On a flight now with the family as we head to Florida. I really don’t like Florida, the weather can be downright brutal (as it is this time of year), the people seem to be a little whacky (likely from the heat), it’s way over commercialized, and did I mention the heat? We were there in October and the weather was real nice, but now it’s June and I’m preparing myself for a trip to the rain forest.
We’ll spend a few days with my Grandma Minnie. She’ll be 90 next year and we enjoy heading down there for our annual pilgrimage. The boys get the guest room with the 2 beds, Aviva and I share the pullout sofa. Yes, I’m almost 39 years old, and still sleep on the pullout sofa. It’s not all that comfortable, but it means too much to my Grandma to see the kids before bed and first thing in the morning to even consider a hotel. However, after 2 nights on the pullout, we’ll head for greener pastures, the Hyatt Coconut Point, on the Gulf Coast. We’ve been there and it’s a slam dunk – great food, great stuff for the boys (which means pools, slides and lazy rivers).
Of course, there is just one looming question for this trip, a question which will be answered in about 90 minutes. What kind of POS rental car will I be driving? I’ve blogged about my miserable experiences with Chevy Malibu’s and the other Chevy ilk and am totally on pins and needles about what car I will be enjoying for the next week. I cashed in some AMEX points for a $200 Avis voucher, which has decent ROI in my book. So I’m stuck with Avis, and in general, like the Avis brand and service I’ve gotten. But Avis is way too in bed with GM I’m afraid. I need to write them a letter, but that’s a project for another day. I used to have good experiences when I paid for a minivan, but when we had 2 little kids with the big car seats and strollers, the minivan made sense. Now we have one booster for Miles and Mack doesn’t even take a booster on vacation. We really dont need a minivan, but they are better cars, by and large, than the GM sedan types. Of course, I could upgrade for a better car, but if the vacation is going well, I won’t be in the car that often or that long. Well, we do need to drive from the east coast to the gulf coast, but all the time, I’m not commuting to work. My family and I still relish a trip like 4 years ago when we rented a Chrysler Pacifica. To this day, the kids still see them on the street and admire them. But the price to upgrade to such a car isn’t like $20, it’s like $200 and they lose me there. To top if off, for someone who travels as much as I do (75K last year, on pace for at least that this year), I rarely rarely rarely ever rent a car, so I have few points or status with any of the major car rental companies.
Of course Florida means some good eats, because we’re a food driven family. That includes the Beverly Hills Cafe, with my favorite salad – the tropical salad. Also, we’ll enjoy Ritters Custard, which is sublime! There’s a Ben & Jerry’s by the Hyatt, I’m sure we’ll check that out 1-2x or so. And if I’m lucky (hey, it will be Father’s Day!), maybe The Cheesecake Factory or perhaps even the Grand Luxe Cafe! For a major fan of The Cheesecake Factory (ticker: CAKE, full disclosure, I own their stock), it’s disappointing that I’ve never yet been to the Grand Luxe. Oh yea, we’ll hit IHOP, the kids really like that place, but they really *love* the Waffle House, I hope we can find one of them.
Outside all this, I expect we’ll use 40 gallons of sunscreen and moisturizer. The hotel has a private beach you get to by boat, that’s fun. I also will try and take the kids out for some fishing, it will be an adventure because it requires 2 things my lovely boys struggle with – patience and silence 
But if we go early and just have fun with it, that will be great. If they catch fish, bonus!
Vacations now mean we travel with a separate suitcase, and not for anything fun. Cords! Power cords, USB cords, you name it. GameBoys, cell phones, digital cameras (and we didn’t even bring the camcorder!), iPod charger. I have an iGo kit, but it’s just easier to take all the regular cords.
How else are we using all my travels to lighten the load on this trip? I also cashed in some AMEX points for a $200 Hyatt voucher. That comes in handy, because we got 2 adjoining rooms, that’s sweet. The boys *love* having their own room, beds, and bathroom. Their room is already 1/2 because of some summer splash family special, the voucher is icing on the cake. We also are staying at a hotel near the airport for the return flight, I used some Hilton points for that night, free. I stay at the Hampton Inn in NYC almost every time, so am in good standing with those folks (owned by Hilton). So, in summary:
| Voucher | Amount |
| AMEX Avis | $200 |
| AMEX Hyatt | $200 |
| Hampton Inn Points (~15k) | ~$150 |
|
TOTAL |
$550 |
Not too bad!
Other rants:
- The finale of the Sopranos was better than I hoped. Mostly because I kept saying to myself (and Aviva), right up until the start of it, that it was going to suck. That gives me a good shot and liking it I don’t need nice neat clean endings, they are nice, but I never expected that. And for all the people whining about the Russian in the woods and Sil letting Adrianna escape – get over that; it was never going to happen. To me, the ending was simple – that’s his life, he can try and enjoy it (with his family) and live a fairly mundane life, with some mob glory, but in the end, his entire life is as fragile as porcelain. At any moment, he or any of his family or crew could be whacked, his family still has all sorts of issues and problems, and the government hangs over his head, with the axe falling at a moments notice.
- Apple has officially kicked Microsoft’s ass, but good! Microsoft continues to show they just don’t understand what consumers want, and their 5 years to play catch-up model is w-e-a-k. Leopard just reduces Microsoft to a nice installed base, without innovation.