-
Last Minute Club and Saving Money While Seeing the World
So maybe you are looking to travel this year, really keen to get away from all of this dreadful snow we are having. But the budget is tight and the economy still doesn’t feel that great. Well, I have a couple of thoughts on that. There are a few ways to save money while seeing the world and one of those is http://www.lastminuteclub.com/ Last year for the first year ever I signed up for Last Minute Club. The club is a travel clearinghouse of sorts. You may have seen those old newspaper ads for Last Minute Club in the Toronto newspapers. The club has been around since 1977 ad is a…
-
Monday Mingle: Snow Days
-
Mickey Moms Club: Giveaway
Planning a trip to Disney? Never before have their been so many great tools to help you map out all of the details. When is the best time to go? Where should I stay? How long is the lineup for Soarin’ at Epcot? Are there any special character meals I should plan for, and how far in advance do I need to book them? My child has a peanut allergy, where can we eat safely? How far am I from the nearest hospital should anything go wrong? Disney is one of my favourite destinations and companies. They do a lot of things really well. Their service is the best, top…
-
Asheville, North Carolina: Colourful and One of a Kind
The home of famous American author Thomas Wolfe Asheville is a friendly, warm southern state filled with colourful stories, great restaurants and even more colourful characters. On arriving in Asheville, North Carolina, I encountered a group of musicians picking up their instruments from the baggage carousel. That’s not something you see every day in London, Ontario where we try hard to hide our artsy secret lives beneath business suits or day jobs. Cab driver Tom Grandy confirms Asheville is a liberal, artistic, outdoorsy, community surrounded by states that are much less liberal in their politics. In fact located between mountain ranges the area is known as an energy mecca for artists of all sorts.…
-
Dear Delta: Not Cleared for Take Off
Delta picture courtesy of Wikimedia It was my first time flying Delta last week en route to a Mommy blogger conference known as Type A Mom in Asheville, North Carolina. I have flown many places, with family, with my spouse and simply by myself. And I have flown many airlines, some of the Canadian ones that people are so fond of ridiculing publicly. But I have got to say that Delta, now the largest airline in the world in terms of passenger traffic, took the cake. And not in a good way. First off my flight at 6:15 a.m. out of Pearson was delayed one hour. That I could cope with.…
-
Back To School Last Hurrahs
Payton and Ainsley in the cool room at Great Wolf Lodge Great Wolf Lodge- Niagara Falls Father’s Day at Bingeman’s Park – Kitchener Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum – Niagara Falls Well, less than two weeks to school starting here and I am on a mission. We’ve had a fabulous summer of fun activities like the excellent Great Wolf Lodge weekend on Canada Day. Many thanks to Lay’s Chip Trips and Mom Central Canada. As a Trip Advisor, I have seen a lot of fun Ontario sites and enjoyed a few deep discounts. All that for the price of a few bags of chips. If you still don’t know what I…
-
Bruce County Museum Prehistoric Sea Monsters
Last year I spent some time blogging about the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton. At that time there was an amazing dinosaur exhibit. This year, when we once again found ourselves back at the cottage, we wondered how they might top last year’s animatronic dinos and BBC film. Well, somehow they did it with prehistoric sea monsters larger than life. (See Payton below.) If you are still heading for the beach between now and September 6th, when the exhibit ends, you should find a way to visit this one. It was well worth it and more than a bit scary. There is an excellent documentary recreation of…
-
Cottages: How to Save Money
It is a truly Canadian tradition – that of heading to the cottage every year to soak up our two months of summer. Let’s face it, this is a unique Canadian thing. There may be cottages in other lands, but we have perfected this idea of escape. I have been doing this every summer from the time I was a toddler and it is at the very least a habit for us. We meet extended family once a year and crowd into a tiny cottage, barbecuing food, and roasting ourselves on the beach. My children are now accustomed to this every August. As we head there again this weekend, I…
-
Kobo and Fairmont: An Intriguing Partnership
This is one of the coolest partnerships in travel amenities and publishing that I have seen in some time here at thriftymommagogo. Today Kobo, the ereading service sold far and wide at Chapters/ Indigo and Wal-Mart, among other retail outlets, announced it has partnered with Fairmont hotels and Random House. Fairmont Gold travellers will be permitted use of a Kobo preloaded with numerous popular fiction and non fiction titles carried by Random House. Kobo and Fairmont recognize that travellers occasionally forget their books, or don’t want to travel with bulky heavy hardcovers. Let’s face it hardcovers can weight the luggage down a fair bit. So, thinking out of the box and…
-
Western Fair Revisited
Well, this is not the way I intended my Wednesday morning to go, but when it all went sideways I went with it and lo and behold look where it led. Once again enraged by Western Fair’s staunch position that it is too late to change their decision to charged disabled people and their attendants admission to the Fair this year, I headed to the computer to compose more letters and more emails. My children amused themselves with Sesame Street. Then they appeared to ask what Mom was doing. I said I am busy writing letters to Western Fair and the Mayor to let them know I disagree with the…