So according to David Grossman at USA Today, it’s actually cheaper to buy two one-way plane tickets than a round-trip flight. It seems crazy since it pretty much goes against what most people are taught about booking air travel, but the man’s on to something.
This past week, DL and I decided to abandon our original plan to drive to Vegas in October and fly instead. After trying every combination of flight times, airlines and coupon codes on every travel site that I could think of, I too made the surprising realization that I would save more money with two one-way tickets than a round-trip flight (of course, this was also made possible because of good timing and a coupon):
Flight #1: Virgin America is having a sale right now FYI. I booked one of the price-slashed flights and added a 20% off promo code from Banana Republic (I’d share it, but it’s one-time use only coupon). TOTAL, including tax & fees: $41.30
Flight #2: United isn’t having a sale, but the price was right on Priceline. (Memo to self, avoid flights on Sundays ’cause they’re outrageously expensive!) TOTAL, including tax & fees: $79.60
Hypothetical Round Trip Flight: Let’s say, I bought a round trip ticket from Virgin America. TOTAL, including tax & fees: about $135.00 (I can’t remember the exact number at the time and those flights have already jumped in price.)
So I attended the Twestival in San Francisco this evening with @flackette and @tommyktse. In case you didn’t get the memo, this even was a worldwide fundraiser for charity:water. There were about 175 participating cities, in which the Twitter communities in each community would host a party. Proceeds from the entry fees are to be donated to a nonprofit dedicated to providing clean water to developing countries. Here’s a short blurb about the Twestivals on CNET’s Webware blog.
While I thought the event was a very worthwhile cause, I couldn’t help but leave Twestival SF with some thoughts on the pros and cons of the event.
Let’s start with the pros. I am glad that the Twestival organizers chose a real charity with a cause worth raising awareness for rather than something fluffy. The free t-shirt and reusable bag were great quality swag. The cupcakes by teeny cake were delicious and pretty! Props to the sponsors who made that happen.
….and in terms of the cons, I felt that the organizers were not as prepared as they should have been. I got to Paradise Lounge around 6:30pm. The event was suppose to start at 6:00pm, but I stood out in the cold for a while since “they weren’t ready yet.” Lame. In terms of the setup, I thought that there should have been more focus on the charity (e.g. provide materials, run slide shows, etc.). It just seemed like a regular networking event than anything else, though nothing wrong with that. Also, maybe it was just me, but I thought that there wasn’t a whole lot of mingling at this event. Most of the Tweeters kept to themselves and the groups that they came with. Though, it wasn’t a total loss, since I did meet some cool people this evening.
A few weeks ago, I made a trip up to Santa Rosa with my cousin and my little brother as part of my unemployment travel program (i.e. being able to travel around locally on weekdays since I don’t need to go to work). Being a life-long fan of the Peanuts comic strip, I decided to make my first visit to the Charles M. Schultz Museum and Research Center.
UPDATE:So when I originally started to write this post, I was simultaneously watching “Meet The Spartans” (…don’t Ask….) and so I was a bit distracted….then 4th July and the eating fest that rivaled Thankgiving happened…so let’s just say that I am only now starting to catch up on my blogging. So to finish up this post, here’s what I also intended to include:
The Great Hall
Once you go inside the museum, the first room that you enter is “The Great Hall.” Directly facing you, is an enormousmural of the Charlie Brown and Lucy with a football, as shown above. This 17×22 feet mural was created by Yoshiteru Otani, who pieced together a LOT of 2×8 inch ceramic tiles (3,588 tiles to be exact) with classic Peanuts comic strips imprinted on them. On one interesting note, Otani was also the Peanuts fan who designed the Snoopy Town theme park in Osaka along with a number of Snoopy Town shops around Japan.
The Kite-Eating Tree In addition to some unique artwork based on the Peanuts characters along with memorabilia from Charles M. Shultz’s life and work, the museum also featured a rare kite-eating tree the the small garden outside the museum.
Pictures with Snoopy and Woodstock Kindly note that when you visit the Charles M. Shultz Museum that photographs are not permitted except in the Great Hall and outside. Hence, all of our images were taken in the Great Hall and with the Peanuts statues outside.
The first time I went (i.e. last year), I was a bit surprised at all the animals that they had on site. It was more entertaining than a zoo. I especially liked the many Toyota vehicles “subtly” parked as if they were another wildlife creature on display. This time around (i.e. this past weekend), Toyota decided to switch back to go ol’ traditional bill boards.
Toyota FJ Cruiser, originally uploaded by Lovelady57
In addition to the rides and way over-priced mall food court food, the animal shows are always entertaining. Though on one note, they seem to be getting shorter and shorter each time. I, along with DL and company, watched Shouka the killer whale and a very cheesy bird show.
PR Notes: Discovery Kingdom recently opened Tony Hawk’s Big Spin, a new roller coaster that looked like a lot of fun. Full Disclosure: I didn’t ride it since the line looked rather long.
From what I can tell, their big media promotion was through radio–A pay-for-play opportunity with the SF Bay Area’s Alice 97.2’s morning show. The show’s hosts, Sarah and No Name, did a live show on-site during the day of the ride’s grand opening. At the time, I was still employed so I wondered how many people were actually able to go since the show took place on a Friday morning….
While you might thing that this is a strange “thing to do” as a NY tourist, it was definitely one of the top highlights of my trip. A special thanks to the wonderful lady who help me capture my experience on video!
Video #1: Here’s a video of my second try on the flying trapeze where I swing and hang upside down. (My first attempt wasn’t captured on film unfortunately).
Video #2: Here’s a video of my first successful back flip after swinging and hanging upside down.
Video #3: Here’s a video of my first catch, which I did on the first try! Woo-hoo!!
PR Notes: The Trapeze School New York is a perfect example of successful public relations. Not only do they have a long list of media placements, but they also have some rather unique and very strategic placements that lead me to sign up for my first class.
I first saw the school in action on an episode of Sex in the City, where Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw is taking a class at the school for research for an article that she’s working on. My first reaction was “OMG, they have a trapeze school in the middle of New York City! I want to do that.” Shortly afterwards, I forgot about it. Then a few weeks ago, I find the school listed on a tourist guidebook I bought and the light bulb flashed in my head and I said to myself, “I have to try this out when I go to NY!” Soon after, I signed up for their Saturday morning class and the rest is on YouTube.
It has been confirmed. I’ll be heading to New York City in early April on official company business to attend the BlogHer Business 2008 Conference.
Wow. I really feel lucky to be paid to travel, learn more about blogging & social media for businesses and meet fellow bloggers. FYI: BlogHer is a very large and influential network of women bloggers. Since 2005, this organization has hosted an annual blogging conference. This is the first year that they will be hosting a conference especially for companies looking to learn more about applying blogging and social media to their businesses.
While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this is how it is when you work in-house (it really depends on your company and their PR budget and initiatives), it does dispel any myths that “you don’t have any opportunities to learn anything new” because you are supposedly doing the same thing everyday.
That being said, I’ll be blogging about the conference in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
Having grown up relatively local to the Santa Cruz area, I estimate that I have been to the Mystery Spotabout four times through out my life. Today, I made visit #5 with a couple of friends who have never been. For me, this place was entertaining the first time around and if you space your visits over several years, it can still be entertaining. Nevertheless, it’s one big fat tourist trap (and an extremely successful one at that!).While my friends ooh’ed and ahh’ed throughout the whole tour, I was a bit cynical as many of my high school science teachers made a point to drill that into my head its just an illusion. To help explain and with a little help of Google, I was able to dig up these simple-to-read explanations:
One thing that I was glad to see is that the price of admission and parking has not become outrageous, still just $5 for 1 ticket and $5 to park. When I go to other tourist traps and amusement parks these days, I almost feel faint when I see how much the price has jumped…..Disneyland being one big example. Nice to know that you can still find “attractions” that don’t completely rip you off.
Marketing the Mystery Spot
If you grew up and lived in Northern California, it’s hard to have not seen the “iconic” Mystery Spot bumper sticker on at least one car on the highway. In looking for a photo of this bumper sticker, I was amused to find so many discussion about these stickers on-line:
As one reviewer pointed out on Yelp, it’s an ingenious marketing plan. For some reason, some people feel more than willing to stick a free bumper sticker on their car. It’s a quirky low-cost marketing gimmick, on the part of the Mystery Spot, that’s obviously helped spark the interest and curiosity of many, many tourists to visit. The tour guide claimed that they can receive up to 800-900 visitors a day during the summer. That’s a lot of suckers, uhm….I mean visitors (myself included).
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
After the Mystery Spot, we headed over to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, yet another piece of my childhood. It’s hard to believe that this oceanfront amusement park is over 100 years old. According to Wikipedia, it first opened in 1907 and has survived to be California’s oldest amusement park. Fancy that.I accompanied my friend on one of the roller coaster type pendulum ride. While these types of rides don’t usually scare me too much (but I’ll admit that I’ll scream once I am up in the air and falling down), I shouldn’t have drank that blended ice chai beforehand. About half way through the ride, I felt sick and couldn’t look because the dizziness was making me so nauseous. Meanwhile, my friend was freaking out. Afterwards, we decided to stick to the kiddie rides and games like bumper cars and the haunted house. I guess its a sign that my time of youthful fearlessness is passing or that my self-proclaimed casted iron stomach isn’t as strong as it used to be.
It has been confirmed. I’ll be heading to New York City in early April on official company business to attend the 
