The "Feeling Savvy" Story

Foreword - They did it to me again!  Blogger made a change some time ago to a new format.  Hated it, but had no choice if I wanted to continue to use them for my stories.  Then one day a few months ago they changed back to the old format.  Loved it!  Maybe they had some vocal complaints as well as all of my eletronic complaints.  Today, yep, they did it again.  Now I can only place one photo in my story.  All others have to be at the end or beginning.  Oh well, maybe they will return again to the old one.  Just complaining!

It was an ordinary day.  Trying to delete the many emails that I don't want.  I get emails from HGTV, HomeAway, Barnes & Noble, Catalog Spree, MyLife Search, AuthorsDen, Zagat, ADT, etc.  How about you?  I'm sure you probably get as much unsolicited mail as I do.  I even send them messages to take me off their mailing list, but it does no good.  But, I do get quite a bit of mail that I enjoy reading. Some of the magazines that I subscribe to send me their web versions of the mag.  Some of the stories are the same as in the print edition while some are new.  And, many times they prove helpful to me.  I got one the other day from Conde Nast Traveler magazine telling me the top 5 secrets to savvy travel.  Thought I would share them with you, since I found them pretty interesting and informative.  Also, may save me a few bucks when I travel the next time.  First three secrets had to do with the right timing, as they called it.  They said to fly on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday since these are the off-peak days and it means lower fares and less crowding in the cabins.  Another tip was to buy airline tickets midday on Tuesdays.  That I didn't know.  Seems that airlines tend to announce fare sales on Monday nights, and other airlines match those sales on Tuesday mornings.  I'll have to remember that.  The final timing it right tip is to stay over Sunday.  Many hotels get Friday and Saturday night bookings from leisure travelers and Monday through Friday traffic from business travelers, so there's a void on Sunday night which increases your chances of an upgrade.  So, since it is cheaper to travel on Tuesday, I'm going to stay Monday night also.  An extra day certainly would be welcome.  Another secret concerns hidden deals.  They suggest that you have an airline credit card and a hotel credit card and use them when appropriate so you can build up perks and special rates.  For me, that sounds like too much trouble for the small perk you may get.  And the last secret is to find the right human beings!  Means that you should book using a travel agent who sends a large quantity of travelers to the same place you may want to go.  With large quantities the agent probably will get room upgrades or maybe an extra bar of soap or drinking glasses that are real glass instead of plastic.  Get the idea.  Hey, my travel agent, Karen, always gets me the extra soap and even some extra shampoo when I travel.  Of course the shampoo does me no good, but I do leave it for the next traveler so they feel special.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.