fee and giving us a refund, and guess what they gave it to us, so it pays to ask!!!

I am sure there are many more ways on saving money when going on vacation and would love to hear your tips.

So I am sure you are dying to know where we are going this year..............NO IDEA!!!! Dh is favouring Tennessee again, we love the Smoky Mountains. I am thinking Virginia, Ohio or Pennsylvania, that area, but the mountains are calling us!!!! We tend to stick to the eastern side of the States, as we live in Southern Ontario.

So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also where are you planning on going on vacation this year?

***Don't forget your 25 cents today, if you are participating in the Daily Savings Club***

***Coming Wednesday 50 + 1 Recipes on Fruits, and so far there are some yummy recipes there, this week it will be Apples***