Location: Sometimes things look bad, then, poof, the moment is gone. And what do we do? We just keep swimming on.
Posts: 39,536
Travel on the cheap, revisited
We just realized that our next cast trip is the day after Jack's birthday.
I have a couple options - one involves a free night from a terrible stay at a HI on the beach years ago. I can redeem that free night and possibly pay for an extra night so that we have time to drive down and he can see the ocean on his birthday.
The other option is to use points - working on that one now (I'm short about 8,000 points which is $40 to transfer, if I can find someone willing to part with them).
We'll have gas down there and back regardless - adding gas, of course, to go a bit further than we normally would.
Beaches are free, last time I checked and we already have beach gear from when Piper was a baby (aforementioned terrible HI experience) - including our boogie boards and such in the garage. Only other thing we'd need is food for an additional day or so. We could potentially pack or buy food at home.
Entertainment, too, I guess for the ride down. I have stashed Scholastic books from the warehouse sale, a decent-sized stash of color wonder, DVDs for the travel player, and leapsters. We should be covered there.
We stayed at a hotel and in Florida one day and ate breakfast in the room. We found a supermarket and purchased cereal and milk and juice . We also had some sandwhiches and drinks there too.Oh I should mention we kept things in the fridge at the room(we called ahead to make sure there was one there).
My cousin says to call the hotel directly (not the 800 #) and ask what the cheapest rate is. Ask if that's the best they can do. She worked for a hotel and says those #800 numbers aren't necessarily at the hotel you are staying in.
When you go out , no one order anything but water. We did this late time we ate out and were at how low the bill was.
Gasbuddy.com can help you find some cheaper gas prices in the area you are in. Lots of hotels have free internet.
Can't think of anything else but if I do I'll post them.
Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
Posts: 12,369
Sounds like a good plan. I'd make sure to pack a cooler for your food. And how I handle cheap food on the road (ie no restaurants) is to pack a day's worth from home or bought at local grocery store, eat it, then when we get to the destination, go to the grocery store there and stock up another day's worth. Make sense? Your cooler is always full (buy ice at destination) and you can pick cheap but easy stuff for the road. If you don't have a camping stove, you can just get stuff for sandwiches or other easy, no-cook foods - even buying prepared deli salads is cheaper than a meal at a restaurant.
Sounds good, and very cheap, especially piggybacking on the trip you already have to take.
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Still Pensacola, right? Dude I think we are going to be down there art the same time LOL. We leave Monday the 28th and will be there until probably Thursday. I am going to make you a restaurant list, Starbucks :P list, grocery store list, etc. There is a place called 4 winds international food mart that you will DIE over. They have an amazingly good little deli, and when you go in they push food hard :P . You can sample anything they make and their pesto is amazing! I would go by there and buy some cold stuff for lunches, although beware, it isn't always so thrifty!
I am thinking maybe we can meet up for at least part of one day? We will probably go to the beach 2 days, foley one and nowhere one. We only go to thebeach in the evenings though. My fil doesn't do well with heat because of his blood pressure meds, so we usually go around 4ish. He catches fish in a net for the kids , and lets them feed the crane Lemme tell ya, for SImon feeding the bird live fish is the highlight of his beach trip LOL.
Anyway, I have lots and lots and lots of info for you, I just need to sit and type it all out. Where have you found so far that is of interest to you?
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Heather , mama to Liam, born 12-19-01, and Simon, born 04-17-05 wife to Mark, married 09-23-97
and we already have beach gear from when Piper was a baby (aforementioned terrible HI experience) - including our boogie boards and such in the garage. Only other thing we'd need is food for an additional day or so. We could potentially pack or buy food at home. 
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at how low the bill was. 
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