The Sweet Life.

The perfect example came up today and I felt it necessary to share with traveling patrons everywhere.

This morning I dropped Brad off at Will Rogers International in the city. He got to Denver without a hitch, but he called me from Denver to tell me that there were problems with his plane and that he might not make it to San Francisco from Denver to make his flight to Boise later on this evening. (phew!)

He’s still in the works of figuring it out, but this is a perfect example in the need for flexibility. Everyone loves to reach their destinations, but it takes very patient people to be able to travel with problems and not get bent out of shape.

Here’s some tips just in case you know yourself well enough to know that getting bent out of shape IS a possibility if things don’t go exactly how you were planning.

One of the most well-known names in travel and traveling on a budget is that of Arthur Frommer. His line of Frommer’s Travel Guides are one of the best-selling lines of travel books today. The research that has been done into the do’s and do NOT’s of the world’s greatest destinations has saved many, and been more than helpful to some.

Budget Travel Online is a site from the people at Frommer’s that is an extension to Budget Travel magazine. It lists suggestions for travel deals, destinations, strategies for purchasing, and spotlights different aspects of travel from consumer feedback.

The best feature is The REAL DEALS. It is a feature of Editor’s Choice Picks thats offers up some amazing deals to all corners of the world. There is also a link to the Travel Marketplace, which features the best travel deals and vacation packages.

Check it out, here.

In the golden days of Oklahoma’s youth, trains were common type of travel. However, today there is a great way to experience the antique ambiance of railing your way through Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s Heartland Flyer is an Amtrak train that travels from Oklahoma City southward to Forth Worth, TX while stopping through various Oklahoma treasure-towns.

One highlights of the trip is that riders can get off in Fort Worth to enjoy the Grapevine Mills shopping mall. Not to mention that riders will be able to enjoy a view of nostalgic Oklahoma at it’s finest while stopping at train stations in each of the location shown on the map.

Here is a copy of the Heartland Flyer train schedulde to and from Oklahoma City and Forth Worth.

A larger view of the schedule, as well as more information about stops and tickets can be found by clicking on the Heartland Flyer graphic below.

If you are a first time visitor to the Oklahoma City are, this list is a wonderful tool when you THINK you’ve seen everything or are unsure what you should do next. Hopefully you’ve been a saavy enough traveler that you are NOT in some days in some where with screaming children claiming that they’re “bored.”

Take control of the little heathens and teach them something about the great state of Oklahoma.

(The words listed in pink are all linked to sites with more information)

1. Visit the Martin Park Nature Center (Dogs not allowed)
2. High-tail it with your Fido to the Oklahoma City Paw Park
3. Explore the Oklahoma City Zoo
4. Watch sailboats (or sail one!) at Lake Hefner
5. Enjoy a bicycle ride around Lake Overholser
6. Shop at Penn Square Mall
7. Check out some books from the library
8. Visit the Oklahoma Historical Society
9. Explore the Will Rogers Rose Garden
10. Enjoy a picnic at Lake Thunderbird
11. Go climbing or hiking at Red Rock Canyon
12. Check out the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum in Seminole
13. Visit the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
14. Try indoor rock climbing
15. Eat a steak at Cattlemen’s
16. Take lots of pictures.
17. Feed the ducks (and get buzzed by gulls) at Lake Hefner
18. Visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial
19. Listen to a concert at the newly-refurbished Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall
20. Eat Indian food
21. Visit Chickasaw National Recreation Area
22. Play some golf.
23. Visit Woolaroc
24. Check out the Harn Homestead
25. See the Oklahoma City Art Museum (Opening March ‘02)
26. Walk, run, cycle or skate Lake Hefner Trails
27. Enjoy the spectacular fall color of the woods.
28. Visit Lake Arcadia near Edmond
29. See historical Guthrie, Oklahoma
30. Have an ice cream cone
31. Volunteer! Walk an adoptable dog at Pets & People
32. Visit the Five Civilized Tribes Museum
33. Explore the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
34. See the Overholser Mansion
35. Stroll through Bricktown
36. Take in a large-format film or Planetarium show at the Omniplex
37. Visit quaint shops in downtown Bethany
38. Be entertained at the Oklahoma Opry
39. Revel in an evening of the blues
40. Explore Turner Falls, Davis, OK
41. Find out what’s playing at Lyric Theatre
42. Go ice skating
43. Adopt a bison
44. See a movie
45. Fly a kite
46. Sleep in a log cabin
47. Visit a ranch
48. Catch an OCU basketball game
49. Walk through the The Myriad Botanical Gardens and Tropical Conservatory
50. Experience the Red Earth Festival
51. Visit the new Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, OK.
52. Take in a night of Shakespeare in the Park
53. Visit The Paseo arts district
54. Learn to Row - Overholser & Bricktown Rowing Centers
55. Events Calendar for Oklahoma City
56. More things to do at the City of Oklahoma City’s website

If anyone has any further suggestions of those great little secrets, please don’t hesitate to let me know. The world is an amazing place, and there’s lots to see, so get a good taste of Oklahoma and take off!

I’m sure that if you’ve ever made a major investment of your own time and money purchasing a plane ticket that you’ll know all the things I’m about to suggest. However, if you have not, then let me provide some great suggestions so that you can make sure you find the absolutel cheapest deal in air travel, domestic AND international.

Since it’s the most popular of search engines, we’re going to use Travelocity.com as our example. There are many others such as Expedia, Orbitx, CheapTickets, etc. Having provided you with other options, I have found that travelocity usually does have the rock bottom prices for flights, and the most options in searching.

OPTION #1: Search EXACT Dates

• If you search exact dates, be wary that you may not be searching for the cheapest deal. Exact dates are ticky, but if your schedule is specific, then there’s no other way around it.

OPTION #2: Search FLEXIBLE Dates

• This is what I have found to be the way to get the cheapest deal. It after entering your departure location and destination, click on the FLEXIBLE DATES option. You can choose the month in which you are hoping to depart & arrive at your destination. This will bring up the cheapest flight between ALL dates in the month you chose.

OPTION #3: Search with +/- 1, 2 or 3 Days

• I have found this to be an excellent way to see your options spread out before you. If you are a visual person, try this search. Choose your departure & arrival locales, pick the dates you want, then click on the +/- day. I tend to always search for 3 days give or take. When your search returns, the info will be in the form of a graph/spreadsheet that lines up all options possible. For a search of 3 days give or take, you will end up getting the pricing for 49 different travel combinations around the exact dates you had requested. It’s the best option to see all choices without doing individual searches again and again and again.

There are good deals to be found, but you have to search for them. Try different combinations before you jump off the handle and buy the ticket that you feel MIGHT be your only option.

Good Luck!

This weekend was incredible. Since this semester has been so damn demanding, it was truly the first weekend that I really got to just absolutely cut loose and hang out.

I got off work Friday afternoon around the same time Kyle and John E. rolled into my driveway. I had to work on a paper that was due the next day, Sunday, at 4 p.m. so they cracked open a beer for me and turned the music on. Tiffany T and Seth arrived a little later, then Tyler T, then Susan. My toilet broke and it was mayhem until I was able to borrow the “necessary tools” from the neighbors.

I finally came to a stopping point around 5-ish and had to get ready lightening fast in order to try and make it to Aggie’s Big House in time for kick-off for Seth, which we didn’t. Regardless, I donned my only good pair of fit-me jeans, my black chucks, black beret, and bright red velvet blazer. It was fab, yet I was the only one not in orange.

We proceeded to get absolutely belligerent at Aggie’s and munched on chips, laughed, took lots of pictures, and went through lots of Aggies’ mugs of beer. It was such an incredible time. After a quick run back by my house, we went to Mike’s and the night slowly disintegrated into passing out.

Sunday morning found me - head aching & sick - still needing to finish my story before 4 p.m. Kyle, Tiff, Seth, John, AND Thompson were all sleeping on my floor covered in blankets and I can only imagine how freezing it was. I got up and did my story, but it was damn hard and only possible with frequent trips to the once broken bathroom. Phew.

Tiff and Seth had to unfortunately return to Tulsa, but John and Kyle and I made a run to El Tap for some seriously tasty Mexican food. We came home, they played guitar and we were all lulled into a fabulously late afternoon nap.

It is something to be able to look back upon, such a weekend with such friends. I considered for a moment that maybe leaving Stillwater wasn’t the best thing for me. However, I realized that this time I’d had was a temporal and rare occasion. I am the only one out of the bunch that still lives in Stillwater, and knowing I’ll be back comforts me to know that I’ll be returning to the most amazing people I have ever met.

After spending a grand total of 15 minutes on my Reporting mid-term (the mid-term that cost me $100 extra…) I left Stillwater and arrived in Oklahoma City around 2 p.m. I visited with my aunt and uncle for a while and then Karen took me to the airport.
I had already planned to drive myself, but since Karen got off around 5 and I didn’t leave until 8, she took me to the airport after pizza & gooey delicious brownie bites.

The flights were just as I’d thought. Tedious. I couldn’t study even though I tried. I read a little, and thought alot, and luckily arrived in Boise a tad earlier than planned.

I met Brad down at baggage claim and Boise vacation ‘numero due’ ensued.

Most of you don’t know my mom. She’s great. What a cutie. She’s one of the only people I know that is in her fifties, but completely maintains the innocent, sweet, smiley, yet very on top of things attitude about life.

I decided that a post on her would be fitting, since she’s learning more and more everyday about getting up and going. With the raised gas prices over the last few years (mind you she is most economical) she decided that since she worked at home and traveled very little, but very close to the vicinity of our home that she would begin riding her bike more.

Well, being the awesome mom that she is, when I came to school this fall she gave me her bike that she had been using quite often to run errands. She recently bought herself a brand new bike that was fitted to her with a basket and “all the bells & whistles.”

Check it out…and tell me she’s not the cutest mom ever.

(picture coming soon)

I know, I know. You’re thinking to yourself. The zoo? Is she crazy?

Well, that remains to be seen, but in all honesty I have found that even as an adult the zoo can be an enlightening and eye-opening experience. You would be suprised what it spurs inside of you when you make an effort to return to the animals, even if they are in captivity.

On my last trip to Boise, one of the coolest things Brad and I did was visit the zoo. It was a small zoo in the middle of downtown, but we saw an amazing tiger that was literally, less than six feet from us. One of the best ways to get away from life is to return to nature. In the city-setting - the best way to do this is in a zoo! When in one of the animal houses I remember seeing a small monkey. It may have been a chimpanzee, or some other type of sapien, but he was perched up on a thick branch, and carrying the saddest look on his face that I have ever seen. Brad and I stared at him for a while trying to imagine what he might be thinking. I’m not saying that pondering monkeys is a great getaway. The point I am trying to get across is that thinking about others, even trying to comprehend the psyche of a tiny chimp - it’s an exploration into somewhere that most don’t go on a regular basis.

The community within couchsurfing is incredible. People all over the world sharing a similarly simple attitude about seeing the globe.

(Click on the globe to visit the Couchsurfing Store!)

The general consensus is, WHY TRAVEL AROUND FROM MOTEL/HOTEL TO STINKY HOSTEL, see only the touristy sights, and never get a real taste of culture…? Why ever do that again instead of staying WITH someone who lives in that area who is EXCITED about you being in a new location just as much as you are about being there? Someone that will offer you a couch, if not a bed, or a room for free! and maybe even cook you a meal of local fare?!

The question is, why would you ever subject yourself to traveling solo again when you can travel WITH the world!?

All I can say is go check it out. -

The initiative is incredible, and the people are even more so.

www.Couchsurfing.com