I’m just back from a little winter break. My wife and I spent a week in Key Largo, Florida. We don’t travel a ton. This is the first time we’ve been on a plane in a few years.
We traveled a little differently than we usually do so I wanted to write about some of my observations about the trip, saving money and smart v. stupid financial decisions.
Key Largo
On top of the smart list is taking a winter vacation. It was nice to get away.
A few years back, we drove to Florida in January, spent a month and took the dog. It was a great trip, but we were in central and northern Florida (as well as Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA) and didn’t get a lot of hot weather. We even got one day that was in the 50s with wind where we had to wear all of our clothes at once in order to stay warm.
But the Keys in February was a delight. It was 80 degrees and sunny every day. Here’s the view from my hammock.
We stayed in Key Largo and drove down to Key West one day. Getting some time out of the New England weather is a must.
Parking
Parking at the airport is a big decision. I’ve parked at the offsite lots and taken a shuttle, which is rough in the winter, or parked in central parking which costs a fortune, and you still need to schlep your way over to a cold car after your flight arrives.
This time, I mixed it up and took a car service. I called and confirmed the day before and was happy to hear that they had my departure time, flight info and address. On the day of departure, I got an email with my driver’s name and contact info.
My black Lincoln SUV showed up right on time and we had a nice warm comfortable ride to Boston, and were dropped off at the terminal. On the way home, same deal, except I got a text while at baggage claim from the driver to let me know where he was. We walked outside and got into a warm car.
This was splurge for us, but I felt it was well worth it.
First Class Air
I traveled quite a bit for work and I have several hundred thousand miles in the bank spread across a few different airlines. I decided we’d use all my American miles and fly first class to Miami.
Bigger seats, attentive cabin staff, several drinks and a nice meal. How can you go wrong?
That said, first class isn’t what it used to be. At least on this trip with American. On my prior business class international trips, I enjoyed stopping at the airport lounge to get away from the riff-raff, have a drink or 2 and a snack and unwind. To my huge disappointment, a first class trip within the US does not get you entry to the airport lounge. Huge bummer.
Next bummer was check in. Last time I traveled business class, there was a priority line with about 3 people in it, while next to it was the regular check-in line with 100 or so. How nice to sashay up to the podium and have someone provide white glove service to check me in and handle my bags.
Apparently this is gone the way of the dinosaur. Now we all jump in the mosh pit and type in our info at a kiosk, tag our bags, and God help you if you need anything special.
Turns out we did need something special. I typed my wife’s name incorrectly (Doh!) so she had to get in a long line to get it fixed.
Then there’s price. We were traveling on points so no big deal, but look at the difference when paying cash. Coach price on the left, premium on the right. Sheesh!
So, while first class is a better experience, it ain’t that much better. I’ll keep the $1,300 and travel coach.
Rental Car
Big dope slap for me on this one.
I booked our trip back in November (I was quite excited). 2 days before departure, snow was forecast, so I changed all of our bookings – car service, hotel, rental… so we could leave a day earlier and avoid the blizzard.
My original car booking was with Hertz, but on short notice, I couldn’t find a reasonable price for a convertible. So, why not try a low-cost rental outfit?
I booked with Boutique auto-rental. I scheduled my rental pick-up for 10pm. At 9:55, I’m getting off the plane when my phone rings. A gruff voice tells me the rental place closes at 10 and to come tomorrow. Click.
Strange, they advertise a 24 hour shuttle and they accept a 10pm pickup, but they close promptly at 10pm.
We Uber to the hotel, have a nice evening and I call at 8am – they’re opening time. No answer. I call again at 9 and 9:30. Nobody home. At 10, I decide to walk over – it’s only 10 minutes from the hotel.
Not a nice neighborhood. there is an Amazon warehouse next door which spruces up the place, but otherwise it is pretty run-down. I go inside. Compared to the inside, the outside is nice. 100 feet of dirty counter space with a dozen or so no-name rental companies. 75% are un-staffed, the others have a single staffer and a long line.
The Boutique counter is unstaffed. No one knows why.
I consider waiting, but what happens at drop-off? What do I do if no one is there? Wait and miss my flight? Leave a key and hope no one steals the car? No good options.
When traveling for work, I always had good luck with National. I download their app and within 2 minutes I’ve scheduled a rental. My wife and I Uber over and go to the counter, which is in a beautiful clean building. The woman at the counter tells me that there is no need to check in, just go directly to the emerald aisle and choose a vehicle. On the way, 2 National employees stop to point me in the right direction.
Lesson learned. Don’t be cheap on rental cars. Go with the majors.
Hyundai Rocks
My rental was a Hyundai Sonata. It’s a nice looking car, it’s comfortable, and I was blown away by the driver assist package. I played with a few buttons and was able to make my rental car follow the car ahead. It sped up (to a max speed that I set) and slowed to a complete stop while keeping 4 car lengths behind the lead car.
There were a couple of minor quirks, but this was a delight. Especially with me rubber-necking at all the scenery. Before I discovered the system, I almost rear-ended the guy in front of me so this system was a blessing.
Kindness Pays
2 examples.
I left a generous tip for the cleaning folks at the hotel. We actually skipped room service, but I chatted with the 2 ladies who serviced the rooms each day as I was sitting out front in the garden reading, and I hit them up for more coffee, some shampoo and towels. They were awesome.
My wife questioned the tip, but I told her the ladies were sweet so why not.
As we were driving to the airport on our way back home, I got a call from the front desk telling me that we left my wife’s mouth guard behind in the room. Would it have ended in the trash without the tip (and chit chat)? Probably not, but who knows.
Icing on the cake: When my wife ran in to get the mouth guard, one of the ladies thanked her for the generous tip.
I’ve traveled quite a bit for work. While it can be stressful for me, I imagine it must be a nightmare for the flight crew who have to deal with us. As I got onboard, I smiled and chatted with the 2 ladies who were our flight attendants today. The boarding process can get ugly with everyone fighting for overhead bin space so there weren’t many other smiles.
When drink time came, I ordered a vodka and cranberry. The flight attendant delivered my drink and with a wink said “Try this. I hope you’re not driving tonight.” I was not, the drink was nice, and I ordered a second.
The tip was not a lot of money. The smiles and chit chat are free. There are a lot of jackasses in the world. Most people appreciate a little kindness.
Timing is Everything
I booked our trip in November. My wife loves to stay home, so when she has a weak moment and agrees to a trip, I book it right away.
One of the most important lessons to learn in retirement is that you can do things on a schedule that doesn’t work for people who have jobs. My dad told me always return items to a store at 10am on a Tuesday. It’s quiet. The weekend rush is over, they’ve had Monday to recover, everyone else is at work so it’s more relaxed for the store employees. My dad was able to return 2 pairs of pants he wore for 2 years, and got a full refund.
So my first task was to find out when holidays, spring break and school vacations were and avoid these like the plague. You can usually tell on the hotel or airline websites because the price change from one week to the other is jaw-dropping.
Clark Howard at clark.com takes this to the next level and says find the destination that’s on sale and then figure out why you might want to go there.
The point is that there are deals to be had. If you want to go someplace nice and get warm, there are options.
Wrap-Up
New England winter’s are cold. I met some folks from Michigan and from Canada on our trip and we’ve got nothin’ to gripe about compared to them.
But spending a few bucks to get away in the winter is a good investment. Yeah, I know that I gripe about car dealers calling a new car an investment. It’s only an investment if we expect it to increase in value over time. But I truly feel a vacation is an investment in ourselves. Get some time on the beach, meet some new people, learn a hard lesson about cheap rentals…
And sometimes even a cheap guy like me needs to decide to spend a few extra bucks to make life easier. The car service was a delight. National is a much better experience than Boutique.
But don’t go crazy. First class was a nicer experience than coach, and I had points burning a hole in my pocket for 7 years. But I don’t think I’d pay an extra $1,300 per person for the experience.
But again, timing is everything. With some flexibility on location, and dates, and by using tools like Google Flights, it’s possible to find bargains. It may cost a bundle to go to Naples Florida and stay a week, but what if you went to Costa Rica and flew first class? Maybe Clark is onto something?
Stay Warm.