Paying the price...

I learned - or confirmed - a few things on my trip to Canada that I want to share with you.

First, the point of going to Windsor is literally to say that you've been out of the country, especially if you've never been on a cruise which achieves the same purpose without taking you too far outside of national boundaries and what you know...specifically ENGLISH. Windsor has just enough tourist attractions for a good three day trip, after that, you'd probably be bored.

Second, I already knew this from the other 3 trips I've made to Windsor, but I didn't follow my own advice, which will not happen again. The Casino Windsor has THE BEST exchange rate. Trust me! There is no reason to carry US cash while on Windsor soil and here's why... Admittedly the exchange rate sucks right now because its basically 1 for 1, I'd have to concede that its better than a negative but still. If you use US currency, each business gets to decide how much they will give you for your US dollar, which I think I mentioned before. Why let that happen? Exchange all of your cash at the casino, its stop #1 in my book.

On another note regarding the casino, if you have a Casino Windsor card you can park in their garage for free. If you don't have one there are parking lots right across the street where you can park $3 for 10 hours or $4 for 10 hours, that's not bad because there is stuff to do downtown, so you can get several hours out of the trip.

Third, we employed the envelope plan for the trip, which I think is smart when you're splitting expenses. We had a car envelope, a room envelope and a gas envelope. We knew how much went into each one and we put that in the envelopes before we left. This helps so there are no surprises at the end of the trip. I recommend this process even for families or couples...again the purpose is no surprises.

Which brings me to Travel Rule #9 - KNOW YOUR NUMBERS: Use AAA's fuel cost estimator to check your gas estimates for road trips. You can input the year, make and model of the car as well as your origin and destination. The site will provide a one way and round trip fuel estimate. No surprises and in my opinion if you're lucky...it will overestimate and you'll have extra dough at the end of the trip!

Fourth, I'm back to the "don't use the credit card" thought because I just checked the statement on the one card I used in Canada - I reserved my boat ticket online - and I was charged $1.29 in some service fee, probably for the transfer of funds from CAD to USD or vice versa. See, that's the kind of thing I don't like paying. What really annoys me is that the boat wasn't full and I could have just paid cash for the ticket at the booth. To be fair, if I'd done that I'd have taken the chance that the boat would fill up and I wouldn't have a ticket, so I guess I'd just be rolling the dice instead of just paying the price.

Tired but happy...

Thankful for another safe return home. It is good to go but also good to return.

We had a great time even though it's never long enough!

Back to the grind tomorrow without a doubt!

BYOC – Bring Your Own Crazy!

I'm participating in BYOC with this post. I follow a few band bloggers and saw these questions on a related blog...thought it'd be fun to answer.

1. Do you know your credit score? Do you check it regularly? Does it matter to you?

Yes. It's good thankfully and I shouldn't need it again for a while, but I have decided that I need a SONY card! You can win $50K with that thing if you watch Wheel!

2. What’s your go to “water-cooler-off-er” each summer? Small kiddie pool, “real” pool, sprinkler, public pool, hotel pool, or stay inside in the air and never don a bathing suit ever?

We aren't allowed to have pools in our neighborhood of any kind, so that's out. I do think I need one of those 2 feet soft sided pools, maybe this year.

3. Describe your phone cover…if you have one.

Xtreme Mac extra battery charger for my iPhone. I have to have the power to keep up with my games!

4. If you ever had a wedding, what were your colors or theme? If you aren’t married – but plan to be some day – what will your colors or theme be?

No wedding yet...probably going to be crimson and cream. It's a Delta thing, you wouldn't understand! I'll throw some royal purple in there if I get the chance.

5. Repeat question: summarize your week.

Great week overall. I worked 3 days, vacationed 2 and ended the week in another country...I'm blessed for sure!

On the travel front, we woke to a hand cooked breakfast with 15 types of fruit on our plate....literally. We didn't eat again until 5PM! No need for lunch...we were stuffed. This trip has been a food fest. We did some souvenir shopping and then went on the river boat cruise. It was very relaxing and we got tons of pictures. We went back out tonight to spend some time with the night life of Windsor and ride down Riverside Drive.

Plans for tomorrow have changed a few times. I'm torn about going too far when we know we have another 6 hours to get home. We think we're going to laze the morning away and then head out, maybe home by 7 or so. We shall see...

Good Luck!

So yesterday after getting here, seeing the wash on the clothesline and the above ground pool - that thankfully was not listed as an amenity! - and meeting our wonderful hostess (she has the personality for this!), we headed to "downtown Windsor".

Admittedly Windsor is not a huge city, it may have the acreage to be, I'm not sure, but it doesn't have the feel. We went to the biggest venue in town, the casino!
Who hangs sculpture from the ceiling?
Obviously Casino Windsor! I must say they still have the best exchange rate like I expected...$1 for $1...can't beat it. Tim Horton's was $.95 for $1. We exchanged a little cash - $40 for me - and then played a bit and I became a good luck charm.

A guy sat down next to me at a penny machine and said "I'm going to win!" and I said, "OK, if you win, you're buying me a drink." He agreed and proceeded to put his $5 in the machine. He had no clue what he was doing. He'd hit the button and say "What does that mean?" He was betting max limits so before you know it the machine lit up like a Christmas Tree! He got the three bonuses and won 50 free spins, which ended up netting him $109! When he cashed out, he was saying "Where's the waitress? I owe you a drink!" I was going to blow it off, but he kept saying that I helped him so, a drink it is! I'll have a rum and coke! I guess I could have been more creative with the drink choice, but I don't drink, it's all I could think of.

We tooled around a bit more but didn't do much. I won $50 on a nickel machine, but cashed that out and started spending the other $20 I'd committed to this venture. UKFan asked me why I cashed it out and I really couldn't explain, but now I've thought about it. Its something my mother does. You win their money, cash it out and hold onto it and spend what you came there to spend. If you still have cash when you walk out, you know it was your winnings and their money you're taking home. When I cashed out, I had $70, so I'd actually won $30. Good thing since we went to the buffet and it cost $29.70! So...I made a whopping 30cents when it all boiled down.

The buffet is HUGE! Two salad bars, prime rib bar, regular meats bar, Italian bar, bread bar, Mongolian Grill station and a desert ring that's as big as my first floor at home. I think we were there 2 hours...mostly because it takes me forever to eat...but because we could be, just sitting, talking and eating.

When we got back to the room, I found the Canadian penny I'd picked up in the driveway when we got here. I told UK..."See I had Good Luck the whole time!"

Oh Canada!

We have arrived. We got here right about 3:30 so we made really good time.

Tense moments occurred for me -the control freak - when we arrived and the proprietor was nowhere to be found! We went to Tom Horton's (Panera equivalent) and got frozen lemonades and rode around for a bit. Thankfully she was here when we returned. Yeah! (or Yay! As you prefer).

On the road again...

It's hard to believe, but I am on the road again tomorrow. This trip is to Windsor, ON, CA. A friend, TheUKFan and I, are heading up for some R&R. Originally we had one more friend going with us but she decided to stay home so we are braving this one ourselves.

I'm going to be miserable later this year when there is no vacation left!

I have had my passport since 2006, in the hope that ULE would send me abroad for something...anything! But alas, that has not been my fate. UK just got hers a few weeks ago. The good news is that if you need one it only takes about 4 weeks for them to show up right now. I am hoping that they stamp them now that they are rehired when you travel from the US. Last 3 times I've been there eagerly awaiting a stamp they looked at me like I was crazy.

I'm renting another 300...I might be in love!