Well it has almost been 2 months since we have been anywhere but we have a whole lot scheduled for 2011. The first trip we have planned is my girls weekend with my best friend. About 2 years ago I came across a really good deal on a cruise. I decided then that after my busy December schedule that my best friend, Heather and I would take an annual trip in January--just the two of us. Sometimes we go exotic like the Caribbean and sometimes we just spend the weekend in Salt Lake City away from the kids and life in general! This year we are headed to Long Beach for the weekend. I thought that it would be a perfect--cheap weekend. We both had some airline credit that was going to expire. We found some super cheap tickets to LAX. We would not need, car or hotel since my sister Jodi lives down there and we could stay with her.
Of course the best plans sometimes go wrong...but I still am a firm believer in no paying full price for anything. Jodi emailed me a few days ago telling me that her house she was suppose to move into got pushed back to the weekend that we were coming and there would not be a place for us to stay! We would need to get a hotel but we could take her convertible for the weekend!
Okay--so I was on the hunt for cheap, nice, free breakfast places in Long Beach. I searched everywhere. I found a cool place that were we could stay on the Queen Mary ship. Sounds intriguing, but I have been on enough cruises to know that the rooms were going to be small. Probably no breakfast buffet like on normal cruises and we would have to pay for parking. So that was out. If found a few motels--but most of the time they are just as expensive as the bigger hotels.
So I went to my old friend Marriott. I usually can get a Buy one get one night free--but January is the month that they do not have those. The rates were $139 plus $20 tax for each night. We needed 3 nights. I remembered when we stayed at the Marriott in December in SLC we got a $100 bonus buck that could be used on a 2 night weekend stay. I didn't think I was going to be able to use it but this was perfect. So there was $100 off my bill. I also do a program called "my points" where I can redeem my points for gift certificates. I had $100 one in my stash so I know had another $100 off. I then decided to use points for one of the nights which took $139 plus $20 tax off my total. I feel much better about my $118 bill now! Plus since I am a Platinum member we get free breakfast every morning!
We leave January 28 and will be home Jan 31. I am looking forward to a fun weekend with my Best Girlfriend!
