Ramblings

The overwhelming array of travel web sites and guidebooks can mean more (not less!) homework when you’re planning a trip. You can simplify your research--and more or less guarantee better results--by looking for “unbiased” recommendations and reviews.

“Unbiased” simply Means the recommender has no axe to grind. No money is changing hands between hotel or restaurant and person recommending it. The recommendation—the review—is based on unvarnished personal experience.  Here are three of the best ways I know to tap into that quality content.    

1. Fellow travelers. They can be relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues. The key is that they know a little something about your preferences. My husband and I once stayed in a thatched-roof hut at a beachfront resort near Tulum on Mexico’s Mayan Riviera. The first morning we awoke to an iguana poised on the wall above our bed. I’d recommend this place without reservation—except to those folks who I happen to know thrive on Five-Star (hermetically-sealed) luxury. It might be the end of the friendship.   

2. Reader-written columns and web sites.  Travelers love to talk about their trips. If they’ve had a good experience, they love to share the wealth. If not, the result can be scathing. Before every trip I take I check TripAdvisor. (There are other similar sites. This just happens to be my personal favorite.)  Here, quantity often counts as much as quality: the more resoundingly enthusiastic reviews, the better. When I find 10 glowing stories and one “worst night of my life,” I figure majority rules. The key is read closely. The honesty is often there, but disguised in someone else’ preferences or communication style. Point is: I’ve never been disappointed--and more often than not turned on to places that would never have appeared on my radar screen if I stuck to the big portals like Expedia. (Slow Travel is an especially good resource for people who want to rent a villa or apartment in Europe.)

Larger metropolitan area newspapers may have a column like “Follow the Reader” in the San Francisco Chronicle. Every week travelers wait for the latest reader-inspired recommendations.   

3. Authors who specialize in unbiased reviews.  Well-known personalities like Rick Steves and Karen Brown have developed near cult followings for their guidebooks detailing the best accommodations, restaurants, sights and itineraries in the U.S., Mexico and Europe. What I love about these experts—and try to emulate in my own Renting Paradise e-guidebook series reviewing vacation rentals in northern California—is the fact that they have visited every place they tout. You may not know them, but their personal idiosyncrasies and “attitude” shine through. Their consistency makes them almost friends.

Websites can have the same quality, though they are few and far between. I first encountered the U.K. site i-escape.com  while planning a trip to southern Spain. I was so impressed  I begged them to let me write reviewer. They did! The majority of reviews covering much of the world excluding the U.S. are five pages long with 15-20 photos.  

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

"Mystery" rashes, staph infections, Legionnaires' disease ... not the kind of souvenirs anyone wants to bring home after a relaxing stay in a vacation rental home. I'm not  a hot tub aficionado, so I admit I never dipped even a toe in a hot tub in any of the homes I've reviewed for Renting Paradise. Turns out, even the cleanest-looking hot tub (and even whirlpool bathtubs and private swimming pools for that matter) can easily become a petri dish for some of the worst kinds of bacteria.

I had my eyes opened wide after chatting Stacy Intille. A healthy 44-year-old Registered Nurse at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. iN 2001 Stacy contracted Legionnaires' disease after soaking in a non-permitted portable above-ground hot tub at a hotel in Monterey,California. She almost died. In October 2006 she settled a lawsuit against the hotel for just under $1 million.

This puts vacation rental home owners and management companies between a rock and a hard place. In many areas, home that have tot tubs are more desirable -- easier to rent. However, owners cannot be on site to properly maintain the hot tub 24/7. I'm not going to wade into the slimy "guts" of the issue here. But suffice it to say, health/maintenance regulations vary by county and management companies tend to take a "soak at your own risk" approach in rental contracts.

How do you protect yourself -- especially if your party includes vulnerable children, pregnant women, elderly people and/or anyone whose immune system has been compromised?

When in doubt, stay out. Don't mean to be a party-pooper. But how else can you be sure?

Insist on safe practices. Thanks to Stacy's advocacy, the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health (CCDEH), has taken a closer look at the infection risks and potential hazards of above ground portable hot tubs and jacuzzi bathtubs commonly found in rental properties across the state.  Their warnings and recommendations are outlined in a new guideline posted on their website in October 2007 titled Guidelines for the Installation and Operation of Fill and Drain Spas and Hot Tubs.  You can use the guidelines in this document to personally vet a vacation rental home owner's maintenance practices.

Bottom line: The CCDEH has determined that most of the portable hot tubs commonly found in vacation homes are designed to be used by private families and their invited guests. Once an owner begins to offer their home as a vacation rental, they are required to upgrade these residential hot tubs to commercial grade, obtain a permit and follow the daily maintenance requirements and logs as outlined in the code. The guideline estimates as many as 1,000 owners are currently in violation of the code. 

If you have your own hot tub and this seems like a real pain, you're right. But remember, you KNOW exactly who you invite into your tub.You can't be sure what happened (how many people used the tub how many times) before you arrive at even the best vacation home. That's just the facts. 

For more information, you can contact directly at rnwithld@aol.com.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 07:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More often than not, the best thing about renting a vacation home is the owners. Here's why.

Most I've met or spoken to are passionate about the home they rent -- and tickled pink that you'll be staying.

Like trusted friends, they'll clue you in on the best restaurants (and probably recommend what to order). Some pamper you with breakfast fixings -- freshly squeezed orange juice, rich coffee beans, homemade scones and a jar of organic jam. Some owners may leave a bottle of local wine. A phone card (if they don't already offer free long distance calling). A disposable camera.

Some invest time detailing step-by-step driving routes or walking tours. Check out this blog compiled by Mary Jane Hutchinson of At The Bay's Edge.

The thing is, I'm always surprised -- and, yes, delighted. I guarantee you won't feel that kind of love staying at a hotel (I don't care how efficient the concierge) or even at many fine B&Bs.

Vacation rental owners are a real treat ... most of the time. Like anything in life, there are exceptions. (One owner chewed me out rather rudely when I called to say the woodstove was smoking.)

My advice: just to be sure, plan to have a short chat (by phone) before you rent.   

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pristine beaches, magnificent landmarks, whitewater rivers. “Find Yourself Here” is the slogan of the California Travel & Tourism Commission. But use the state's official web site and/or guidebook to plan your trip and you may find yourself staying at a Howard Johnson motel, an RV park, a B&B....because you didn't know about all the cool vacation homes for rent. That's right, vacation rentals are not even included among the “Accommodation Options”! What’s up with that?

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The overwhelming array of travel web sites and guidebooks can mean more (not less!) homework when you’re planning a trip. You can simplify your research--and more or less guarantee better results--by looking for “unbiased” recommendations and reviews.

“Unbiased” simply Means the recommender has no axe to grind. No money is changing hands between hotel or restaurant and person recommending it. The recommendation—the review—is based on unvarnished personal experience.  Here are three of the best ways I know to tap into that quality content.    

1. Fellow travelers. They can be relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues. The key is that they know a little something about your preferences. My husband and I once stayed in a thatched-roof hut at a beachfront resort near Tulum on Mexico’s Mayan Riviera. The first morning we awoke to an iguana poised on the wall above our bed. I’d recommend this place without reservation—except to those folks who I happen to know thrive on Five-Star (hermetically-sealed) luxury. It might be the end of the friendship.   

2. Reader-written columns and web sites.  Travelers love to talk about their trips. If they’ve had a good experience, they love to share the wealth. If not, the result can be scathing. Before every trip I take I check TripAdvisor. (There are other similar sites. This just happens to be my personal favorite.)  Here, quantity often counts as much as quality: the more resoundingly enthusiastic reviews, the better. When I find 10 glowing stories and one “worst night of my life,” I figure majority rules. The key is read closely. The honesty is often there, but disguised in someone else’ preferences or communication style. Point is: I’ve never been disappointed--and more often than not turned on to places that would never have appeared on my radar screen if I stuck to the big portals like Expedia. (Slow Travel is an especially good resource for people who want to rent a villa or apartment in Europe.)

Larger metropolitan area newspapers may have a column like “Follow the Reader” in the San Francisco Chronicle. Every week travelers wait for the latest reader-inspired recommendations.   

3. Authors who specialize in unbiased reviews.  Well-known personalities like Rick Steves and Karen Brown have developed near cult followings for their guidebooks detailing the best accommodations, restaurants, sights and itineraries in the U.S., Mexico and Europe. What I love about these experts—and try to emulate in my own Renting Paradise e-guidebook series reviewing vacation rentals in northern California—is the fact that they have visited every place they tout. You may not know them, but their personal idiosyncrasies and “attitude” shine through. Their consistency makes them almost friends.

Websites can have the same quality, though they are few and far between. I first encountered the U.K. site i-escape.com  while planning a trip to southern Spain. I was so impressed  I begged them to let me write reviewer. They did! The majority of reviews covering much of the world excluding the U.S. are five pages long with 15-20 photos.   

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 04:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As you research your next rental, be grateful if you stumble across a link to an owner's "blog". A well-done (key distinction!) blog can be a living, breathing connection to updates, photos, personally vetted activities and seasonal events ... all the stuff you crave before you go.   

Sure, many are mind dumps. But many more are truly interesting, informative and thought-provoking. Postings are typically short, containing live links to more detail. At the end of many (not all) postings, there are links for readers to add their two-cents on that particular topic. Participating is easy and relatively anonymous. Check out the blog created by the owners of At The Bay's Edge featured in Renting Paradise.

If you find an owner who's taken the time -- and care -- to create a web site and maintain and informative blog, I can guarantee you can put your rental worries to rest. The other great thing in this info-overload age? It's easy to subscribe (an unsubscribe) to blogs, via buttons such as "My Yahoo".

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm embarrassed. And deeply disappointed. Embarrassed because, when I finally read Frances Mayes' "A Year in World" after recommending it, it was nothing like what I expected. I'm disappointed because I was misled by Mayes' own comments in a newspaper review.

Here's what I said in my second post on this blog:

"She (Mayes, author of the wildly successful "Under the Tuscan Sun") and her husband choose to rent, of course, so they can really immerse themselves in the local culture... 

Mayes and her husband tried to stay in each country for at least a month. Renting made the difference, “because the minute you’re in your own place, you start relating to your surrounding in an entirely different way then if you‘re in a hotel,” said in a Sacramento Bee article last month."

Here's what actually happened. Nearly every time Mayes arrived at a rental, she was disappointed. Many times she didn't even bother to unpack, hightailing it to a nearby hotel no matter the lost rental fee. One time, she admitted to renting without viewing photographs. (Her fault.)

But there were other times when, she says, she was misled by owners or agents who had never viewed the place firsthand! "Who rents a vacation home on a highway?" she laments, after stepping into an otherwise grand country home in the Cotswolds. "Mental note," she writes, bound for a nearby hotel. "Agent must have physically visited property."

Amen to that, Ms. Mayes. It's just too bad that you (the Oprah of travel) may have indelibly imprinted your own bad experiences on impressionable travelers following in your footsteps. The key message here is do you homework! Firsthand, objective experience is absolutely crucial.

Exactly why I started my series of e-guidebooks called Renting Paradise. Blatant self-promotion aside, prospective renters need a resource for independent, unbiased, firsthand commentary.  Believe me, owners -- unless they have something to hide -- are all for it.

Slow Travel has an excellent TripAdvisor-like message board specifically focused on European vacation rentals. But there are precious few unbiased resources for prospective renters in the U.S., because renting vacation homes is just catching on here in America. Where they exist, use them! Where they don't, don't take anything for granted.

My advice:

1. Look for lots of photos

2. Read descriptions very carefully

3. Ask LOTS of questions before you reserve.          

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We dog-people are a special breed. So stuck on our four-legged friends that we want to take them on vacation with us -- leashes, dishes, slobbery toys and all. It tickles me that the number of web sites focused on finding "room at the inn" for dogs and their people is growing.   

In fact, I'm astounded that when I apologized in advance to one vacation rental owner with a particularly lovely home that we planned to vacation with bring THREE dogs, she scoffed "I've never had any trouble with pet-owners. It's kids I worry about."

ANYway: The latest dog-friendly I like is PetVR.com. It features more than 5,400 pet-friendly vacation rentals (homes, cabins, condos and B&Bs, by their definition).

I initially checked out the site when I was searching for a destination for our upcoming family vacation. I was looking for a dog-friendly beach on the California coast. Voila! PetVR provides a link to pet-friendly beaches by state And lo, there are plenty in California. However, I must admit they do not list the beach I finally picked in Morro Bay. And, er, I did ultimately select a home from another site.

But! That that in no way diminishes what PetVR has to offer. I appreciate the reach (selections encompass all 50 states and 24 other countries ... you'll find many more options than you will on some vacation rental site that hyave been around for years!). And I lap up the site's authentically goofy spirit. Their "Top Ten" lists include the "Ten Gassiest Dogs."  (Honestly? We have a little problem in that area with our Terrier-Corgi mix. I was afraid to check.)

Resources include a handy list of things you might not think to pack. In fact, the site is compiled for and by pet owners -- a singularly gregarious group. So click in whether you're traveling by car or internationally.

"More than 67% of pet owners travel with their pets," Dow Scoggins, president and creator of PetVR.com, said. "And, according to surveys, nearly 40% more would travel with their

pets if they found it easier to do so." (Okay, even a math-idiot like me knows that adds up to more than 100%. But, hey, I'm a dog-lover -- which means over-the-top already.)

And I'm not as over-the-top as it gets! My "kids" sleep in their own beds when they travel. But if your pet is more "discriminating" than mine, check out the Restful Paws Bed & Breakfast in Massachusetts (complete with indoor, bone-shaped dog pool) or The Paw House (where dog portraits and Doggie Mystery Weekends are available).

My advice? IF YOU LOVE YOUR PETS ENOUGH TO TAKE THEM ON VACATION?  YA GOT NOTHIN' TO  LOSE BY CHECKING OUT PETVR.COM. Go fetch!

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More often than not, the best thing about renting a vacation home is the owners. Here's why.

Most I've met or spoken to are passionate about the home they rent -- and tickled pink that you'll be staying.

Like trusted friends, they'll clue you in on the best restaurants (and probably recommend what to order). Some pamper you with breakfast fixings -- freshly squeezed orange juice, rich coffee beans, homemade scones and a jar of organic jam. Some owners may leave a bottle of local wine. A phone card (if they don't already offer free long distance calling). A disposable camera.

Some invest time detailing step-by-step driving routes or walking tours. Check out this blog compiled by Mary Jane Hutchinson of At The Bay's Edge.

The thing is, I'm always surprised -- and, yes, delighted. I guarantee you won't feel that kind of love staying at a hotel (I don't care how efficient the concierge) or even at many fine B&Bs.

Vacation rental owners are a real treat ... most of the time. Like anything in life, there are exceptions. (One owner chewed me out rather rudely when I called to say the woodstove was smoking.)

My advice: just to be sure, plan to have a short chat (by phone) before you rent.   

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 06:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Every trip has its own character and specific set of requirements that influence your Internet search. Local and regional vacation rental web sites level the field.

My goal in Renting Paradise is to spotlight the "gems" among all the tens of thousands of vacation homes available online. But because vacation homes come in all shapes and sizes, some simply aren't going to work for my semi-annual get-togethers with my parents, brother, husband and (now three!) dogs.

Just recently, I was searching for a pet-friendly home on the beach. I fell in love with a beautifully restored cottage. So much so, that I tried to ignore the reality of fitting five adults and three dogs into 1,100 square feet with one bathroom!

Luckily for us all, I was overruled. So I went back to the drawing board. HomeAway seemed my best bet, because it consolidates the most (dozens!) of homes into a single click. It was easy to search for the right number of bathrooms and sort out only pet-friendly homes. (I'd tried some of the pet-friendly accommodations sites and was disappointed by the lack of offerings.)

However, despite the buffet-style selection of vacation homes I was offered on HomeAway, it took me hours to come to a decision. Admittedly, I am picky, but it bugs me that I'm not jumping-up-and-down excited about what I finally reserved. It's not on the beach. (Very close, but no sand.) And perhaps this is troubling only to me, but it lacks character. Sort of a rather non-descript shell. (Which doing what I do, almost feels like it's against my religion.)

Here's the kick: as soon as I'd posted my deposit, I stumbled across a site serving only that particular region with -- you guessed it -- some genuine gems. It made me remember that many of my very best "finds" over the years have come from regional or local sites. I booked my very first rental in Lake Tahoe on a Coldwell Banker site featuring properties for sale and rent. After much wheel-spinning while planning a family get-together in Sedona, we finally happened upon Red Rock Realty. Spot on! I know I've talked at length before about my love for Russian River Getaways in Sonoma County, CA.

My point: don't make my mistake by checking out only HomeAway. Google regional and local websites by typing in the name of the city or town and state you're traveling to and "vacation rentals". If nothing else, you'll gain access to a ton of information about activities, restaurants, shopping, etc. that really enriches your trip planning! 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

"If our guests have babies or young children, we supply everything from cribs, highchairs, stroller and potty seat to children's books, toys and movies," wrote owner Ronita Egger in a recent note to update me on Egger Farm House (which I reviewed in Renting Paradise: San Francisco & Marin County).

So I'm thinking, "Why would any family hole up in a hotel room with just a TV?"

Granted, not all rentals provide this range of "kid-menities". But just the space alone has got to change the whole dynamic of family time together!

"No hotel suite we'ver ever stayed in, no matter how nice, matches the homey, now-we-can-relax feel of a vacation rental. We're converts!" my friend, Kathy, wrote about her recent family ski vacation.

"I can't emphasize enough how nice it is, when you're traveling with a seven- and nine-year-old, to have a separate area for the kids. Meals are so much easier when you have a fully-stocked kitchen and generously sized table in your 'home.'

"The kids slept in the loft ("way cool!"). They loved to throw their soft ski gear -- gloves, hats, socks, etc. -- over the loft's railing every morning and toss it all back up in the evenings. The loft gave the kids plenty of room to spread out in a self-contained area -- away from us, but close enough so we could monitor their television intake. We also had access to the swimming pool (only nine- and seven-year-olds could summon the energy to swim for an hour or two after skiing for seven hours).

"And the great room -- complete with wood-burning fireplace and fabulous view of the (Big Sky, MT) Spanish Peaks -- made a cozy place for the adults (including my mom, aunt and uncle) to gather, chat and watch the snow fall."

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's all the rage these days. "Move over Napa," says the Washington Post. "Healdsburg has gone upscale on us," says Sunset magazine. Travel + Leisure dubs the town "Sonoma's New Star." 

The cosmopolitan-izing of Healdsburg leaves me a little wistful for the old days. I loved the small town feel around the plaza. And I'm glad to see that -- despite the addition of the Les Mars Hôtel (which Sunset Magazine says "feels more like Louis XIV’s Loire Valley than today’s Sonoma County") -- there are still magazines counting down its simpler pleasures.

Places evolve. (It's all good.) So, by all means, check out some of these recommendations of the Washington Post food critic in Postcard from Healdsburg.  And get the lowdown on shopping and the latest boutique wineries from Travel + Leisure before you visit.

And should you opt to stay at a vacation rental, consider trading "Louis XIV's Loire Valley" for the real thing --  "Redwood Tree House" (recommended in Renting Paradise).   

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Get yourself to a fabulous city (like San Francisco) and then walk. That’s right! San Francisco is a city best seen on foot. Okay, when you need a faster way to get from Point A to Point B, try public transportation—including San Francisco’s legendary cable cars and ferries—a great way to tuck into its history and culture.

Pat yourself on the back. In addition to doing your share to reduce dangerous emissions, you’ll leave stress-building activities traffic and parking stress in the dust.

The city’s most efficient mode of travel is the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Better known as “Muni," this network of buses, cable cars, and vintage streetcars will take you anywhere in the city. The F-Market Line features a fleet of vintage street cars from Hiroshima, Melbourne, Philadelphia and Milan running along the Embarcadero from Fisherman’s Wharf to Market St.

Check schedules for ferries San Francisco and the Bayside towns of Sausalito and Larkspur.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“Put away your guidebooks and quit surfing the web…” this innovative virtual tool makes it easy and fun to do nuts-and-bolts trip-planning. I admit I was skeptical. But when I put the Beta version through its paces using San Francisco as my intended destination (there are 50 to choose from), I was, quite frankly, astounded. I couldn’t built a better itinerary myself!

Look for the "New: Try the virtual guidebook!" offer on the left-hand sidebar on the Expedia.com activites page. When I clicked there I landed on a clean page (operated by partner Home & Abroad) offering me three trip-planning options:

1. Plan it myself
2. Use a trip theme (Choose from 18 ranging from “Action/Adventure” to “Local Culture,” and including “Where the Expert Goes”) OR
3. Help me plan it (The tool quizzes you on criteria ranging from “Who’s going with you” to your personal interests and goals and recommends relevant sights and activities.)

I chose Door # 3.

When I finished the quiz, I had the option of building my own itinerary (using a list of sights and activities narrowed to fit my stated preferences) or letting the tool do it for me.

Typically, I like to be in the driver's seat when it comes to trip planning. And this tool does make it easier to home in on the information you need to plan a very cool trip. All I had to do was click on the “Add” button to the right of any sight or activity that appealed to me. Each entry is accompanied by a photo and description. They could have stopped there.

I was skeptical about what the tool would come up with on its own. And I was amazed! What would have taken me a hour using the narrowed list provided by the tool (probably many more using a general web-search and manual consolidation) took less than 10 minutes -- from quiz to final plan.

I was presented with a day-by-day itinerary that matched my interests perfectly:

• Daily sights and activities where arranged according to geographic proximity.
  
• Costs were noted to the side. (I'd noted I was on a budget.)
  
• Not too much planned for any given day (I said I preferred a relaxing pace).
  

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A lot of “top 10” lists strike me as a tad obvious and even self-serving. At least once a year Paris is named one of the 10 “most romantic” cities in the world. Tell me something I don’t know. And by now, I’m absolutely clear that at least five of the “10 most beautiful beaches” are in Hawaii. (There's a whole advertising section on Hawaii to back up the claim.) It’s the more obscure "top 10" lists that surprise me. Like this list of rare U.S. beaches that have escaped the bulldozer.

In fact, the Point Reyes peninsula is one of the Bay Area’s best-kept secrets – just a few hours from San Francisco, it is almost completely untouched. You can harvest oysters, kayak into secluded coves, follow herds of Tule elk and actually swim in the water. (It's reasonably warm here!) For more detail about the area's special sights, click on my favorite links. (Scroll down "Marin County".)

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While the majority of Americans will continue to bite the bullet—84 percent of the 37.6 million of us planning to travel 50 or more miles over next week's three-day  holiday weekend will drive, according to a national AAA Motor Club survey—some clever B&Bs are making that hard-to-swallow that hydrocarbon lemon into lemonade. 

Uh-huh. BnBFinder.com lists more than half a dozen B&Bs—most in the east and Midwest—offering gas rebates via clever promotions called “Tanks a Lot!” and “GAStronomical Getwaway”.

“Burn calories not gas!” says The Niantic Inn at Harbor Hill Marina in Mystic, Connecticut.  Stay two nights midweek and receive a $25 gas rebate (through June 30, 2006).

Now, let me just say that my husband—who is obsessed with the daily cost of gas (reporting three-cent price fluctuations at local pumps with the intensity of a stock market pundits)—estimates that a 90-minute drive from our home in Sacramento to San Francisco (roughly 100 miles at 20 mph … not factoring in backups at the Bay Bridge, of course times $3.19 per gallon is more $30 roundtrip).

Umm... we’re in!

Except that we’re not in Mystic, Connecticut. or anywhere close to the Oden Inn At Crooked Lake in northwest Michigan, where they’re saying “Tanks a Lot” with a free $50 gas card certificate (through June 15, 2006).

What’s an advocate of vacation rentals doing promoting B&Bs? Sorry...  I’m a consumer first, so if I were you (vacation rental owners), I’d take a look.
 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More often than not, the best thing about renting a vacation home is the owners. Here's why.

Most I've met or spoken to are passionate about the home they rent -- and tickled pink that you'll be staying.

Like trusted friends, they'll clue you in on the best restaurants (and probably recommend what to order). Some pamper you with breakfast fixings -- freshly squeezed orange juice, rich coffee beans, homemade scones and a jar of organic jam. Some owners may leave a bottle of local wine. A phone card (if they don't already offer free long distance calling). A disposable camera.

Some invest time detailing step-by-step driving routes or walking tours. Check out this blog compiled by Mary Jane Hutchinson of At The Bay's Edge.

The thing is, I'm always surprised -- and, yes, delighted. I guarantee you won't feel that kind of love staying at a hotel (I don't care how efficient the concierge) or even at many fine B&Bs.

Vacation rental owners are a real treat ... most of the time. Like anything in life, there are exceptions. (One owner chewed me out rather rudely when I called to say the woodstove was smoking.)

My advice: just to be sure, plan to have a short chat (by phone) before you rent.    

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)