From The Archives :: A Steal At Sea

[trip style = cruising + budget conscious]

{Editor's Note: This was originally posted in June of last year, but has been significantly updated for today. Sidebar: the day this was posted last June, our travel beauty editor recommended/shared Trip Styler on her company's Facebook page and Forest Whitaker's wife "Liked" this! Ok, back on track...

Repositioning cruises are one of the most cost effective ways to travel in the fall {and spring}. Next week, I'm taking advantage of one of the 13 cruises leaving from Vancouver for other ports and have booked a five-night itinerary with two stops, one in Astoria, OR and another in San Francisco, CA. It was the perfect vacation solution as I looked for an early-fall break. The price was right too starting at $199+taxes---a steal for five-nights.}

Repositioning Cruise:  when a cruise repositions from one route to another by switching ports of call. Many people see repositioning cruises as the cruise industry’s 50% off sale rack with uber-colourful shirts and ill-fitting pants, or a lesser excuse for cruise itinerary. Don't be fooled, these direct and/or sometimes creative journeys have become a big business. If a ship is going to reposition anyway, why not take advantage of its discounted price tag, unique itinerary and interesting ports---all while eating well and then working it off on the dance floor. Here are some pros and cons about repositioning cruieses to help you make a more informed decision about the trip style:

Repositioning Pros - fun alternative to flying - can be economical considering on-board amenities, food and destinations - visit places you might never plan to see {ie: for me, Astoria, OR!} - can take you off the beaten path - depending on the cruise line, child care for kids three and older is usually included {but make sure before booking}

Repositiong Cons - you’re not going on a round-trip, so you’ll need to book additional travel - sometimes the unique itineraries offer fewer or no ports of call - communication with the outside world is expensive and challenging for longer journeys

How To Book Repositioning Cruises My recommended repositioning resource is RepositioningCruise.com, also listed in TS Recommends. It's comprehensive, easy to use and simple to book. All you have to do is sign-up and then click on the "show me the deals" link. Once 'inside,' sort by the incoming and outgoing ports, dates, price, days at sea, etc...

Bon voyage!

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[photo by Jamez Flickr]

Tech Tuesday :: Hotel Tonight

[trip style = weekend getaway + budget conscious] If you travel to or within the US and like to A} save on hotel stays and/or B} procrastinate, then you need to know about this travel app. Its name pretty much sums it up. Hotel Tonight allows users to book hotels at the last minute---after 12pm to be exact---for that evening until 2am. Some hotels can be booked for one night, others will allow a five-night stay.

Hotel Tonight came about in late 2010, but I've been waiting to feature it until the functionality, number of cities and offers were robust enough to make it worthy of your screen's precious space. This is now and the app holds a permanent position in my iPhone's travel folder.

With 22 cities and counting, Hotel Tonight offers three hotels per city unless it's a large and/or major vacation destination like New York or San Francisco, in which case there will be three hotels per "area." Each hotel is categorized as hip, modern, elegant, classic, boutique or basic and includes the price after tax as well as photos, a map and info {essentially, a short review written in bullet points for the time-starved, spontaneous booking!}. If you think the last-minute savings will only be offered on tired, 2-star airport hotels, think again. Even 4-star hotels need to fill space.

Are the eleventh hour savings actually cheaper than Kayak, Expedia or Hotwire? Would Trip Styler's editorial team use it? Yes and yes. On Saturday I played around with a few cities and compared Hotel Tonight's prices to other major online travel agencies, and in every case Hotel Tonight's prices were better. The best part: it's not even a blind booking scenario, you know what you're going to get and don't have to scroll through a zillion hotels to decide which one you're going to book. FYI, book early on weekends, as in, between noon and 4pm, because deals can sell out.

We love this free app so much that we've added it to Trip Styler Recommends.

More Tech Tuesday Getting There Direct Airline Alliance Apps Google Hotel Finder

Old School Summer Vacations

[trip style = beach + budget conscious + weekend getaway] {Editor's Note: Last week we interviewed Dr. Murad, aka the father of internal skin care! He's given us a 4-piece Radiant Renewal Kit to give away! Enter here. Contest closes tomorrow, Aug. 16, at noon.}

A few weeks ago I was out for dinner with friends, and we got to talking about some of the less-than-fancy hotels or vacation rentals we summered at when we were little. Think old motels, lake-front cottages and nylon tents. The detail to which each friend could describe the places they stayed---down to the texture of the carpet---was incredible. At first we joked that many of our July and August accommodations weren't necessarily the types of establishments we'd instinctively book today, but then we wondered, why not?

Moral of the story: all our happy summer memories weren't created at five-star properties with pool boys and daily housekeeping, but came as a result of a great group of people, sometimes-silly traditions and a setting that allowed maximum outdoor time---only retreating indoors to change and sleep! 

Buffie Summered in: Osoyoos, BC [trip style = beach] I remember heading up to Osoyoos year after year with the fam. With about five other families, we all stayed at The Falcon or the Spanish Fiesta which sat side by side on the lakefront. Both were totally old and tacky, but hey, it was right on the beach and what more do you need than a bed, a pull-out couch, a mini kitchen and a bathroom! I remember it had orange-ish curtains and brown carpet. My sister and I would share the pull-out bed and we always wished our parents would just sleep in past 7am for once. This was back in the day when sleeping till noon was perfectly normal. The days consisted of going boating, tubing, sitting on the beach, swimming and just hanging out! At night, all five families would meet back at the beach and we would do a potluck/BBQ dinner. After dinner the teens would walk to the Dairy Queen just up the road for a dilly bar or a blizzard, and finish the night off with a mandatory hang-out on the beach. Once or twice a year all of us kids would have a sleepover on the beach under the stars, only to wake-up at about 5am thinking it was a dumb idea! It was cheap, hot and tons of fun.

Nicole Summered in: Shuswap Lake, BC [trip style = beach] Each summer my family would head to Blind Bay, BC, a small community on the southern shore of Shuswap Lake. Along with my Aunt, Uncle, and two cousins we would rent two cottages. Dinners would be a BBQ all together on a picnic bench between cabins. There was a big grass lawn separating the cabins from the lake where we could play horseshoes, jump on the trampoline and gather together at night around a fire, roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Days would be spent on the lake. It was here where we learned to water ski, drive the boat and tube. We were outside all day and for most of the evening. Day trips would be to the cliffs where we would go cliff jumping or to the small stable where we would ride ponies! The resort caretakers were Fred and Ev, an elderly couple who all the kids adored! Ev rode an adult tricycle bike we all loved. We would pick a soda from the giant fridge in the head office, and if we were really lucky, we would get giant freezies. *Note, the resort no longer exists, but there are a variety of summer vacation options at Shuswap Lake! For example, Scotch Creek Cottages catches the essence of Nicole's summer days at the lake.

Trish {Editor-In-Chief} Summered in: Whistler [trip style = camping] One summer tradition that started when I was five and continued into my late teens was hiking in Whistler or Manning Park, BC and Banff, AB. Each year the dads in our group of family friends would wrangle the kids and we'd venture up a mountain, preferably to glaciar-fed Garibaldi Lake, sporting giant orange packs with pots and pans clanging against each other with every step we took up the switch-back trail on a two-night, three-day hiking adventure. No moms allowed. The ladies willingly retreated to a hotel or condo in Whistler where they would go for long walks, read, shop and eat out sans kids. Good deal. In the original incarnation of the hiking trip, we just drove home after the multi-kilometer hike. Then everyone got smarter and decided soaking in a hot tub within 20-mins of our final descent would be a much better way to end the trek. So for the next 15 years, five families would stay at The Tantalus Lodge, a two-minute walk from Whistler Village. All the kids cared about was the pool and hot tub, and car racing video game machines in the lobby, whereas the parents appreciated the in-suite kitchens and private bedrooms---oh, and its proximity to the Polo Ralph Lauren Store {and its epic summer sales} that used to be at the base of Whistler!

[photos: spanish fiesta, cottages in canada, me_mel]

The Savvy Traveler :: Lora

Lora is a Seattle-based freelance journalist who among other literary pursuits, writes a lot about traveling in Oregon, Washington and BC. Local travel is one of her first loves, and she regularly packs up to explore the region's city, country and seaside destinations with her husband and two kids. Many of her family travel tips and adventures can be found on CascadiaKids.com. As if she's not busy enough, in addition to all this, she's also written a book: Northwest Kid Trips: Portland, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver. Here are her trip styling, Savvy Traveler picks...

1/ What are your top 3 trip styles and why?
[trip style = weekend getaway + urban + budget conscious] On perfect weekends, I do all three---staying in a four-star hotel I scored through Priceline in either Vancouver, BC or Portland. But budget conscious doesn’t always mean “cheap.” I’d rather stay in an upscale hotel or vacation rental than a super-discounted motel with a moldy fridge.

2/ What items are always on your packing list?
- Our picnic backpack (so we can eat anywhere, anytime)
- My iPhone (see why below)
- A great map and a swimsuit---you just never know when you're going to encounter an awesome mountain-fed stream for a quick dip

3/ Essential travel gadget or app?
My iPhone, which helps us navigate through cities, check in on work while I’m away, and gives the kids something to do while we’re sitting in border traffic.

4/ Favorite destination, plus what's on your radar and why?
Oh, my favorite? That’s so hard to decide. I love the Parisian alleys and cafes, Rome’s history and cafes, Florence’s art and cafes…hmm, I guess cafes are the deciding element.

On my radar: I intend to take a week-long trip up Vancouver Island this winter. I also hope to go to Japan---we had a planned trip for last March when the terrible Earthquake happened. We ended up going to Ireland instead, which was fine, but we still really want to go to Japan. Our Pacific Rim culture is so influenced by Japan, and I’ve always wanted to visit Japan---since my childhood, in fact!

5/ Best trip you've ever taken?
One of my most memorable trips was taking our 15-month old on a two-week driving vacation through Southern France and Italy. It helped me to realize that it was OK to travel without reservations, to drive along and let the road unfold. We'd show up in a town and pick a hotel upon arrival. Of course, this approach works best off peak-season, but it’s still one of my favorite ways to travel. We took this improvised approach to our trip along the Oregon Coast last fall and had a blast.

6/ Best destination/hotel/campground to take kids in summer and why?
This is a difficult question! Really, you can’t go wrong with any destinations in Washington, Oregon or British Columbia---especially in summer. In fact, I try to make sure we're always home during the summer, just so we can travel locally.

{If you know anyone who should be featured in our once-monthly Savvy Traveler series, drop us a line!}

Other Savvy Travelers
Bryce, The Pilot

[photo via lora]

Off The Beaten Track :: Lodges & Cabins

[trip style = beach + glamping + budget + luxury]

This month we're doing a four-part feature on need-to-know Pacific Northwest destinations, resorts and lodges that sit in the shadow of bigger, fancier or legacy destinations.

Last week the spotlight was on Bellevue, the oft-forgotten and woodsy suburb where Microsofters mingle and shoppers spend, as an alternative to Seattle. This week we're escaping busy streets and crowded highways in search of lodges and cabins where sipping steaming coffee in a lakeside Adirondack chair and evening fireside chats are a detox for the soul.

The Alders Running barefoot along the sun-dried grass from beach to cabin {and back again} for a grape popsicle or nacho-flavored chips was my main commute. Roasting marshmallows for a little too long---to the point of incurring a small campfire on the end of my stick---was my big night out. The daily commute and hot smoky evenings took place at the Alders, a family-friendly summer escape near Campbell River on Vancouver Island. I spent close to every summer at this collection of vintage, wood-framed, beach-side cabins growing up. I remember retro stoves, orange and green geographic print curtains and beds with a slight canoe effect. To me, it was perfect. With no TVs or phones---though these days that doesn't mean much with portable e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g---this place is all about the sandbar, campfire songs and cozy cabins. Cost: From $1,160/week in the summer. Prices drop in shoulder season.

Sakinaw Lake Lodge After a 40-minute ferry ride from Vancouver, plus a 50-minute drive through artsy beach-front towns, you've arrived at the part salt, part fresh water lake. From the outside, Sakinaw Lake Lodge resembles any other other renovated cabin on the lake, but upon closer inspection, it's more more catered to and current than most weekend summer-use cabins. After a glass of wine is handed to you at pick-up, you stay in one of two lakefront suites {or rent the whole lodge} that give secluded relaxation a new meaning. There's even a luxury canvas tent for those of you who like to glamp! Cost: From $229/night during summer.

King Pacific Lodge Anywhere that calls Princess Royal Island and The Great Bear Rainforest home must be a remote eco-feast for the eyes. When you glide into this luxury wilderness resort on British Columbia's North Coast via float plane---the only way to arrive---you realize why it's an all-inclusive fit for royalty, pairing fishing and whale watching with epicurean indulgences and fine wines. Beware, this curated, multi-award winning, once-in-a-lifetime---or yearly, depending on how you roll---experience can only be had between June and September. By now, I'm sure you can guess the price. Cost: From $4,750 per person for a 3-night stay.

Bonus Selection: Skoki Lodge Even though this week's Off the Beaten Path feature is focused on lodges and cabins around the Pacific Northwest, I'd be remiss not to mention Skoki Lodge near Lake Louise, Alberta, where Will and Kate spent a night away from the eyes of the world on their royal tour of Canada. Rather than bring their entourage to a swanky lodge, they opted for a removed and understated retreat with no electricity or running water, originally built in 1930. PS. I hear the pair asked for at least one modern world luxury: running water. {Fair enough.} Cost: Summer rates from $169 - $263 per person.

[photos by Geoff & Ana-Maria, Sakinaw Lake Lodge, King Pacific Lodge, Parks Canada]